Description
Excerpt from the Back Cover:
Shingon – The Tantric Buddhism of Japan–teaches that is is possible to attain buddhahood immediately, in this very life, by performing certain practices of body, speech, and mind. For centuries these esoteric teachings were kept secret for initiates alone and were never put into writing. Some forty years so, however, accounts of Shingon doctrine and practice began to be published in Japan for the first time for all to read.
Shingon: Japanese Esoteric Buddhism is the first comprehensive study of the subject to appear in any western language. This book traces the history of the school from its mysterious origin in India and describes the remarkable men who brought the teaching to China and Japan in the eighth and ninth centuries, who translated the texts, and who carried on the initiatic chain of teaching. It discusses the metaphysical doctrines of Shingon, its founding scriptures, and its views on levels of consciousness and stages of samadhi. And it covers the whole range of Shingon meditations and exercises–such as mudras, incantations, and visualizations of deities and symbolic forms–hitherto virtually unknown in the west.
Taikō Yamasaki is abbot of Jōkōin Temple in Kobe,m Japan, and Dean of the Department of Esoteric Studies at Shuchi-in University in Kyoto
