A famous monk in the early Heian period of Japan and the founder of the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism (also known as Eastern Buddhism), Kukai studied "The Analects of Confucius" and other Chinese books at the age of 15, and entered university at the age of 18. Later, his thoughts gradually tended to Buddhism. At the age of 24, he wrote "Guide to the Three Religions", describing his religious experience and his devotion to Buddhism. This book is his declaration to become a monk. After he came into contact with Tantra, he began to recite the Mahavairocana. There was no systematic Tantric doctrine in Japan at that time. In order to solve various difficult problems, he came to China (Tang Dynasty) as a studying monk in 804. He went to Chang'an (today's Xi'an) to study at Huiguo of Qinglong Temple and became the eighth ancestor of orthodox Tantric Buddhism.
The 26-year-old Kukai crossed the sea with Master Saicho and went through various dangers before landing in Fuzhou. (The actor in Legend of the Demon Cat, Shota Sometani, is now almost 25 years old. Director Chen is very good at selecting people.) After that, it took nearly five months to arrive in Chang'an and stay at Ximing Temple. Ximing Temple was the first place to collect Buddhist classics in the Tang Dynasty, and it was also the most ideal place to study Buddhism. After that, he went to Qinglong Temple in Chang'an to worship Huiguo as his teacher. Huiguo A Li (743-805), with a common surname of Ma, was a native of Zhaoying County, Jingzhao (now Lintong County, Shaanxi Province). He was an eminent Buddhist monk of the Tang Dynasty and the seventh ancestor of the Shingon Sect. He lived in the East Pagoda Courtyard of Qinglong Temple in Chang'an and set up initiations. In the dojo, he was known as the master of Tantric Buddhism. Revered by Tang Dezong and Tang Shunzong, he was the national teacher of the three dynasties. At that time, the Chinese Buddhist community had a very international vision and a spirit of waiting for others. It appointed people on their merits and promoted talents. Kukai's talent and understanding were highly praised by Teacher Huiguo. Tantric Buddhism regards everything in the universe as manifested by the Great Sun Tathagata, and the one that expresses its wisdom and virtue is called the Vajra Realm; the one that expresses its rationality (the eternal understanding of original existence) is called the womb realm, and Tantric Buddhism uses empowerment as the A? Li realm. (Guru) A ritual when teaching Yin Ke to his disciples. In June after Kukai became a disciple, he received the initiation of the womb treasure realm, in July he received the initiation of the vajra realm, and in August he received the initiation of the highest position in esoteric Buddhism, the A? Li (the position of a senior monk). At that time, there were more than a thousand disciples in Huiguo's sect, but only 6 disciples received the teaching initiation, and all of them had gone through more than 10 years of hard training. However, Kukai only took three months to reach the peak in one fell swoop and was established as the eighth Shingon sect since Mahavairocana. Ancestor.
At the end of the year, Huiguo passed away, and in the first month of the following year, a ritual ceremony was held. Huiguo was a famous monk who shocked both the monks and the secular circles of Chang'an. At that time, there were many literati and calligraphers in Chang'an, but they only recommended Kukai to write the inscription. The famous inscription on the inscription is "The stele of monk A? Li Huiguo who was initiated by the imperial master of the three dynasties in Qinglong Temple, the divine capital of the Tang Dynasty". It was actually made by the Japanese monk Kukai. This inscription has long been lost in China, but Kukai copied a copy and brought it back to Japan, where it was compiled into the "Collection of the Spirituality of Usage".
In 806 AD, he came to Guoqing Temple in Tiantai Mountain from Chang'an to continue studying Dharma. That year, he returned to Japan with esoteric classics and Confucianism, Taoism, medicine, and divination books, etc., and founded the Japanese Shingon sect with his own characteristics at Kaohsiung Mountain Temple, and later built a Buddhist temple in Koyasan. In 823, the Toji Temple in Kyoto was given as a mantra to protect the country. He founded the Variety Show Zanechiin (Imazanachiin University) and carried out Japan's first civilian education. He is good at poetry and Chinese literature, and has written books such as "Wen Jing Mi Fu Lun". He studied the calligraphy of Wang Xizhi of China and became the founder of the "Master Style" of Japanese calligraphy. Together with Emperor Saga and Tachibana Issei, he is known as Japan's "three brushes", that is, the three major calligraphers. He died in 835 and was posthumously named Master Hongfa. Let's appreciate the master's calligraphy
It's okay to mention Shota Sometani's performance. He always keeps smiling in the play. But why do you always wear a charming smile? This was Director Chen's request. He said: Buddha held a flower and smiled. As a Buddhist, you should always greet people with a smile, especially Kukai. His smile is very famous in history. In the film, a Buddhist disciple who was rejected by Qinglong Temple can still smile. I think he is very calm. Shota Sometani is very good at playing the role. The bandit is easy to play, but the monk is difficult to play because you can't easily find his movements. I always say Sometani Shota, you are a young man, but there is an old soul living in your body. He has that kind of calm energy.
So what happened after Kukai returned to Japan? In fact, in addition to esoteric Buddhism, Kukai also made an important contribution to Japan, which was tea culture. He planted tea seeds brought from Tiantai Mountain to various parts of Japan, expanding the tea planting area in Japan.
Kukai not only introduced tea trees and spread the ideas and rituals of the tea ceremony, but also made an important contribution by bringing the tea making method to Japan. This can be said to be an important step in the localization of the Japanese tea ceremony. Japan's tea culture during this period was centered on the Hongren period (810-824 AD), with Kukai and others as the main body. This period constituted the golden age of ancient Japanese tea culture, and is called "Hongren" by academic circles. Tea style”. Because Emperor Saga loved literature, he especially admired the culture of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, under its influence, the Hongren period became an era when Tang culture was prevalent, and tea culture was one of the most elegant cultures. Emperor Saga often drank tea with Kukai, and they left many tea poems between them, such as "Drinking Tea with Kai Gong and Sending Him Back to the Mountain". In short, during the Nara and Heian periods, Japan accepted and imported Chinese tea culture and began the development of its own tea culture.
Having said that, if Kukai were alive, he would have been more than 1,200 years old. If you go to Koyasan Kongobuji Temple, the oldest dojo of the Shingon sect in Japan, it will make people feel that he is really alive! Very incredible. Here I want to mention the concept of entering concentration and passing away. To pass away means to have died, and to enter samadhi is to enter meditation. The Great Wisdom Treatise also says that a person who has entered samadhi cannot be harmed by water or fire, nor will he die. In yoga and right-brain meditation, trance is also the name for entering a wave state (or transmuted consciousness). The earliest person recorded in the Buddhist scriptures who entered samadhi without dying was the Venerable Kassapa.
"In the past, Sakyamuni Buddha held flowers and showed them to the crowd at the Lingshan Assembly. Everyone was silent. Only the Venerable Kassapa understood the Buddha's meaning deeply and smiled. The World Honored One said, I have the Dharma Eye. Nirvana, I have given you this wonderful instruction. I will tell you again that I will pass on the gold-engraved monk's robe to you and give it to the Buddha. The Venerable gathered the Three Treasures of the True Dharma in the city of Wangha. After that, he entrusted the Three Treasures of the True Dharma to Ananda. He went alone to Jizu Mountain, took the robe given by the World Honored One, and entered meditation at the Huashou Gate. He would also come to Jizu when the Supreme Buddha Maitreya was born here. At Zushan, the Venerable Kassapa entered the place of concentration. With a snap of his fingers, the mountain peak opened up. At that time, Kassapa handed over his clothes and gave a speech. After paying homage, he ascended into the sky, manifested the transformation of the gods, turned into fire and burned his body, and then entered silence. "So. It is a legend that one can maintain the immortality of the physical body by entering concentration. Only Bodhisattvas and Arhats who have attained a certain level of attainment can maintain the immortality of the physical body after entering concentration. Our (sentient beings in the desire realm) body and mind need to be maintained by the four kinds of food (distant food, awareness food, touch food, and thought food). Without the four foods, the body and mind cannot last long. If we stay in concentration for too long, the body and mind will not be nourished by the four foods. , although you can rely on the power of concentration to maintain your concentration, your body and mind will perish as soon as you get out of concentration. How about the Four Foods in Dingzhong? Mahayana believes that there is only no Duanshi (diet), but there are other three foods to sustain life; Hinayana's view is slightly different from this, believing that those with leakage concentration do not have Duanshi, and those without leakage concentration do not have the real four foods, but there are three similar foods. Those who have attained total annihilation have no food.
Then Kongobuji Temple in Koyasan Prefecture, Wakayama Prefecture, and Toji Temple in Kyoto are the two fundamental dojos of Shingon Buddhism in Japan. Most people and monks in Koyasan believe that Kukai is still meditating in the memorial temple of Koyasan Okuin. Enter concentration. Entering samadhi is to enter a state of meditation without thoughts. Sometimes the attainment of enlightenment is also called entering samadhi, but people here obviously feel that Kukai is in the former state now. In the temple, the person in charge of logistics is called "Vina", and to this day, Vina delivers two meals to Kukai every day.
It is said that before Kukai realized that he was about to enter samadhi, he told his disciples that he would enter samadhi on March 21 (lunar calendar) in 835 (the second year of Japan's Seiwa), and he actually entered samadhi on that day, so The disciples established the Aoyuan for him. For more than 1,100 years, people believed that he had been meditating there, and food was delivered to him for more than 1,100 years. It is said that the food served is vegetarian, there is no fish, but there are complete varieties of tofu, vegetables, miso soup, etc. They believe that March 21, 835, was the day he entered samadhi and not the day he died.
In addition to giving him meals, he also gives him clothes every year on the day he enters samadhi. As for whether there were only wooden statues or whether there was a real Buddha meditating in the body, Wei Na would never reveal it to outsiders, even keeping silent about it to his disciples and future generations. If you go sightseeing to the Oku-in Temple of Koyasan Kongobuji Temple, not only photography is prohibited, but there is also a paper with "No Whispering" written on it, as if to avoid disturbing Kukai's meditation.
The original statement that Kukai was meditating and entering concentration comes from the book "The Origin of the Establishment of Kongobuji Temple" written by Ninkai (951-1046), a monk of Toji Temple in the middle of Heian, 100 years after Kukai entered concentration. It is said that 49 days after Kukai entered samadhi, his appearance remained unchanged, and his beard and hair continued to grow. According to the "Konsai Monogatari" written at the end of the Heian period in Japan, due to the dispute between Toji Temple and Kongobu Temple, King Kong was The Peak Temple failed and was once managed by the leader of the East Temple (called the "elder" at the time). However, due to lightning strikes and fires, it was abandoned for a time. At that time, Kenkane entered the Kukai Shrine in the Oku-in. He saw Kukai sitting in the wooden kitchen. There was a stone room outside the kitchen. His hair was like a cloud, and it was more than a foot long. He shaved Kukai's head with a razor, arranged Kukai's clothes and prayer beads, and then sealed the cook and the stone house.
People also say that although Kukai has entered samadhi, he still travels to various places. Every year on March 21st of the lunar calendar, a ceremony to change clothes for Kukai will be held at Hokai-in in Mount Koya. The Zhengchen of the journey can be seen on the clothes he changed out of.