Kukai and His Major Works

Rating:
Summary: A Look at the Life, Though and Works of Kobo Daishi Kukai
Review: There has perhaps been no other more influential force in Japanese religious and societal beliefs than Kobo Daishi Kukai. This book tells the life of this colorful saint of the Japanese people, and presents an explanation of his thoughts and teachings. Here, the major religious writings of Kukai are translated, allowing the reader to glimpse at the depths of Japanese esoteric thought.

Rating:
Summary: A Look at the Life, Though and Works of Kobo Daishi Kukai
Review: There has perhaps been no other more influential force in Japanese religious and societal beliefs than Kobo Daishi Kukai. This book tells the life of this colorful saint of the Japanese people, and presents an explanation of his thoughts and teachings. Here, the major religious writings of Kukai are translated, allowing the reader to glimpse at the depths of Japanese esoteric thought.

Rating:
Summary: Auspicious Introduction: Reader, Meet Kukai
Review: This book was designed to introduce the non-Japanese world to Shingon Buddhism and the writings of its founder, Kukai (aka Kobo Daishi), and it does a good job at it. In the first third of the book, Hakeda provides useful biographical, historical, and doctrinal background. Translations of Kukai's writings follow, presented with clarity and nuance. The syle is lucid and elegant, if at times gender-biased and a bit stodgy. (This was first published in 1972 and took years to prepare.)

Kukai himself introduced Vajrayana Buddhism to Japan, much as Padmasambhava brought it to Tibet. His purpose as a writer, then, was to present his teachings in such a way as to preserve their integrity while ensuring their comprehensibility to an audience unfamiliar with this teaching. He did this brilliantly, singlehandedly founding a school of practice that is still alive and open for inquiries. For these reasons, Kukai's writings are a good place to start inquiring into Vajrayana practice generally.

In one passage that stands out particularly, a Buddhist monk exchanges questions and answers with an unnamed "patriot," who argues that the practice of Buddhism is actually a waste of the nation's resources, and therefore is nothing but trouble. (This may sound familiar to contemporary Buddhists, especially in the U.S.) You'll have to read the book to see how Kukai responds.

I'm grateful to Kukai and Prof. Hakeda for making these teachings available here and now.

Happy inquiry...