Following medieval Chinese Buddhist precedents with ritual practices using exoteric Buddhist scriptures (kengyō 顕経) from Amanosan Kongōji 天野山金剛寺 and Shinpukuji 真福寺in medieval Japan

Abstract

ABSTRACT Myriad sources ranging from Kuroda Toshio’s (1926–1993) ground-breaking methodological research about the exoteric-esoteric Buddhist institutional system (kenmitsutaisei 顕密体制) that governed the practice of Buddhism at the seven ‘great’ temples during the Heian – Nanbokuchō period (794–1392) to the remarkable Tengu zōshi emaki 天狗草紙絵巻 (Illustrated Scrolls of Tengu on Rough Paper) demonstrate how widespread and well-known the idea of the dual cultivation of exoteric and esoteric Buddhist practice was in medieval Japan. We know from the sacred teachings documents (shōgyō聖教) from the libraries of three temples – Amanosan Kongōji (in Osaka), Shinpukuji (Nagoya), and Shōmyōji (Yokohama) – that catalogs were produced locally to classify meticulously copied ritual manuals, commentaries to exoteric and exoteric sūtras and commentaries, and other documents. In this article I introduce Kongōji as a prime example of how exoteric Buddhist texts were ritually employed there, followed by Zenne 禅恵 (alt. Zen’e 1284–1364) and his catalogs, and then present an overview of the sacred documents he marked as exoteric. I also explain why exoteric or ‘mainstream’ Buddhism must not be excluded from the study of the history of medieval Japanese Buddhism 顕密体制天狗草紙絵巻聖教御請来目録禅恵称名寺.