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30
mentioned in the
Prajnaparamita Sutra (Jp.:
hannya haramitta kyō,
般若波羅蜜多経
), where a
bodhisattva is described as one who has “attained the dharani of nonattachment.”
94
Shūji come
from either the first or last syllable of a deity’s
mantra (
dharani), depending on which aspect of
the deity is being emphasized.
95
In this way,
shūji originally acted
as mnemonic devices used to
remember the information stored; they came to function as not only a store of meaning, but also
the essence of a deity.
96
It is true that the
shūji is a signifier
of the signified deity, but as oft-
found in religion there is a more complex nature to the sign. In Mikkyō, this signifier and
signified are not in actuality connected only by mental constructs,
but rather the sign in this
instance engages with the essence of the deity (thus,
is the essence of the deity). To see the
shūji
enthroned on a pedestal is to see the deity—an idea that aligns with Kūkai’s claim of the
polysemic nature of the sign.
97
Like much Esoteric Buddhist theory, it seems the link between language (written or
spoken) and divine intervention (even possible enlightenment) is strongly indebted to the Indian
Vedic tradition,
specifically in relation to mantra. The Vedas (Sanskrit for “knowledge”) are an
ancient Indian body of texts from the Vedic period that compose the oldest scriptures of
Hinduism. Their content consists of formulas, hymns, spells and incantations—in other words,
mantra (
dharani). In the words of religious studies scholars Harold
Coward and David Goa, the
mantra content of the Vedas “are the sounds or vibrations of the eternal principles of the cosmic
94
Ibid, p. 173.
95
The earliest instance of this concept being discussed in English comes from this text: Waddell, L. A.
The
"Dharani" Cult in Buddhism; its Origin, Deified Literature and Images. Berlin: Oesterheld & co, 1912. It has been
further described in works since, such as that of Janet Gyatso, cited in the previous footnote.
96
This seems to have occurred also outside of Japan—for example, in the aforementioned Chinese print of the
Mahapratisara Dharani from the Dunhuang Caves (figure 3) there are Sanskrit
characters enthroned on a lotus
pedestal within a moon disc, just as main icons were often depicted.
97
Similar ideas can be found in Western medieval concepts of sign, signified, and divine. There are many available
sources on this topic, one being: Janowitz, Naomi.
Icons of Power: Ritual Practices in Late Antiquity. University
Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2002.
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31
order itself.”
98
Patton Burchett expounds on this idea of the Vedic belief of
mantra, which refers
to the melding of Vac’s cosmic phonic energy (vibrations) with the human’s vital energy (breath,
or exhalation).
In this Vedic belief, the entire universe is embodied in sound (word) and the
objects denoted by those sounds.
99
Vac (alt. Vak) refers to either “the Word” or the divine
female embodiment of energy, or both. The duality of Vac’s identity unsurprisingly suggests a
link between word (language) and energy (vibrations). It is both interesting and relevant to note
that the female deity Vac is the consort of Prajnapati, the male embodiment of ultimate reality.
100
Vedic tradition believes that all things are created from their union (the union
of energy and
ultimate reality). Their union suggests an ancient belief in the union of language (human’s
somaticity) and reality.
101
Such a link illustrates possible roots of the belief in Mikkyō that the
Sanskrit
A acts in part as a sign of the realization of reality—the enlightened mind. Like those
ancient Vedic beliefs, which emphasized vibration in relation to language, Kūkai’s texts also
give significance to the somaticity of language, specifically Sanskrit.
In Kukai’s linguistic theory, language derives from voice. The primordial ‘voice’ is the
sound of A, from which all other sounds originate. Likewise, in the Sanskrit writing system all
letters include the A form within them and thus derive from the character A. This mirrors the
concept of the cosmos being an emanation of the Dainichi Buddha (whose
shūji is the Sanskrit
character A).
As the letter A is within every character of the Sanskrit
writing system, so too is
98
Coward, Harold G., and David J. Goa.
Mantra: Hearing the Divine in India and America. New York: Columbia
University Press, 2004, p. 35.
99
Burchett, Patton E. "The 'magical' language of mantra".
Journal of the American Academy of Religion. 2008
: 76
(4): 807-843, p. 822.
100
Kūkai wrote in
The Secret Key to the Heart Sutra (Jp.:
Hannya shingō hiken,
般若心經秘鍵) about a link
between the bodhisattva Prajnaparamita and the
hō mandara (word and sound). In the same text, he composed a
verse that discussed Prajnaparamita as a dharani that “consists of sounds and words…and stands for Reality itself.”
Kūkai, and Yoshito S. Hakeda.
Kūkai: Major Works. New York: Columbia University Press, 1972, p. 273. Kūkai,
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