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specifically Buddhist nature” that have “soteriological power” and, as such,
should not be written
on “impure materials.”
153
Neither should they be destroyed.
154
A study of Sanskrit’s efficacy as
a soteriological tool is necessarily complex, especially due to the polysemic nature of Sanskrit
characters in
Buddhism, but such work has been approached by Fabio Rambelli.
Much of Rambelli’s work on Mikkyō features semiotic study, including his outline of the
transformative nature of Sanskrit characters (signs) as they relate to the concept of
hōben. In the
introduction, I mentioned the two levels of understanding the polysemic nature of the sign.
Rambelli’s work
likewise addresses such levels, but using specific Esoteric Buddhist
terminology. Rambelli analyzes the terms
jisō (字相) and
jigi (字義), explaining that “[
j]
isō
refers to a signification
based on appearances,”
155
or, in more concise terms,
jisō is the
superficial level of understanding the sign where one attaches certain meanings to the sign. In
contrast,
jigi refers to a deep, esoteric meaning (true meaning).
The term jigi, while in some
cases acting as the opposite of
jisō, is also “a meta-term transcending the dichotomy (fallacious
because it results from attachment to false ideas) between
jisō and its contradictory.”
156
Its use
as a meta-term is synonymous with the term unobtainable (Jp.:
fukatoku, 不可得),
referring to
the concept of nonduality. When one can achieve an understanding of the character’s
jigi, then
unobtainability can be understood: “the point at which a sign ceases to be a sign.”
157
Kūkai
himself interpreted these terms slightly differently. In his texts, the
jisō is the idea that each sign
has a single specific meaning and
jigi is the idea that each sign has countless meanings (endless
153
Ibid, p. 123, who states that the translation is based on work by Kushida (Kushida Ryōkō.
Zoku Shingon Mikkyō
seiritsu katei no kenkyū. Tōkyō: Sankibō Busshorin, 1979) and Kodama (Kodama, Giryū.
Bonji de miru Mikkyō:
sono oshie, imi, kakikata. Tōkyō: Daihōrinkaku, 2002)
154
Ibid, p. 123. Rambelli lists ten prohibitions from this document translated into English on this page.
155
Rambelli, “Secrecy in Japanese Esoteric Buddhism,” p. 112.
156
Ibid.
157
Ibid.
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polysemy of the sign).
158
This interpretation, though different from the concepts of
these terms
just mentioned, maintains emphasis on the existence of different semiotic levels of a sign where
one ultimately realizes the nondual (the endlessly polysemic) nature of the sign (
jigi).
Additionally, Kūkai’s interpretation similarly establishes these two semiotic levels as levels of
understanding (with
jigi superseding
jisō) by associating
jisō with exoteric Buddhism (Jp.:
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