Kūkai on the Light Pūjā Ritual. Kūkai. Takano no yama mantōe no ganmon, Trans. by Maksim V. Os’kin

Abstract

Among the works of the Japanese Buddhist teacher Kūkai (774–835), not only treatises deserve attention, but also small works written on the occasion of vari­ous rites. In them, the basic provisions of Tantrism (mikkyō) are applied to ex­plain the meaning of the ritual and its significance for the community. The article considers one of such works: Ganmon at the offering-pūjā of ten thousand lamps on Mount Takano (Takano no yama mantōe no ganmon, 832). At the beginning, Kukai speaks here about the universal law of causality, arguing that both suffer­ing and liberation have a cause, after which he praises the Buddha Mahā­vairochana, whose light is able to dispel all obstacles on the path to enlighten­ment. Then the ritual itself is described – the offering of ten thousand lamps and flowers. Kūkai also talks about plans for the future: to regularly perform the cer­emony once a year and follow their vows until all living beings are freed from the cycle of rebirth. This is followed by a good wish – Kūkai hopes for the effec­tiveness of the rite and wishes all living things to achieve liberation, after which he says that his benefactors are all living beings. Thus, he performs parinama (“direction of merit”), turning the beneficial effects of the ritual to the benefit of all living things.