Saturday, July 27, 2019

Pilgrimage to pantheism




“Pilgrimage to Koyasan” is a slow-paced (some would say boring) documentary about Koyasan in Japan, a temple complex recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Koyasan was originally founded by the Buddhist monk Kukai (Kobo-Daishi) during the 9th century. Kobo-Daishi was the creator of Shingon, the most esoteric of the Japanese Buddhist sects (also known as Orthodox Esoteric Buddhism and originally a Vajrayana lineage introduced to China by Indian monks). 

The documentary shows most of the important sites at Koyasan, with the exception of Kobo-Daishi´s mausoleum, where taking photos is prohibited. Pilgrims, monks and causal visitors fill the area. Inside the temples, there are statues of Vairocana (the “god” of Shingon) and other cosmic buddhas, and also of Hindu-looking wrathful deities. 

It´s obvious from the description that Shingon has strong similarities to Advaita Vedanta, since the goal is to realize that “the Buddha” is really in your mind (i.e. it´s the Atman), and that the mind of the Buddha, you and all sentient beings is the same. This is connected to the belief in the Dharmakaya, the cosmic body of the Buddha, similar to the Brahman in Hinduism. Vairocana is purely symbolic in nature, since in this system, everything is divine, and the divine is ultimately impersonal. 

Thus, we are dealing with another form of Eastern pantheism. Some people find it profound. I just find it depressing, a kind of worship of the fallen world as “God”. Why the instinctive religion of mankind has to be “esoteric” is beyond me. Perhaps the meditation techniques are too dangerous to ordinary monads?

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