Barbarian light

 

So I amused myself by trying to decode a very heavy scholarly essay by Jeffrey Kotyk, with the appealing title “Japanese Buddhist Astrology and Astral Magic: Mikkyo and Sukuyodo”, published in the “Japanese Journal of Religious Studies” and copyrighted in 2018. I admit that I hardly got half of it, but it was still a fascinating read, after a fashion. My man Kotyk might be on to something! Perhaps he has a good horoscope?

Apparently, contemporary Japanese astrology is called sukuyo and is attributed to Kukai, the medieval founder of the esoteric Buddhist sect known as Shingon. However, this form of astrology is evidently fully modern and has very little to do with “real” Japanese astrology from the actual Middle Ages (to use European terminology). Kotyk argues that there were two distinct forms of astrology during the period in question. He calls them Mikkyo Astrology and Sukuyodo. The former is part and parcel of esoteric Buddhist practice, while the latter could be regarded as “standard” astrology, including natal horoscopes, predictions of wealth and success for prominent individuals, etc.

Mikkyo Astrology, as should be evident by its name (Mikkyo being the Japanese word for Vajrayana or esoteric Tantric Buddhism), was introduced to Japan from China by Shingon and Tendai monks, including the aforementioned Kukai. The two prominent Tendai monks Ennin and Enchin were two other transmitters. Mikkyo Astrology is based on highly complex Chinese manuals which in turn go back to Indian sources. It was necessary to correctly time various esoteric rituals. Of course, “Vedic” astrology in its turn is heavily influenced by Greek astrology. Mikkyo Astrology also includes astral magic, including worship of planetary deities, to ward off disasters forecasted in the horoscopes. Kotyk therefore regards this form of astrology as non-fatalistic. 

While the system is Indian in origin, the author has also identified Iranian elements in the Chinese sources. These in turn can be traced further back, to Greek or Egyptian sources. The icon of Saturn used in these texts is “Iranian-Mesopotamian” rather than Indian. During the later Tang period in China, the cult of Saturn (seen as a malefic planet to be appeased) became prominent among both Buddhists and Taoists. The main feature of the astral magic, however, is presumably Indian in origin: the cult of a bodhisattva referred to by modern scholars as Tejaprabha (a name unattested in any Sanskrit source). This powerful figure was worshipped when heavenly anomalies disturbed the peaceful skies, such as comets appearing in the “lunar mansion” associated with the incumbent ruler. To complicate the criss-crossing lines of cultural influence even further, Mikkyo Astrology in Japan also interacted with Onmyodo, a school of divination indebted to Taoism. Its practitioners worshipped the Big Dipper as yet another example of astral magic.

Sukuyodo seems to have been originally connected somehow to Onmyodo, but later became an independent lineage or school (or actually several). It had strong support in the medieval Japanese aristocracy. What makes Sukuyodo interesting to the author is that it must be derived from Chinese sources dependent not on any Indian source, but on Iranian sources the contents of which goes back to the Hellenistic astrologer Dorotheus. The lore itself can be traced even further back, to Alexandria or even Babylonia. One intriguing fact is that Sukuyodo used the tropical zodiac (also used in ancient Greek and modern Western astrology) while “Vedic” astrology uses the sidereal zodiac. The positions of the star signs are somewhat different in the two versions. Even Indian traits in Sukuyodo, such as the use of the imaginary planets Rahu and Ketu (actually the lunar nodes) in horoscopes could come from Iranian sources, since these had evidently taken up the practice. What makes all this important is that it could point to a previously unknown path of cultural diffusion from the Near East to China and Japan (without passing India). The author wonders aloud whether music or medicine could have followed this path of transmission, too.

What he doesn´t mention is the profoundly humbling effect all of this should have on Chinese and Japanese nationalists. Much of their “unique” cultures really come from “barbarians”, including the White devils. If they will ever admit it, is another thing entirely. Ex *Occidente* Lux? White Boy Summer is a thing!