My odyssey
through hard-to-understand scholarly essays on the ins and outs of esoteric
Buddhist astrology continues. This time with a 2022 article in the journal
“Religions”, written by Jeffrey Kotyk. The title of the piece is “Astronomy and
Calendrical Science in Early Mikkyo in Japan: Challenges and Adaptations”.
Mikkyo is the Japanese term for esoteric or Tantric Buddhism, here also called
Mantrayana. The time period in question is the Early Middle Ages (by our
quasi-calendrical reckoning).
Buddhism
originated in India and astrology was part of its canonical lore. For instance,
monastic meetings were to be scheduled on astrologically auspicious days. In
China, this system was “translated” according to Chinese astrology, but many
other aspects of the Indian system were never implemented. They were treated as
canonical lore, but with no practical application. The planets were not
believed to impede enlightenment or have any influence on the bodhisattva path.
This changed when Mantrayana was introduced in China and Japan. Suddenly, a
detailed knowledge of astrology became absolutely necessary. The goal of
Mantrayana was to reach bodhisattvahood in the present lifetime, and for this
to take place, various complex esoteric rituals had to be carried out according
to Indian calendric calculations. Even in China, information on Indian
astronomy and astrology was difficult to come by, and in Japan it was almost
impossible. Yet, a knowledge of astrology was absolutely central to the Tantric
path. Mandalas had to be created at exactly the right dates. The mandala was
itself astrological in character, with the planets, zodiacal signs and lunar
mansions aiding the process to reach “bodhi”.
As already
mentioned, the article is quite hard to follow, but my understanding is that –
strictly speaking – the Mikkyo practitioners *didn´t* find a satisfactory solution
to their problems. They simply devised a new “abstract” system not based on
astronomical observations and calculations to find the “right” dates for their
rituals. The main Chinese sources used by the Japanese were moreover very
eclectic and hence already some steps removed from the “Vedic” original. Mikkyo
Astrology did use a seven-day week (the Shingon founder Kukai is credited with
introducing it to Japan), but that was the only “Indian” trait used. It was not
really used for advanced time-keeping, but to place religious festivals on
auspicious days.
That being
said, the Chinese and Japanese sources are nevertheless very interesting. Some
illustrations in them seem to show jinn, when Indian sources show Hindu gods
instead. (In other works, the author has argued that Chinese astrologers had
access to Iranian sources independent of the Indian ones, containing Hellenistic
star lore.) Also, there is no understanding of what star constellations the
signs of the zodiac refer to. Somewhat ironically, the icons illustrating the zodiacal
signs are fairly “correct”. For instance, one of the icons is a satyr-like
bowman, obviously a reference to Sagittarius. In Indian astrology, exact astronomical
knowledge of the zodiac and its signs was a necessary part of casting
horoscopes, but in Mikkyo, this knowledge was lost. It wasn´t until a few centuries
later, with the introduction of Sukuyodo (a more “regular” form of astrology),
that this was remedied, but that´s another story.
Not sure
who is even interested in stuff like this outside my little zodiac on the web,
but I suppose it does raise one question for true believers in Tantrism: did
any Shingon or Tendai practitioner ever become a bodhisattva during this lifetime,
if this requires a detailed knowledge of Indian astrology and even astronomy? And
why on earth (pun intended) would that be necessary for a true spiritual
super-man in the first place?
With that,
I close this little discussion.
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