David Gardiner - Kūkai: Japanese Buddhism's first Vajrayāna visionary
190 viewsApr 5, 2022
Mangalam Research Center
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While it is widely recognized that Mahāyāna sutra literature is replete with wild imagery, supernormal events and visions of celestial and earthly delights, the presence of creative, visionary language in śāstra or commentarial literature is not commonly acknowledged. And yet, the distinction between these literary genres hardly fits the contours of a neat mythopoeic vs. logo-centric split. Exploring the writings of the 9th century monk Kūkai, we will examine some of the riches of Mahāyāna imagination in its early Japanese Vajrayāna manifestation. Here, the force of metaphor, myth and creative enthusiasm abound, as Kūkai strives to imbue the world of ancient Japan with the adornments of esoteric Buddhist thought and practice.
David Gardiner, (he/him) is Associate Professor of Religion at Colorado College, where he has taught since 1998. He specializes in the life and works of Kūkai (774-835). Introduced to the study of Buddhism by Prof. Robert Thurman at Amherst College, he completed doctoral studies at Stanford and has spent many years doing research in Japan. Having published many articles and book chapters, his first book on Kūkai, with the same title as this talk is expected to come out in 2022. He is working on two other books, one a translation and study of Kūkai’s Treatise on the Two Teachings: Exoteric and Esoteric, and the other on the functions of myth, metaphor and narrative in Buddhist thought and practice, with a focus on Kūkai.
