Kukai
The eminent monk who went to Tang China to seek the Dharma and founded the Shingon school, and a giant in the history of Japanese calligraphy and culture.
Life
Boy from Shikoku
Kukai came from a powerful local family in Sanuki on Shikoku. As a youth he went to the capital to study, but later abandoned Confucianism for Buddhism and practiced austerities in the mountains and forests.
Went to Tang China to seek the Dharma
In 804 he went to Tang China with a Japanese embassy, studied esoteric Buddhism under Huiguo at Qinglong Temple in Chang'an, received the orthodox transmission, and returned to Japan in 806. He founded Kongobu-ji on Mount Koya, presided over To-ji in Kyoto, and established the Shingon school, enjoying the deep trust of Emperor Saga. He also founded the Shugei Shuchiin, a school open to commoners.
Mount Koya
A master calligrapher, he was ranked with Emperor Saga and Tachibana no Hayanari as the "Three Brushes," and he wrote "Bunkyo Hifuron," a treatise on Chinese poetry and prose. In 835 he entered eternal meditation on Mount Koya, and he was given the posthumous title Kobo Daishi.
Legacy
Kukai is revered as Kobo Daishi, and the pilgrimage to 88 temples on Shikoku remains Japan's most famous pilgrimage route.
Major works & achievements
- "Bunkyo Hifuron"
- "Sango Shiiki"
Did you know? There is a popular Japanese saying, "Even Kobo sometimes slips with the brush," roughly equivalent to "Even the wisest man makes the occasional mistake."
Key dates
- 804Went to Tang China with a Japanese embassy
- 805Studied under Huiguo in Chang'an
- 806Returned to Japan
- 816Founded the monastery on Mount Koya
- 823Granted the To-ji temple
- 835Entered eternal meditation on Mount Koya