Talk:Shingon Buddhism

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Japan To-do:

Chen Yen is Wade-Giles; the modern pinyin rendering is Zhen Yan. Perhaps it would be better to use only pinyin as that has come to be the standard system of representing Chinese.

Similarly Hua Yan (not Hua Yen) for Kegon.

[edit] Origins in Indian and China

Would it not be possible at some point to write in this article about the Indian and chinese origins of this sect as well as mentioning the Chinese Escotric Buddhist sects in China today. for example:- Hanmi Buddhism: Mystery School of Amoghavajra http://www.darirulai.org/ and Jin-Gang-Dhyana http://www.jingangdhyanaincnet.org/ecrindex.html

[edit] Mistake

Shingon is not a school within Vajrayana Buddhism. It is similar in many ways, but describing it as a sub-school of Vajrayana is not accurate. It was imported to Japan prior to the full rise of the tantra system, and is notably vocal in distancing itself from Vajrayana practice. More accurately Shingon is a school within non-tantric Mahayana practice. Notably, the Shingon website listed as a source does not describe itself as Vajrayana.

See the books Shingon: Japanese Esoteric Buddhism by Taiko Yamasaki and Tantra in Practice Yeah someone somewhere described it as predating Tibetan Buddhism yet Vajrayana Buddhism arrived in Tibet centuries before Buddhism was established in japan.

I recently asked a Shingon Priest at Koyasan about this very topic (is Shingon Vajrayana or not) and he said it really depended on what you define as Vajrayana. If you list specific tantras as requisite of Vajrayana, then yes, Shingon does not fit this criteria as specific Tibetan tantras are missing. However, if you define Vajrayana by its esoteric nature, and the fact that it does have tantra, then it a branch of Vajrayana Buddhism. You could call it a branch of esoteric Mahayana Buddhism, but Tibetan Buddhism could fit this same mold as well. In general, people have different ideas on what constitutes Vajrayana, but one thing is clear: Shingon definitely represents a similar, but older version of what later became Tibetan Buddhism. Kukai's lineage comes from India ultimately, and many of the same esoteric sutras are used, even if the interpretation varies slightly. --Ph0kin 15:06, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

zh:真言宗 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Atrip (talk • contribs) 15:11, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Kongojo?

Surely 金剛乗 is the Japanese reading of Vajrayana in general, not just Shingon itself? I've moved it over to Vajrayana. Jpatokal (talk) 22:46, 21 December 2007 (UTC)