face.

However, there is a chance that the most intimidating of enemies may topple forward onto the ground at your feet if you merely alter your position by a few inches or degrees of angle at just the right moment. In that sense, to say we prefer to "adapt" rather than to "make forward advancements" hits the mark.

Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi of Noda-shi. Japan, is the grandmaster of rhe nine historical warrior traditions that make up the foundation fo the Kasumi-An martial arts training program.

Indian Roots of Mikkyo

by Rev. C . Jikai Choffy Mikkyo is the Japanese ~ ~ a j r a ~ a n a "diamond vehicle" spiritual practice historically associated with feudal Japan's ninja warrior families. Originally an Indian development, the Japanese vajrayana method has been preserved and handed down by two distinct lineages in Japan for almost 1,200 years. The Tendai tradition was brought back from China in 805 by the scholar priest Saicho, later known as Dengyo Daishi, the founder of the temple complex atop Mt. Hiei. Thc Shingon tradition was brought back in 806 by Saicho's fellow traveller Kukai, later known as Kobo Daishi, who established his center atop Mt. Koya. The main theory behind the practice of Mikkyo is based on studying the truth of our human experience as our approach to the realization of universal ultimate truth. n - e use a method h n u - n as reaching for the attainment of sarnnirsu. or "triple secrets' alignment, to brine about the realization w i n r e d . This three-way awakening to ultimate truth is possible by means of taking charge of our inner vision ("how we see things" ). our speech ("how we understand and communicate things"), and our actions ("how we bring things about"). We must work to bring our personal thoughts, communications. and actions into harmony with those of a grander universal ideal as "role model . This alignment of personal direction with that of grander universal truth occurs through a process known as adhisthana in the original Sanskrit. and kaji in Japanese. Through this kaji, the "grace of Mahavairocana (or
a

Dainichi Nyorai in Japanese)' ' or "willingness of grander truth to be known" makes it possible for us to see through our human limitations and go on to "awakened consciousness". In other words, Mahavairocana as the dharmakaya "body of essential ultimate universal truth" communicates its truth to us in a way that we can apprehend it if we try. The vajrayana teachings, known as Mikkyo in Japan, were developed in northern India, and were only later carried on to China, Japan, ~ o n g i i a ,and Tibet. In ancient India, the greatest teaching center for these vajrayana doctrines and practices was a thousand years before it was finally burned Nalanda University, which lasted for almost to the ground by Moslem invaders who swept into India with their Islamic tradition. By the time of that destruction, however, the vajra~anateachings had been transmitted successfully on to the rest of Asia. Much of the lore that came to be known as Japanese Mikkyo was carried from India 1 to China by an Indian master of vajrayana known as V&&,adhi. Trained at Nalanda e University from childhood and motivated to carry the enlightenment teachings to the world outside of India, Vajrabodhi arrived in China in 719, having travelled through Java and Sri Lanka. While on the island of Java, Vajrabodhi first met the man who was to become his devoted disciple, Amoghavajra, to whom he transmitted the esoteric vajrayana initiations. Later, " Amoghavajra joined his teacher Vajrabodhi in China. where the senior teacher Vajrabodhi taught until his death in the year 74 1. Amoghavajra staled on in China himself, spending the rest esoteric texts and among Chinese practitioners student Huiko eventually became the teacher of Kukai. who then went on to establish the Japanese Shingon Mikkyo tradition of Mt. Koya in the year 806. Subhakarasimha was another In master of vajrayana who left India to teac in China. He arrived in China in the year 7 16. at the advanced age of eighty years old. He is credited with the major work of translating the Mahavairocana Sutra (known as the Dainichi Kyo in the Japanese language)

from its original Indian script into the Chinese language. He died in China at the age of ninety-nine. The first Chinese patriarch of the esoteric vajrayana school in China was I-hsing, who had received direct instruction from both of the Indian teachers Vairabodhi and Subhakarasimha. From I-h&ng and other ers of the practice and doctrines, the vajrayana tradition was handed on to Japanese masters who then in turn took the lineage on to Japan.

Rev. Jikai is a retired American university professor. He was ordained as a Tendai Mikkyo priest atop Mt. Hiei in Japan, in the summer of 1975. He in turn authorized the ordination of Nine Gates Institute founder Stephen K. Hayes. He can be reached by letter: Rev. C. Jikai Choffy, Tendai Kongosatta-In, PO Box 212, Cape Girardeau, MO 63702.