“O Lord of Secrets, what is bodhi?”
                       “It is to know one’s own mind as it truly is.”

Shugendo (修験道) is a Dharma tradition characterised by combinatory ritual-practice and mountain-asceticism. At its basic level, Shugendo refers to a path of cultivation and the testimony of wakefulness.

Buddha-Dharma is a teaching of the Middle Way concerned with developing right-aspiration, self-scrutiny, discernment and insight (right-view) in regard to cause and effect, the nature of reality (self and phenomena), with 'knowing one's own mind as it truly is', and with addressing epistemological and phenomenological misunderstandings in regard to duḥkha. Among the various doorways and vehicles of the Buddha-Dharma, Shugen can be said to be an expression of the Mahāyāna conception of the One Vehicle, orientated towards the cultivation of the Bodhisattva path, built upon the bedrock of what can be referred to as (pre-Buddhist) mountain-faith.

Shugendo's defining methods are based around periodic retreats involving the ritual entering of the mountain-as-maṇḍala. The Shugen dharma-lineage of mountain-asceticism (buchū-hōryū) sees practitioners undertake a range of arduous trainings and abhiṣekas. Although each sect maintains diversity in the ways that these are practiced, they are all undertaken with the purpose of bringing practitioners towards experiential-testimony. This is referred to as the training of the ten realms, five stages, three barriers and three crossings. Shugen can be said to possess, in the words of Riten Tanaka, a glocal outlook, combining both global/universal and localised/particular approaches to doctrine, faith and practice. 

Another important aspect of Shugendo is that it is a tradition orientated towards the lay-householder, though formal paths of commitment into novice-ordination (tokudō) and initiation (kanjō / abhiṣeka) do exist. In the gate of ordination, retreat is complimented and deepened through the anchor of specific forms of training (kegyō/sādhanā) taught in the context of the mentor-disciple relationship. These include various altar practices, such as homa and pūjā.

Due to Shugen's historical intertwining with esoteric-Buddhism (East Asian Tantra/Vajrayāna), abhiṣeka, sādhanā and the direct mentor-disciple relationship are paramount. The esoteric approach  - an expression of the Mahāyāna orientation - is characterised by yoga; the adhiṣṭhāna of the three-mysteries and the practices of the principal-image.

To quote the 87th generation Haguro Shōdaisendatsu:

"In the present age, in which religion itself is falling into decline, those involved in religious thought themselves must give careful attention to the various problems that religion carries as the first step in protecting the Dharma, and daily diligence is required. The ultimate aim of Shugen is the realisation of peace and to establish one's course of life in accord with the teachings. This being the case, what is required through training is to look deeply into the ambiguity of one's own existence, to realise what is termed buddha-nature, and - within all aspects of daily life - to establish and maintain the composure of that awareness; upholding an attitude and Way that one makes into one’s own practice and training. This involves constant self-scrutiny, questioning oneself, and walking step by step without losing one's footing. It is absolutely not a matter of hazy states of meditative intoxication, drifting consciousness, mystical experiences, or other extraordinary sensations of gods or buddhas."

Questions are welcome.