What is Shugendo? A Simple Introduction 

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 mind as it truly is', and with addressing epistemological 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. In the Haguro lineage inherited by our head-temple, 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.

Questions are welcome.