Rev. Kokai Shimazu (Yamagata Prefecture)

Translated and Edited by Jishō Schroer

In the current day there are two mountain-entry rituals performed each year under the banner of 'Haguro Shugendo': the first is organised by Dewasanzan Shrine (Jinja) which stripped the ritual of it's Buddhist and Shugendo elements following the Meiji period persecution (the 'Shinto' version). The second is the mountain-entry performed at Kōtakuji-Shozenin which (often with great difficulty) retained its ancient combinatory practices. His Holiness, Kokai Shimazu, is the previous head-priest of this version (often labelled the 'Buddhist' version) conducted by Haguro Shugen Honshu (Kotakuji-Shozenin).

"When exploring the essence of human life, it is first necessary to understand human beings. The cosmology of Shugendo incorporates the world-view of Esoteric-Buddhism and the mandalic view of the universe. It can be said that Shugendo is a path to finding a way of life from the point of view that this world constitutes the realm of the Buddha. This realm is projected onto the mountains as reality, not just in fantasy. The mandala of the mountain which forms the basis of Shugendo is a method to experience the universe itself as the Dharmakaya. This is the true purpose of Shugendo.

A true practitioner brings the Buddhadharma to life no matter where they are; this is the practice of a Bodhisattva. In the world-view of Shugendo, the five great elements of earth, water, fire, wind and space and their corresponding seed-syllables are the arrangement of all aspects of nature, revealing the seasons, directions, colours visible to to the human eye, as well as the five limbs, five organs, five senses and so on which arrange human beings themselves. Through the five Tathagatas it is revealed that the whole world, that which is experienced as inside and outside, all constitutes the continuous workings of the Tathagata's wisdom and compassion. By realising all things to be a blessing of the five-element stupa, the mandala of the universe (that is, the dharmadhatu), we can accept things just as they are, including the rigors and severity of nature and fear towards things unknown...

From this you may understand that Shugendo naturally fosters and nurtures a spirit which cherishes great nature as irreplaceable. One of the most important teachings transmitted to those practicing at Haguro Shugen's Arasawa-ji temple is, 'the buddhahood of all things in the land, including plants and trees'. Practitioners learn to hold even a single plant as precious, as a living being with a buddha-nature equal to that of themselves."

— ubasoku |  what is shugendo?