The Weaving of Mantra: Kukai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse

By Ryuichi Abe

Book Overview

Ry ichi Ab presents the most thorough and innovative study to date on the Buddhist figure K kai (774 - 835) -- one that constitutes a radically different approach to the research on early Japanese religious history. K kai is generally credited with the formal establishment of tantric -- or esoteric -- Buddhism in Japan and as the founder of the Shingon school of Buddhism. Ab contends that the importance of K kai's transmission of esoteric Buddhism to Japan lay not in the foundation of a new sect but in his creation of a general theory of language grounded in the ritual speech of mantra.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231112874
• ISBN13: 9780231112871
• Release Date: October 2000
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 620 Pages
• Weight: 1.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 22 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher