Kukai

Kukai or Kobo-Daishi (k`kī, kō`bō-dī`shē), 774–835, Japanese priest, scholar, and artist, founder of the Shingon or "True Word" sect of Buddhism. Of aristocratic birth, he studied the Chinese classics as a young man, but left the university and became a wandering ascetic, eventually making a commitment to Buddhism. He was (804–806) a member of a Japanese embassy to T'ang China, where he studied the Buddhist Tantra. He returned to Japan with many scriptures and art objects and was honored by the emperor. In 816 he founded the Kongobuji monastery on Mt. Koya, S of Kyoto. Kukai is famous as a calligrapher and is said to have invented (on the model of Sanskrit) hiragana, the syllabary in which, in combination with Chinese characters, Japanese is written. Mt. Koya is still a center of pilgrimage, and there is a folk belief that Kukai, who is buried there, is not dead but in deep meditation and will one day rise again.

Bibliography

See collection of his major works ed. by Y. Hakeda (1972).

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Kukai

 or Kobo Daishi

(born July 27, 774, Byobugaura, Japan—died April 22, 835, Mount Koya) Japanese Buddhist saint and founder of the Shingon school. Born into an aristocratic family, Kukai was given a Confucian education but soon converted to Buddhism. After studying in China (804–806) with Huiguo (746–805), he returned home to spread his doctrines, which emphasized magic formulas, ceremonials, and services for the dead. In 816 he built a temple on Mount Koya, and he helped to establish the Shingon sect as one of the most popular forms of Japanese Buddhism. His major work, Ten Stages of Consciousness, traces the development of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, representing Shingon as the highest stage. He was also a gifted poet, artist, and calligrapher.