Kuukai and the Rishukyo: It’s meaningless- This guy is an idiot (Esoteric Buddhism-1)
The sect that Kuukai founded is a major sect of esoteric Buddhism called Shingon Buddhism, and its temples are scattered throughout Japan. One time, I went to see a Shingon sect festival in my area. One word: gorgeous! It was a truly spectacular ceremony that made effective use of lanterns.
Now, after looking at it and thinking about it, I concluded that it was "too gorgeous!!" The Shingon sect seems to hold extravagant festivals without exception. Looking back, the scene when Kukai received the transmission ceremony from his master Huiguo in Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty where esoteric Buddhism was popular, can only be described as gorgeous. Surrounded by brightly colored ornaments, Kukai threw flowers at the Buddhas, and childishly, the Buddha would unite with the guardian deity of the Buddha whom he had thrown. He became a Tathagata.
If you want to convey the state of enlightenment, a more modest ceremony should be sufficient. Not doing so seems like a desire to "protect the nation," a desire to bypass personal salvation (enlightenment) and become involved in the fate of the nation. Shingon Buddhism is the perfect way to demonstrate the power of the nation. In other words, it's a "bluff".
Another point of contention is the strange description of Rishukyo, one of the fundamental scriptures of the Shingon sect. What it says is that when a young man and woman get to know each other, love develops, and they embrace each other with feelings that reach heaven, they are at the ``bodhisattva level'' (purity). In normal Buddhism, romantic feelings between men and women are usually excluded, so the description in the Rishūkyō stands out.
When it comes to human love, it's normal for two people to end up on the other side, and the scary situation of a love triangle often occurs. The moment a loved one of the opposite sex is abducted by someone of the same sex, the person concerned falls into hell instead of heaven. A bodhisattva quickly turns into a sinner in hell. As someone who has experienced this bitter love triangle, I declare that the Rishukyo sutra is falsehood. Kuukai is an idiot who made this the basic scripture.
Rei Morishia