Encyclopedia of Buddhism Volume One A -L Robert E. Buswell

K U KAI
Sa, Chaedong. A Study of the History of Korean Narrative Literature
(Han’guk sŏsa munhak ŭi yŏn’gu), 5 vols. Taejon, Korea:
Chungang munhwasa, 1995.
Shim, Jae-ryong. Korean Buddhism: Tradition and Transformation.
Seoul: Jimmundang, 1999.
A Study of Korean Buddhist Literature (Han’guk Pulgyo munhak
yŏn’gu), 2 vols. Seoul: Han’guk Munhak Yŏn’guso, Dongguk
University Press, 1988.
Yi, Sŭngjae. “The Philological Meaning of Symbol Letters”
(Puhoja ŭi munjaron chŏk ŭiŭi). In Studies of the Korean
Language (Kugŏhak) 38 (2001): 89–116.
KUIJI
JONGMYUNG KIM
Kuiji (Dasheng Ji, Ci’en Dashi; 632–682) was the
dharma-name of a prominent Tang dynasty (618–907)
scholar and monk. Scion of a family of politically powerful
generals, Kuiji was orphaned as a young child and
ordained in his teens. Assigned to the imperially sponsored
translation team of the renown pilgrim-monk
XUANZANG (ca. 600–664), Kuiji soon established himself
as one of Xuanzang’s most capable protégés. After
Xuanzang’s death, Kuiji went on to write a series of
voluminous commentaries and doctrinal essays based
on his understanding of the Dharmapala lineage of
Indian vijñaptimatra-yogacara philosophy. He was
posthumously designated the first patriarch of what
was eventually styled the FAXIANG SCHOOL of Chinese
Buddhism, which represented the second main transmission
of the YOGACARA SCHOOL into East Asia.
Kuiji’s presentation of vijñaptimatra-yogacara
thought was based principally on the Cheng weishi
lun, a translation of VASUBANDHU’s fourth-century
Trim śika (Thirty Verses), substantially supplemented
with a selective synopsis of ten Indian commentaries.
This work was officially a product of Xuanzang’s translation
project, although its preface indicates the key
role Kuiji played in selecting and adjudicating the various
doctrinal controversies excerpted from the divergent
Indian commentarial traditions. The result was a
highly technical and doctrinally conservative presentation
of Yogacara thought, one very different from, and
in conflict with, the PARAMARTHA school of Yogacara
thought already popular in China. This, coupled with
the fickleness of imperial patronage after Xuanzang’s
death, led to the eventual decline of Kuiji’s influence,
a fate already evident during the latter part of his life
as his main rival FAZANG (643–712) rose in prominence
under the sponsorship of the royal consort, who
was eventually to declare herself the Empress Wu.
Bibliography
Sponberg, Alan. “Meditation in Fa-hsiang Buddhism.” In Traditions
of Meditation in Chinese Buddhism, ed. Peter N. Gregory.
Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1987.
KU KAI
ALAN SPONBERG
Kukai (774–835) was a ninth-century Japanese figure
renowned for his introduction of esoteric Buddhism
into early Heian society. In his youth Kukai studied
Confucianism and Chinese literature at Daigaku, the
state college. But he soon dropped out of Daigaku and
joined a throng of privately ordained priests and nuns
(shido so ), and he avidly trained in Buddhism. In 804,
at age thirty-one, Kukai hastily received official
ORDINATION and was chosen to be part of the Japanese
diplomatic mission to Tang China. Under the
guidance of Master Huikou (746–805) of Qinglongsi
in the capital city of Chang’an, Kukai studied a
system of esoteric Buddhism grounded in the
Mahavairocana-su tra (Japanese, Dainichikyo ) and the
Tattvasam graha or Vajraśekhara-su tra (or Tantra;
Japanese, Kongo cho kyo ). Shortly after Huikou’s death,
Kukai returned to Japan, carrying with him over 210
new Buddhist scriptures.
Kukai was the first to invent a paradigm for separating
esoteric and exoteric Buddhism (Ben kenmitsu
nikyo ron) and then to understand their complementary
relationship (Hannya shingyo hiken, Himitsu mandara
ju ju shinron). Kukai’s creation of a theory of ritual
language (Sho ji jisso gi, Unjigi) enabled the early Heian
clergy to achieve integration between their textual
studies and ritual practices, and accelerated their adoption
of esoteric Buddhism. Kukai also founded the Latter
Seven-Day rite (Goshichinichi mishiho ), the New
Year esoteric Buddhist ceremony at the palace, and the
ritual service aimed at legitimating the Japanese ruler
as a cakravartin (wheel-turning monarch). Kukai’s ritual
initiated the rapid integration of esoteric Buddhist
rites into the ceremonies of the royal court, a process
that led to the rise of Buddhism as the dominant ideology
of the state. In medieval Japan, Kukai became
one of the most popular Buddhist saints; he was worshiped
as a savior who lived on in his seat of endless
meditation on Mount Koya.
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