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Shingon Magic
Jun. 5th, 2012 11:14 amRecently, this "Zen Master" Andrew Wilson threatened my temple with "Shingon Magic."
He removed his "Shingon magic" threat from his blog after I started making fun of it on Twitter. *cough* You see, the temple practices Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism.
Shingon is the Japanese version of Vajrayana Buddhism.
Shingon Magic
The Seattle Koyasan Buddhist Church is only one of three Shingon centers of this tradition in the United States, begun as a missionary temple (i) in typical Buddhist fashion. Shingon was founded in 804 CE by Kukai (Kobo Daishi) during the classical Heian period in Japan.(ii) Shingon focuses on the Mahavairocana Sutra and the Vajrasekhara Sutra,(iii) brought to Japan from China by Kukai during the T'ang Dynasty, just fifty years before the destruction of Chinese esoteric Buddhism and subsequent rise of Neo-Confucianism under the Song.
According to Seattle Koyasan's priest, Shingon is a "cousin of Tibetan Buddhism."(iv) Although it has had centuries to adapt to Japanese culture, it is also the nearest descendent of the Chinese vajrayana tradition that flourished under the T'ang. It has not enjoyed the same popularity among Americans as Japanese Zen or Tibetan Buddhism. There are few translations of Shingon texts into English, and those that exist are deemed to be of low quality.(v) With services mostly in Japanese, the Seattle Koyasan Buddhist Church is clearly aimed at the American Japanese community.( Read more... )
If Wilson knows so little about Shingon "magic", which he claimed to practice ... how likely is he to be a real zen master?
He removed his "Shingon magic" threat from his blog after I started making fun of it on Twitter. *cough* You see, the temple practices Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism.
Shingon is the Japanese version of Vajrayana Buddhism.
Shingon Magic
The Seattle Koyasan Buddhist Church is only one of three Shingon centers of this tradition in the United States, begun as a missionary temple (i) in typical Buddhist fashion. Shingon was founded in 804 CE by Kukai (Kobo Daishi) during the classical Heian period in Japan.(ii) Shingon focuses on the Mahavairocana Sutra and the Vajrasekhara Sutra,(iii) brought to Japan from China by Kukai during the T'ang Dynasty, just fifty years before the destruction of Chinese esoteric Buddhism and subsequent rise of Neo-Confucianism under the Song.
According to Seattle Koyasan's priest, Shingon is a "cousin of Tibetan Buddhism."(iv) Although it has had centuries to adapt to Japanese culture, it is also the nearest descendent of the Chinese vajrayana tradition that flourished under the T'ang. It has not enjoyed the same popularity among Americans as Japanese Zen or Tibetan Buddhism. There are few translations of Shingon texts into English, and those that exist are deemed to be of low quality.(v) With services mostly in Japanese, the Seattle Koyasan Buddhist Church is clearly aimed at the American Japanese community.( Read more... )
If Wilson knows so little about Shingon "magic", which he claimed to practice ... how likely is he to be a real zen master?
