August 07, 2005
The Samaya
A Glance at Mikkyo
On the Three-Fold Training
Recently, I accidentally learned a little about the Esoteric branch of Buddhism known as Shingon or Mikkyo in Japan, and Vajra or Tantra in Sanskrit. First, there is a side to Tantra that I consider unworthy of serious consideration. I am not even going there.
Also, I think the secret Samaya of Mikkyo runs counter to the Universal Salvation message of the Lotus Sutra. If Saicho {Dengyo Daishi} violated the oath; as Kukai (Kobo Daishi) alleged, bully for Saicho! If I still consumed adult beverages, I would drink to that.
"The scribes and Pharisees received the keys of understanding, and hid them. They did not enter, nor allowed entrance to those who so wished. Be wise as serpents, and innocent as doves." -- Attributed to Jesus; Gospels of Thomas; Nancy Johnson translation.
Definitions of Samaya on the Web:
(Sanskrit) [from sam together + the verbal root i (aya) to go] A coming together, meeting together, a compact, treaty, agreement. Also convention, law, rule, practice, precept, doctrine. In a religious sense, a regular ritualistic observance or religious obligation, combined with the accompanying precepts or instruction. www.theosociety.org/pasadena/etgloss/sam-saq.htm
(Tib. dam sig) The vows or commitments made in the vajrayana which can be to a teacher or to a practice. www.kagyubuddhist.org/glossary.htm
(Skt. / Tib. damtsig): Literally, "promise." The sacred vow which binds the vajrayana practitioner to his or her teacher and yidam. The practitioner pledges and commits to keep certain vows and perform certain practices. http://www.bodhipath-west.org/glossary.htm
Samayas are commitments engendered by the links between a practitioner and the teachings.
http://www.friendsoftheheart.com/meditation_resources/left/glossary.shtml
Posted by rbeck at August 6, 2005 10:47 PM
Comments Follow:
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Hi Robin:
My understanding is that Samaya refers specifically to a group of vows that are particular to Vajrayana practice. Vajrayana doctrinally divides silla/ethics into three systems of commitments or vows.
The first are the pratimoksha vows of a monastic, and also include the five lay precepts. The second are the Bodhisattva Vows. There are several systems of Bodhisattva Vows. In China the T'ien T'ai tradition advocated the use of the Bodhisattva Precepts from the Mahayana Brahma's Net Sutra. This is a system of 10 major and 48 minor precpets. Nichiren would have been familiar with these through his Tendai training. In Tibet there is a somewhat different system of Bodhisattva Vows. I don't know the Sutra source for these.
The third series of commitments, from the Vajrayana perspective, are the Samaya Vows, or commitments. There are a number of systems. The most widespread appears to be a system of 14 vows; I believe the source is the Hevajra Tantra, but I might be wrong about that. In any case, one important function of these vows is to define the relationship of the student to the Vajra Guru, to commit to maintaining secrecy (esotericism), and to highlight the importance of loyalty to one's Guru.
The Vajrayana interpretation of these three systems of vows is peculiar to the Vajrayana. The Chinese Mahayana interpretation is different. For example, Chinese Buddhism doesn't necessarily view them as sequential, or higher and lower commitments. Thus it is common for laypeople and monastics in China and Korea to take the Bodhisattva Precepts while simultaneously upholding their ethical commitments to the five precepts or the monastic precepts respectively.
My own reading of the samaya and their function is that they aren't really an ethical system in the sense that the other two are. Jamgon Kongtrul in his compendium of vow systems points out that the pratimoksha and bodhisattva vows are compatible with each other because the basis of their teaching is restraint. Basically what these teach is to refrain from engaging in certain kinds of actions which are detrimental to others and to oneself. This is why, for example, in China and Korea the two systems are viewed as complementary.
Kongtrul goes on to point out that the Samaya vows are different; they aren't really about restraint. Their function is more like that of "club rules". In some ways they are oddly similar to the rules of such societies as the Freemasons. The purpose of such rules is to define the parameteres of an organization, clarify who is a member and who is not, and define who gets to participate in certain aspects of the organization.
Best wishes,
Dharmajim
Posted by: Dharmajim at August 7, 2005 08:30 AM
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Jim,
Thank you for that concise explanation. I was unwilling to look into it {the vajra samaya} hard enough to found that out. That is why reader comment input, at this blog, is as, or more, important, at this blog, as my ramblings.
This is ideally a conversation, not my monologue. I always thought my talent was asking the hard, pointed questions, not necessarily answering them. That is one reason SGI always loved me so much. =:-0
I have a few more segments on Mikkyo. Learning this helps me make some sense out of those Gosho passages that always made my eyes my glaze over.
I think I had a flash of insight late last night on what Nichiren was getting at when he wrote the Kankenki in 1254.
Apparently, the *swearing in{?}* {blessing, sanctifying?} of the Emporers since Kammu had been very much a Shingon type ritual. I think the association of Tensho Daijin {Amaterasu} with Vairochana was implicit from the start. Or at least Nichiren saw it that way.
Nichiren wrote something like: 'culminating in Nichiren' and 'giving way to the new or living Buddha'. In other words, he is, in 1254, maybe already hinting at replacing the Shingon-Amaterasu/Dainichi ritual, with a Hokke-Shakyamuni rite, as the divine authority for the Ruler.
***Note: My entry on the Kankenki is being revised.
And when one looks at the Universal Salvation and Egalitarian message of the Lotus Sutra, this had radical implications. Some of His Fuji successors might have begged the issue and missed the point by identifying Nichiren himself with Dainichi-Amaterasu.
They also either intentionally or erroneously spread the notion that Nichiren had invented the Daimoku, and was therefore novel & unique. He was simply the first to propagate it widely. No one in India or China had done that; whereas they had propagated the Nembutsu and Zen.
This also casts a different light on his critique of Honen. Once simplified Nembutsu gained inplicit acceptance with the Senjuyi-Shingon and Shingon-Ritsu branches; what had been an egalitarian movement, was used by the Elitists as a tool, as an opiate for the masses.
I suspect Nichiren wanted the masses chanting the Daimoku, and helping him pull off his coup. And he felt that Honen had ultimately sold out.
Posted by: robin at August 7, 2005 02:54 PM