Nara Buddhism Influence

The readings prior to the ones assigned expanded on early Japanese rule and it’s struggle to keep up with with their neighbouring countries and the doctrines they followed in ruling on how the individual person can perfect themselves to create a harmonious society. The second one delves deeper into the influence of Chinese political and cultural guidance in early Japan. These influences were so vast that they almost paralleled the han Dynasty and borrowed from later Dynasties however this does not mean they did not also fuse Chinese thought with their own beliefs. These changes meant that although they assimilated chinese culture with theirs it became a unique meld. The last was about Nara Buddhism, which was made up of of six sects and how these six sects were used a as a tool of state ideology, Nara Buddhism arrived in Japan around 670’s via Korea and later China, and spread quickly thereafter under the approval of Shomu’s court, who was one of the first …show more content…
My focus will be on Kukai and Esoteric Buddhism and why it gained more traction in comparison to the other sects.

Kukai (774-835) was a Japanese monk born into an aristocratic family was trained in the Confucian Classics. He became disillusioned with confucianism and ended up leaving with a monk and began schooling in China and learned from various teachers. He later went back to Japan founded the esoteric school of Buddhism in Japan. Shingon remains one of the largest schools of Buddhism in Japan. The teachings in esoteric practices involving meditation, visualization, chanting and ritual. In Esoteric Buddhism, the practices engage body, chants and the mind to help the student experience Buddha-nature eventually experiencing the enlightened being through the