This practice constitutes a performative embodiment of the principle of non-dualism, at the basis of Shingon doctrine, incarnated by the Science-Kings Aizen and Fudô, through a third element, the Wish fulfilling Jewel (or Nyorin Kannon). In this presentation, I aim to examine the correlative thinking, associating gods with doctrinal concepts, or symbols, he uses in his major work, the Ritual of the Three Worthies. His works, recently rediscovered, are extremely diverse, ranging from scriptural commentary to ritual manuals, including new iconography of several deities. As a close advisor of the emperor Go Daigo, he reached the top of the monastic hierarchy under the sovereigns’ patronage, and became a significant figure in the political and religious life of such times.

Monkan, a monk of the Shingon school, was a prime example of this way of thinking. In medieval Japan, esoteric Buddhism not only provided the main framework for religious practice, but it also gave birth to extremely influential discourses on the relation between monasteries and political power.

Shambala pdf