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Paper short abstract:

An analysis of body-mind conceptions from exo-esoteric Buddhism (derived from Shingon's mandala of the five organs and Tendai's meanings of the five sounds ) in late medieval saimon ritual texts used in special ceremonies to ward off evil spirits and eliminate illnesses.

Paper long abstract:

Saimon are ritual texts that constitute the core of kagura performances. These texts spread all over Japan between the end of the middle ages and the early Edo period. Among them there are so-called gogyō saimon (saimon of the five forms) used in special ceremonies to ward off evil spirits and eliminate illnesses. These texts articulate and unify the human body by bringing together series of five elements (gogyō) and Chinese ideas on yin-yang and the Esoteric Buddhist doctrine of the five cosmic elements, under the assumption that mastery of these concepts would cause the desired effect.

Gogyō saimon are based on elements of medieval exo-esoteric (kenmitsu) Buddhism, such as the Shingon esoteric contemplation of the mandala of the five internal organs (gozō mandara) and the Tendai meditative doctrine of the meanings of the five sounds (gozō ongi). It is now clear that these two conceptual systems came to play an important role thanks to twelfth-century works such as Gorin kujimyō himitsushaku by Kakuban and Kangen ongi by Ryōkin. The work by Kakuban, in particular, presents a body-mind monism centered on the five internal organs, according to which the practitioner could envision and experience his/her own "becoming a Buddha in this very body" (sokushin jōbutsu). These ritual texts employed in religious practices produced a religious view of the body-mind complex that became dominant in the middle ages.

This paper will discuss a number of gogyō saimon and elucidate their relations with these Buddhist contemplative works.