The mandala has been defined (by Toga no Shozui) as "a symmetrically arranged symbolic diagram used in Hinduism and esoteric Buddhism to express fundamental religious doctrine for the purposes of ritual and medication."
There are other definitions. That of Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis, currently teaching at both Boston and Harvard universities, is that "the mandala, a kind of cosmic ground plan or map, lays out a sacred territory or realm in microcosm, showing the relations among the various powers active in that realm and offering devotees a sacred precinct where enlightenment takes place."
Each culture has elaborated the mandala form to suit its own individual needs. Those of Tibet are different from those of India, which are, in turn, very different from those of China. Those of Japan, which ten Grotenhuis studies in this interesting monograph, are more different yet. These are a number of distinctions in the Japanese form and it is these with which the author deals.
Specifically, Japan enlarged the mandala form to include religions other than Hinduism and Buddhism -- specifically those of the "kami-" worship tradition. This is of course, Shinto, but the author purposely avoids the term because it remains so politically loaded and because it is, in a way, inexact.
As Carmen Blacker has observed, the conventional separation of Shinto from Buddhism is "nonsense." In actuality, historically, and presently as well, there are "large areas of religious practice common to the two, in which the worshiper is scarcely aware whether the deity he is addressing is a Shinto kami or a bodhisattva." Premodern Japanese religion was an amalgam of practices dedicated to Buddhist deities and kami interwoven in syncretic, combinative cults localized at specific sites.
Two of these sites form the focus of this book. One of them is Kasuga Shrine in Nara; the other is the complex of shrines in Kumano. The former might be said to represent the officially sponsored kami-worshiping tradition, while the latter is more representative of the local, unofficial, more ancient tradition.
The Kasuga "taisha" at the base of Mount Mikasa was established by the Fujiwara family, the most prominent aristocratic clan in the late Nara and Heian periods. An early example of syncretism, it enshrined both kami and bodhisattva.
It was able to do this because esoteric Buddhism had already developed a system of belief and ritual that was able to incorporate foreign doctrines. Since this belief contained a theory of emanation and absorption, in which all beings were seen as Buddhas, now or in the future, manifestations were ultimately emanations of the primordial Buddha principle itself.
As in the earlier Pure Land mandala, Kasuga itself began to be pictured in the manner of the Western Paradise. In one such mandala (in the holdings of Hasedera), the Pure Land is shown at the top, all Chinese-style palaces and seated golden Buddhas, and at the bottom is Kasuga itself.
In another, now at the Nezu Institute, Kasuga itself has become the mandala, and Buddhist entities are only seen floating along the top, each enclosed in a circle and thus making a cameo appearance. The place itself has become a diagram with which to express fundamental religious doctrine for the purposes of ritual and meditation.
Kumano is a much larger place. It is a mountainous, forested site which includes three large shrines. The grand pilgrimage route from Hongu to Shingu to Nachi and back to Hongu is well over 100 km in length. In these wilds, many elements of worship converge -- kami veneration, esoteric Buddhist, Pure Land Buddhist, Daoist and shamanistic.
Here the various doctrines are particularly intertwined. Kami early became paired with Buddhist deities, there was a popular belief that Kumano was the Pure Land on Earth, and Nachi became identified with the fabulous Fudarakusen, Kannon's Western Paradise. This is all reflected in various mandala.
One of them, now in the Kyoto Shogoin, shows the mountains alive with saints, patriarchs, kami and various Buddhist deities. At one side is the Nachi waterfall itself, the deity of which, the 11-headed, 1,000-armed Kannon, is present in a burst of golden spray at its base.
The pilgrimage itself became a mandala, at present the property of the Kokugakuin University in Tokyo. It contains all of the shrines but few mountains, and since this conception owes much to the early "Chinese-palace" mandala, it also contains anecdotal material. At the base are the little suicide boats used by the faithful setting out for Fudarakusen; under the waterfall, two deities are assisting the monk Mongaku, who famously lost his footing during meditation.
Such pictorialization of famous places is a Japanese contribution to the art of the mandala. These practical, pragmatic charts indeed offer devotees a sacred precinct where enlightenment takes place. And it is all safely in the here and now. There is no speculation, no mysticism, nothing transcendent. In a way, these mandala are truly maps.
All of this is demonstrated with learning and tact by ten Grotenhuis, who has illustrated her book with numerous examples, all well reproduced and several photographed for the first time.
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