The Shingon Ajikan

Religion (1999) 29 29,, 215–229 Article No. reli.1998.0179, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on

The Shingon Ajikan Ajikan:: Diagrammatic Analysis of Ritual Syntax R K. P  Ajikan is a ritualised meditation in which the practitioner visualizes the syllable A. Popular in the Japanese esoteric Buddhist tradition of Shingon since mediaeval times, this practice is rooted in classic Indian religious culture. The symbolism of the syllable (originary, universal and eternal) is based on its uses in Sanskrit. This essay examines the ritual syntax of the Ajikan practice, comparing two ritual manuals, one premodern, the other modern. This analysis seeks not only to understand the structure of this particular  ritual but to develop a diagrammatic technique that will allow meaningful comparisons  1999 Academic Press of rituals from diff ering ering religious traditions.

Introduction Frits Staal has shown convincingly that it is heuristically fruitful to consider the ways in which whi ch rit ritual ualss are org organi anised sed as ana analog logous ous to the syn syntac tactic tic str struct ucture uress of lan langua guage ge.. 1 In addition to the theoretical and methodological concerns regarding considering rituals to have have a syntact syntactic ic struct structure ure analogou analogouss to that that of senten sentences ces,, Staal’ Staal’ss work work on ritual ritual has 2 initiated initiated a technique technique of diagrammin diagramming g the structure of rituals. rituals.  Just as syntactic studies of  language have benefited from the development of the now widely used techniques of  diagra diagrammi mming ng senten sentences ces,, so also also ritual ritual stu studie diess can benefit benefit from from a consis consisten tently tly used used diagramming technique. Ajikan, is one of the most common Visualising the syllable A, known in Japanese as Ajikan, practices of the Japanese sect of esoteric Buddhism, the Shingon sect (lit. ‘true word’, referring to mantra). 3 In the following, two versions of the Shingon Ajikan practice will be described. 4 One of these is from an early Tokugawa era (1603–1867) manual. The other is from a modern manual. The syntax of each will then be diagrammed, and the syntactic structures of the ritual discussed. This essay intends first to present information on the Ajikan and the patterns of ritual synt syntax ax whic which h stru struct ctur uree it. it. Seco Second nd,, it inte intend ndss to furt furthe herr the the deve develo lopm pmen entt of a diagrammatic technique for the syntactic analysis of rituals comparable with that used for  the syntac syntactic tic analys analysis is of senten sentences ces.. Finall Finally, y, som somee theore theoretic tical al consid considera eratio tions ns of the relations between cognitive science and ritual studies will be explored. There are two related aspects of ritual syntax that diagramming can assist in analysing. First, the rules by which rituals are organised are themselves ordered. Second, there are meta-rules. Staal has summarised these two factors, saying ‘ ‘‘Meta-rules’’ ’ are simply rules about rules. ‘‘Rule order’’ is easiest understood in the ritual context: the rules about lighting the fire have to operate before those that describe how oblations are made into it’. 5 Rule ordering and meta-rules were both discovered by Vedic ritualists and form part of the analogy Staal makes between ritual and language. In addition, it seems clear from my own work on Shingon rituals that ritual structuring employs elements analogous to phrases. The importance of ritual phrase structure is that it can contribute to an understanding of cognitive structures in the same way that the analysis of linguistic phrase structures does. According to Steven Pinker, it is the phrase structure with its ability to utilize the same kind of phrase in a variety of locations, that allows for the incredible variety and adaptability of human language: ‘Once a kind of phrase is defined by a rule and given  1999 Academic Press 0048–721X/99/030215+15 r30.00/0

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its connector symbol, it never has to be defined again, the phrase can be plugged in anywhere there is a corresponding socket’. 6 Pinker goes on to point out the cognitive implications of linguistic phrase structures, maintaining that ‘restriction in the geometry of phrase structure trees . . . is a hypothesis about how the rules of language are set up in our brains, governing the way we talk’. 7 Analysis of ritual phrase structures should in the same way contribute to an understanding of how the rules of structured activity are ‘set up in our brains’. Although structured activity includes more than ritual—for  example, games and dramatic performances—ritual may be one of the most extensively rule bound of such behaviours. For contemporary linguistics, the concept of rule has shifted from a generative notion—that is, people form sentences according to the (either inherent or learned) rules—to a descriptive one. A ‘child acquires a certain linguistic skill, which linguists can describe in the form of a rule’. 8 Thus, when it is asserted that ritual is a rule-bound behaviour, the assertion is not that the rituals were created in accordance with a set of  rules which are necessarily consciously known by their authors. Rather, the rule-bound character of rituals is that there are certain consistent patterns which can be generalised as rules. Based on his anthropological analysis of the strategies of honour in Algerian society, Pierre Bourdieu notes that ‘The science of practice has to construct the principle which makes it possible to account for all the cases observed, and only those, without forgetting that this construction, and the generative operation of which it is the basis, are only the theoretical equivalent of the practical scheme which enables every correctly trained agent to produce all the practices and judgments of honour called for  by the challenges of existence’. 9 However, because the patterns are consistent, the rules as generalisations must exist in some kind of isomorphic relation with cognitive structures. While analysis of rule ordering, meta-rules and ritual phrase structures can be done narratively, making the structures visible in diagrammatic form can show the results of  such analyses much more clearly. The application of a diagramming technique is based on an analogy between language and ritual as rule-bound behaviours. Other analogies could be made, the exploration of which might prove fruitful. For example, t he approach of performance theory seems to be based on the analogy of ritual to theatre. 10 The analogy with language made here for analytic purposes is also to be distinguished from the question of what activities provide the model for the ritual in its creation. As discussed further  infra, the metaphor of feasting an honoured guest provides t he basic model for organising many of the rituals which derive from Vedic origins. 11 This alimentary model is important for understanding the logic, or metaphoric entailments, 12 of many Shingon rituals. While understanding the founding metaphor is important, it is still a separate issue. The benefit of the heuristic analogy with language is the possibility of appropriating the well developed analytic tools of linguistics. This should not be taken, however, as a suggestion that language holds a position of  cognitive primacy. Although an extended discussion of the issues involved goes beyond the scope of this essay, it is my own belief that rule-bound behaviours do form a general category which includes language, games, theatre and ritual. Determining whether this is the case will require the application of common analytic techniques.

 Ajikan: Visualising the Syllable A The Shingon tradition of tantric Buddhism in Japan maintains a large corpus of rituals. The Ajikan is a ritualised meditative practice in which the practitioner visualises the

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syllable A as written in one of the medieval Sanskrit scripts, Siddham. The history of this practice goes back to the development of ‘seed syllables’ (Skt. bı¯ja mantra) in medieval Indian tantric traditions, and the practice was carried through China to Japan. The practice continues to be propagated by Shingon masters in the present. Symbolically, the syllable A represents three related concepts: originary, universal and inexpressible. These symbolic associations follow from three functions of the syllable in Sanskrit. It is the first syllable in the Sanskrit syllabary, hence the symbolism of origin. It is the ‘vowel’ component of each of the Sanskrit syllables, hence the symbolism of  universality. And, it is used as a negative prefix, hence the symbolism of inexpressibility. By contrast to many other Shingon rituals, the Ajikan is relatively simple. Ku¯kai, the founder of the Shingon tradition in Japan, gives a brief verse summary of the practice in his ‘Precious Key to the Secret Treasury’: Visualize: a white lotus flower with eight petals, [above which is a full moon disc] the size of a forearm in diameter, [in which is] a radiant silvery letter A. Unite your  dhya¯ na [meditation] with prajn˜a¯  [wisdom] in an adamantine binding; Draw the quiescent Prajn˜a¯  of the Tatha¯gata [i.e., Enlightened One] in [-to your  mind].13

Following Ku¯kai, several Shingon masters continued to transmit and propagate the practice. For example, during the Kamakura era both Kakuban and Do¯ han wrote several works on the Ajikan. The process of transmission and propagation meant an ongoing production of new manuals describing the practice. During the early years of the Tokugawa era the Priest Zo¯ei 14 compiled a manual entitled ‘Procedures for Visualising the Syllable A, of the Chu¯in Lineage’, 15 (Jpn. Ajikan Saho¯ Chu¯in-ryu).16 Zoei’s text provides a relatively full description of the ritual. This is in contrast to many of the Shingon ritual manuals, which assume that the reader is an initiate and express themselves in such abbreviated form and technical terminology as to be incomprehensible to the unitiated. Zo¯ei’s manual is still in use, and it sets out the  Ajikan ritual in eleven steps: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

8. 9. 10. 11.

Prostrations Take One’s Seat  –  The Syllable HU M Practice [Sa¯ dhana] for the Protection of the Body Five Great Resolutions Five Syllable Womb Realm [Garbhadha¯tu17] Mantra Visualise the Chief Deity: The Syllable A a) In one’s heart b) In front of one’s eyes and in one’s heart c) Expanding to fill the entire cosmos [dharmadha¯tu], contracting and returning to one’s heart Practice [Sa¯ dhana] for the Protection of the Body Return of the Buddha Stand Up and Prostrations Thought of Great Compassion *

These steps in the visualisation can be briefly described as follows:

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1. Prostrations. The practitioner performs three full prostrations, that is, touching the five points—knees, elbows and forehead—to the floor. With each prostration the practitioner recites the following ‘Universal Homage’ mantra: Skt: om sarva-tatha¯gata-pa¯da-vandana¯m karomi  Jpn: ON SARABA TATAGYATA HANA MANA NAU KYAROMI

2. Take One’s Seat . The practitioner next sits down in half-lotus posture, and forms the mudra¯ of contemplating the entire cosmos (Dharmadha¯tu Sama¯dhi Mudra¯). The directions which follow this are virtually identical with those given for Zen-style meditation18: ‘Line up your ears and your shoulders, and your nose with your navel, and focus both your eyes on the tip of your nose. Your tongue should touch the top of your  mouth, and your breath will thus naturally become calm. Your hips should not be too far back, nor too far forward. Rather, sit straight up and in this way aid your circulation. When you have done this, then move the body two or three times to the front and back, and to the left and right’. 19 The practitioner then takes a rosary 20 and rubs it two or three times, reciting the ‘Universal Homage’ mantra one more time.

 –  3. Syllable HU M . The practitioner forms the thunderbolt (vajra an˜jali ) mudra¯ by *

bringing the hands together, palm facing palm, cupped so that there is a slight gap between them, with the tips of the fingers interlaced, fingers of the right hand on top.  –  The practitioner then recites the seed-syllable (bı¯ja mantra) HU M (Jpn. UN) 10 times. *

4. Practice (Sa¯dhana) for the Protection of the Body21  —an action also known as Donning the Armour of the Tatha¯gatas. The practitioner makes the inner fist three pronged thunderbolt mudra¯ 22 and recites the mantra Skt. om vajra¯gni pradı¯pta¯ya sva¯ha¯   Jpn. ON BAZARA GINI HARACHI HATAYA SOWAKA

five times, visualising the mantra going to the five places on the body: forehead, left and right shoulders, chest and throat.

5. Five Great Resolutions, with the thunderbolt mudra¯ 23. The practitioner recites: Sentient creatures are innumerable; I vow to save them all. Meritorious knowledge is innumerable; I vow to accumulate it all The Teachings of the Dharma are innumerable; I vow to master them all. The Tatha¯gatas are countless; I vow to serve them all. Bodhi is unsurpassed; I vow to attain it. May I and others in the Dharmadha¯tu receive equally the ultimate benefit.

6. Five Syllable Womb Realm Mantra. The practitioner next recites the mantra of the main Buddha of the Shingon sect, Dainichi Nyorai (lit. ‘Great Sun’, Skt. Maha¯vairocana Tatha¯gata), Skt.: om a vı¯ ra hu¯m kham  Jpn.: ON A BI RA UN KEN

one hundred times.

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7. Visualise the Chief Deity . The Syllable A. a) In one’s heart: ‘First visualise the syllable A, a lotus, and the disk of a full moon within  your heart. Imagine that within your heart there is a full moon, bright shining and white in colour. In the middle of this full moon there is a white lotus flower. The syllable A is resting on the surface of this open lotus flower’. 24 b) In front of one’s eyes and in one’s heart: the practitioner alternately visualises the syllable A in front and in the heart. The size of the syllable is to be about 40 cm. This is to be repeated several times. c) Expanding to fill the entire cosmos (dharmadha¯tu), contracting and returning to one’s heart: the syllable A is visualised as expanding to fill the cosmos. At this point the syllable contracts to its former size and is then placed within the practitioner’s heart. The practitioner is advised to ‘forget the di ff erences between your body and your heart, and abide for a while in the state of non di ff erence’.25

8. Practice for Protection of the Body. The practitioner repeats the actions described in number 4, above.

9. Return of the Buddha. Bringing the hands together in front of the chest, the practitioner is directed to ‘imagine that the Buddha that you invited to attend your  meditation is now returning to his Pure Lands, and that the Buddha of your own heart is now returning to his palace in your heart’. 26 This is initially a rather confusing direction, as there was no specific invitation of any Buddha enjoined in the first half of the visualisation. However, since the ‘Five Syllable Womb Realm Mantra’ is the mantra for the Buddha Dainichi Nyorai, perhaps for Zo¯ei recitation of it functioned as an evocation of Dainich Nyorai. Hence, at the end of the ritual, the direction to return the Buddha to his Pure Land.

10. Stand Up and Three Prostrations . The three prostrations are accompanied by the same mantra as in the opening of the practice, one recitation per prostration.

11. Great Compassion. Zo¯ei closes with advice concerning the practitioner’s state of  mind outside of the practice session per se: abide in the thought of Great Compassion, and perfect this thought in respect to  yourself and in respect to all other persons and living beings. In all of your actions, be they walking, standing still, sitting or lying down, try to remember that this syllable A is within your own heart. If you are able to do this, then what knowledge you have and what ignorance you have will altogether be one in their Dharma-nature [i.e., just as they are in actuality], you will understand that your own heart and the syllable A are identical and during this present lifetime of yours you will soon attain to the unsurpassed state of Enlightenment, Bodhi. 27

In the present era the Shingon pr iest Miyata Taisen28 has compiled an Ajikan manual, describing the practice in 15 steps 29: 1. 2. 3.

Enter the shrine Prostrations Take one’s seat

220 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

R. K. Payne  Purify the three karmic actions Generate the mind of enlightenment Recite the vow mantra Five great vows Recite the five syllable mantra Control the breath Proper visualisation End the meditation Recite the Stanza of the Three Powers Make personal aspirations Don the armor  Exit the shrine

In summary:

(1) Enter the Shrine . The practitioner comes into the hall of practice (2) Prostrations. The practitioner makes three prostrations facing the portrayal of the syllable A, which is used as the object of meditation while reciting the mantra Skt.: om sarva tatha¯gata pa¯da-vandana¯m karomi  Jpn.: ON SARABA TATAGYATA HANA MANA NAU KYAROMI

(3) Take One’s Seat . The practitioner then sits down cross legged and takes a few deep breaths to relax himself, and allows his attention to settle into the solar plexus.

(4) Purify the Three Karmic Actions . The practitioner then purifies the actions of body, speech and mind by reciting the mantra Skt.: om svabhava suddha sarva-dharma svabhava-suddha ham  Jpn: ON SOHA HANBA SYUDA SARABA TARAMA SOHA HANBA SYUDO KAN

five times, making the lotus bud mudra¯ and directing the recitations to what are called the five places of the body, i.e., the forehead, right and left shoulders, chest and throat.

(5) Generate the Mind of Enlightenment . With the thunderbolt mudra¯ the practitioner  generates the mind of enlightenment, i.e., bodhicitta, by reciting the mantra Skt.: om bodhicittam utpadayami  Jpn.: ON BOCHI SHITTA BODA HADA YAMI

seven times.

(6) Recite the vow (samaya) mantra. With the same mudra¯, the practitioner recites the vow mantra Skt.: om samayas tvam  Jpn.: ON SANMAYA SA TO BAN

seven times.

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(7) Five Great Vows. Continuing to hold the same mudra¯, the practitioner recites the five great vows: ‘Living beings are innumerable; I vow to save them all. ‘Merit and knowledge are innumerable; I vow to accumulate them all. ‘The teachings of the Dharma are innumerable; I vow to master them all. ‘The Tatha¯gatas are innumerable; I vow to serve them all. ‘Enlightenment is unsurpassed; I vow to attain it’. 30

(8) Recite the Five Syllable Mantra. Still retaining the thunderbolt mudra¯, the practitioner recites the Five Syllable Mantra of Dainichi Nyorai: Skt.: om a vi ra hum kham  Jpn.: ON A BI RA UN KEN

seven times.

(9) Control the Breath. Folding his hands into the meditation mudra¯, the practitioner  closes his eyes, exhales through his mouth twice and then calmly breathes through this nose for the duration of the meditation.

(10) Proper Visualisation . The practitioner then slightly opens his eyes, looks at the representation of the syllable A, closes his eyes, creates a mental image of the syllable resting on its lotus blossom against the ground of a clear, full moon in the space in front of his body. Once he has a clear image of the syllable A visualised, he then visualises it slowly entering into his body, holding the image in his solar plexus. The image is then returned out of the body to the hanging representation of the syllable.

(11) End the Meditation. Keeping the eyes closed, the practitioner then takes two or  three deep breaths, lightly rubs the hands over the body, from head to foot. Opening the eyes, the practitioner returns to normal breathing.

(12) Recite the Stanza of the Three Powers. Still holding the meditation mudra¯, the practitioner recites the Stanza of the Three Powers: Through the power of my merit, the power of the Tatha¯gata’s empowerment, and the power of the Dharmadha¯tu, I abide in a universal off ering.31

(13) Make Personal Aspirations . With the thunderbolt mudra¯, the practitioner now express any personal aspirations, imagining that they will be (e ff ortlessly) accomplished through the intent of Maha¯vairocana Buddha.

(14) Don the Armour . The practitioner then makes the inner fist of the three pronged thunderbolt mudra¯, and consecrates the five places of the body (as above), reciting the mantra: Skt.: om vajragni pradiptaya svaha   Jpn.: ON BAZARA GINI HARACHI HATAYA SOWAKA

five times.

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(15) Exit the Shrine . The practitioner then bows once while seated, giving rise to the mind of compassion, rises, performs the triple prostration (as above) and leaves the shrine.

 Ajikan as Ritual and Meditation: A Syntactic Analysis

Zoei’s Ajikan The linear description of a ritual practice may be compared with the syntactic surface structure of a sentence. Previous research into the syntactic structures of other Shingon ritual practices leads to the expectation of symmetry around the visualisation of identity of the practitioner with the deity evoked. Here it is not a deity who is evoked in the course of the practice but rather identification with the syllable A forms the central act of the practice. This centrality is the metaphoric centrality of ‘most important’, and also syntactically central to the symmetry of the practice, despite its being number 7 of 10 items. The visualisation of identity, item 7, is bracketed by two clusters of actions. Numbers 3, 4, 5 and 6 form the preceding cluster (labelled  in the following diagram). Numbers 8 and 9 form the subsequent cluster (labelled ’ in the diagram). Each of these clusters is itself made up of two elements, and displays repetitive symmetry—that is, the symmetrical repetition of the elements in the same order—in contrast to the mirror  image symmetry, in which the order is reversed. The five syllable mantra (item 6, also labelled C in the diagram) and the return of the Buddha (item 9, also labelled C  in the diagram) are functional equivalents. As a result of terminal abbreviation, items appearing  –  in abbreviated form in the second part of the ritual, the syllable HU M, protection of the body and the five great resolutions (items 3, 4 and 5, also labelled B in the diagram) are symmetrically represented only by the repetition of protection of the body (item 8, also labelled B in the diagram). The opening actions of prostrations and taking one’s seat (items 1 and 2, also labelled A in the diagram) are mirror images symmetrical with the two actions which end the ritual practice: standing up and prostrations (items 10a and 10b, also labelled A  in the diagram). Figure 1 is a way of showing these relations visually. *

Miyata’s Ajikan Miyata’s text demonstrates the same symmetry around identification with the syllable A, in this case ten of the fifteen items. Clearly items 9 and 11 are symmetrical to the visualisation, being the entry to and exit from the visualisation. Turning to the outer  edge of the ritual, we find that although leaving the shrine is identified as a single item, it in fact involves three actions, in mirror-image symmetry with the first three items: entering the shrine, triple prostrations and taking one’s seat. This abbreviation is in the writing of the manual and not an abbreviation of the ritual actions per se. Items 4 and 14 symbolically match each other. Item 4, purifying the three karmic actions, prepares the practitioner to enter into the practice freed from any negative karma. Item 14, donning the armour, prepares the practitioner  to leave the ritual practice, protected by the mercy and compassion of the Tatha¯gatas. 32 Furthermore, in more complex Shingon rituals, the votive fire ritual (Skt. homa, Jpn. goma), putting on the armour, is performed both at the beginning and at the end of the ritual. 33 It would appear that in the case of this particular version of the Ajikan, the first donning of the armor could be deleted because of the symbolic similarity between donning the armour  and purifying the three karmic actions, as conditioned by the entry into and the exit from the ritual itself.

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Figure 1. Eleven Steps of Zoei’s Ajikan.

Likewise, there is a similarity between items 5, 6 and 7, generating the mind of  enlightenment, vow mantra and the five great vows, and item 13, personal aspirations, since both have to do with the expression of the practitioner’s intent. However, this order is the same as that found in more complex rituals. Generating the mind of  enlightenment, vow mantra, and the five great vows are found in the first part of the ritual,34 wher eas any aspirations specific to the practitioner will be expressed after ritual identification.35 In much the same way, item 8, reciting the five syllable mantra, and item 12, reciting the stanza of the three powers, are symbolically symmetrical as relating the practitioner to higher powers. In the second diagram Maha¯vairocana Buddha in one case, the practitioner’s own merit, the power of the Tatha¯gata and the Dharmadha¯tu in the other.

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The grouping of these elements can be done in two di ff erent fashion, as shown in the following two diagrams. In the first diagram, items 5, 6 and 7 are grouped together   (labelled C in the first diagram) while item 8 is separate (labelled   in the first diagram).  Items 12 and 13 (labelled C  and  in the first diagram) stand in repetitive symmetry with items 5, 6, 7 and 8. In the second diagram, items 5, 6, 7 and 8 are grouped together  (also labelled C in the second diagram), while items 5, 6 and 7 form a subgrouping of  C (labelled  in the second diagram). Items 12 and 13 display the same grouping and subgrouping (labelled C  and  in the second diagram). At this time in the development of the syntactic analysis of rituals there is not enough comparative material on the basis of which a decision between these analyses can be made. Syntactically, then, we have Figure 2. In addition to these syntactic similarities, there are content similarities between this practice and other Shingon ritual practices as well, which might be referred to as semantic similarities. Most important is the central action mentioned previously, that of the identification of the practitioner with the deity invoked. With few exceptions, ritual identification characterises both Buddhist and Hindu tantra.36 The most important diff erences between this practice and other members of the Shingon ritual corpus are two: the absence of the metaphor of feasting an honoured guest, and the symbolism of identification through the body. The majority of Shingon rituals employ the metaphor of feasting an honoured guest for the purpose of structuring the ritual process. This metaphor derives directly from the Vedic ritual system, in which the fundamental metaphor for the sacrifice is that of making food o ff erings to the deities as honoured guests. Other kinds of metaphors have been used in di ff erent ritual traditions. For example, the Taoist rituals usually employ the metaphor of  petitioning a bureaucratic official as the means by which the ritual process is structured. 37 The practice of visualising the syllable A, however, does not employ this metaphor. Despite the syntactic similarities, and the similarity of identification between the practitioner and the chief deity (Jpn. honzon), no o ff erings are made to the syllable. Indeed, expressing it this way sounds absurd: it hardly makes sense to think of o ff ering music, incense, food, perfumes and lights to a syllable. There are two possible reasons for the absence of the feasting of an honoured guest metaphor. First, the practice is a very short one, requiring such extensive abbreviation that this symbolism has been excised. Second, the use of a syllable as the chief deity imposes a semantic constraint on the ritual. Unlike a Buddha, a syllable does not eat food, drink water, appreciate music or enjoy incense. The semantic shift of the chief deity from an anthropomorphic entity to the syllable A has produced other kinds of semantic changes in the ritual performance. The often noteworthy di ff erence between this visualisation of the syllable A and other  members of the Shingon ritual corpus is the character of the identification between the practitioner and the chief deity. Many of the Shingon rituals employ visualisation of  the three mysteries ( Jpn. sanmitsu): the mysteries of body, speech and mind. The practitioner identifies his own body with the body of the Buddha by making the appropriate mudra¯, identifies his own speech with the speech of the Buddha by reciting the appropriate mantra and identifies his own mind with the m ind of the Buddha by entering into the appropriate meditative state (Skt. sama¯dhi). 38 In the practice of  visualising the syllable A, however, identification is performed by visualising the syllable  A as entering into and residing within one’s own body. I suspect that again it is the semantic character of the syllable A as the chief deity which produces this di ff erence between Ajikan and other ritual practices in the Shingon corpus. Syllables do not have

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Figure 2. Syntactic Structure of the Contemporary Ajikan Meditation.

anthropomorphic bodies with which we can identify our own bodies, they do not speak, and they do not have a mind. However, in chanting the syllable A, we can feel the vibrations arising from the solar plexus.

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Conclusion In conclusion, I draw four theoretical aspects of this essay: first, the importance of  syntactic analysis of ritual as providing a baseline for common discourse about ritual; second, the syntactic e ff ects of semantic change; third, the continuity of syntactic and symbolic aspects of ritualised meditative practice; and fourth, the implications for a cognitive theory of ritual practice. First, the study of ritual has been hampered by the lack of any agreed upon analytic technique. A variety of perspectives have been developed, but little interaction is possible between them in the absence of a common analysis as a basis for discussion. The situation is much like that of linguistics prior to Saussure. Saussure insisted upon the synchronic analysis of language as a means of providing a control to the otherwise largely speculative theories concerning language which were being promoted in his day. In the same way, a systematic synchronic analysis such as that provided by a syntactic approach to ritual can provide a common basis for discussion of ritual. Second, the syntactic examination of the Ajikan shows the eff ect of semantic change on the syntax. Without returning to a referential understanding with its implicit neo-Platonism,39 recognition of the mutual relation between semantics and syntax may need to guide research on the structures of ritual. 40 The development of this approach to the study of ritual will require much additional work, both specifically within the Shingon ritual corpus and also more broadly in other Buddhist and Tantric rituals as well. This work is needed in or der to establish the kind of body of information necessary for testing di ff ering analyses.41 Third, Zoei’s and Miyata’s versions of the Ajikan show how this visualisation kind of  meditation practice is organised according to ritual structures which are in fact common to a wide variety of Shingon rituals: mirror image and repetitive symmetry, and terminal abbreviation. These ritual structures are found in Shingon rituals dating from before the Kamakura up to the present. At the same time this ritual text shows how the symbolic values of the syllable A which originated in India—beginning, universal and inexpressible—were put into practical application in Buddhist ritual practice. 42 Fourth, the use of ritual as a means of revealing cognitive structures implies a view of  cognition which asserts that there are neither isolated cognitive systems—one for  language, one for ritual, one for games, one for music, and so on, nor a single cognitive system at the base of or governing all such capacities. Rather, it seems that there are a variety of systems, overlapping and interconnected, which come into play in di ff ering combinations to produce diff erent kinds of activities. Thus the same structures that allow for the workings of generative grammar in the production of language can, in combination with other cognitive structures, also be at play in the production of ritual. This final question will also require much additional collaborative research.

Notes 1 Frits Staal, ‘The Meaninglessness of Ritual’, (1979), partially reprinted as ch. 13 of Rules Without  Meaning: Ritual, Mantras and the Human Sciences, Toronto Studies in Religion, vol. IV New  York, Peter Lang 1989. An argument may be made that the relation between the syntax of  language and ‘ritual syntax’ is more than simply heuristically useful. One form that this argument may take is that both are products of the same organising principles of human consciousness, or that they represent examples of the same tendency to create rule-bound systems of behaviour. This essay is not, however, the place to develop these arguments. 2 ‘Ritual Syntax’, in M. Nagatomi et al. (eds.), Sanskrit and Indian Studies: Essays in Honour of    H. H. Ingalls, Studies of Classical India, vol. II Dordrecht, Reidel 1980; revised version reprinted as ch. 12 of  Rules Without Meaning .

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3 For a fuller discussion of the history and symbolism of the Ajikan, see my ‘ Ajikan: Ritual and Meditation in the Shingon Tradition’, in Richard K. Payne (ed.), Re-Visioning  ‘Kamakura’ Buddhism, Kuroda Institute Studies in East Asian Buddhism Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press 1998, pp. 219–48. For detailed information on the establishment of the Shingon sect in  Japan, see David Lion Gardiner, ‘Ku ¯ kai and the Beginnings of Shingon Buddhism in Japan’ dissertation, Stanford University 1995. 4 As per the recommendation of Frits Staal to ‘never study one ritual in isolation’ (personal communication, 16 October 1992). 5 Frits Staal, ‘Concepts of Science in Europe and Asia’, Leiden, International Institute for Asian Studies 1993, p. 23. 6 Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language , New York, Harper  Perennial 1995, pp. 99–100. 7 Ibid., p. 108. 8 Keith Devlin, Goodbye, Descartes: The End of Logic and the Search for a New Cosmology of the Mind , New York, J Wiley 1997, p. 131. 9 Pierre Bourdieu, Outline of a Theory of Practice , trans. Richard Nice, Cambridge Studies in Social Anthropology, No. 16, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 1977, p. 11. Bourdieu adds the qualification ‘and only those’ to his description of the principle constructed by the science of  practice. In linguistics, one of the tests for the descriptive adequacy of the proposed rules is whether the application of them creates a sentence which a native speaker judges to be ‘ungrammatical’. To the best of my knowledge there have been no tests for the limits of  acceptable ritual, though an interesting test case is provided by a ritual created by C. M. Chen, a Taiwanese tantric Buddhist master. This ritual is a votive fire o ff ering (Skt. homa, Jpn. goma) devoted to Jesus and other Christian figures. (Lin, Yutang (ed.), A Systematised Collection of    Chenian Booklets, Nos. 101–49, vol. III, nos. 115–25, El Cerrito, CA: Yutang Lin 1993, includes ‘A Ritual of Fire Sacrifice to the Five Saints of Christianity’ No. 122, pp. 421–44.) While the rituals appear to be ‘well-formed’ in the sense that the structures employed are those of other  tantric Buddhist homas, the choice of chief deities (Jpn. honzon) makes them marginal. It is like a sentence in which the subject, adverb and direct object are all from another language. Or, as with Jabberwocky, one can determine from the context which part is which and there is a familiar, recognisable order, but one is not sure whether it is something one would oneself want to say. 10 See, for example, Richard Schechner and Willa Appel (eds), By Means of Performance: Intercultural  Studies of Theatre and Ritual , Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 1990. 11 For a discussion of the alimentary metaphor in the Indic context, see Charles Malamoud, ‘Cooking the World’, in his Cooking the World: Ritual and Thought in Ancient India, trans. David White, Delhi, Oxford University Press 1996, pp. 23–53. 12 See George Lakoff  and Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live By (Chicago, University of Chicago Press 1980), and George Lakoff , Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal about  the Mind , Chicago, University of Chicago Press 1987. 13 Yoshito S. Hakeda, trans. Ku¯kai: Major Works, New York, Columbia University Press 1972, p. 220. Hakeda, whose translation I have quoted, notes that the direction to unite meditation (Skt. dhya¯na) and wisdom (Skt. prajn˜a¯) can be understood in two ways. First, it can be understood as directing one to ‘enter into the state of unshakable concentration in the oneness of body (dhys˜na) and mind (prajn˜a¯ )’. Second, it can be understood as directing one to make the vajran˜ jali mudra¯: ‘one should unite the right thumb (dhya¯na) with the left thumb (prajn˜ a¯) and form the [thunderbolt, Skt. vajran˜ jali] mudra¯’. (p. 220, n. 230). 14 Also known as Kukan and as Rikan, 1635–93. 15 The Chu¯in lineage is one of the main lineages within the Shingon sect. 16 Zo¯ei: Ajikan Sahoo Chu¯in-ryu. Reprinted, together with commentary by Suda Do¯ ei, by Matsuda Doei, Kyoto, Rokudai Shinpo Press 1934. Miyata Taisen (ed.), Ajikan: A Manual for the Esoteric  Meditation, Sacramento, Northern California Koyasan Church 1979). 17 The ‘Womb Realm’ refers to the quiescent wisdom of the enlightened state. It is matched in the Shingon tradition by the ‘Thunderbolt Realm’ (Skt. Vajradha¯tu), which refers to the active compassion of the enlightened state. While the pairing of wisdom and compassion is found throughout the Maha¯ya¯na tradition of Buddhism, in the Shingon sect it takes the perhaps unique form of a pair of mandalas representing the entire cosmos as seen by an enlightened being.

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18 For example, Do¯gen directs the practitioner to ‘Sit upright, with the back of your head straight above your spine, not leaning to the left or right, or to the front or back. Your ears should be in line with your shoulders and your nose in a line with your navel. Place your tongue against the roof of your mouth with teeth and lips closed. Keep your eyes open, not too wide or too narrow, without eyelids covering the pupils. Your neck should not bend forward from your  back. Just breathe naturally through your nose, not loudly panting, neither [trying to breathe] long nor short, slow nor sharp. Arrange both body and mind, taking several deep breaths with  your whole body so that you are relaxed inside and out, and sway left and right seven or eight times’ (Taigen Daniel Leighton and Shohaku Okumura (trans.), Do¯gen’s Pure Standards for the  Zen Community: A Translation of   Eihei Shingi, Albany, State University of New York Press 1996, p. 72. 19 Miyata, Ajikan, p. 3. 20 Jpn. nenju, ‘thought beads’ (Hisao Inagaki, A Dictionary of Japanese Buddhist Terms, Union City, CA, Heian International 1989, s.v., ‘nenju’), that is, beads used for recollection of the Buddha (Skt. anusmr ti). 21 Although usually Zoei gives full explanations, in this instance he gives only the name of the ritual action to be taken, apparently assuming that the practitioner already knows what is intended from prior training; the expansion given here is based the action as it is known in other  Shingon rituals, such as the four training rituals. See Richard K. Payne, Tantric Ritual of Japan, Sata-Pitaka Serviea, number 365, New Delhi, International Academy of Indian Culture 1991, p. 146. 22 This is done by folding the hands together with the tips of the fingers inside, right hand uppermost. The middle fingers are then extended and touch at the tips, while the forefingers extend out around the middle fingers. 23 Again, the manual only gives the names of this action and the accompanying mudra¯. For the mudra¯, see Payne, Tantric Ritual of Japan, p. 144. 24 Miyata, Ajikan, p. 3. 25 Ibid., p. 4. 26 Ibid. 27 Ibid. 28 Currently Bishop of the Koyasan Buddhist Temple in Los Angeles. 29 The divisions of the practice as enumerated are those of the ritual manual itself. 30 Ibid., pp. 2–3. 31 Ibid., p. 4. 32 See Payne, The Tantric Ritual of Japan, p. 146. 33 Ibid., pp. 285, 321. 34 Ibid., p. 287. 35 Ibid., p. 181. 36 The exception seems to be linked with a strongly dualist ontology, for example, that of the Saiva Siddhanta tradition. 37 We expect that this will be discussed in some of the forthcoming posthumous publications of  Michel Strickmann. 38 Minoru, Kiyota. Shingon Buddhism: Theory and Practice , Los Angeles and Tokyo, Buddhist Books International 1978, pp. 69–71. See also his ‘Glossary of Technical Terms’, s.v. ‘tri-guhya’. 39 See Staal’s ‘The Meaninglessness of Ritual’ for the failure of the referential theory of meaning as applied to ritual practice. 40 While it is not being claimed that ritual is language, the application of linguistic models to the study of ritual has begun to provide a means of performing significant comparative studies of  ritual. The efficacy of applying linguistic analyses to ritual may be grounded in the fact that both language and ritual are the cultural products of human beings with a fundamentally similar  mental capacity for structuring experience and action. Future applications of linguistic analyses to ritual may borrow from such recent developments in linguistics as ‘cognitive grammar’, which ‘claims the inseparability of syntax and semantics’. Ronald W. Langacker, Foundations of   Cognitive Grammar, Stanford, Stanford University Press 1987, I, p. 1. 41 For a corollary, see David M. Perlmutter and Scott Soames, Syntactic Argumentation and the  Structure of English, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1979). *

u

*

u

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42 The durability of the interpretation as transmitted through China to Japan is noteworthy, given that the meanings attributed to the syllable A are so deeply connected with Sanskrit. See my ‘ Ajikan: Ritual and Meditation in the Shingon Tradition’.

RICHARD K. PAYNE’S research focuses on the ritual practices of the Shingon sect of   Japanese Buddhism. He is the Dean of the Institute of Buddhist Studies and a member  of the doctoral faculty of the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley. Institute of Buddhist Studies, 650 Castro Street, Suite 120–202, Mountain View, CA 94041, U.S.A.