En no Gyōja - 5 - En no Gyōja Encounters His Own Skull

◎Jade Tablet - 06 - 22

◎The Vertical Path of Youth - 22

◎Beyond Trauma

There is no evidence of vigorous mountain training centered on the Okugake (inner pilgrimage) either before or after the appearance of En no Gyōja, the pioneer of Shugendō. Life in the mountains at that time must have been so harsh that practicing asceticism while traversing the mountains for dozens of days would undoubtedly have been a life-or-death undertaking.

Mount Ōmine was anciently called Mount Kinpusen and is the collective name for the mountain range stretching from the riverbank of the Yoshino River to the vicinity of Mount Sanjōgatake. Even En no Gyōja was cautious about entering unexplored new mountains, and he first climbed Mount Ōmine Sanjōgatake at the age of 37 (according to the Biography of En no Gyōja).

In 667 AD, En no Ozunu started the Okugake of Ōmine, departing from Yoshino towards Kumano. While En no Gyōja was fervently praying to Kujaku Myōō (Peacock Wisdom King) and Fudō Myōō (Acala) in a cave near the summit of Mount Sanjōgatake, he discovered a skeleton.

The skeleton held a sharp sword in its right hand and a vajra (dokkosho) in its left. Then, a divine message came, saying, "En no Gyōja will be born and die seven times in this mountain, and this skeleton is from his third life." Thereupon, when he chanted the Senju Dharani (Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara Dharani) and the Heart Sutra, the skeleton handed the sharp sword and the vajra to Ozunu. It is also said that on Mount Shakagatake, the skeleton of his fifth life remains, and on Mount Kosasa, the skeleton of his sixth life, with young trees already growing from its eye sockets, remains.

En no Gyōja recast this vajra to create an image of Kujaku Myōō, and he buried the sharp sword on Mount Hakkōgatake, which is why it is also called Mount Hakkensan (Eight Swords Mountain).

Speaking of Ōmine and skulls, there is an incident in the Konjaku Monogatari (Tales of Times Now Past) where the Onmyōji (Yin-Yang Master) Abe no Seimei investigated the cause of Emperor Kazan's headache. Seimei reported that the skull of the Emperor's previous life was stuck in a rock in Ōmine, and on rainy days, it was squeezed by the swelling rock, causing the headache, and he led the Emperor to recovery.

En no Gyōja probably saw the Akashic Records of his previous lives in the cave of Ōmine.

People's actions and thoughts are bound by tendencies accumulated in their subconscious from past lives and the past. For example, this can be the reason why someone always chooses a partner who will eventually leave them, becomes addicted to beautiful girl games or online games, or even develops fetishes, sexual perversions, or nymphomania.

The reason people repeat these patterns is fundamentally because they are caught in a vicious cycle of behavior and thought due to trauma (memories of traumatic experiences) deep within their subconscious. However, the original self is capable of living with true freedom and open-mindedness beyond this vicious cycle.

En no Gyōja may have encountered his true self after seeing the skull of his past life, but without regular, sincere meditation training to practice encountering one's original self, it is unlikely to happen even if there is a trigger.

Moreover, precisely because he was a practitioner of the vertical path, he made his past selves a matter of concern. Encountering the skull of his past life probably served as a trigger for further deepening his understanding.

It is unclear when En no Gyōja attained great enlightenment, what kind of training method he used to awaken, or the extent of his enlightened state. Even for great enlightened beings, such detailed records of their practices do not always remain, and only legends are often passed down.

En no Gyōja - 4 - En no Gyōja Exiled to Izu Ōshima

◎Jade Tablet - 06 - 21

◎The Vertical Path of Youth - 21

◎Psychics are Treated Harshly

Hitokotonushi no Kami was the god of Mount Katsuragi. He had been asked by En no Gyōja to build a stone bridge between Mount Yoshino Kinpusen and Mount Katsuragi, but he was negligent in his work. En no Gyōja sternly urged him to proceed with the construction quickly. Overwhelmed by En no Gyōja's harsh reprimand, the followers of Hitokotonushi no Kami secretly reported to the imperial court that "En no Gyōja is plotting a rebellion."

When the arresting officers headed towards Katsuragi to forcibly tie up En no Gyōja, they became unable to move as if electrocuted and were paralyzed, making it impossible to arrest him. Furthermore, when a large number of officials went to apprehend him, En no Gyōja would fly up into the sky, so they could not arrest him.

Finally, the officials, in a cowardly act, seized En no Gyōja's mother, Shiratsume, who was at the hermitage Chihara-dera, and took her hostage. His disciples, Gikaku and Gigen, were enraged and threatened to raid the government office to take her back, but En no Gyōja voluntarily surrendered himself to the office and had his mother released.

On May 24th of the third year of Emperor Monmu (699 AD), En no Ozunu was exiled to Izu Ōshima. The rock cave where En no Gyōja lived is located in Izumitsu Village on the east coast. It is 6 meters high, 6 meters wide, and 15 meters deep, but during high tide, it is inaccessible to people due to the blocked passage by the tide.

It is said that while En no Gyōja was on the island, a mysterious light – a dragon light – appeared on Mount Mihara every night. He was on Ōshima during the day, but at night, he flew around the summit of Mount Fuji, Mount Amagi, Hashiri-yu (hot spring), Hakone, Amefuri Mountain, Hyūga, Enoshima, and other places.

Although En no Gyōja was later pardoned, it is a common occurrence throughout history for governments to send psychics who are popular among the common people and living outside officialdom to prison, considering them dangerous. Regardless of En no Gyōja's charges, the fact that he repeatedly evaded capture undoubtedly indicates that he was falsely accused.

The bad Japanese tradition of treating powerful psychics carelessly has existed since such ancient times.

En no Gyōja - 3 - The Mystery of Zaō Gongen

◎Jade Tablet - 06 - 20

◎The Vertical Path of Youth - 20 ◎The Scent of Artificial Imagery

According to the secret tradition of Mount Kinpusen, during the reign of Emperor Tenji, En no Gyōja was practicing asceticism at the summit of Mount Ōmine on Mount Kinpusen. En no Gyōja prayed for the appearance of a powerful Buddha suitable for the Age of the End of Dharma, one who could subdue the evil spirits appearing in the defiled world. First, Śākyamuni appeared as the Buddha of the past, then Sahasrabhuja Avalokiteśvara (Senju Kannon) appeared as the Buddha of the present, and finally Maitreya Bodhisattva appeared as the Buddha of the future.

En no Gyōja was not satisfied with the appearance of these three Buddhas and further concentrated his prayers. Suddenly, the wrathful-faced, bluish-black Zaō Gongen appeared, and this deity is said to have become his revered image for subduing evil.

On the other hand, the earliest appearance of Kongō Zaō dates back to the Tenpyō era.

In Tenpyō 19 (747 AD), the casting of the Great Buddha began. At that time, Emperor Shomu instructed the monk Rōben, "There is a rumor that all the land of Mount Kinpusen is gold. Why don't you pray to Kongō Zaō to obtain gold and use it for the casting of the Great Buddha?"

Rōben immediately ascended Mount Kinpusen and prayed. Kongō Zaō appeared in his dream and forbade the mining of gold from this mountain.

In this way, Zaō Gongen must have appeared in the subconscious of various people since that time. However, why is it that almost all of his sculptures depict him with his right hand raised and his right foot lifted?

If Zaō Gongen exists as a permanent image in the spirit world, various people should have seen Zaō Gongen actively working, and sculptures of those visions should have been created. However, this particular pose is the only one. The reason for this could be that the people who saw him were limited to Rōben and En no Gyōja, and those who did not see Zaō Gongen created the image solely from imagination based on the legends. Or, perhaps no one actually saw a vision of Zaō Gongen.

Zaō Gongen was originally a local deity of Mount Kinpusen, and various legends were added from the Kamakura to the Nanboku-chō periods. However, the fact that the pose is always exactly the same makes me sense the scent of artificial imagery. I don't think it's simply because there are few variations of wrathful poses.

Ancient Shinto has no wrathful deities, and more importantly, no iconography. Why would they particularly use a deity that seems to originate from esoteric Buddhism at a time when proper esoteric Buddhism did not even exist in Japan?

En no Gyōja - 2 - The Sacred Treasures of the Age of Miroku

◎Jade Tablet - 06 - 19

◎The Vertical Path of Youth - 19

There are very few official views expressed by Onisaburo Deguchi regarding En no Gyōja, but:

The Great Buddha of Nara
En no Gyōja spent 20 years traveling throughout the country to create a map of gold mines nationwide, and this map is on a gold plate placed beneath the Great Buddha of Nara. This will not appear unless the Great Buddha of Nara is melted down.

"(A good person looked well and said it was good; look well at Yoshino, a good person looked well. (Emperor Shomu))"

(Source: Light of the New Moon, Vol. 2 / Edited by Tsugumori Koniwa / Yawatashoten P63)

According to Onisaburo Deguchi, this will not be understood until the end of the Buddha's era, and it will be handed over to the Miroku God.

Perhaps there will be a time when the Great Buddha will also be melted down, after events like the air raids on Kyoto.

En no Gyōja
Emperor Shomu, by imperial decree, had En no Gyōja create a map of Japanese gold mines. It took him 20 years, observing the rising gold vapor at night, to create it. At Mount Kinpusen in Yoshino, there are outcroppings (hana).

(Source: Ibid. P114)

This shows En no Gyōja's mastery of supernatural powers, but the fact that it was not a gold mine that could be arbitrarily used by the highest authority of the time seems characteristic of the vertical path.

Mount Yoshino
Onisaburo Deguchi's teacher, Masumi Oishigori, believed that the gold vein in Mount Yoshino was three sun (approximately 9 cm) thick, three ri (approximately 12 km) wide, and thirteen ri (approximately 51 km) long. With this information, he went to the Imperial Household Ministry and proposed that those of imperial lineage and above would live in houses with golden pillars in the age of Miroku, but he was treated as a madman. Onisaburo Deguchi was also present but found it ridiculous and left.

Later, Onisaburo Deguchi went to Yoshino and checked, confirming that the gold vein was not in Mount Yoshino but in Mount Kinpusen and Mount Hachiman. However, this vein does not appear in modern times. It will appear after the age of Miroku begins. It seems like it won't appear until the next era, like the anti-gravity device of a UFO.

(Source: Ibid. P105)

This connects to the story that Ryojun Shionuma, a great Ajari (high-ranking ascetic monk), saw a mountain hermit about three meters tall, wearing tattered clothes and holding a staff, appear in the air and say, "Foolish people who say 'Golden Peak, Golden Peak,' this is the Divine Peak!" before vanishing suddenly. Was that hermit En no Gyōja?

Related Poem: Iroha Shinka (quoted from the magazine Shinreikai No. 54)

"○Mount Yoshino, famous for its flowers since ancient times, deep in the mountains of Hachiman, hidden until the age of Miroku, the whereabouts of the sacred treasure of Princess Oto, seeking it for countless ages, the unmoved foundation of the great origin, the divine child of the thousand-year-old pine tree,

Following Lord Tsurudono, the double cherry blossoms that have not yet finished scattering, the great man of the Japanese spirit, leaving Takamagahara (the High Plain of Heaven), also in the upper market of auspicious Yoshino, spending a night at Imoseyama (Twin Peaks), though separated by the Yoshino River, with no separation of true hearts, Asano, Toyomoto, Maki, Murano, Umeda, Akioka, Onisaburo Deguchi, Hoshida, Takeko, and Kanaya, their pure souls are the Yoshino River,

Going upstream along the flow, even the ten-ri road is drawn by a single kerria flower, how reverently the divine teachings, we arrived early at Kashiwabara.

The divine beings of the cloud-filled sky, and a lowly man raised as a child, leading hands deep into the mountains, traversing steep peaks, offering sincere hearts for the sake of the nation, also a divine arrangement, deep in the golden mountains, the divine plan is like white clouds, the water of flowering Yoshino is clear, the foundation of the peaceful reign, the thousand-year-old crane that has solidified it, the long-lasting descendants of the eight-thousand-year-old turtle, looking forward to the opening world, the long neck of the true crane among the pines."

(The location of the sacred treasure is at the beginning.)

En no Gyōja - 1 - The Significance of En no Gyōja

◎Jade Tablet - 06 - 18

◎The Vertical Path of Youth - 18

Onisaburo Deguchi stated that Kūkai and En no Gyōja are reincarnations of the Konjin of the Northeast (Ushitora no Konjin). (Source: Light of the New Moon, Vol. 2 / Edited by Tsugumori Koniwa / Yawatashoten P135)

The Konjin of the Northeast is the supreme leader of the benevolent deities. The divine realm consists of a trinity of divine systems: one group of benevolent deities and two groups of malevolent deities. This trinity is the driving force behind all the joys and sorrows of this world.

The reason why such noble and prominent divine avatars appear in this world is because the times are facing a crisis. Notable events in the life of En no Ozunu (En no Gyōja) (634 - 701 AD) include:

645: Assassination of Soga no Iruka, the Taika Reforms 663: Battle of Baekgang 671: Arrival in Japan of envoys from the Tang Dynasty, including Guo Wuzong, and approximately 2,000 Tang soldiers and Baekje people. 672: Jinshin War 712: Compilation of the Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters)

In 699, En no Gyōja was exiled to Izu Ōshima. He returned to Kayahara, Gose City, Nara Prefecture, due to a general amnesty, and in 701, he passed away on Mount Tenjō, which is the inner sanctuary of Minoo-san Ryūan-ji Temple in Minoo City, Osaka Prefecture.

En no Gyōja is generally recognized as the founder of Shugendō (Japanese mountain asceticism), but I consider his achievements as follows:

1. Bringing the essence of ancient Shinto into Shugendō to ensure its survival and preservation. The result of this effort is the Kojiki. The Kojiki is divided into three volumes: Upper, Middle, and Lower. The Upper Volume, in particular, reveals the deepest secrets of ancient Shinto and serves as a book of prophecies leading to the present day.

Furthermore, Onisaburo Deguchi stated that the prophetic content of the Upper Volume will all be realized in the present age, that is, until the arrival of the Millennium of Bliss.

2. After the Battle of Baekgang, the Jindai Moji (script of the age of the gods), which seems to have been the language and script of Japan until then, went underground. In response to the Tang Dynasty's forces attempting to impose a language solely based on Kanji (Chinese characters) on Japan, he created the Hiragana syllabary (the "aiueo" order) to preserve the original Japanese alongside Kanji and Kana (Hiragana and Katakana). This was decisive in preserving the Kotodama (spirit of words) of the Japanese language.

(1) Jindai Moji and Ancient Shinto

According to Kiyohiko Ago, the more venerable a shrine is, the more likely it is that the shrine's Shinji (divine seal) and Gofu (amulet) are written in Jindai Moji.

Among the most venerable former Kanpei Taisha (Grand Imperial Shrines), 22 out of 58 shrines use Shinji or Gofu written in Jindai Moji. These include prominent shrines such as Ikutama Shrine, Yamato Shrine, Isonokami Shrine, Usa Jingu, Izanagi Shrine, Kagoshima Jingu, Yoshino Jingu, Hiyoshi Shrine, Hie Shrine, Gassan Shrine, Heian Jingu, Asama Shrine, Hikawa Shrine, Inari Shrine, Mishima Shrine, Aso Shrine, and Ōmiwa Shrine.

Furthermore, notable former Kanpei Chūsha (Middle Imperial Shrines) such as Kamakura-gū, Kanayama Shrine, Ikuta Shrine, and Sumiyoshi Shrine, as well as former Kokubei Chūsha (Middle National Shrines) such as Samukawa Shrine, Isasumi Shrine, Shiwa Hiko Shrine, Izumo Shrine, Hakodate Hachiman-gū, Shiogama Shrine, and Kotohira-gū, also use Jindai Moji.

According to Kiyohiko Ago's research, among the 88 Kanpei Taisha, Chūsha, and Shōsha (Small Imperial Shrines), 27 shrines (30.7%) use Shinji or Gofu written in Jindai Moji. Similarly, among the 86 Kokubei Taisha, Chūsha, and Shōsha, 24 shrines (27.9%) use Jindai Moji, which is a high percentage.

The most commonly used Jindai Moji is Ahirokusa Moji.

Considering the history of shrine construction, the design of Shinji and Gofu cannot be easily changed. Therefore, it can be inferred that major Japanese shrines were originally built by tribes with a religion that was not based on Kanji and Kana culture.

And it was probably ancient Shinto with the doctrine system of Ahirokusa Moji. Since Ahirokusa Moji does not exist in China, it is unlikely that En no Gyōja brought it to Japan. In other words, before the Taika Reforms, the ancient Shinto system of Ahirokusa Moji was already rooted in the Japanese archipelago. And perhaps the essence (meditation techniques, curriculum) of the ancient Shinto system of Ahirokusa Moji was actually the same vertical path similar to that of Taoism.

(2) Relationship with Kūkai

It is said that on Mount Ōmine, the sacred mountain of Shugendō, the faith is entirely centered on En no Gyōja. However, here are the words of Tokukai Kondo, who also trained on Mount Ōmine:

"Master Tokukai Kondo (75 years old) of Yamato City, Kanagawa Prefecture, walks around on single-toothed geta sandals.

'Well, it's Kōbō Daishi (Kūkai) who organized things after En no Gyōja. Kōbō Daishi created the Iroha (syllabary).

So, who created the Aiueo (syllabary)? En no Gyōja. That's the relationship.'

I was left speechless."

(Quoted from "Running Through the Otherworld" / Shoichi Fujita / Gakken P133-134)

3. En no Gyōja pacified local deities.

This can be seen in the legend of him subduing Zenki and Goki. It is likely that he pacified local deities in various places he traveled throughout the country for Shugendō practice and in the astral realm. Through this, he aimed to spread and unify ancient Shinto at the spiritual level nationwide. This falls under the category of so-called divine work. For example, Padmasambhava, the founder of Tibetan Buddhism, also subdued countless local deities in Tibet, but the details are not something for ordinary people to know and are not widely传达.

4. Preventing the introduction of Taoism into Japan.

The government of this era strongly pressured to adopt Tang Chinese script, culture, and religion, and it is likely that there was persistent pressure to introduce Taoism as well. However, with his unwavering stance to protect ancient Shinto, En no Gyōja probably actively worked to reject Taoism.

En no Gyōja, while Japan was being urged to rebuild itself by the foreign power of Tang China, likely succeeded in consolidating ancient Shinto through the submission of local deities throughout the country and in ensuring the inheritance of the core of the Japanese people – the Japanese spirit, the Yamato spirit – by preserving the essence of the original Japanese language through the creation of Kana.