The Dew of Heaven or the Spirit of Heaven－２

◎Jade Tablet - Apocrypha - 05-02

◎Heaven's Dew - 02

◎The Book of Genesis in the Old Testament

In the Book of Genesis of the Old Testament, the aged and blind Isaac asked his eldest son Esau to hunt some venison and prepare it for him to eat so that he could bestow his inheritance and birthright upon him.

Jacob, Esau's younger brother, overheard this. He conspired with his mother to cook goat meat instead of venison, impersonated Esau, and served it to his father Isaac. By this deception, Jacob successfully obtained the blessing of inheritance and birthright from Isaac.

The blessing included the words "Dew of Heaven": "Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine. Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!" (Genesis 27:27-29, New Japanese Colloquial Bible, 1955 Edition)   

Esau, outwitted by his brother, pleaded with his father Isaac to redo the blessing and bestow the birthright upon him. However, Isaac did not grant his request and instead delivered the following cold prophecy to Esau:

"Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from the dew of heaven on high. By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; but when you grow restless you shall break his yoke from your neck." (Genesis 27:39-40, New Japanese Colloquial Bible, 1955 Edition)   

The need for only Isaac, in his time, to reach awakening through the Dew of Heaven was sufficient for Isaac's tribe. It was not an era like today where everyone should awaken. In those days, the enlightened one was the tribal leader and high priest. From this, I believe, came the idea that only one person in the tribe needed to receive the Dew of Heaven.

However, the sin of Jacob deceiving his father Isaac will likely manifest in the future. Such complexities or wounds are common foreshadowing in ancient traditions.

If the Dew of Heaven were a symbol of something material, it would have been expressed as "dew of the earth."

Here, it is spiritual, and it is the sacred aspect of the sacred and the profane, therefore it is the Dew of Heaven. One should never think that the Dew of Heaven is a resource for realizing worldly desires.

The Dew of Heaven or the Spirit of Heaven－１

◎Jade Tablet - Apocrypha - 05-01 

◎Heaven's Dew - 01

 ◎The Book of Silence

In the alchemical text "The Book of Silence," the Dew of Heaven or the Spirit of Heaven is the raw material – the prima materia – for gathering the Spirit of Heaven and attempting to accomplish something.

The Spirit of Heaven is also called the Water of the Vernal and Autumnal Equinoxes. In the fourth illustration of "The Book of Silence," several large cloths are spread horizontally on the ground, like solar panels, and a pair of alchemists, male and female, are depicted squeezing these cloths into a pot to collect the subtle Spirit of Heaven that falls from above and soaks into them.

The Silesian preacher Samuel Richter stated, "The undifferentiated 'seed of the cosmos' must be obtained and fixed within salt." He also said that at the center of this viscous spirit (dew), there secretly exists a concentrated core that is the seed of all things, and if this seed is obtained as salt, then everything will be achieved.

Richter also mentions that from this salt arises the supreme and wondrous, which is the image of regeneration and immortality.

A similar idea exists in ancient Shinto. It is the practice of inviting the wandering ungon of the spirit and settling it in the central palace of the body. While one tends to think of the soul as singular, if we consider the Spirit of Heaven as countless wandering ungon, it seems we might be imagining something similar to the Spirit of Heaven in "The Book of Silence."

References to the Spirit of Heaven or the Dew of Heaven can also be found in the Bible.

Those Who Failed the Imperial Examination, Those Who Dropped Out of School - 4 - Dantes Daiji

◎Jade Tablet - Apocrypha - 03-04 ◎The Pure Radiance of the Land of the Rising Sun

It is said that the pure radiance of the Land of the Rising Sun seen by Nostradamus refers to Dantes Daiji.

It is difficult to say that the significance of Dantes Daiji is properly understood. Even reading his lectures now, they are filled with his unique definitions and concepts, making it not easy to grasp the entirety of his religious and humanistic views.

Among these, listing some of Dantes Daiji's achievements:

His first achievement was conveying to the world the ultimate nature of Kundalini Yoga and an outline of its process with illustrations (Book: The Process and Technique of Nirvana). The preface states that if Krishnamurti had been properly heeded by the world, there would have been no need to publish this book, meaning that if more people had attained enlightenment in the latter half of the 20th century, publication would not have been necessary.

His second achievement was being the first person since Shakyamuni to have achieved both shinjin-datsuraku (casting off body and mind) of Shikantaza and unification with the central sun of Kundalini Yoga, and advocating both Shikantaza and Kundalini Yoga as the direction for humanity's salvation through meditation. This is a view linked to his Meditation Cross Map-based religious and meditative perspective. In Zen, there are terms like major enlightenment, minor enlightenment, and kensho (seeing one's true nature), but Dantes Daiji himself said that attaining major enlightenment twice in one lifetime is very difficult. First, there's the question of whether it's necessary to attain enlightenment twice. For example, there's even the question of why Dogen, who experienced shinjin-datsuraku (major enlightenment) once, seemed to want to challenge himself a second time. Kakuban of Shingon Esoteric Buddhism, which is related to Kundalini Yoga, is said to have challenged the Kokūzō Gumonji-hō nine times, but there's a question of whether he unified with Mahavairocana Buddha (Nirvana) each time. Also, there's a question of whether Onisaburo Deguchi, a Shintoist, united with the divine each time he died six times. It is said that physical death, with cessation of breathing and heartbeat, occurs during union with the divine. Amidst such difficulties, Dantes Daiji, after an experience that cannot be called the enlightenment of Shikantaza (i.e., shinjin-datsuraku), told his lover at the time, "I'm just going to buy some soy sauce," and went to India, where he met Mahavatar Babaji on the roadside and was initiated into the ultimate of Kundalini Yoga – this was his second major enlightenment. Perhaps the reason he had to experience the major enlightenments of Shikantaza and Kundalini Yoga separately in one lifetime was that he had to embody the unification of Thoth and Dantes  within himself.

His third achievement was leaving behind the Meditation Cross Map as an overall panoramic view of meditation. This can only be understood after comprehending both the path of horizontal enlightenment and the path of vertical enlightenment. Organized religions and mass religions are considered Thoth-based, while individual or small-group religions are considered Dantes -based. However, it is not necessarily the case that Thoth-based religions are solely Shikantaza-based (including Zen); there are also organized and mass religions within the vertical path of Esoteric Buddhism (Kundalini Yoga-based). Similarly, within Dantes-based religions, there are both Shikantaza-based and Esoteric Buddhism-based paths. Looking at the Meditation Cross Map, one would think that Musōzanmai (Samadhi without Form), the final stage of the horizontal path, and Nirvana, the final stage of the vertical path, are the same. However, the fact that "love" is made the intersection, rather than these two, suggests a teaching that prioritizes love for humanity. The fact that Shakyamuni entered Nirvana from the four Dhyanas also conveys the same message.

His fourth achievement was initiating a movement to eliminate spirit possession. This was an epoch-making event during the post-war era of the rise of Omoto-affiliated new religions (such as Seicho-no-Ie and Sekai Kyusei-kyo). There are many religious followers and cult members in the world who tend to be satisfied with simply worshipping individual spiritualists or charismatic individuals, and he subtly denied this. Dantes Daiji's basic stance was to always affirm, rather than deny, any famous religious figures or the practices of others, saying things like, "Even so, one day they will be able to reach the ultimate." However, he was negative towards the Tachikawa school of Shingon and communism, which, though not a religion, turns the state into a wicked realm – these were exceptions. In other words, even if their practice was wrong, he likely saw those who were devoted to erroneous practices as already being divine from his perspective, and he likely said such things based on a grand cycle in which even such practitioners would attain major enlightenment after several lifetimes.

His fifth achievement was having a connection with Onisaburo Deguchi and also practicing chinkon (pacifying the spirits). There were undoubtedly many other things he did, such as "divine works," that ordinary people cannot know, but we have no way of knowing them.

Dantes Daiji entered high school but dropped out because he disliked going to school. Amidst days of intense reading and meditation, while watching a Christian movie from ancient Roman times, he awakened to absolute love at the martyrdom of a certain Christian, triggered by the words, "Even so, I love God." His dropping out of school was not aimless.

Attaining major enlightenment twice in one lifetime means dying twice, meaning he was literally free to enter and leave life and death at will. Once one attains major enlightenment, one does not reincarnate as a human again, but Dantes Daiji said before his death that he would leave half of his remaining lifespan and use the rest in a life in Neo-Atlantis, which would emerge off the coast of Bimini, Florida. Indeed, just as he said, Dantes Daiji passed away while sitting in meditation at the age of 37. He would live the remaining 37 years in Neo-Atlantis. Knowing his life's trajectory as described above, one can understand that Dante Daiji did not commit suicide.

Dantes Daiji was an ultra-super-class saint who rushed through modern Japan, and to those with discerning eyes, he was the pure radiance of the Land of the Rising Sun.

Those Who Failed the Imperial Examination, Those Who Dropped Out of School - 3 - Kukai

◎Jade Tablet - Apocrypha - 03-03

Kukai was born in 774 (Hōki 5) in Byōbugaura, Tado District, Sanuki Province. He learned poetry, Chinese, and Confucianism from his uncle, Ato no Ōtari, who served as an educator for a prince of Emperor Kanmu. At the age of 15, he was invited by Ato no Ōtari to go to Heijō-kyō (Nara), where he devoted himself to learning at his clan temple, Saeki-in.

At 18, Kukai's exam studies with his uncle Ōtari as his tutor bore fruit, and he entered the Myōkyōka (a school for becoming high-ranking officials) of the Daigaku-ryō (the imperial university).

He studied diligently to a certain extent, but dissatisfied with his studies at the Daigaku-ryō, he began practicing in the mountains around the age of 19. He dropped out of school. Afterwards, Kukai's whereabouts until his journey to Tang China are unknown.

At the age of 20, Kukai, against the wishes of his relatives, became a monk under the high priest Gonzō of Daian-ji Temple in Nara. Furthermore, he received the Kokūzō Bosatsu Gumonji-hō (Method for Seeking and Retaining Wisdom from Bodhisattva Akashagarbha) from him.

Kukai practiced in famous mountains and caves such as Mount Ōmine in Nara Prefecture and Ōtakigatake in Awa Province. While practicing at Cape Muroto in Tosa Province, chanting the mantra of Bodhisattva Akashagarbha one million times, a star (Myōjō, Venus, considered an avatar of Akashagarbha) flew into his mouth. This is thought to be a minor enlightenment.

Examples of seeing a star as enlightenment include Shakyamuni and Krishnamurti, and I don't think we need to be fixated on it not being the "sun."

What is the Kokūzō Bosatsu Gumonji-hō?

It involves continuously chanting the mantra of Bodhisattva Akashagarbha, "Nōbō Akyashakyarabaya On Arikya Maribori Sowaka," ten thousand times a day for one hundred days, while simultaneously forming mudras, visualizing Bodhisattva Akashagarbha, and consecrating gyūso (clarified butter). If successful, miraculous signs occur, such as the gyūso emitting spiritual energy, light, or smoke. Eating this gyūso is said to grant superhuman memory, enabling one to never forget anything heard, including the words and their meaning.

Kukai's source for the Kokūzō Bosatsu Gumonji-hō is considered to be the translation by Śubhākarasiṃha of the "Kokūzō Bosatsu Nōman Shogan Saisōshin Dharani Gumonji-hō." The oldest remaining texts on the Gumonji-hō are the Kakuzen Shō (Gumonji Dōisetsu) or the Asabashō (Chapter 104) (written by Shōchō).

It is written in these texts that one should chant the mantra one million times while performing image training (visualization) of Bodhisattva Akashagarbha, along with instructions about eclipses and yogurt.

Furthermore, there is a procedure within it to worship the morning star (Venus) every early morning (late night). However, since Venus can only be seen in the morning for half the year, it seems that setting the day of a solar eclipse as the completion day and aligning the training period with the time when Venus appears in the morning would have been impossible without quite advanced astronomical knowledge at the time.

In terms of mountain asceticism, it was about a hundred years after the death of En no Gyōja (the founder of Shugendō), so there were likely still people who conveyed the essence directly from him. Saichō, a contemporary of Kukai, also practiced on Mount Hiei, which had no temple buildings yet, in a hut made of woven bamboo.

Speaking of mountains, the 500-year-old immortal whom Hidekazu Sasame encountered in the Kunlun Mountains comes to mind. He was someone who practiced at a power spot of the earth, and similarly, I imagine that in Kukai's time, there were power spots in various parts of the mountains, and practices that utilized them.

However, what Yōki Tanaka felt during his Great Traverse was that humans cannot survive for three days without water or food. In the mountains, water sources are limited, places to shelter from rain and dew and meditate are even scarcer, and there is no hope for grains, so they must have sustained themselves by eating nuts and roots while practicing.

I imagine that these conditions were completely different from the Great Peak Pilgrimage of a Thousand Days accomplished by the great ascetic Ryōjun Shionuma.

Also, the one million repetitions of the Bodhisattva Akashagarbha mantra, in terms of it being a mantra, is the same as "Namu Amida Butsu" or "Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō." Situations such as:

Mantra Siddhi The world where everything is that mantra Trance

are anticipated as being brought about by it. However, I probably think that the practice was conducted along the guidance to reach the ultimate in the style of Kundalini Yoga via trance. Enhancing memory is likely only a very small part of the aim of the Kokūzō Bosatsu Gumonji-hō.

However, after experiencing the descent of the star, Kukai encountered the Mahavairocana Sutra and realized that he had not reached the ultimate.

And because there were no suitable teachers in Japan, Kukai went to Tang China in 803 and entered Chang'an on December 23, 804.

This is similar to Dante Daiji going to India and having the secrets of Kundalini Yoga revealed to him by Mahavatar Babaji.

In May 805, Kukai visited the seventh patriarch of Esoteric Buddhism, Hui-guo of Qinglong Temple in Chang'an, Tang China. Hui-guo, at their first meeting, conveyed that he had known of Kukai's coming and had been waiting for him, expressing his joy at meeting him. He explained that he was troubled because he was nearing the end of his life and had no one to whom to transmit the profound mysteries of Esoteric Buddhism, so he proposed to begin the transmission immediately. Kukai received the initiation into the Mahakarunagarbhodhatu Mandala and the Vajradhatu Mandala. Furthermore, in August, he received the initiation into the rank of Ajari of the Transmission of the Dharma and was given the initiation name Henjōkongō, meaning "the supreme one who illuminates all things in this world universally."

This was the peak of his training in Chang'an, and it is thought that he reached Mahavairocana Buddha (Nirvana) at this time.

At this time, Kukai invited about 500 people from Qinglong Temple and Daxingshan Temple, which was associated with Amoghavajra, to a meal as an expression of his gratitude.

Indeed, on December 15, 805, Hui-guo passed away at the age of 60. Kukai was only able to study under Hui-guo for about half a year, just as the prophecy at their first meeting had indicated.

In 806, Kukai returned to Japan with a large number of scriptures, the Two World Mandalas, portraits of patriarchs, Esoteric Buddhist implements, and so on.

In 809, Kukai first stayed at Makinoo-san Temple in Izumi Province and in July entered Takaosan-ji Temple, which was a private temple of the Wake clan.

Afterwards, Kukai, leveraging the patronage of Emperor Saga, established Tō-ji Temple as a training hall for Shingon Esoteric Buddhism and founded Mount Kōya, among many other achievements.

In particular, from January 8, 835, he conducted the Go-shichinichi no Mishihō (Seven-Day Imperial Ritual) in the imperial court, which continues to this day. It should not be overlooked that this marked the beginning of the imperial family, who were originally Shintoists, also having Shingon Esoteric Buddhism as a backbone.

Kukai stopped eating the five grains three years before his death. On December 12, 832, he "deeply厌世 (en世 -厭世,厌う世を深く思う,厌う世を深く思う) and constantly devoted himself to zazen," entering a state of only meditating without eating the five grains, and spent the remaining two years or so in this way.

Thus, two years of meditative samadhi passed, and in January 835, he stopped accepting water and other drinks. His bewildered disciples still urged him to take water and drinks, but Kukai sternly refused, saying, "Stop, stop, do not use human flavors."

Even in the Ten Thousandfold Great Fire Ritual, seven days of water deprivation is the limit, but Kukai continued this for approximately two months until his death on March 21.

It is said that accomplished Kundalini Yogis can transform their bodies and survive by "eating mist," but it seems that by the time he stopped taking fluids in January, his body had already undergone such a transformation.

Given that Kukai was able to wield so many psychic powers, transforming his body would have been a piece of cake for him. Spending his last few years in meditation was likely the natural way of life for a first-rate mystic. His actions resemble those of immortals in biographies of immortals. Perhaps he was no longer attached to his physical body and his life had become centered on the astral realm.

He passed away on March 21, lying on his right side, which means that Kukai chose a way of dying that involved leaving his physical body behind. Since he could live without taking in fluids, he could have likely achieved shikai (corpse liberation) if he had wanted to, but I sense Kukai's intention in deliberately leaving his physical body behind in death. He was truly a Kundalini Yogi.

Those Who Failed the Imperial Examination, Those Who Dropped Out of School - 2 - Wang Chongyang

◎Jade Tablet - Apocrypha - 03-02

Wang Chongyang was one of the patriarchs who revitalized Taoism, the founder of the Quanzhen School, and a figure of the 12th century. He was from Xianyang, Shaanxi Province.


Initially, he took the imperial examination intending to become a high-ranking official but failed. Around the age of 28, he passed a backup military officer examination. However, he was only able to secure a minor, leisurely post as a wine tax supervisor in the remote Ganhe Town on the outskirts of Xianyang. In disappointment, his life became dissolute, and it is said that his relatives and people from his hometown disliked this and nicknamed him "Wang the Calamity Wind." Even at the age of 47, he remained a minor official.


At the age of 48, while drinking as usual at a wineshop in Ganhe Town, Shaanxi Province, a person with an unusual appearance – long, unkempt hair and a strange face (an otherworldly being) – appeared. After staring at Wang Chongyang's face for a while, he said, "You are truly worth teaching," and bestowed upon him the essential oral formula for cultivating inner alchemy, then departed.


On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival the following year, he saw the otherworldly being on a street in Liquan County, Shaanxi Province, and hurriedly approached and prostrated himself. The two entered a wineshop, where the otherworldly being took out five secret texts, instructed him to memorize them and then burn them, and then left.


Later, this otherworldly being is said to have been Lü Dongbin, a superstar of Chinese Taoism. After this, Wang Chongyang abandoned his wife and children and entered a life of spiritual practice.


Wang Chongyang dug a four-meter deep pit at the foot of Zhongnan Mountain in Nantai Village, named it the "Tomb of the Living Dead," erected a tombstone inscribed with "Spiritual Seat of Wang the Calamity Wind," and meditated and practiced within it.


It is said that he attained the Golden Elixir (enlightenment) in two and a half years, but he always carried a gourd, drank wine while singing songs, and wandered through rural villages and fields begging.


In 1163, he filled in the Tomb of the Living Dead and began preaching near Liu Jiang Village, but without success. In 1167, he set fire to his own house.


When the villagers, surprised, came to put out the fire, he said to them, "I have an affinity with the East and will go there. In three years, someone will rebuild this house." He went to Shandong Province and founded the Quanzhen School. Sun Bu'er was a prominent female disciple.


Wang Chongyang was also a True Person (真人). It is likely no coincidence that both Lü Dongbin and Wang Chongyang were failures in the imperial examination.


Digging a deep hole and practicing at the bottom of it is similar to the astral tripper in Shikoku who appears in Tetsuro Tamba's book, but Wang Chongyang differed in that he carried a social mission. It seems that almost only the Quanzhen School properly remains in Taoism today.


He had four prominent disciples, all of whom seemed to practice on a single meal a day, consisting of about a bowl of noodles, obtained through begging. That was likely the most they could get even by begging. In that era, even more so for serious practitioners, they had no choice but to practice while fighting the high risk of starvation.


Also, Lü Dongbin transmitted the teachings not in physical form but in astral form.