In Japan, the historical origins of ninja spirit and bushido spirit and Chinese Taoism
As a ninja, it is an essential process to recite the Nine-Character Mantra before a battle while making various seals with both hands. Secret seal (nine seals). Since we are talking about the Nine-Character Mantra, we cannot but talk about Tantra.
As mentioned in the previous article, in ancient times, most ninjas were fanatics of Eastern Esoteric Buddhism. Although many ninjas did not deliberately practice Tantric Buddhism, they were instilled with Tantric Buddhism ideas from birth. In the future, I will indulge in it unconsciously and be more or less affected.
The so-called Tantra is relative to Sutra Buddhism. It is a characteristic of Buddhism in the late ancient India and is the product of the combination of Buddhism and Hinduism. In terms of schools, it can be divided into Zatantra, which represents Tantra in India and Han China, Eastern Tantra, which was improved and evolved after the spread of Chinese Tantra to Japan, and Tibetan Tantra in Tibet. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, three Indian tantric masters, Shan Wuwei, Vajra Zhi, and Fu Kong Tripitaka, came to China, and they passed down the tantric teachings. At the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, the Tantric Buddhism brought to Tibet by the Mongols was integrated with the local Lamaism to form Tibetan Tantric Buddhism. During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court believed that Tantra was too weird and ordered its abolition. Therefore, the power of Tantric Buddhism gradually declined in the Central Plains. However, in the late Tang Dynasty, the Eastern Esoteric Shingon sect, which was brought to Japan by Master Kukai, became widely spread. Esoteric Buddhism regards Vairocana (the Great Sun Tathagata, the famous Kamakura Buddha is Vairocana) as the supreme commander and founder of the religion, and strongly promotes inheritance, mantras and secret mantras. Another major feature of Tantric Buddhism is that the human body has many mysteries and potentials. Through unremitting efforts in Tantric Buddhism, practitioners can develop their full potential, allowing the body to communicate with the universe and achieve the state of unity between heaven and man. This is consistent with Tantric Buddhism. The ultimate physical skills pursued by ninjas coincide with each other.
"Three Tantric Blessings" is an important part of Tantric practice. Including body secrets - making hand seals, verbal secrets - chanting mantras, and mental secrets - contemplating the Buddha in the heart.
The main practice of body secrets is "mudra formation". To put it simply, it is a practice of intersecting the fingers of both hands to form different shapes and combining them with imaginative thoughts. There are thousands of types of Tantric mudra, each with its own special meaning and function, such as: auspicious seal, Vajra Great Benefit Seal, Great Wheel Altar Seal, Destroy All Demons Seal, Crown Holding Treasure Seal, Light Flame Fire Realm Seal , Fusi and other immortal seals, quasi-nine-headed dragon seals, etc. Although some mudras have the same name, the shapes they produce are quite different. For example, the Vajra Armor Seal is a kind of demon-attracting body protection (in this case, think of the Ming Seal as armor, which spreads flames all over the body, and disgusting demons scatter in all directions). The nine ninja seals are: Exclusive Seal, Great Golden Steel Wheel Seal, Outer Lion Seal, Inner Lion Seal, Outer Bound Seal, Inner Bound Seal, Knowledge Seal, Sun Wheel Seal and Invisibility Seal.
For Dong Tan, through the ten fingers of the two hands of the human body, coupled with mental imagination, they match a certain practice and form different "mudras" with each other, which can produce blessings and practice Tantric practices. effectiveness of the person. Tantric theory holds that the ten fingers of both hands are externally connected to the Buddha nature of the Dharma Realm, and internally connected to the internal organs. Therefore, when practicing Tantric Dharma, forming "mudras" can mutually inspire the body secrets of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who have already been accomplished in the Dharma Realm, and increase the number of people. The quick effect is like gaining the magical power of Buddha.
In addition to the mudra, there are various sitting postures in body secrets. They are as diverse as the mudra and have their own meanings. The "auspicious sitting" and "demon subduing sitting" in the full lotus posture are often practiced by ninjas. Two kinds. Ninjas usually have to cooperate with the "Xiang" in the Five Paths of Ninja (more details in later chapters) to practice the auspicious sitting and the demon-subduing sitting to concentrate on practice.
Music, also known as mantra, is a practice in which practitioners recite a string of mantras to create creations in their hearts and prompt them to mutate. This special note is used to vibrate the energy channels in the body and transform the heart. Concentrate on one point to form extraordinary potential and inspire supernatural powers and high wisdom. The number of mantras in Tantra is as diverse as the mudra, such as: Fire True Mantra, Yama King Mantra, Four Heavenly Kings Mantra, Garuda King Mantra, Rakshasa Mantra, Rakshasa King Mantra, Blessing Mantra, Samaya Mantra, The Dynasty God Mantra, the Vajra Armor Mantra, etc., as well as the Five-Character Mantra, the Hidden Secret Six-Character Mantra (a very famous six-character mantra in China, don’t tell me you don’t know!), and the Manjushri Eight-Character Mantra.
The words "Lin, Bing, Du, Zhe, Jie, Formation, Fierce, In, Front" recited by Ninja are the mantras of the Nine Clubs Mandala in Eastern Esotericism. Most of the Dongmi mantras are pronounced according to the combination of sounds and rhymes of ancient Indian Sanskrit letters. However, the mantras uttered in places on Higashimi-dōri in Koyasan, Japan, have generally been changed into Sanskrit with Japanese pronunciation. Nowadays, it is really a very complicated problem to study the phonology of tantric mantras in detail. But it is different from the six-character Tibetan Tantric Mantra that originated from ancient Indian Sanskrit. The nine characters "lin, soldier, fight, zhe, ji, formation, fierce, in, before" originally came from the Taoist classic "Baopuzi" in the Eastern Jin Dynasty of China. 》. Everyone knows that "Baopuzi" is a Taoist classic, divided into two parts: the inner chapter and the outer chapter. The inner part mainly introduces Taoist elixirs, forbidden arts and health preservation, while the outer part covers military strategy, political commentary and other related contents. The nine-character mantra comes from "Baopuzi·Neipian·Dengshe".
Chinese Taoism has many forbidden arts, which are also called "forbidden methods". Taoism believes that ghosts, poisonous insects and beasts can be restrained by using them. The Forbidden Technique Gai was derived from early Qi Technique and Fu Technique, and first appeared at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It can be divided into two categories: "qi ban" and "curse ban".
It involves a wide variety of contents, ranging from moving clouds to pray for rain, driving away insects and avoiding disasters, to summoning ghosts and sending gods. One of them is "calling wind and thunder and controlling ghosts and gods" that Tengu has been pursuing. The article about the nine-character mantra in "Baopuzi" is a forbidden mantra. The original text is: "When entering the mountain, you should know the secret blessing of Liujia. The blessing says: 'Those who are facing a battle should march forward in formation.' Every nine-character mantra should always be a secret blessing. It is impossible to avoid anything.” When crossing the river and crossing the sea, he prayed: "The wind is rolled up, the river god guides the dragon, and all disasters are wiped out." The Japanese slightly modified this and it became what we see now.
From the perspective of the practice method of tantric chanting mantras, it uses a special musical note to vibrate the energy veins inside the body, causing it to release its life potential and become a world beyond the usual phenomena. It can enter the magical realm and even inspire supernatural powers and high wisdom. Therefore, among the three Tantric dharma of Eastern Tantra, such as Vajra, Womb, and Lotus, there are different mantras to enable practitioners to achieve different effects for different purposes. From this point of view, the biggest focus of the sound secrets of tantric mantras is the relationship between the sound and the human body's energy meridians, which is purely a mysterious function that transcends physics.
The secret of the mind is the most important link in the "Three Secrets of Blessing". In the entire process of tantric practice, both body and speech secrets rely on the secret of the mind to function. The inner meaning triggers the potential of consciousness through "contemplation" and reaches a transcendent realm. I said before that the nine-character mantra of ninjutsu is a secret technique of self-hypnosis. Just like in a modern magic show, the magician hypnotizes an assistant and says: "You are following the stick." At this time, even if someone is standing above the assistant's suspended Physically, he was completely unaware. Yimi uses the process of forming mudra and chanting mantras to concentrate his thoughts and self-paralysis. He makes the ninja's blood boil and become so excited that he can temporarily forget the pain during the battle and completely become a killing machine running at full power.
The most basic sutras of Eastern Buddhism are the Mahavairocana Sutra and the Vajra Sutra. Through the basic principles mentioned in these two scriptures, we can know that human beings have a natural instinct that transcends everything in the universe. As a warrior engaged in the special profession of ninja, every battle is a life-and-death battle. Since it is a life-and-death fight, of course you hope to use your full potential to fight for survival. At this time, you need a spiritual support that can inspire you and a catalyst that allows your body to fully display its functions. The Nine-Character Mantra just satisfies this requirement. This kind of demand is therefore highly respected by ninjas.
After understanding the "Three Secret Blessings" of Tantra, I think everyone should have an understanding of the reason why ninjas must make mudras, recite mantras, and concentrate their thoughts before every battle.