149-438: In Japanese Buddhism , mikkyō (密教, from himitsu bukkyō , literally "secret Buddhism") or Japanese Esoteric Buddhism , is the lineage of Vajrayana transmitted to Japan , primarily in the early Heian by Kūkai , and to a later extent by Saichō and his successors such as Ennin . It consists of complex systems of icons, meditative rituals, and ritual languages; distinct from the exoteric ( kengyō , 顕経) schools. Mikkyō
298-506: A Korean immigrant family. Hakuhō (673 through 686) Buddhism (Hakuhō refers to Emperor Tenmu ) saw the official patronage of Buddhism being taken up by the Japanese imperial family, who replaced the Soga clan as the main patrons of Buddhism. Japanese Buddhism at this time was also influenced by Tang dynasty (618–907) Buddhism. It was also during this time that Buddhism began to spread from
447-469: A date of 552 for when King Seong of Baekje (now western South Korea ) sent a mission to Emperor Kinmei that included an image of the Buddha Shakyamuni , ritual banners, and sutras . This event is usually considered the official introduction of Buddhism to Japan. Other sources, however, give the date of 538 and both dates are thought to be unreliable. However, it can still be said that in
596-433: A focus on Indian philosophies and Sanskrit. Though written in a number of different scripts, the dominant language of Hindu texts has been Sanskrit. It or a hybrid form of Sanskrit became the preferred language of Mahayana Buddhism scholarship; for example, one of the early and influential Buddhist philosophers, Nagarjuna (~200 CE), used Classical Sanskrit as the language for his texts. According to Renou, Sanskrit had
745-623: A foreign deity. The Nihon Shoki then states that the emperor allowed only the Soga clan to worship the Buddha, to test it out. Thus, the powerful Soga clan played a key role in the early spread of Buddhism in the country. Their support, along with that of immigrant groups like the Hata clan , gave Buddhism its initial impulse in Japan along with its first temple (Hōkō-ji, also known as Asukadera ). The Nakatomi and Mononobe, however, continued to oppose
894-591: A language competed with numerous, less exact vernacular Indian languages called Prakritic languages ( prākṛta - ). The term prakrta literally means "original, natural, normal, artless", states Franklin Southworth . The relationship between Prakrit and Sanskrit is found in Indian texts dated to the 1st millennium CE. Patañjali acknowledged that Prakrit is the first language, one instinctively adopted by every child with all its imperfections and later leads to
1043-658: A limited role in the Theravada tradition (formerly known as the Hinayana) but the Prakrit works that have survived are of doubtful authenticity. Some of the canonical fragments of the early Buddhist traditions, discovered in the 20th century, suggest the early Buddhist traditions used an imperfect and reasonably good Sanskrit, sometimes with a Pali syntax, states Renou. The Mahāsāṃghika and Mahavastu, in their late Hinayana forms, used hybrid Sanskrit for their literature. Sanskrit
1192-449: A medical facility at Gokurakuji in 1287, which treated more than 88,000 people over a 34-year-period and collected Chinese medical knowledge. Another set of new Kamakura schools include the two major Zen schools of Japan (Rinzai and Sōtō ), promulgated by monks such as Eisai and Dōgen , which emphasize liberation through the insight of meditation (zazen). Dōgen (1200–1253) began a prominent meditation teacher and abbot. He introduced
1341-454: A natural part of the earliest Vedic language, and that these developed in the centuries after the composition had been completed, and as a gradual unconscious process during the oral transmission by generations of reciters. The primary source for this argument is internal evidence of the text which betrays an instability of the phenomenon of retroflexion, with the same phrases having sandhi-induced retroflexion in some parts but not other. This
1490-479: A negative evidence to Pollock's hypothesis, but it is not positive evidence. A closer look at Sanskrit in the Indian history after the 12th century suggests that Sanskrit survived despite the odds. According to Hanneder, On a more public level the statement that Sanskrit is a dead language is misleading, for Sanskrit is quite obviously not as dead as other dead languages and the fact that it is spoken, written and read will probably convince most people that it cannot be
1639-635: A new system of monastic regulations based on the bodhisattva precepts . This new system allowed Tendai to free itself from direct state control. Also during this period, the Shingon ( Ch. Zhenyan; "True Word", from Sanskrit: " Mantra ") school was established in the country under the leadership of Kūkai . This school also received state sponsorship and introduced esoteric Vajrayana (also referred to as mikkyō , "secret teaching") elements. The new Buddhist lineages of Shingon and Tendai also developed somewhat independently from state control, partly because
SECTION 10
#17327730207691788-546: A pan-Indo-Aryan accessibility to information and knowledge in the ancient and medieval times, in contrast to the Prakrit languages which were understood just regionally. It created a cultural bond across the subcontinent. As local languages and dialects evolved and diversified, Sanskrit served as the common language. It connected scholars from distant parts of South Asia such as Tamil Nadu and Kashmir, states Deshpande, as well as those from different fields of studies, though there must have been differences in its pronunciation given
1937-578: A refined and standardized grammatical form that emerged in the mid-1st millennium BCE and was codified in the most comprehensive of ancient grammars, the Aṣṭādhyāyī ('Eight chapters') of Pāṇini . The greatest dramatist in Sanskrit, Kālidāsa , wrote in classical Sanskrit, and the foundations of modern arithmetic were first described in classical Sanskrit. The two major Sanskrit epics, the Mahābhārata and
2086-538: A restrained language from which archaisms and unnecessary formal alternatives were excluded". The Classical form of the language simplified the sandhi rules but retained various aspects of the Vedic language, while adding rigor and flexibilities, so that it had sufficient means to express thoughts as well as being "capable of responding to the future increasing demands of an infinitely diversified literature", according to Renou. Pāṇini included numerous "optional rules" beyond
2235-439: A similar phonetic structure to Tamil. Hock et al. quoting George Hart state that there was influence of Old Tamil on Sanskrit. Hart compared Old Tamil and Classical Sanskrit to arrive at a conclusion that there was a common language from which these features both derived – "that both Tamil and Sanskrit derived their shared conventions, metres, and techniques from a common source, for it is clear that neither borrowed directly from
2384-588: Is Princess Senshi's (964–1035) Hosshin waka shū (Collection of Waka of the Awakening Mind, 1012). The courtly practice of rōei (performing poetry to music) was also taken up in the Tendai and Shingon lineages. Both monks and laypersons met in poetry circles ( kadan ) like the Ninnaji circle which was patronized by Prince Shukaku (1150–1202). The Kamakura period (1185–1333) was a period of crisis in which
2533-550: Is a form of ritual meditation on the Siddham syllable "A", the seed syllable (Skt. bīja mantra ) for Vairocana . Kukai's Precious Key to the Secret Treasury gives a brief overview of the practice: 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 dhyāna with prajñā in an adamantine binding; Draw
2682-431: Is achieved through the practice of the "Three Mysteries" ( sanmi , 三密) of mudra, mantra, and mandala. These correspond to body, speech, and mind respectively. The Three Mysteries "awaken beings to the true nature of reality" which is constituted by the identity of all things with Mahāvairocana. This is a "process of mutual interpenetration" referred to as nyū ga gan yū (入我我入, "entering me, me entering"). Kūkai introduced
2831-516: Is akin to that of Latin and Ancient Greek in Europe. Sanskrit has significantly influenced most modern languages of the Indian subcontinent , particularly the languages of the northern, western, central and eastern Indian subcontinent. Sanskrit declined starting about and after the 13th century. This coincides with the beginning of Islamic invasions of South Asia to create, and thereafter expand
2980-533: Is also during this period that true lineages of "Shintō" kami worship begin to develop in Buddhist temples complexes, lineages which would become the basis for institutionalized Shintō of later periods. Buddhists continued to develop theories about the relationship between kami and the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. One such idea, gongen ("provisional manifestation") , promoted the worship of kami as manifest forms of
3129-510: Is an elaborately illustrated Lotus Sūtra installed at Itsukushima Shrine . The Buddhist liturgy of this era also became more elaborate and performative. Rites such as the Repentance Assembly ( keka'e ) at Hōjōji developed to include elaborate music, dance and other forms of performance. Major temples and monasteries such as the royal Hosshōji temple and Kōfukuji, also became home to the performance of Sarugaku theater (which
SECTION 20
#17327730207693278-527: Is descended most recently from the Chinese Tangmi tradition, especially the dual mandala system taught by Huiguo , itself derived from Indo - Chinese tantric masters such as Amoghavajra . Shingon focuses almost exclusively on esotericism, while Tendai views exoteric and esoteric doctrines as complementary. Shugendo is a syncretic tradition which integrates mikkyō with Shintō and Taoist practices. Esoteric practices are diffused throughout
3427-452: Is found in the writing of Bharata Muni , the author of the ancient Natya Shastra text. The early Jain scholar Namisādhu acknowledged the difference, but disagreed that the Prakrit language was a corruption of Sanskrit. Namisādhu stated that the Prakrit language was the pūrvam ('came before, origin') and that it came naturally to children, while Sanskrit was a refinement of Prakrit through "purification by grammar". Sanskrit belongs to
3576-532: Is rare in the later version of the language. The Homerian Greek, like Ṛg-vedic Sanskrit, deploys simile extensively, but they are structurally very different. The early Vedic form of the Sanskrit language was far less homogenous compared to the Classical Sanskrit as defined by grammarians by about the mid-1st millennium BCE. According to Richard Gombrich—an Indologist and a scholar of Sanskrit, Pāli and Buddhist Studies—the archaic Vedic Sanskrit found in
3725-589: Is referred to as "new Kamakura" Buddhism, their beginning can actually be traced to the late Heian. This includes the practice of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism , which focuses on the contemplation and chanting of the nenbutsu , the name of the Buddha Amida (Skt. Amitābha) , in hopes of being reborn in the Buddha field of Sukhāvatī . This practice was initially popular in Tendai monasteries but then spread throughout Japan. Texts discussing miracles associated with
3874-565: Is strongly influenced by Chinese Buddhism and Korean Buddhism , which were influenced by Indian Mahayana Buddhism . Though most scholars date the introduction of Buddhism to the middle of the sixth century, Deal and Ruppert note that immigrants from the Korean Peninsula, as well as merchants and sailors who frequented the mainland, likely brought Buddhism with them independent of the transmission as recorded in court chronicles. Some Japanese sources mention this explicitly. For example,
4023-479: Is taken along with evidence of controversy, for example, in passages of the Aitareya-Āraṇyaka (700 BCE), which features a discussion on whether retroflexion is valid in particular cases. The Ṛg-veda is a collection of books, created by multiple authors. These authors represented different generations, and the mandalas 2 to 7 are the oldest while the mandalas 1 and 10 are relatively the youngest. Yet,
4172-487: Is the origin of Nō Drama ) as well as ennen ("longevity-enhancing") arts which included dances and music. Doctrinally, these performative arts were seen as skillful means ( hōben , Skt. upaya ) of teaching Buddhism. Monks specializing in such arts were called yūsō ("artistic monks"). Another way of communicating the Buddhist message was through the medium of poetry, which included both Chinese poetry ( kanshi ) and Japanese poetry ( waka ). An example of Buddhist themed waka
4321-589: Is the predominant language of one of the largest collection of historic manuscripts. The earliest known inscriptions in Sanskrit are from the 1st century BCE, such as the Ayodhya Inscription of Dhana and Ghosundi-Hathibada (Chittorgarh) . Though developed and nurtured by scholars of orthodox schools of Hinduism, Sanskrit has been the language for some of the key literary works and theology of heterodox schools of Indian philosophies such as Buddhism and Jainism. The structure and capabilities of
4470-472: Is traditionally attributed with the invention of the kana syllabary and composing the Iroha . Ton'a relates a legend (among many circulating in medieval Japan) that Kūkai developed the kana to facilitate the work of carpenters who were building the stupa at Mount Koya . While certainly apocryphal , "the systematic importation of Sanskrit...encouraged the emergence of the native script of kana characters",
4619-443: Is used rhetorically to "designate what this or that writer feels is superior or best in the tradition." Aaron Proffitt argues that "'Esoteric Buddhism' can be taken as a synonym for Mahayana Buddhism itself" in particular contexts, where it takes a polemical rather than descriptive function. The "esoteric" appellation was applied Mahayana to distinguish it from other vehicles as early as the 5th century. The Dà zhìdù lùn ( Treatise on
Mikkyō - Misplaced Pages Continue
4768-556: Is vain and illusory, and the Buddha's realm alone is true." Regardless of his actual historical role, however, it is beyond doubt that Shōtoku became an important figure in Japanese Buddhist lore beginning soon after his death if not earlier. Taoist traditions of immortality and becoming a xian made it to Japan in the times of early Buddhism, but Buddhism absorbed them. "[U]nder Buddhist influence," these stories were "associated with certain ascetic monks who were devoted to
4917-540: The Bhagavata Purana , the Panchatantra and many other texts are all in the Sanskrit language. The Classical Sanskrit with its exacting grammar was thus the language of the Indian scholars and the educated classes, while others communicated with approximate or ungrammatical variants of it as well as other natural Indian languages. Sanskrit, as the learned language of Ancient India, thus existed alongside
5066-561: The Chan lineage of Caodong , which would grow into the Sōtō school. He criticized ideas like the final age of the Dharma ( mappō ), and the practice of apotropaic prayer. Additionally, it was during this period that monk Nichiren (1222–1282) began teaching his exclusively Lotus Sutra based Buddhism, which he saw as the only valid object of devotion in the age of mappō. Nichiren believed that
5215-580: The Dalai Lama , the Sanskrit language is a parent language that is at the foundation of many modern languages of India and the one that promoted Indian thought to other distant countries. In Tibetan Buddhism, states the Dalai Lama, Sanskrit language has been a revered one and called legjar lhai-ka or "elegant language of the gods". It has been the means of transmitting the "profound wisdom of Buddhist philosophy" to Tibet. The Sanskrit language created
5364-693: The Edo (Tokugawa)-period (1603–1868), Buddhism was controlled by the feudal Shogunate . The Meiji-period (1868–1912) saw a strong response against Buddhism, with persecution and a forced separation between Buddhism and Shinto ( Shinbutsu bunri ). As of 2022, around 70.8 million people, or about 67% of Japan's total population, identify as Buddhist. The largest sects of Japanese Buddhism are Pure Land Buddhism with 22 million believers, followed by Nichiren Buddhism with 10 million believers, Shingon Buddhism with 5.4 million, Zen Buddhism with 5.3 million, Tendai Buddhism with 2.8 million, and only about 700,000 for
5513-579: The Heian Period Fusō ryakki (Abridged Annals of Japan), mentions a foreigner known in Japanese as Shiba no Tatsuto, who may have been Chinese-born, Baekje -born, or a descendant of an immigrant group in Japan. He is said to have built a thatched hut in Yamato and enshrined an object of worship there. Immigrants like this may have been a source for the Soga clan's later sponsorship of Buddhism. The Nihon Shoki ( Chronicles of Japan ) provides
5662-675: The Indo-European family of languages . It is one of the three earliest ancient documented languages that arose from a common root language now referred to as Proto-Indo-European : Other Indo-European languages distantly related to Sanskrit include archaic and Classical Latin ( c. 600 BCE–100 CE, Italic languages ), Gothic (archaic Germanic language , c. 350 CE ), Old Norse ( c. 200 CE and after), Old Avestan ( c. late 2nd millennium BCE ) and Younger Avestan ( c. 900 BCE). The closest ancient relatives of Vedic Sanskrit in
5811-638: The Lotus Sutra ." Asuka-period (538 to 710) Buddhism ( Asuka bukkyō ) refers to Buddhist practice and thought that mainly developed after 552 in the Nara Basin region . Buddhism grew here through the support and efforts of two main groups: immigrant kinship groups like the Hata clan (who were experts in Chinese technology as well as intellectual and material culture), and through aristocratic clans like
5960-701: The Rigveda had already evolved in the Vedic period, as evidenced in the later Vedic literature. Gombrich posits that the language in the early Upanishads of Hinduism and the late Vedic literature approaches Classical Sanskrit, while the archaic Vedic Sanskrit had by the Buddha 's time become unintelligible to all except ancient Indian sages. The formalization of the Saṃskṛta language is credited to Pāṇini , along with Patañjali's Mahābhāṣya and Katyayana's commentary that preceded Patañjali's work. Panini composed Aṣṭādhyāyī ('Eight-Chapter Grammar'), which became
6109-531: The Rāmāyaṇa , however, were composed in a range of oral storytelling registers called Epic Sanskrit which was used in northern India between 400 BCE and 300 CE, and roughly contemporary with classical Sanskrit. In the following centuries, Sanskrit became tradition-bound, stopped being learned as a first language, and ultimately stopped developing as a living language. The hymns of the Rigveda are notably similar to
Mikkyō - Misplaced Pages Continue
6258-713: The Yamato Province to the other regions and islands of Japan. An important part of the centralizing reforms of this era (the Taika reforms ) was the use of Buddhist institutions and rituals (often performed at the palace or capital) in the service of the state. The imperial government also actively built and managed the Buddhist temples as well as the monastic community. The Nihon Shoki states that in 624 there were 46 Buddhist temples. Some of these temples include Kawaradera and Yakushiji . Archeological research has also revealed numerous local and regional temples outside of
6407-406: The sandhi rules, both internal and external. Quite many words found in the early Vedic Sanskrit language are never found in late Vedic Sanskrit or Classical Sanskrit literature, while some words have different and new meanings in Classical Sanskrit when contextually compared to the early Vedic Sanskrit literature. Arthur Macdonell was among the early colonial era scholars who summarized some of
6556-745: The six old schools established in the Nara period (710－794). Originating in India, Buddhism arrived in Japan by first making its way to China and Korea through the Silk Road and then traveling by sea to the Japanese archipelago . Though often overlooked in Western academia, Buddhism was transmitted through trade routes across South East Asia in addition to the Sinophere. As such, early Japanese Buddhism
6705-500: The verbal adjective sáṃskṛta- is a compound word consisting of sáṃ ('together, good, well, perfected') and kṛta - ('made, formed, work'). It connotes a work that has been "well prepared, pure and perfect, polished, sacred". According to Biderman, the perfection contextually being referred to in the etymological origins of the word is its tonal—rather than semantic—qualities. Sound and oral transmission were highly valued qualities in ancient India, and its sages refined
6854-414: The 13th century, a premier center of Sanskrit literary creativity, Sanskrit literature there disappeared, perhaps in the "fires that periodically engulfed the capital of Kashmir" or the "Mongol invasion of 1320" states Pollock. The Sanskrit literature which was once widely disseminated out of the northwest regions of the subcontinent, stopped after the 12th century. As Hindu kingdoms fell in the eastern and
7003-543: The 16th and 17th centuries. Sanskrit Sanskrit ( / ˈ s æ n s k r ɪ t / ; attributively 𑀲𑀁𑀲𑁆𑀓𑀾𑀢𑀁 , संस्कृत- , saṃskṛta- ; nominally संस्कृतम् , saṃskṛtam , IPA: [ˈsɐ̃skr̩tɐm] ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages . It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from
7152-532: The 7th century where he established a major center of learning and language translation under the patronage of Emperor Taizong. By the early 1st millennium CE, Sanskrit had spread Buddhist and Hindu ideas to Southeast Asia, parts of the East Asia and the Central Asia. It was accepted as a language of high culture and the preferred language by some of the local ruling elites in these regions. According to
7301-560: The 9th century Kūkai introduced his own esoteric-exoteric taxonomy, theorizing the esoteric as always-already present in the exoteric teachings, while simultaneously the consummation and highest form of those teachings. He similarly presents Shingon as "vajrayana of secrecy", separate from both the Mahayana and Hinayana teachings. Kūkai used a number of other terms for his lineage, such as the "mantra treasury" and kongōjō ( 金剛乗 ) , literally " vajra vehicle". Taimitsu (台密) and Tōmitsu refer to
7450-521: The Buddha, funerals, memorial rites for ancestral spirits, the feeding of hungry ghosts, feasts sponsored by donors, and tea services that served to highlight the bureaucratic and social hierarchy." Medieval Rinzai was also invigorated by a series of Chinese masters who came to Japan during the Song dynasty , such as Issan Ichinei (1247–1317). Issan influenced the Japanese interest in Chinese literature, calligraphy and painting. The Japanese literature of
7599-480: The Buddhas and bodhisattvas became popular in this period, along with texts which outlined death bed rites. During this period, some Buddhist temples established groups of warrior-monks called Sōhei . This phenomenon began in Tendai temples, as they vied for political influence with each other. The Genpei war saw various groups of warrior monks join the fray. There were also semi-independent clerics (who were called shōnin or hijiri, "holy ones") who lived away from
SECTION 50
#17327730207697748-455: The Buddhas. A group of Tendai monks at Mt. Hiei meanwhile incorporated hongaku thought into their worship of the kami Sannō, which eventually came to be seen as the source or "original ground" ( honji ) of all Buddhas (thereby reversing the old honji suijaku theory which saw the Buddha as the honji ). This idea can be found in the work of the Hiei monk Sonshun (1451–1514). Beginning with
7897-430: The Buddhist immigrant groups, Asuka Buddhism was mainly the purview of aristocratic groups like the Soga clan and other related clans, who patronized clan temples as a way to express their power and influence. These temples mainly focused on the performance of rituals which were believed to provide magical effects, such as protection. During this period, Buddhist art was dominated by the style of Tori Busshi , who came from
8046-425: The Classical Sanskrit language launched ancient Indian speculations about "the nature and function of language", what is the relationship between words and their meanings in the context of a community of speakers, whether this relationship is objective or subjective, discovered or is created, how individuals learn and relate to the world around them through language, and about the limits of language? They speculated on
8195-532: The Dravidian languages borrowed from Sanskrit vocabulary, but they have also affected Sanskrit on deeper levels of structure, "for instance in the domain of phonology where Indo-Aryan retroflexes have been attributed to Dravidian influence". Similarly, Ferenc Ruzca states that all the major shifts in Indo-Aryan phonetics over two millennia can be attributed to the constant influence of a Dravidian language with
8344-521: The Dravidian words and forms, without modifying the word order; but the same thing is not possible in rendering a Persian or English sentence into a non-Indo-Aryan language. Shulman mentions that "Dravidian nonfinite verbal forms (called vinaiyeccam in Tamil) shaped the usage of the Sanskrit nonfinite verbs (originally derived from inflected forms of action nouns in Vedic). This particularly salient case of
8493-492: The Five Mountains ( Gozan Bungaku ) reflects this influence. One of his students was Musō Soseki , a Zen master, calligraphist, poet and garden designer who was granted the title "national Zen teacher" by Emperor Go-Daigo . The Zen monk poets Sesson Yūbai and Kokan Shiren also studied under Issan. Shiren was also a historian who wrote the Buddhist history Genkō shakusho . The Royal court and elite families of
8642-475: The Great Perfection of Wisdom ) distinguishes between esoteric ( mimi , 祕密) and exoteric ( xianshi , 顯示) Buddhadharma : In the exoteric [form], the Buddha, pratyekabuddha , and arhat are all fields of merit since their defilements have been exhausted without residue. In the esoteric [form], it is explained that bodhisattvas attain the acquiescence to the nonproduction of the dharmas... In
8791-514: The Heian era. Ōya Tokujō used the term nanmitsu (南密) to refer to this Nara-period esotericism.In the 17th century, sectarian scholars began distinguishing between zomitsu and junmitsu , or "miscellaneous esotericism" and "pure esotericism" respectively, to describe the disparate, diffused esoteric elements versus the highly-structured approach of the Shingon and Tendai schools. This distinction
8940-476: The Indo-Aryan language underwent rapid linguistic change and morphed into the Vedic Sanskrit language. The pre-Classical form of Sanskrit is known as Vedic Sanskrit . The earliest attested Sanskrit text is the Rigveda , a Hindu scripture from the mid- to late-second millennium BCE. No written records from such an early period survive, if any ever existed, but scholars are generally confident that
9089-519: The Indo-European languages are the Nuristani languages found in the remote Hindu Kush region of northeastern Afghanistan and northwestern Himalayas, as well as the extinct Avestan and Old Persian – both are Iranian languages . Sanskrit belongs to the satem group of the Indo-European languages. Colonial era scholars familiar with Latin and Greek were struck by the resemblance of
SECTION 60
#17327730207699238-461: The Japanese Buddhist tradition in various forms outside of these schools. Mikkyō has been influential in Japanese culture and history, shifting aristocratic court culture away from the Confucian ritsuryō political structure, and contributing to the development of Japanese literature through waka and the development of the kana syllabary. In older Chinese literature, the term esoteric
9387-536: The Kamakura period, these new schools did not gain as much prominence as the older lineages, with the possible exception of the highly influential Rinzai Zen school. Among the founders of the forty-six sects in Japanese Zen, sixteen were Chinese masters, fifteen were Japanese masters who traveled to China during the reign of the Song dynasty , and another fifteen were Japanese masters who visited China during
9536-532: The Muslim rule in the form of Sultanates, and later the Mughal Empire . Sheldon Pollock characterises the decline of Sanskrit as a long-term "cultural, social, and political change". He dismisses the idea that Sanskrit declined due to "struggle with barbarous invaders", and emphasises factors such as the increasing attractiveness of vernacular language for literary expression. With the fall of Kashmir around
9685-496: The Muslim rulers. Hindu rulers such as Shivaji of the Maratha Empire , reversed the process, by re-adopting Sanskrit and re-asserting their socio-linguistic identity. After Islamic rule disintegrated in South Asia and the colonial rule era began, Sanskrit re-emerged but in the form of a "ghostly existence" in regions such as Bengal. This decline was the result of "political institutions and civic ethos" that did not support
9834-499: The Saṃskṛta language, both in its vocabulary and grammar, to the classical languages of Europe. In The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World , Mallory and Adams illustrate the resemblance with the following examples of cognate forms (with the addition of Old English for further comparison): The correspondences suggest some common root, and historical links between some of
9983-556: The Soga, blaming their worship for disease and disorder. These opponents of Buddhism are even said to have thrown the image of the Buddha into the Naniwa canal. Eventually outright war erupted. The Soga side, led by Soga no Umako and a young Prince Shōtoku , emerged victorious and promoted Buddhism on the archipelago with support of the broader court. Based on traditional sources, Shōtoku has been seen as an ardent Buddhist who taught, wrote on, and promoted Buddhism widely, especially during
10132-596: The Soga. Immigrant groups like the Korean monks who supposedly instructed Shōtoku introduced Buddhist learning, administration, ritual practice and the skills to build Buddhist art and architecture. They included individuals like Ekan (dates unknown), a Koguryŏ priest of the Madhyamaka school, who (according to the Nihon Shoki ) was appointed to the highest rank of primary monastic prelate ( sōjō ). Aside from
10281-638: The South India, such as the great Vijayanagara Empire , so did Sanskrit. There were exceptions and short periods of imperial support for Sanskrit, mostly concentrated during the reign of the tolerant Mughal emperor Akbar . Muslim rulers patronized the Middle Eastern language and scripts found in Persia and Arabia, and the Indians linguistically adapted to this Persianization to gain employment with
10430-447: The Vedic Sanskrit in these books of the Ṛg-veda "hardly presents any dialectical diversity", states Louis Renou – an Indologist known for his scholarship of the Sanskrit literature and the Ṛg-veda in particular. According to Renou, this implies that the Vedic Sanskrit language had a "set linguistic pattern" by the second half of the 2nd millennium BCE. Beyond the Ṛg-veda, the ancient literature in Vedic Sanskrit that has survived into
10579-451: The Vedic Sanskrit's bahulam framework, to respect liberty and creativity so that individual writers separated by geography or time would have the choice to express facts and their views in their own way, where tradition followed competitive forms of the Sanskrit language. The phonetic differences between Vedic Sanskrit and Classical Sanskrit, as discerned from the current state of the surviving literature, are negligible when compared to
10728-407: The alphabet, the structure of words, and its exacting grammar into a "collection of sounds, a kind of sublime musical mold" as an integral language they called Saṃskṛta . From the late Vedic period onwards, state Annette Wilke and Oliver Moebus, resonating sound and its musical foundations attracted an "exceptionally large amount of linguistic, philosophical and religious literature" in India. Sound
10877-440: The capacity to understand the old Prakrit languages such as Ardhamagadhi . A section of European scholars state that Sanskrit was never a spoken language. However, evidences shows that Sanskrit was a spoken language, essential for oral tradition that preserved the vast number of Sanskrit manuscripts from ancient India. The textual evidence in the works of Yaksa, Panini, and Patanajali affirms that Classical Sanskrit in their era
11026-531: The capital also studied the classic Chinese arts that were being taught in the five mountain Rinzai temples. The shogunal families even built Zen temples in their residential palaces. The five mountain temples also established their own printing program ( Gozan-ban ) to copy and disseminate a wide variety of literature that included records of Zen masters, the writings of Tang poets , Confucian classics , Chinese dictionaries, reference works, and medical texts. It
11175-548: The capital was shifted to Kyoto (then known as Heiankyō ) by emperor Kanmu , mainly for economic and strategic reasons. As before, Buddhist institutions continued to play a key role in the state, with Kanmu being a strong supporter of the new Tendai school of Saichō (767–822) in particular. Saichō, who had studied the Tiantai school in China, established the influential temple complex of Enryakuji at Mount Hiei , and developed
11324-513: The capital where great temples such as the Asuka-dera and Tōdai-ji were erected. The most influential of the temples are known as the " seven great temples of the southern capital " ( Nanto Shichi Daiji ). The temples were not exclusive and sectarian organizations. Instead, temples were apt to have scholars versed in several of schools of thought. It has been suggested that they can best be thought of as "study groups". State temples continued
11473-469: The capital. At the state temples, Buddhist rituals were performed in order to create merit for the royal family and the well-being of the nation. Particular attention was paid to rituals centered around Buddhist sutras (scriptures), such as the Golden Light Sutra . The monastic community was overseen by the complex and hierarchical imperial Monastic Office ( sōgō ), who managed everything from
11622-527: The close relationship between the Indo-Iranian tongues and the Baltic and Slavic languages , vocabulary exchange with the non-Indo-European Uralic languages , and the nature of the attested Indo-European words for flora and fauna. The pre-history of Indo-Aryan languages which preceded Vedic Sanskrit is unclear and various hypotheses place it over a fairly wide limit. According to Thomas Burrow, based on
11771-465: The conflicts and disasters of this period were caused by the wrong views of Japanese Buddhists (such as the followers of Pure Land and esoteric Buddhism). Nichiren faced much opposition for his views and was also attacked and exiled twice by the Kamakura state. During this period, the new "Kamakura schools" continued to develop and began to consolidate themselves as unique and separate traditions. However, as Deal and Ruppert note, "most of them remained at
11920-614: The context of a speech or language, is found in verses 5.28.17–19 of the Ramayana . Outside the learned sphere of written Classical Sanskrit, vernacular colloquial dialects ( Prakrits ) continued to evolve. Sanskrit co-existed with numerous other Prakrit languages of ancient India. The Prakrit languages of India also have ancient roots and some Sanskrit scholars have called these Apabhramsa , literally 'spoiled'. The Vedic literature includes words whose phonetic equivalent are not found in other Indo-European languages but which are found in
12069-508: The control of the country moved from the imperial aristocracy to the samurai . In 1185 the Kamakura shogunate was established at Kamakura . This period saw the development of new Buddhist lineages or schools which have been called "Kamakura Buddhism" and "New Buddhism". All of the major founders of these new lineages were ex-Tendai monks who had trained at Mt. Hiei and had studied the exoteric and esoteric systems of Tendai Buddhism. During
12218-653: The crystallization of Classical Sanskrit. As in this period the Indo-Aryan tribes had not yet made contact with the inhabitants of the South of the subcontinent, this suggests a significant presence of Dravidian speakers in North India (the central Gangetic plain and the classical Madhyadeśa) who were instrumental in this substratal influence on Sanskrit. Extant manuscripts in Sanskrit number over 30 million, one hundred times those in Greek and Latin combined, constituting
12367-531: The derivation of the gojūon from siddhaṃ "point[s] to the reason underlying the belief widespread in the medieval period that Kūkai was the inventor of the kana syllabary." Japanese Buddhism Buddhism was first established in Japan in the 6th century CE. Most of the Japanese Buddhists belong to new schools of Buddhism which were established in the Kamakura period (1185－1333). During
12516-467: The detailed and sophisticated treatise then transmitted it through his students. Modern scholarship generally accepts that he knew of a form of writing, based on references to words such as Lipi ('script') and lipikara ('scribe') in section 3.2 of the Aṣṭādhyāyī . The Classical Sanskrit language formalized by Pāṇini, states Renou, is "not an impoverished language", rather it is "a controlled and
12665-464: The devastating Ōnin War (1467–1477) , the late Muromachi period saw the devolution of central government control and the rise of regional samurai warlords called daimyōs and the so called "warring states era" ( Sengokuki ). During this era of widespread warfare, many Buddhist temples and monasteries were destroyed, particularly in and around Kyoto. Many of these old temples would not be rebuilt until
12814-645: The development of the six great Nara schools, called Nanto Rokushū ( 南都六宗 , lit. the Six Sects of the Southern Capital ) , all were continuations of Chinese Buddhist schools. The temples of these schools became important places for the study of Buddhist doctrine. The six Nara schools were: Ritsu ( Vinaya ), Jōjitsu ( Tattvasiddhi ) , Kusha-shū ( Abhidharmakosha ), Sanronshū ( East Asian Mādhyamaka ), Hossō ( East Asian Yogācāra ) and Kegon ( Huayan ). These schools were centered around
12963-471: The differences between the Vedic and Classical Sanskrit. Louis Renou published in 1956, in French, a more extensive discussion of the similarities, the differences and the evolution of the Vedic Sanskrit within the Vedic period and then to the Classical Sanskrit along with his views on the history. This work has been translated by Jagbans Balbir. The earliest known use of the word Saṃskṛta (Sanskrit), in
13112-460: The distant major ancient languages of the world. The Indo-Aryan migrations theory explains the common features shared by Sanskrit and other Indo-European languages by proposing that the original speakers of what became Sanskrit arrived in South Asia from a region of common origin, somewhere north-west of the Indus region , during the early 2nd millennium BCE. Evidence for such a theory includes
13261-414: The esoteric lineages of Tendai and Shingon respectively. Historically, shingon was largely interchangeable with mikkyō; sources often refer to Tendai esotericism as "the shingon of the Tendai lineages." Elements such as mantra , dharani , and various esoteric texts were already present in Japan before Kūkai. Dōshō , Dōji, Simsang, Kaimei, and other clerics introduced esoteric sutras to Japan before
13410-548: The first language of the respective speakers. The Sanskrit language brought Indo-Aryan speaking people together, particularly its elite scholars. Some of these scholars of Indian history regionally produced vernacularized Sanskrit to reach wider audiences, as evidenced by texts discovered in Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. Once the audience became familiar with the easier to understand vernacularized version of Sanskrit, those interested could graduate from colloquial Sanskrit to
13559-412: The foundation of Vyākaraṇa, a Vedānga . The Aṣṭādhyāyī was not the first description of Sanskrit grammar, but it is the earliest that has survived in full, and the culmination of a long grammatical tradition that Fortson says, is "one of the intellectual wonders of the ancient world". Pāṇini cites ten scholars on the phonological and grammatical aspects of the Sanskrit language before him, as well as
13708-537: The gods Varuna, Mitra, Indra, and Nasatya found in the earliest layers of the Vedic literature. O Bṛhaspati, when in giving names they first set forth the beginning of Language, Their most excellent and spotless secret was laid bare through love, When the wise ones formed Language with their mind, purifying it like grain with a winnowing fan, Then friends knew friendships – an auspicious mark placed on their language. — Rigveda 10.71.1–4 Translated by Roger Woodard The Vedic Sanskrit found in
13857-431: The historic Sanskrit literary culture and the failure of new Sanskrit literature to assimilate into the changing cultural and political environment. Sheldon Pollock states that in some crucial way, "Sanskrit is dead ". After the 12th century, the Sanskrit literary works were reduced to "reinscription and restatements" of ideas already explored, and any creativity was restricted to hymns and verses. This contrasted with
14006-576: The integrated practice of the "Womb realm mandala" ( Sanskrit : Mahākaruṇā-garbhodbhava-maṇḍala , 胎藏界曼荼羅) and the "Vajra realm mandala" ( Sanskrit : Vajradhātu-maṇḍala , 金剛界曼荼羅) to Japan from Huiguo. These mandalas correspond, respectively, to the Mahāvairocana and the Vajraśekhara sutras. Abhiṣeka ( kanjō ) is a "ritual of passage" which initiates a student into esoteric practice, based on classical and medieval coronation rites. Ajikan ( 阿字觀 )
14155-486: The intense change that must have occurred in the pre-Vedic period between the Proto-Indo-Aryan language and Vedic Sanskrit. The noticeable differences between the Vedic and the Classical Sanskrit include the much-expanded grammar and grammatical categories as well as the differences in the accent, the semantics and the syntax. There are also some differences between how some of the nouns and verbs end, as well as
14304-452: The kami in different ways. Some monks saw them as just worldly beings who could be prayed for. Other saw them as manifestations of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. For example, the Mt. Hiei monk Eryō saw the kami as "traces" (suijaku) of the Buddha. This idea, called essence-trace ( honji-suijaku ) , would have a strong influence throughout the medieval era. The copying and writing of Buddhist scripture
14453-432: The largest cultural heritage that any civilization has produced prior to the invention of the printing press. — Foreword of Sanskrit Computational Linguistics (2009), Gérard Huet, Amba Kulkarni and Peter Scharf Sanskrit has been the predominant language of Hindu texts encompassing a rich tradition of philosophical and religious texts, as well as poetry, music, drama , scientific , technical and others. It
14602-412: The linguistic expression and sets the standard for the Sanskrit language. Pāṇini made use of a technical metalanguage consisting of a syntax, morphology and lexicon. This metalanguage is organised according to a series of meta-rules, some of which are explicitly stated while others can be deduced. Despite differences in the analysis from that of modern linguistics, Pāṇini's work has been found valuable and
14751-514: The literary works. The Indian tradition, states Winternitz , has favored the learning and the usage of multiple languages from the ancient times. Sanskrit was a spoken language in the educated and the elite classes, but it was also a language that must have been understood in a wider circle of society because the widely popular folk epics and stories such as the Ramayana , the Mahabharata ,
14900-468: The major Buddhist monasteries and preached to the people. These figures had much more contact with the general populace than other monks. The most well known of these figures was Kūya (alt. Kōya; 903–972), who wandered throughout the provinces engaging in good works ( sazen ), preaching on nembutsu practice and working with local Buddhist cooperatives ( zenchishiki ) to create images of bodhisattvas like Kannon. Another important development during this era
15049-698: The medieval era, political power was decentralized and shrine-temple complexes were often competing with each other for influence and power. These complexes often controlled land and multiple manors, and also maintained military forces of warrior monks which they used to battle with each other. In spite of the instability of this era, the culture of Buddhist study and learning continued to thrive and grow. Furthermore, though there were numerous independent Buddhist schools and lineages at this time, many monks did not exclusively belong to one lineage and instead traveled to study and learn in various temples and seminaries. This tendency of practicing in multiple schools or lineages
15198-455: The middle of the sixth century, Buddhism was introduced through official diplomatic channels. According to the Nihon Shoki , after receiving the Buddhist gifts, the Japanese emperor asked his officials if the Buddha should be worshipped in Japan. They were divided on the issue, with Soga no Iname (506–570) supporting the idea while Mononobe no Okoshi and Nakatomi no Kamako worried that the kami of Japan would become angry at this worship of
15347-511: The modern age include the Samaveda , Yajurveda , Atharvaveda , along with the embedded and layered Vedic texts such as the Brahmanas , Aranyakas , and the early Upanishads . These Vedic documents reflect the dialects of Sanskrit found in the various parts of the northwestern, northern, and eastern Indian subcontinent. According to Michael Witzel, Vedic Sanskrit was a spoken language of
15496-430: The monastic code to the color of the robes. In 710, Empress Genme moved the state capital to Heijōkyō , (modern Nara ) thus inaugurating the Nara period . This period saw the establishment of the kokubunji system, which was a way to manage provincial temples through a network of national temples in each province. The head temple of the entire system was Tōdai-ji (completed in 752). Nara state sponsorship saw
15645-429: The more advanced Classical Sanskrit. Rituals and the rites-of-passage ceremonies have been and continue to be the other occasions where a wide spectrum of people hear Sanskrit, and occasionally join in to speak some Sanskrit words such as namah . Classical Sanskrit is the standard register as laid out in the grammar of Pāṇini , around the fourth century BCE. Its position in the cultures of Greater India
15794-401: The most advanced analysis of linguistics until the twentieth century. Pāṇini's comprehensive and scientific theory of grammar is conventionally taken to mark the start of Classical Sanskrit. His systematic treatise inspired and made Sanskrit the preeminent Indian language of learning and literature for two millennia. It is unclear whether Pāṇini himself wrote his treatise or he orally created
15943-602: The most archaic poems of the Iranian and Greek language families, the Gathas of old Avestan and Iliad of Homer . As the Rigveda was orally transmitted by methods of memorisation of exceptional complexity, rigour and fidelity, as a single text without variant readings, its preserved archaic syntax and morphology are of vital importance in the reconstruction of the common ancestor language Proto-Indo-European . Sanskrit does not have an attested native script: from around
16092-409: The mountains of what is today northern Afghanistan across northern Pakistan and into northwestern India. Vedic Sanskrit interacted with the preexisting ancient languages of the subcontinent, absorbing names of newly encountered plants and animals; in addition, the ancient Dravidian languages influenced Sanskrit's phonology and syntax. Sanskrit can also more narrowly refer to Classical Sanskrit ,
16241-435: The northwest in the late Bronze Age . Sanskrit is the sacred language of Hinduism , the language of classical Hindu philosophy , and of historical texts of Buddhism and Jainism . It was a link language in ancient and medieval South Asia, and upon transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia, East Asia and Central Asia in the early medieval era, it became a language of religion and high culture , and of
16390-597: The numbers are thought to signify a wish to be aligned with the prestige of the language. Sanskrit has been taught in traditional gurukulas since ancient times; it is widely taught today at the secondary school level. The oldest Sanskrit college is the Benares Sanskrit College founded in 1791 during East India Company rule . Sanskrit continues to be widely used as a ceremonial and ritual language in Hindu and Buddhist hymns and chants . In Sanskrit,
16539-446: The old schools did not happen all at once. In fact, the new schools remained under the old schools' doctrinal and political influence for some time. For example, Ōhashi Toshio has stressed how during this period, the Jōdo sect was mainly seen as a subsidiary or temporary branch sect of Tendai. Furthermore, not all monks of the old sects were antagonistic to the new sects. During the height of
16688-423: The old system was becoming less important to Heian aristocrats. This period also saw an increase in the official separation between the different schools, due to a new system that specified the particular school which an imperial priest ( nenbundosha ) belonged to. During this period, there was a consolidation of a series of annual court ceremonies ( nenjū gyōji ). Tendai Buddhism was particularly influential, and
16837-403: The oral transmission of the texts is reliable: they are ceremonial literature, where the exact phonetic expression and its preservation were a part of the historic tradition. However some scholars have suggested that the original Ṛg-veda differed in some fundamental ways in phonology compared to the sole surviving version available to us. In particular that retroflex consonants did not exist as
16986-431: The other." Reinöhl further states that there is a symmetric relationship between Dravidian languages like Kannada or Tamil, with Indo-Aryan languages like Bengali or Hindi, whereas the same relationship is not found for non-Indo-Aryan languages, for example, Persian or English: A sentence in a Dravidian language like Tamil or Kannada becomes ordinarily good Bengali or Hindi by substituting Bengali or Hindi equivalents for
17135-501: The periphery of Buddhist institutional power and, in some ways, discourse during this era." They further add that it was only "from the late fifteenth century onward that these lineages came to increasingly occupy the center of Japanese Buddhist belief and practice." The only exception is Rinzai Zen, which attained prominence earlier (13th century). Meanwhile, the "old" schools and lineages continued to develop in their own ways and remained influential. The new schools' independence from
17284-529: The political elites in some of these regions. As a result, Sanskrit had a lasting impact on the languages of South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, especially in their formal and learned vocabularies. Sanskrit generally connotes several Old Indo-Aryan language varieties. The most archaic of these is the Vedic Sanskrit found in the Rigveda , a collection of 1,028 hymns composed between 1500 BCE and 1200 BCE by Indo-Aryan tribes migrating east from
17433-414: The possible influence of Dravidian on Sanskrit is only one of many items of syntactic assimilation, not least among them the large repertoire of morphological modality and aspect that, once one knows to look for it, can be found everywhere in classical and postclassical Sanskrit". The main influence of Dravidian on Sanskrit is found to have been concentrated in the timespan between the late Vedic period and
17582-569: The practice of conducting numerous rituals for the good of the nation and the imperial family. Rituals centered on scriptures like the Golden Light and the Lotus Sūtra . Another key function of the state temples was the transcription of Buddhist scriptures, which was seen as generating much merit. Buddhist monastics were firmly controlled by the state's monastic office through an extensive monastic code of law, and monastic ranks were matched to
17731-439: The previous 1,500 years when "great experiments in moral and aesthetic imagination" marked the Indian scholarship using Classical Sanskrit, states Pollock. Scholars maintain that the Sanskrit language did not die, but rather only declined. Jurgen Hanneder disagrees with Pollock, finding his arguments elegant but "often arbitrary". According to Hanneder, a decline or regional absence of creative and innovative literature constitutes
17880-480: The problems of interpretation and misunderstanding. The purifying structure of the Sanskrit language removes these imperfections. The early Sanskrit grammarian Daṇḍin states, for example, that much in the Prakrit languages is etymologically rooted in Sanskrit, but involves "loss of sounds" and corruptions that result from a "disregard of the grammar". Daṇḍin acknowledged that there are words and confusing structures in Prakrit that thrive independent of Sanskrit. This view
18029-656: The quiescent prajñā of the tathāgata [into your mind]. Mikkyō "functioned as a practical technology that had a direct bearing on medieval politics and economy". Fabio Rambelli interprets mikkyō "as an ensemble of knowledge [...] implemented through interpretive strategies, repertoires of metaphors, and a general structuring of knowledge." Buddhism justified writing in the Japanese language, whereas earlier periods favored Classical Chinese . Medieval Mikkyō understood native Japanese waka poetry as sacred literature analogous to mantras, and many prominent waka poets, such as Henjō and Saigyō , were Esoteric Buddhist clergy. Kūkai
18178-456: The ranks of government officials. It was also during this era that the Nihon Shoki was written, a text which shows significant Buddhist influence. The monk Dōji (?–744) may have been involved in its compilation. The elite state sponsored Nara Buddhism was not the only type of Buddhism at this time. There were also groups of unofficial monastics or priests (or, self-ordained; shido sōni ) who were either not formally ordained and trained through
18327-609: The regional Prakrit languages, which makes it likely that the interaction, the sharing of words and ideas began early in the Indian history. As the Indian thought diversified and challenged earlier beliefs of Hinduism, particularly in the form of Buddhism and Jainism , the Prakrit languages such as Pali in Theravada Buddhism and Ardhamagadhi in Jainism competed with Sanskrit in the ancient times. However, states Paul Dundas , these ancient Prakrit languages had "roughly
18476-425: The reign of Empress Suiko (554 – 15 April 628). He is also believed to have sent envoys to China and is even seen as a spiritually accomplished bodhisattva who is the true founder of Japanese Buddhism. Modern historians have questioned much of this, seeing most of it as a constructed hagiography . A popular quote attributed to Shōtoku that became foundational for Buddhist belief in Japan is translated as "The world
18625-490: The reign of the Yuan dynasty . The new schools include Pure Land lineages like Hōnen's (1133–1212) Jōdo shū and Shinran's (1173–1263) Jōdo Shinshū , both of which focused on the practice of chanting the name of Amida Buddha. These new Pure Land schools both believed that Japan had entered the era of the decline of the Dharma ( mappō ) and that therefore other Buddhist practices were not useful. The only means to liberation
18774-497: The relationship between various Indo-European languages, the origin of all these languages may possibly be in what is now Central or Eastern Europe, while the Indo-Iranian group possibly arose in Central Russia. The Iranian and Indo-Aryan branches separated quite early. It is the Indo-Aryan branch that moved into eastern Iran and then south into South Asia in the first half of the 2nd millennium BCE. Once in ancient India,
18923-562: The role of language, the ontological status of painting word-images through sound, and the need for rules so that it can serve as a means for a community of speakers, separated by geography or time, to share and understand profound ideas from each other. These speculations became particularly important to the Mīmāṃsā and the Nyaya schools of Hindu philosophy, and later to Vedanta and Mahayana Buddhism, states Frits Staal —a scholar of Linguistics with
19072-496: The same relationship to Sanskrit as medieval Italian does to Latin". The Indian tradition states that the Buddha and the Mahavira preferred the Prakrit language so that everyone could understand it. However, scholars such as Dundas have questioned this hypothesis. They state that there is no evidence for this and whatever evidence is available suggests that by the start of the common era, hardly anybody other than learned monks had
19221-556: The semi-nomadic Aryans . The Vedic Sanskrit language or a closely related Indo-European variant was recognized beyond ancient India as evidenced by the " Mitanni Treaty" between the ancient Hittite and Mitanni people, carved into a rock, in a region that now includes parts of Syria and Turkey. Parts of this treaty, such as the names of the Mitanni princes and technical terms related to horse training, for reasons not understood, are in early forms of Vedic Sanskrit. The treaty also invokes
19370-615: The social structures such as the role of the poet and the priests, the patronage economy, the phrasal equations, and some of the poetic metres. While there are similarities, state Jamison and Brereton, there are also differences between Vedic Sanskrit, the Old Avestan, and the Mycenaean Greek literature. For example, unlike the Sanskrit similes in the Ṛg-veda, the Old Avestan Gathas lack simile entirely, and it
19519-461: The state channels, or who chose to preach and practice outside of the system. These "unofficial" monks were often subject to state punishment. Their practice could have also included Daoist and indigenous kami worship elements. Some of these figures became immensely popular and were a source of criticism for the sophisticated, academic and bureaucratic Buddhism of the capital. During the Heian period ,
19668-551: The traditional foundations of the Buddhist path, ethical cultivation and meditation practice. Other monks attempted to minister to marginalized low class groups. The Kegon-Shingon monk Myō'e was known for opening his temple to lepers, beggars, and other marginal people, while precept masters such as Eison (1201–1290) and Ninshō (1217–1303) were also active in ministering and caring for ill and marginalized persons, particularly those outcast groups termed "non-persons" ( hinin ). Deal & Ruppert (2015) p. 122 Ninshō established
19817-653: The turn of the 1st-millennium CE, it has been written in various Brahmic scripts , and in the modern era most commonly in Devanagari . Sanskrit's status, function, and place in India's cultural heritage are recognized by its inclusion in the Constitution of India 's Eighth Schedule languages . However, despite attempts at revival, there are no first-language speakers of Sanskrit in India. In each of India's recent decennial censuses, several thousand citizens have reported Sanskrit to be their mother tongue, but
19966-408: The variants in the usage of Sanskrit in different regions of India. The ten Vedic scholars he quotes are Āpiśali, Kaśyapa , Gārgya, Gālava, Cakravarmaṇa, Bhāradvāja , Śākaṭāyana, Śākalya, Senaka and Sphoṭāyana. In the Aṣṭādhyāyī , language is observed in a manner that has no parallel among Greek or Latin grammarians. Pāṇini's grammar, according to Renou and Filliozat, is a classic that defines
20115-663: The veneration of the Lotus Sūtra grew in popularity, even among the low class and non-aristocratic population, which often formed religious groups such as the "Lotus holy ones" ( hokke hijiri or jikyōja ) and mountain ascetics ( shugenja ) . Shugendō is an example of the fusion of Shinto mountain worship and Buddhism. The aim of Shugendo practitioners is to save the masses by acquiring supernatural powers through rigorous training while walking through steep mountains. Furthermore, during this era, new Buddhist traditions began to develop. While some of these have been grouped into what
20264-564: The vernacular Prakrits. Many Sanskrit dramas indicate that the language coexisted with the vernacular Prakrits. The cities of Varanasi , Paithan , Pune and Kanchipuram were centers of classical Sanskrit learning and public debates until the arrival of the colonial era. According to Lamotte , Sanskrit became the dominant literary and inscriptional language because of its precision in communication. It was, states Lamotte, an ideal instrument for presenting ideas, and as knowledge in Sanskrit multiplied, so did its spread and influence. Sanskrit
20413-502: The Ṛg-veda is distinctly more archaic than other Vedic texts, and in many respects, the Rigvedic language is notably more similar to those found in the archaic texts of Old Avestan Zoroastrian Gathas and Homer's Iliad and Odyssey . According to Stephanie W. Jamison and Joel P. Brereton – Indologists known for their translation of the Ṛg-veda – the Vedic Sanskrit literature "clearly inherited" from Indo-Iranian and Indo-European times
20562-404: Was Enni Ben'en (1202–1280), a high-ranking and influential monk who was initiated into Tendai and Shingon. He then traveled to China to study Zen and later founded Tōfukuji . The Tendai and Shingon credentials of Rinzai figures such as Enni show that early Zen was not a lineage that was totally separate from the other "old" schools. Indeed, Zen monastic codes feature procedures for "worship of
20711-408: Was a spoken language ( bhasha ) used by the cultured and educated. Some sutras expound upon the variant forms of spoken Sanskrit versus written Sanskrit. Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang mentioned in his memoir that official philosophical debates in India were held in Sanskrit, not in the vernacular language of that region. According to Sanskrit linguist professor Madhav Deshpande, Sanskrit
20860-427: Was a spoken language in a colloquial form by the mid-1st millennium BCE which coexisted with a more formal, grammatically correct form of literary Sanskrit. This, states Deshpande, is true for modern languages where colloquial incorrect approximations and dialects of a language are spoken and understood, along with more "refined, sophisticated and grammatically accurate" forms of the same language being found in
21009-459: Was a widespread practice in this period. It was seen as producing merit (good karma). Artistic portraits depicting events from the scriptures were also quite popular during this era. They were used to generate merit as well as to preach and teach the doctrine. The "Enshrined Sutra of the Taira Family " ( Heikenōkyō ), is one of the greatest examples of Buddhist visual art from this period. It
21158-472: Was adopted voluntarily as a vehicle of high culture, arts, and profound ideas. Pollock disagrees with Lamotte, but concurs that Sanskrit's influence grew into what he terms a "Sanskrit Cosmopolis" over a region that included all of South Asia and much of southeast Asia. The Sanskrit language cosmopolis thrived beyond India between 300 and 1300 CE. Today, it is believed that Kashmiri is the closest language to Sanskrit. Reinöhl mentions that not only have
21307-686: Was also the language of some of the oldest surviving, authoritative and much followed philosophical works of Jainism such as the Tattvartha Sutra by Umaswati . The Sanskrit language has been one of the major means for the transmission of knowledge and ideas in Asian history. Indian texts in Sanskrit were already in China by 402 CE, carried by the influential Buddhist pilgrim Faxian who translated them into Chinese by 418 CE. Xuanzang , another Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, learnt Sanskrit in India and carried 657 Sanskrit texts to China in
21456-545: Was introduced by the Tokugawa priest Ekō (1666-1734). Ryūichi Abe is critical of this taxonomy, noting that Kūkai himself imported various zomitsu scriptures, while the junmistu Vairocanābhisaṃbodhi Sūtra , understood as the primary source of Kūkai's school, was already circulating in Japan before Kūkai's first travels to China. Scholarly approaches to mikkyō often stress the attainment of Buddhahood "in this very body" ( sokushin jōbutsu , 即身成佛), or within one's lifetime. This
21605-484: Was now the faithful chanting of the nembutsu. This view was critiqued by more traditional figures such as Myō'e (1173–1232). Another response to the social instability of the period was an attempt by certain monks to return to the proper practice of Buddhist precepts as well as meditation. These figures include figures like the Kōfukuji monk Jōkei (1155–1213) and the Tendai monk Shunjō (1166–1227), who sought to return to
21754-534: Was popular in Kyūshū . Popular sites for pilgrimage and religious practice, like Kumano , included both kami worship and the worship of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, which were often associated with each other. Furthermore, temples like Tōdai-ji also included shrines for the worship of kami (in Tōdai-ji's case, it was the kami Shukongōjin that was enshrined in its rear entryway). Buddhist monks interpreted their relationship to
21903-774: Was termed shoshū kengaku . It became much more prominent in the medieval era due to the increased social mobility that many monks enjoyed . Both the Kamakura shogunate (1192–1333) and the Ashikaga shogunate (1336–1573) supported and patronized the " Five Mountains culture " ( Gozan Jissetsu Seido ) of Rinzai Zen. This Rinzai Zen tradition was centered on the ten "Five Mountain" temples (five in Kyoto and five in Kamakura). Besides teaching zazen meditation, they also pursued studies in esoteric Buddhism and in certain art forms like calligraphy and poetry. A pivotal early figure of Rinzai
22052-509: Was that Buddhist monks were now being widely encouraged by the state to pray for the salvation of Japanese kami (divine beings in Shinto). The merging of Shinto deities with Buddhist practice was not new at this time. Already in the eighth century, some major Shinto shrines ( jingūji ) included Buddhist monks which conducted rites for shinto divinities. One of the earliest such figures was "great Bodhisattva Hachiman " (Hachiman daibosatsu) who
22201-442: Was visualized as "pervading all creation", another representation of the world itself; the "mysterious magnum" of Hindu thought. The search for perfection in thought and the goal of liberation were among the dimensions of sacred sound, and the common thread that wove all ideas and inspirations together became the quest for what the ancient Indians believed to be a perfect language, the "phonocentric episteme" of Sanskrit. Sanskrit as
#768231