Shingon's Ten Levels of Mind: An Introduction

AN OVERVIEW OF “THE PRECIOUS KEY TO THE SECRET TREASURY

Kobo Daishi Kukai’s Ten Level’s of Mind and Path of Spiritual Development

(A collection of relevant materials, recommended readings and some sporadic comments)

Introduction

The founder of Shingon, Kobo Daishi Kukai (774 - 835 A.D.) taught that there are ten levels of spiritual development that we all need to pass through before our path is complete, before our full potential is realized.  Each stage is necessary.  Each stage builds upon the previous stage.  Each stage is the antidote to the limitations contained and created at the prior stage.  Each stage offers new spiritual growth but, with the exception of the tenth stage, comes with intrinsic obstacles and limitations that need to be overcome and, more importantly left behind in order to progress to the next level.

Here are some excerpts and recommended readings to help build some general understanding of Kukai’s Ten Levels.  

Enjoy... jim

“The sea of Dharma is of one flavor but has deep and shallow aspects in accordance with the capacity of the believer.  Five Vehicles can be distinguished, sudden and gradual according to the vessel.  Among the teachings of sudden enlightenment, some are Exoteric and some, Esoteric. In Esoteric Buddhism itself, some aspects represent the source, others, the tributary.  The teachers of the Dharma of former times swam in the waters of the tributary and hung on to the leaves, but the teaching transmitted to me now uproots the enclosure which blocks the source and penetrates it through and through.”   (Hakeda, p. 64)

“The ten levels have often been misunderstood as sectarian criticism rather than as descriptions of the various teachings that provided the foundation for Mikkyo’s development.  All are necessary and valid in their own spheres.  Although each stage must be passed through in order to reach the next, the “higher” does not exclude the “lower.”  A profounder understanding, in fact shows that the tenth level does not reject but fulfills all the preceding levels, and that each level embodies the potential fulfillment of all others.”  (Yamasaki, p. 97)

“The ten levels of mind are not all of the same magnitude, as if a rising staircase of ten equal steps.  It may be but a slight step from some levels to the next, as from the sixth to the seventh; but others, like the first and the second, are separated by a vast chasm.  Depicted in a graph form, the ten levels would not make a straight line climbing upward, a sawtoothed line or anything, in fact, that can be shown in just two dimensions and one or two directions.  A better image may be a solid sphere composed of ten layers in constant motion in all dimensions, changing shape and size but always bound together as a whole.”  (Yamasaki, p. 96 - 97)

“What is latent in the core of mind of all sentient beings is a portion of the pure nature, which is perfect in itself, the essence of which is subtle, bright, and changeless even if it goes through the Six Transmigratory Paths of existence.” (Hakeda, p. 219)

Recommended Readings:
Kukai: Major Works by Yoshito Hakeda, Part Three pages 157 - 164

Shingon: Japanese Esoteric Buddhism, by Taiko Yamasaki, Chapter 4, pages 95 - 98
Kukai: Major Works by Yoshito Hakeda, Part Two pages 66 - 76

The Matrix and Diamond World Mandalas in Shingon Buddhism, A. Snodgrass, Chapter 1b, pages 7 - 11

Bibliography

Shingon: Japanese Esoteric Buddhism, Taiko Yamasaki, Shambhala, 1988
Kukai: Major Works, Y.S.Hakeda, Columbia University Press, 1972
The Matrix and Diamond World Mandalas in Shingon Buddhism, A. Snodgrass, International Academy of Indian Culture and Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi, 1988