Kong Hai and Wenjing Mifulu Lun

Author: Lu Shengjiang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: Kukai, the Japanese (Great Teacher of), is a significant figure in the history of cultural exchange between China and Japan, as well as in the history of Japanese culture. Kukai is legendary. After a storm, he endured 34 days of drifting at sea—this was his experience accompanying the 17th Tang Mission to China. As a foreign monk, he inherited the mantle from Huiguo in Chang'an, becoming the 8th patriarch of the Esoteric Buddhism. Kukai's accomplishments are nothing short of miraculous. He founded the Shingon sect of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism, oversaw the compilation of the Japanese Kanji dictionary, created the Japanese kana scripts (hiragana and katakana), was a master calligrapher, established Japan's first folk schools, and wrote numerous works on Chinese Buddhist temples.