The Encyclopedia of World Religions

Japanese religion S 233

Religious sites in Japan

denominational forms. During the Heian period (794–1185), the two most important forms were Shingon and Tendai. Shingon was a type of eso teric Buddhism that emphasized the presence of the Buddha-nature here and now, in each person in their present body, which can be realized with the help of hand gestures, chants, and visualiza tion meditations. It used many mandalas or mystic paintings and statues of cosmic buddhas, giving

became dominant. Rather, in the case of Japan, the old religion continued alongside the new as theo ries arose saying that the Shinto kami were guard ians of the B UDDHA ’s temples, or students of the Buddha, or even the same spiritual forces under local Japanese names rather than the universal Buddhist forms. However, in the Middle Ages, Buddhism was the most active and visible religion. It took several