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Secret Buddhas: The Limits of Buddhist RepresentationAuthor(s): Fabio RambelliReviewed work(s):Source: Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 57, No. 3 (Autumn, 2002), pp. 271-307Published by: Sophia UniversityStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3096768 .

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SecretBuddhasThe Limits f BuddhistRepresentation

FABIORAMBELLI

BUDDHIST emples ave accumulatedhroughouthe enturiesumerousobjectsof a moreor ess sacredvalue;these bjectscan be considered sconstitutingtemple's collection."Ofcourse, temples not museum,andthecriteria or election ndinclusion f an object na temple'scollectionare notthe ameas thosefollowedbymuseum urators. bjectsare theremorefor heir acredpowerthanbecause of their rtistic eauty r value. To borrowWalterBenjamin'sterminology,hilemuseums mphasize artistic alue,"ob-jects ina temple'scollection xhibit cultvalue."' As such,they repurportedto transcend heir bjectuality,heirmateriality,opartaken thespiritualndunconditioned ealmof thebuddhas.Certain bjectsthat re considered specially acred ndvaluable areusuallynotputon display;they re kept"secret"and invisible.Such objectsincludetexts, ocuments,nd ritualmplementsandeddown from n abbotto his suc-cessor as material roofs f egitimacy, nlightenment,ndauthority.2articu-larly significantmongsuch hiddenobjectsare hibutsu Z{LA,iterally secretbuddhas."Considered s themost acred cons na temple, hese magesare notdisplayed except on rare occasions.3As such, theyseem to questiontheirTHE AUTHORs an associateprofessort theFaculty f Cultural tudies, apporo University. ewishesto expresshis gratitudeo Rev. Fujita Ryujo lff i6,Eric Reinders,ChristineGuth,BernardFaure,PatriziaVioli, Ishizuka Jun'ichi iWM-, and the twoanonymous eferees ortheir ommentsndsuggestions.1 Benjamin1985,p. 224.2 Examples f uch bjects re he secret ox" handed ownfrombbot o bbot t shiyamaderafILLIrincethemid-tenthenturyKokuho, p.6-7); andthe opiesofDogen's 1S: Shobogenzo!EiIj)E treated otas a textbutas a tokenof ineage egitimacy andeddownwithin he SotoZen ?il-WraditionnmedievalJapansee Bodiford 992).Allthese bjects ndtheir sesrequirefurthernquiry.3 Itmaynotbe irrelevantor study f hibutsu o notethat hemythologicalmodeloftemplecollections s perhaps o be found ntheDragonPalace (Ryougu S) situated n the bottom ftheocean. In this ecretplace theDragonKingSagarahas amassedthe mostprecious hings nearth: rom oldtomagical objects uch s thewish-fulfillingewels,to more piritualhingsuchas Buddharelics nd,finally,heBuddhist criptures.hese sacred ndmagicalobjectsmaketheirappearancefrom ime to timeamonghumans,butthey re in generalkepthiddenand secret.

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272 MonumentaNipponica 57:3semiotic tatus:how can they onveymeaning fthey rehidden, nvisible?will argue n this rticle hathibutsu resemioticallyndontologicallyentralobjects ituatedtthe ntersectionf everal rajectoriesf ignificance. yques-tioningnradicalwaysthenaturendfunctionfrepresentation,hey mphasizeall theregistersn the dialecticsofvisible/invisible,acred/profane,eaning/reference, resence/absence,nimate/inanimate,agic/secular,nd so forth,that haracterize uddhist acredobjects.Secret Buddhas: A TypologyAhibutsusdefineds a Buddhist tatue hat snormally ept losed n a feretory-like shrinezushiJti), hiddenfrom ublicviewand, often,worship.My firstexposureto hibutsuoccurred several years ago during visit to the ShinYakushijiPiWlt templen Nara. asked a monk bout he secret uddha"ofthetemple;he said that t was a highly nusualJizo tMi mage; t was possibleto see it,but a thousandyen "offering" ould be necessary. agreed, nd afterI paid my offering,hemonkgaveme an amulet f the ecret uddha nd tookme to a smallroom t thebackofthe emple,where tood closedzushishrine.The priest pened t and showed me the secret uddha. twas a wooden statueof a naked Jizoholding wish-fulfillingewel in one hand,and whosemajorpeculiaritywas a spherical bjectcorrespondingo his genitalia. was evenallowed to takea picture. he statuespopularly nown s Otama Jizo ItiJtA(inwhichtama i, "sphere," robably efers o both he pherical enitalia ndthewish-fulfillingewel). Datingback to theearly hirteenthentury,hisJizois a "guestBuddha" (kyakubutsu 14),broughto ShinYakushiji n 1869 afterthetemplewhere toriginally elonged, heJizodo1tAMofShogan'inSINiR,was destroyeduringheMeiji anti-Buddhistersecutions.have notbeen ableto find ny ndication hat he statuewas a "secretbuddha"also in itsoriginallocation,wheretwasprobably isplayed ully ressed. hefact hat thas some-thing ohide,as itwere, s evident, owever, rom hefact hat ublished ic-tures fthe statue suallydepictonly tsupperpart, hushidingtsgenitalia.4The ShinYakushijihibutsu, hileprobably otrepresentativefallJapanese"secretbuddhas" which, s we shallsee,presentmanyvariations),till xem-plifies hemajor problematics fthecategory.A secretbuddha s a particularentitynthat articularollection f sacredobjectsthat s theBuddhist emple.It is visibleonlyatcertain imes in somecases,never) nd nspecific itual rritualizedontextsuch s a temple estival, temporaryxhibitiontamuseum,orcontingent ponthepresentationfan "offering"o the emple-hibutsu reEarlier istoricalxamples f acred ollectionsnJapan,uch stheToba ,%Jpalace ShokomyoinNBAR)), built n 1136,and theFujiwaraWJ Byodoin I1[ inUji,weremoreor ess explic-itly onceived as reproducingheDragonPalace; thetreasureshey toredweremostlynacces-sible andthus secret."On these ubjects, ee Faure1999; Yiengpruksawan995;Tanaka 1993,esp. pp. 115-47. For anoverview fgeneral heoreticalroblems elated ocollections s culturalentities,ee also Pearce 1995.4 Shimizu and Inaki 1990,pp. 111-14.



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RAMBELLI:Secret Buddhas 273ondisplaywhen hey re atall) in a strictlyontrolled itualizedpaceandtime.A secret uddha hus erves s a bridgebetween hevisibleandthe nvisible na moreradical, mbiguous, ndproblematicwaythanmostBuddhist mages.The fact hat was givenan amuletofthe Jizotogetherwithpermission otake a picturefurtherxemplifies wo differentutinterconnected odes torelatetoBuddhist tatues, ne more secular andone moresacred. On the onehand,myphotograph as definitelyloserto a touristicouvenir,s pictures fsecretbuddhas classifiedas "national treasures" kokuhoBIi) are closer toimagesof"art bjects"than oreligiousconsoftheBuddha. On theother and,theamuletremindedme of the culticfunction f thestatue-of the fact hat twas notusta touristicuriosityut realpresence ndowedwith eligious ffi-cacy. These twomodes are not sharply eparated, ince touristic ouvenirs,reproductionsf artobjects,andreligious mplements einforceach other ngenerating sense ofa livingpresence, magicalforce mbodied nthe statue.Inthis ense,religious magesaremediators etween he acred nd theprofane,betweenmereobjectualitynd supernatural,piritual orces, etween ystemsofbeliefs, itual ractices, nd individual ehavior, etweenmaterials, odies,andmeanings-mediators ndat thesame time iminalentities ituated t theboundaries f all the bovecategories.Whatdifferentiatesnd, t the ametime,enhances heroleofhibutsu s religious mages s their nvisiblepresence-aninvisibilityhatntensifiesacredness.There re a largenumber fhibutsu catteredhroughoutapan.We candividethemnfirstpproximationnto hree ategoriesnthebasis of theirccessibility/visibility.5ome images are neveron display, ven to the Buddhistpriests ncharge of their rituals.Among the most famous in this categoryare theSakyamuni t Seiryoji r,


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274 MonumentaNipponica 57:3displayedonlyonce during he ifeof thetemple'sabbot.8Theeleven-headed,one-thousand-armannon fKimiideraEh2^ (GokokuinX1i11M)nWakayamaprefectures displayed nlyonce infifty ears.9 he SenjuKannon=F i E ofKiyomizuderaMftkir nKyoto nd heNyoirin annon4uC W of shiyamaderatiLbr inShiga prefecturere visibleonceevery hirty-threeears; here renoofficial ictures fthem. heMeguroFudo HmJfS nTokyo sdisplayed verytwelveyears.Furthermagesexhibited arely nd on an irregularasis includetheFud6Myoo TAHjR3End theSanjin -t imagesat theMieido {Of chapelin Toji Atn (Kyoto),publicly eenfor hefirst ime n theearlyfifties n theoccasionof restoration orkonthechapel;10 heNyoirinKannonatKanshinjiIJL,, inOsaka; the hukongoshinAWg'lP tTodaiji's Sangatsudo H;11theeleven-headedKannon of Jimokuji -H r in Aichi prefecture;12he eleven-headedKannonofTenpukujiX1, in the ity fChiba;and an mage nKegonji'-r in Gifuprefecture. thirdategoryncludesmore ccessiblehibutsuhatare displayedonce or twice a year,such as theGuze Kannon $Atl: i atYumedono*V1 in theHoryuji tRr complexnearNara,currentlyndisplayeveryyear n thespring ndthefall.It shouldbe noted thatmost hibutsu re not always or completely ecret.Access to some hibutsus limited o the abbotorpriests fhighstatus fthetemple,as in the case of an image of KangitenHR-? at Heikenji ?'1f1t(Kawasaki Daishi )Jlrrili).13Others, owever, an be seenduring ublicdis-playsknown s kaichoPg ("opening hecurtain"), s "copies" (as inthecaseoftheSakyamuni tSeiryoji ndtheAmidatriad tZenkoji), ndasphotographsincountless ooks,touristuidebooks,ndmagazines.Attimes, he ecret ud-dha is displayed lsewhere han tsoriginal ocation, s in the famousdisplaytoursdegaicho tlM ) of theZenkoji conduringheEdo period eventhoughit was not theoriginalhibutsu n displaybuta copy),14 rcontemporaryxhi-bitions tdepartmenttores.Variousdescriptions, oreor less accurate, avealways circulated oncerningheshapeand features f secretbuddhas;actualinvisibility as often meansto enhance maginationanother orm fvision).The combinationf anexplicit egime fsecrecywith generalackof absoluteinvisibilityaises mportantssues thatwillbe themaintopicsof this rticle.TheDevelopmentofHibutsuDiscursive PracticesAlthoughome constreated s secret oday reofgreat ntiquity,nmany asespresent-dayibutsuwerenotoriginallyonceived f as secretmages.15t s not

8 I owe this nformationo the bbotofKannonji,Rev. Maekawa KyotoHiJfJI[A.9 Nishimura 990,p. 88.10 Kokuho, pp. 6-7.11 Kuno 1978, p. 66.12 Kuno 1978, pp. 8-9.13 I owe this nformationo Rev. FujitaRyOjoof Kawasaki Daishi.14 See McCallum 1994; see also below,pp. 291-92.15Amongtheoldest consnowworshipeds hibutsu re theNyoirinKannonof shiyamadera,said to be a Heian-period opyof a statue riginallymade n theeighth entury,ndtheeleven-



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RAMBELLI:Secret Buddhas 275clearwhen xactly he etofpractices ssociatedwith ibutsu egan.Documentstell of sacred mages subject oregimes fsecrecy lready ntheHeianperiod,under he nfluencef esoteric uddhism. speciallypowerfulcons often eemto have beenkept nside closed feretorieszushi)or behind curtaintocho3i), whichmadethemnvisible o mostpeoplemost fthe ime; he erm ibutsuitself, owever, eems to havedeveloped aternthemedievalperiod.The exis-tenceof a traditionndpractices fsecrecy, oncerningt east certain uddhaimages, s confirmedy reports fdisplayof cons thatwere otherwise nvisi-ble,dating romhe ate Heianperiod a display ftheZenkojitriadn 1106) tothe late Muromachiperiod (a displayof thebodhisattvaKokuzo *t9 atHorin'in 1t1$ in 1517).16In the Edo period, pectacular isplays kaicho) of secretbuddhas attractedthousands fpeople.It was at this ime hathibutsu ecame a cultural henom-enoncombining orms f sacrednesswith secularizedways of securing co-nomic andsymbolic apital. n modernJapan, herecognitionfhibutsu ftenimplies ecognitionf temple's tatuswithin he cademic nd arthistorystab-lishment.More recently, isplaysof hibutsu ave served s occasions to drawpeople to temples nd acquirenew donors andparishioners.n thissection,shalladdress hemajor steps nthegenealogyof deas andpractices elated ocontemporaryapanese ecret uddhas.Koryiji raiyuki l -Fh "E, text ompiledbySaisho Ai( (1442-after 499)in 1499,suggests hat hepractice o hide buddha magesfrom ight riginatedina curtain laced nfrontf a statue fNyoirin annon hat rrivedn616 fromSilla.17The same text laims that hemain con of thetemple, secretYakushiigs, had been hiddenbehind curtain ince thereignofEmperor eiwa MOP(850-880).18The gazetteers fSensoji indicate hat hestatue f Kannon wasmade secret everalyears fter tsoriginal nshrinementnthe eventh entury.Such sourcesare notvery eliable,buta seriesofdocuments oncerningheGuze Kannon t theYumedonochapel nH6ryuji ffersuggestive,fnotdefin-itive, nformationbout tshistorys a hibutsu.A latetext,karuga kojibenran0A4tC]i writtenythepriestKakugent in 1838,states: The main conof theYumedonohall s an eleven-headedKannon.Since ancient imes hishasbeen a secretbuddha hibutsu);a white cloth shrouds ts venerablebody."19When, nfact, hepractice fhiding heYumedono Kannonbegan s difficultoestablishwithcertainty. he earliestdescription f the statue,HoryujiToinheaded KannonofJimokujinAichiprefecture,aidto date to thefirst alfoftheeighth entury.A storyn NihonryoikiH*i~ZA2, datingfrom he ate eighth entury,mentions he Shukon-goshin fTodaiji's Sangatsudo, lthought s notfor ertain hat his s the amestatue reatedsa secret mage today.See Heibonshadaihyakka iten, s.v. "Ishiyamadera" nd "Ishiyamaderaengi,"vol. 1,p. 918; Kuno 1978,pp. 8-9, 64; Nihonryoiki :21; p. 94.16 See Bukkyo aijiten, .v. "Kaicho,"vol. 1,p. 394.

17 Koryaji raiyaki, . 79b.18 Koryajiraiyuki, p. 80a-81a.19Ikarugakojibenran, . 101b.



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276 Monumenta ipponica 57:3shizaicho il MtMR of761, sayssimply:Onegilded tatue fGuzeKannon, life-sizemage fJoguo tE [Shotokuaishi]."20hichidaijijunreishiki tQt'j(LL/ E of 1140,byOe no Chikamichi i~ZfA, ffers moredetailed escription:It snot Buddhamage, ut life-sizeayfigure.twears crown;n ts eft anditholds jewel, ndthe ightand splaced ntheewelandpartiallyoverst.Theshape f hemagesthat f layperson;tsmudra, owever,sthatfGuzeKannon.nother ords,t s an mage fShotokuaishi .^ .21While hese etailsuggest traditionased nactual bservationf hemage,anearlymodem opy fHoryuji oin ngiWC4* gR/Ocontainsdocumentdated 186 ndicatinghattwasstrictlyorbiddenosee themage fShotokuTaishi.22t s notfor ertain hetherhe uthoreferredotheGuzeKannon,but hotoku aishidenshiki #i{TLS=E (firstascicle),writtenn1238bytheH6ryuji riest enshinWg, indicateshat he magekept rom iewwasindeed heGuzeKannon:Insidehe umedonohapel heresa life-sizeildedimage fGuzeKannon. eopleoftoday s well as antiquity,onotknow tsappearance.t ssaid obe eithersecularmage zokugyoi)ff)arryingsword,ora two-armed yoirin."23enshin'sdescription as not naccuratet all. AsErnest enollosaandOkakura enshin I,Li (Kakuzo t ) "discovered" en-turiesater, he tatuewas a two-armed yoirinKannonwithoutheusualbod-hisattva ttributesf ater culptures, lackthatmakes tappear,ncomparison,to be a "secular" ubject.As Shotoku aishiwasregardednthemedieval eriodas a manifestationfKannon,thestatue ould be interpreteds representingeither ubject,or, more accurately, oth.Nevertheless, he tentativenessfKenshin' remarksndicates hat ehimself adnot eenthe tatue-or,at east,that edidnotwanthisreaders oknow ts xact ppearance-whichwouldcon-firmhat heYumedonoKannonwas subject o some form fsecrecy lreadybythefirst alfofthe hirteenthentury.24Themedievalorigin fa moreorless systematicet ofdiscursive ndritualpractices nbuddha magessubject o some form fsecrecy s consistent ith20HoryujiToinshizaicho,p. 510. The samepassage is quoted n karuga kojibenran, . 54a.HoryujiToinengiof747 reportshat heCircularHall (Endo F9t) contains n imageofGuzeKannonportrayinghotokuTaishithatwas madewhentheprincewas still live; thecitation sonp. 27a.21 Shichidaijijunrei hiki, . 61. See also Tanabe 1989,p. 125.Thesamepassage s also quotedinNantoshichidaiji unreiki, text dited n 1452,as an "old saying" p. 41b).22 Horyiji Toinengi,p. 30b.23 ShotokuTaishiden shiki,p. 85a. The cultofNyoirinKannonstarted n Japan round heeighth entury,boutonehundred ears fter hestatuewas made.On thisbasis,KunoTakeshiIA~I argues,unconvincingly,hat hestatuehadbeensecret incetheeighth rninth entury.See Kuno 1978,p. 20.24 Okakurawrote, nthebasisofwhat videncewedo notknow, hat until hundredndfiftyorsoyearsbefore,his tatuewasprobably ot hidden uddha";healsomentionsheYumedonoKannon's resemblance o thedescriptionhat ppears n Shichidaiji unrei shiki;see Okakura1980,p. 37.



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RAMBELLI: Secret Buddhas 277thefact hat he erm ibutsutself eginstoappear n medieval ources uch asGenpei osuiki iTSB1E, composed perhapsin the late Kamakuraperiod.MizuharaHajime 7J


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278 Monumenta ipponica 57:3binatoryeligiosity,hichnterpretedami s localmanifestationsforiginallyIndian uddhisteities. ibutsumay hus ave volved sa side roductfhonjisuijaku deas andpractices enteringroundkami.But such a hypothesisrequiresurthernvestigation.31Somehibutsumayhaveoriginatedsprivateutelarycons jibutsu INL)fsome mportanterson. heowner's eath eft uch cons n a state f imbo,deprivedf heirriginalunction,et till harged ithhe upernaturalowerof he eceased igure.his eems obethe ase with nefamousecretuddha,the chijiKinrin utchoNyoraiM--h 4,at atChusonjirgV (HiraizumiTfV4,wateprefecture),hichmayhavebeen heprivatebject fworshipfFujiwara oHidehira IRiAI (1122?-1187).32s MimiYiengpruksawanug-gests, It s conceivable hatfter187, erhaps henHidehira as nterredntheKonjikidoi, Chusonjimonksocked phis con swell, nd ts xistencebecame s secrets that fthemummiesof henorthernujiwaraeaders]."33To summarizehe iscussionofar,we canperhapsdentify,ometimenthemiddleges,possibly uringheKamakuraeriod, bifurcationnthe ttitudetowards uddhistmages.Whilemost ecamemore pen, vailable,ndvisi-ble (leading ventuallyothe mages ndisplay ttoday'smuseum-temples),somebecamemore ecretnd, n some ases,de factonvisible-hibutsu.hereasons or uch ecrecynd nvisibilityariedccordingothe riginnd ni-tialfunctionf the mages special ssociations,ormerrivateutelarycons,etc.),butalso to intellectualndcultural ransformationsmedieval sotericBuddhistiturgy,arlymoderneligiousconomyndpracticesfdisplay,tc.).Inmodernimes,he tatusfhibutsu asbeen haped y he eneral istoricaldevelopmentsffectinguddhistemplesnd heircons nd reasures.Wecan dentifyeveral hases nthemodernistoryfhibutsu.uringheanti-Buddhistersecutionsn1868-1872 nown s haibutsuishakuf{LIRor31ChristineGuth suggeststhatpresent-dayoshintai the "bodies" of thekami) are oftenBuddhist magesturnedntoShintogods to save themfrom estructionuring heMeiji anti-Buddhist ersecutionspersonal ommunication,0May2000). This seems o beparticularlyrueinsouthern okkaido,where number f ocal shrineslaim s their oshintai formerlyuddhist

imagesculpted ythefamedEnkiuH (1632-1695).Another ossiblesourceof deas andpractices oncerning ibutsumaybe theChinese dea ofthirtysecretBuddhas" mifoAL,Jp.hibutsu) hatwere houghtoprotecthedaysofthemonth.The set ncludedpopularbuddhas,bodhisattvas,ndheavenly eities.See Bukkyo aijiten,vol.2,p. 1560. Thisbelief, oundnChinaalreadynthefourthentury,preadn themedievalperiodto Japan,where the thirty eities were incorporatednto a cult of thirty uardiandeities(sanjabanjin Et':-), onefor achdayofthemonth,hatwas particularlymportantnthepre-modernNichirenHA sect onthe anjabanjin, eeDolce forthcoming).t s conceivable hat heconnection fthe Chinesesecret uddhaswith pecific ayscould haveinfluencederiodicdis-plays nJapan fhibutsunparticular ears,days,and months.As a furtherndication f a pos-sibleChineseoriginor, t east, f he act hat omeJapanese uddhistshoughtibutsu racticeshad a Chineseorigin), mid-Edotext, hinzoku utsujihen~AfA6L , arguesthat isplaysofhidden magesatthirty-yearntervalswerealready ccurring uring heTangdynastythetextspecificallymentions display n818); see Shinzoku utsujihen,p. 23.32 See Yiengpruksawan 991,p. 336.33Yiengpruksawan 991,p. 346.



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RAMBELLI: Secret Buddhas 279shinbutsuunri WAL#i,ormerorshipersngagednactsofdesacralizationofBuddhistmages nddestroyedrsold hem. hisprovednopportunityorcollectors, ainlyWesternndividualsnd nstitutions,o cquirehe islocatedimages. ater,nthe1880s, cholarsndgovernmentgencies, nderWesterninfluence,egan o earch or uddhistcons ndreevaluatehemor heirrtis-ticvalue.Ernest enollosa ndOkakura enshin, eyfiguresnthisprocess,clearlygnoredrdismissedhe acred alueofthe cons hey tudied,nsteadtreatinghems anembodimentf estheticdeals.34till ater,eginningnthefirstecades f he wentiethentury,empleshemselvesegan orequestffi-cialevaluationsf heirollections,opinghatome bjectwould eceive ffi-cialrecognitions an"importantulturalroperty"juyobunkazai_-S0LOt)or ven nationalreasure"kokuho).uch processtartedlready ith he e-velopmentf he o-calledNewBuddhism"ShinbukkyoJFALt)ovementntheateMeijiperiodn nattemptouseBuddhistmages smediatinglementsinthe ngoing eapprochmentetween uddhisteligiousnstitutionsnd thenew mperialtate.35oday, hemost amous uddhistemplesnJapanre nmanywayscloser omuseums,monuments,nd"placesofmemory"han o cultsites.The ongoing endencyo turn uddhist cons intoartobjects s reflectedin thecountlesspublications hat reat uddha mages(butsuzoMaI1)as mere"sculptures"chokokuiWJ). heyareaccordinglymeasured, hotographed, -rayed, nd dissected n ways thatcan be almostvoyeuristic. ven Buddhistpriests owtend opresentconsnot as realpresencesbutas "symbols," rep-resentations"f thebuddhas, husfollowing hesecularized nddesacralizinglogicofmodernity.In thecourseof thesedevelopmentsmanyhibutsuhave come to be consid-ered mportantartobjects"exemplifyinghetraditionalrtistic ensibilityftheJapanese, nd thisnewly cquired tatus asundoubtedlyontributedothefame ndprosperityftemples nshrininghem. emplesthus dvertisehedis-playofhibutsuwith hehopeofdrawing ttentionndreceivingmorevisitors.Yet herewe see a paradox.While theadvertisementf a hibutsu s an art rea-sureparticipatesn the one hand n itsdesacralization,n theother herecog-nition fan con as anart bjectmay ctually erve ostrengthentssacredvalueand contributeothe"prosperityfBuddhism."3634Bothtreated enturies-oldemple raditions s superstitionsnd obstaclesagainstthe dis-coveryof "art objects." Fenollosa, for example,wroteconcerninghis "discovery"of theYumedonoKannon:"On firewith heprospect f such a uniquetreasure, e urged hepriests oopen itby every rgumentt ourcommand.Theyresisted ong, alleging hat npunishmentorsacrilege nearthquakemightwelldestroyhe emple. inallyweprevailed .." Fenollosa 1911,vol. 1,p. 50. Okakurawrote: Around1884, during n arthistorynvestigationI carried ut]together ith enollosa and KanoTetsuya, approached hepriestsofHoryuji] sking o see thesecret uddha of heYumedonohall].Thepriests eplied hatf hey pened the eretorynwhichitwashidden], hunder ouldcertainlytrikethe emple] ... But after romisinghatwewouldtakecareofthethunder,hepriests greedtoopenthe door of thehall; they anaway in fear."Okakura1980,p. 36.35 I owe thisobservationoTsubouchiYOuzot[11_.36 A particularlynteresting henomenon,n thisrespect, s theproliferationf Web sites



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280 Monumenta ipponica 57:3Hibutsu,hus,renot nly art f nongoing rocess fcommodificationfthe acred; hey lsoplay n mportantole n a parallel rocess fresacraliza-tion. mbodyinghemysteriousower f he uddha,heyurthertandsrelicsfromhepast, romhe authentic"apaneseradition.ndas such, hey anbringo he empleouristsndnew otentialatronsdanka Wh).twould eemthat hedesacralizing ogicofmodernity,hatwhichproduced art bjects"outof acredcons,was not ompletelyuccessful. fterll, t snot nusualoseepeople oining heir ands ndbowing oa particularlyamous uddhamageondisplay t a museumxhibition;heboundaryetween rt bjects ndcultobjectsmaynotbe as clear-cutsmany fus would ike othink.erhaps,nemightrgue,what asreally een tworks a counterrocess fresacralizationof the mages s embodimentsfthenationalpirit,s state-icons,hrough

exploitationfwhatMichael aussig alls he magic f he tate."37his sthehypothesishat would ike oexplorenthe emainingart f his ection.Stefan anakahasemphasizedhe onnectionetween rt bjects nd themodern ation-state.ccordingohim,Okakura's einterpretationf a secretbuddha,heYumedono annon,nterms ftransnationalrt istorysuggestsa shift romhe mportancef ocalplacesfilledwithore, uperstition,ndmagic othe rtifactss importantomentsnthehistoricalvolution/progressofthenation nd stateofJapan."38 he "magicof thestate,"twouldseem, salwaysrelatedncomplex nd nseparablewaysto"religiousmagic."The"soul"(tamashii4) ofa buddha, aken wayfrom n image through esacralization,isreplacedbythe spirit"kokoro L') f nothermagic ntity:hemodern ation-state-a "spirit" ariously efined s national haracter,estheticensibility,tc.The spirit f thebuddha nherentnsacred mages,we shouldremember,ow-ever,was never eparate rom hespirit fpowerharnessed o sustain oliticalformationsnd the state nits various ncarnations.Buddha mageshavetraditionallyeenemployed or heprotectionfa spe-cific emple nd,byextension,he tate.Thetypical ase is theGreatBuddha ofTodaiji, atthe same time he ymbol f mperial ower ndtheprotectorfthestate.ThisfunctionfBuddhistmages s directlyelated o the raditionaloleof Buddhist nstitutions s protectors f the state chingokokka$gi.l*).Hibutsu renoexception.A mid-Edo ext, hinzoku utsuji en Af{A*W,writ-tenbythepriest hicho fM in1726,states hat isplays fhibutsukaicho)ben-efit he tate, incethey rotecttfrompidemics, atural isasters,ndforeignaggression.39everalcontemporaryibutsuweresimilarlyinked nthepasttodedicated otemples'hibutsund their isplay. ee, for xample, hefollowing RLs: bunkaken.hoops.ne.jp/index.files/arakuroto/hibutuhtmlthis ffersuseful ist f hemostmportantibutsuand theirmostrecent nd nextdisplays);www.pref.nara.jp/nara/koukai.htm;ww.mainichi.co.jp/eye/strange/sensouji/04.html;sahi.wai2-kansai.com/leisure/hananotera.html;ww.kamitv.ne.jp/-kanakura/yakushi.html;ww.nara-shimbun.com/n_arc/arc0064.html;ww.cosmo.ne.jp/-daizenji/kito.htm.37Taussig 1997.38 Tanaka 1994, p. 40.39 See Shinzoku utsujihen,p. 23.



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RAMBELLI: Secret Buddhas 281state ults andpolicies.TheNyoirinKannonof shiyamaderanShiga prefec-ture, or xample, s saidto have been nfluentialnaiding he ompletion ftheGreatBuddha ofTodaiji; the accountof its assistancesimultaneouslyontri-butedto theestablishmentf Buddhistpolitical deology n thepremedievalperiod.40 hefirstuddha magesaidto have reachedJapan, heZenkojiAmidatriad,s an importantlementn theformationfJapan'shistoricalndculturalidentity.heSensojiKannonfiguredn the xtension fYamatopowerovertheKantoregionbetween heseventh ndtheninth enturies;41heMeguroFudoisheld tobe an imageofYamatotakeru o MikotoHBA#, the egendary aci-fier f the eastern egion.42 he Ichiji KinrinButchoNyoraiat Chusonjiwasoriginallysed n rituals or heprotectionf he ulers fthenorthernrovinces.To returno the YumedonoGuze Kannon,medievaldocuments mphasizetheconnection etweenthat tatue nd ShotokuTaishi,the "founder" f theJapanese tate.As wehave seen,thehibutsuwaspresenteds a reproductionfShOtoku aishi' sbodyqua Guze Kannon, hus einforcing edievalbeliefs hatShotoku aishiwasactually manifestationfKannon.More than hat: hotokuTaishi,thefounder ftheJapanese tate,was identified ithKannon, he sav-ior of the world" this s themeaning fGuze). Through he statue heregentcontinuedo actas a panoptic resence,nvisible utpowerful, rotectingooddoersandpunishingheenemiesofBuddhism ndthe state.43The paradoxes generatedby premodernnterpretationsf the YumedonoKannonare striking: Korean statuerepresentingn Indianmale deity, on-ceived of nJapan s female, s said tobe the ife-size eproductionf ShotokuTaishi,thefirstuler f a Japanese tate ctively pento the nternationalceneandthe ymbol ftheJapanese mperiumndculturaldentity.n theYumedonohibutsu nd tsparadoxeswefindhevarious lements fthe magicofthe tate"as described yMichaelTaussig:a strong orm ffetishism,nirrationaleliefin something igher, ll-integratingnd all-encompassing, meaning-givingunit hat s neverthelesseeplyrelated othebasestfacts fmateriality.4440According o the egendsassociatedwith his mage,when the ack ofgold threatenedheplantogildtheTodaiji Daibutsu,Emperor homuEm askedthepriestRobenAt (689-773) to

pray oZao GongenMiTtW3of Mt.Kinpusen fLI inYoshino; Zao toldthepriest ogo to thetopof Mt. Ishiyama ohear nstructionsrom n old man;uponRoben's doingso, theold mantoldhim oplace a statue fNyoirinKannonon therock tthe opof themountain.WhenRobenprayedto the con,gold was soon discovered n the distant rovinceofMutsu,and the GreatBuddha couldbe completed.Heibonshadaihyakkaiten,s.v. "Ishiyamadera"nd"Ishiyamaderaengi,"vol. 1,p. 918.41 See Heibonshadaihyakkajiten,.v. "Sensoji,"vol. 8,pp. 766-67.42 The main mageofMeguroFudo temple s said to have beenbuiltbyEnninHt{ in 808 afterFudo appeared ohim na dream; ee Heibonshadaihyakkajiten, .v. "MeguroFudo," vol. 14,p. 773. The associationwithYamatotakerus recordednShinpenMusashifudokiko r-SitSIA1?Eg (1830). Itperhaps riginatedn thequitecommon atemedievalShinto-Buddhistombin-atory ssociationsbetween heswordsof YamatotakerundFudoMyoo.43 In the medievalperiod,ShotokuTaishi was envisioned n manydocuments s one ofthesupernaturalgencies involved n such activities. ee for nstance,doc. 29002 in vol. 37 ofKamakura bun.44 Regarding his astpoint, ee below,pp. 294-95.



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282 Monumenta ipponica 57:3Aswe haveseen nthis ection,hehistoryfhibutsu ent hrougheveraldistincthases.The ackof a unifiedraditionndthe bsence f the ermnearlyources hould ot eobstacles o he lacementf arlymodernndmod-ernhibutsu ithinheargerontextfBuddhistiscoursesnd echnologiesfrepresentation.

TheOntology fBuddhist epresentationsAsmediatorsetweenhe isible nd henvisible,ibutsurenot nlikerdin-ary uddhistmagesnd annot eunderstoodpartromhe ystemhatontainsthem,hats,buddhamages ndBuddhistacred bjectsngeneral. o clarifythe articularitiesftheir lacewithinhis ystem,nthe emainingart f hisarticle,shall irstddress he uddhistheoryfrepresentation,nparticularsdevelopednmedieval nd arlymodernimesy he hingon tradition,ndthenonsiderhe pecificitiesfhibutsu-thosearticulareaturesnd lementsthatmake eople ssume hat hese acred bjects ave pecial owers.In The Powerof mages,DavidFreedberghows hat llmodern heorieswhich ryoexplain he tatusf mages, romrazer's awsofsimilarityndcontagiono notions fsymbolism,resupposea radical isjunctionetweenthe ealityf he rt bject nd ealitytself"-betweenhe ymbolnd he ym-bolized, epresentationndreality,nd,wemay dd,betweenhe tatuend hebuddha. ut, s Freedbergutst, Therealityfthemage oesnot ie, s wemightiketothink,n the ssociationstcallsforth;t ies nsomething oreauthentic,ore eal, nd nfinitelyore raspablendverifiablehan ssocia-tion."45 ernard auresuggestshat o understandheontologicaltatus fbuddhamageswe must free urselves romhe bsession ithmeaningsym-bolism,conologyn the anofskianense) ndformstyle)norderoretrievethe ffect,ffectivity,nd functionf the con."46 hissuggestioneemspar-ticularlyppropriaten the ase ofhibutsu.We should ot, owever,verem-phasize he oleofaffectivityndefficacys independentrom nd somehowsuperiorosignificationna broad ense. remodernuddhistexts o, nfact,frequentlyiscuss ymbolism,conography,ndstyle, ut hey akeuptheseissues s somethingearingn theworshipf cons hatwere onsideredealpresencesfdeities-notmere octrinalymbols,itualupports,opies, rrep-resentationsf them.t s this ntologicalimensionhatweshould e able toretrieve,iscuss,ndunderstand.While Buddhistmagemay eused ndexicallyo xpressmeaningsuch s"theBuddha," a buddha," BuddhaAmida," his s not tsprimaryunction.tsontological tatus s rather ike that f Buddhist elicsas describedbyRobertSharf; hey re "treateds presence ure ndsimple."A buddha magedoes "notrepresent,ymbolize,r denote transcendentresence, uminousbsence,or45Freedberg 989,pp.436, 439.46 Faure 1998, p. 787.



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RAMBELLI: SecretBuddhas 283anythingnbetween."47 buddha mage s anicon,"a specific ort freligiousimagethat s believed topartake rparticipatenthesubstance f thatwhich trepresents.n otherwords, n condoes notmerely ear he ikeness f hedivine,but shares n itsverynature."48his explains whymost Buddhists nAsia donot make a cleardistinction,npractical erms, etween he con andthedeityitembodies/represents.We shouldbe carefulnotto overemphasize hispoint,however:doctrinallytheres animportantistinction etween heBuddha and ts mage;whereas heformers unconditioned,he atters conditioned y tsplace, shape,and mate-riality.Analogouslyto the Indian gods studiedby RichardDavis, JapaneseBuddhist cons also have "twoprimarymodesofbeing .. : undifferentiatednddifferentiated,ormless ndcorporeal, nmanifestndmanifest, ithout ttrib-utesand with ttributes,upreme nd accessible,and so on."49Kukai,amongothers,made a similarpoint nhis Shoji isso gi lf$HA when, fter istin-guishing etween heconditioned spectof theDharmakaya itsmaterial ndfigurativeepresentations)nd tsunconditionedspect,heemphasized hat hetwoare notessentially istinct.5A strikingeature f Buddhistmages,there-fore, s thefact hat hey re deally ocatedattheboundary etween hesetwoontologicalmodalities.This liminalitys evenmoreprominentn the case ofhibutsu. einghiddenmostof the ime, hibutsu annot erve ffectivelys anindex, xcept opoint o a numinous nd nvisible resence;nvisibilityecomesa waytotranscendtsdifferentiated,orporeal, nd conditioned spect.TheMateriality ftheUnconditioned. uddhists avealwaysbeen awareof theparadoxes ntrinsic o givingform o theformless. ven though uddhasandbodhisattvas reoriginally ormlessmugyo t ef), heir irtues an be experi-encedthroughvisualization"kan i), a complexterm onnoting itual ction,visualization, evotion,magining, reaming,nd soforth.51mployed s anaidtovisualization,he conappears o be a supportrsimulacrum ftheBuddha.52Sometexts,ncontrast,aythatworship f an con whetherculpted rpainted)is identical o worshipinghe ivingBuddha. The above-mentionedhinzokubutsujihen,for xample,writes: To worship wooden orprintedmageof abuddha s exactly he same as worshipingheTathagatawhenhe was living nthisworld."53Worshipwas not givento a mere inanimate bject since the

47 Sharf1999,p. 78. Italics n theoriginal. harf dds as an explanation: (We do nottypicallythink f President linton s representinghePresident-hesimplys thePresident.)"48 Sharf1999,p. 81. On icons,see Barasch1992; Belting1994; Freedberg 989.49 Davis 1997,p. 27.50 See Shojijisso gi,p. 404a-b; English ranslationn Hakeda 1972,pp. 245-46.51 For an analysisof theconcept fkan,see Sharf 001.52 In ShiojirifTi, a monumental ollectionof miscellaneouswritingsomposed n the mid-Edo period, heKokugakusha ] g AmanoSadakage fX I (1661-1733) states hat uddhiststatues epresentormless irtues;worship f a Buddhist con is thus n expression fgratitudetoward heholybeing trepresents.ee Shiojiri,vol. 15,p. 92.53 Shinzoku utsujihen,p. 159.



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284 Monumenta ipponica 57:3Buddhawas held oresiden t nsome orm. sort fpolar ynamic,dialec-ticbetweenpiritndmatter,acred ndprofanes thus t work nanynterac-tionwith buddhamage. uddhamages rerelatednthis ense othe entralfeaturesf fetishisms describedyMarcAuge:endowedwith he ealpres-enceof nactual eing,whichs rreducibleo ts ppearance,heymanifestheresidue f he nthought/unthinkable.54erewesee the mbiguityf omethingthat s sacred, nconditioned,bsolute,ut lso at the ame ime made," on-ditioned,rofane-real uddhasnd nanimatebjects.Theanimatedaturef Buddhistcons s attestedycountlesstories boutbuddhamages rying,alking,weating, oving,nd lying.55n ctings medi-ators etweenhe nvisiblend he isible, etweenhe osmos nd ociety,ud-dha mages lso aredescribeds issuingmessages hroughlterationsntheirownmateriality:hangingolor,mittingight,nd o forth.56s f n neffortoovercomehe iatuseparatingnert aterialitynd ife, ut t he ame ime oint-ing o hematerialityfwhichmagesremade, ources lsoemphasizehe on-tinuityetweenrees, ood, ndbuddhamages. toriesre old fmiraculoustrees,erfumedithncense,loatingdriftnthe cean nd eachinghe horesofJapan;heirxtraordinaryatureromptseople ouse them smaterialsora buddha con.57 uddhists erepainfullyware fthebare nd nescapablematerialityf heircons-materialityowhichcons ouldbereducednytimebynaturalauses fires,arthquakes)nd ntentionalcts fdestruction,uch swhenMatsudairaNobutsuna i~I' M (1596-1662), senior ouncillorroju rP)of theTokugawa overnment,n 1662ordered heKyotoDaibutsu {A to bemelted own o make oins, rwhen okugawa ariaki JUl113b1800-1860),headof heMito t


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RAMBELLI: Secret Buddhas 285spiritual eaturemarking heresidenceof a supernaturalntityreiboku t,"spiritualree," rshinbokuWt, "sacred ree"):60ldage, particularhape,hav-ingbeen struck y ightning,nd so forth. n empowermentite kaji kitoMinrfiWi)s performedn theselectedwood, and its impuritiesre eliminated osacralize therawmaterials ndmake themworthyfbeingturned nto a bud-dha image.At thatpoint, n a ritualknown s nomi-irehiki NiatA (riteforinsertion fthe hisel),thepriest laces a chisel onthe enter fthe ogand hitsit with sledgehammergenno fi). Afterhis he culptorbusshifAfii)eginsto chisel thewood.61When the mage s completed, he"openingoftheeyes"ceremony kaigenhoyo IARKx orkaigenkuyyoRUMY) akesplace,toinfusethe magewith he spirit"tamashii)of a Buddha.62 nlyat thispointdoes theimagebecome a livingbuddha.A reverse roceduresemployed efore eginning epairs rrestorationork.A specialritual alledhakkenshiki ct isperformedo takeoutthe pirit romthe tatuemitama nuku 1 t ) and turn t nto ninanimate bjectso thatthesculptors an workon it.63At theend of therestoration ork, new"eye-opening eremony"sheldtobring he spirit" ack nto he con. nthe ase ofa hibutsu,imilar roceduresrefollowed ven tostudyt: for xample, ne hasto cleanseone's bodyand wear a mask ofwhite aper.Suchritualsndicate hateven theexperts hargedwith ssessingthe"artistic alue" ofa Buddhist conrecognize, t eastformally,lso its"cultvalue" as a sacred con.The production f buddha-bodies ut of raw materialsvia multipleritualactions ndempowermentelates o what s perhaps ne of themostproblem-atic issues in thestudy freligion,namely, hetransformationftheprofane(raw materials)nto he sacred a buddha con),or, notherwords, hecreationof the acredout ofnothing. uddhist xegetes,however, arely ut heprocessofproductionf a buddha nthese erms.According othem, herawmaterialsarealready acred.Doctrines nthebuddhahood fnonsentients,suallyknowninJapan s "plants nd treesbecomebuddhas" somokuobutsu -t:RLA) arestrategicallyeployed oemphasize he ntrinsicuddha-naturef cons-whichthereforerebuddhasnot ustbecause they re the nanimate ontainers f the"spirit" f a buddha,but because their wn material s imbued withbuddha-essence; this s expressed by the rhetoric f "carvingout thebuddha imagealready resentnthewood."64Thisperspective erhaps oints o anattempto60Nishimura 990,p. 30.61Nishimura 990,p. 27.62Onkaigenhoyo orkaigenkuyo), ee note 9 above, specially trickmann996,pp. 165-211.Althought would be wrong oconsider uch rituals timeless, nchangingetofpractices,wecanfind ecords n earlierworks f similar ites. heimperial relatehosshinnotE) Shukaku~T (1150-1202), for xample,described herituals ccompanyingheproductionf a buddhaimageout ofa sacredtree; ee the section Misogi kaji sah6"WPA*M[l f? in Hisho sahoshu,pp. 128-29; see also the section Misogi kaji"WiA*ML1 inSahosha, p. 455.63Nishimura 990,p. 87.64 On thedoctrinesccording o which plants nd trees ecomebuddhas," ee Rambelli 2001.



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286 Monumenta ipponica 57:3bridge hepolardynamicsetweenpiritndmatterhat mentionedtthebeginningfthis ection.TheOntologyfBuddhamages. heontologicaltatusfreligiousmages asbeen he ubjectfongoing hilosophicalnd heologicalpeculation.octrinaldebateswithinhe hingonradition,neofthe chools fJapaneseuddhismmore ttentiveophilosophicalroblemsfrepresentationnd mageworship,have oncernedreciselyhe uestionf he bsolute ndunconditionedatureofpaintingsnd culpturesphilosophicalssuesknown,nShingonoctrine,semokuhonenM-f~M andsale gyozofifft).65 MostShingon uthors eveloptheirrgumentsn the asisof womain oints:he bsolute ndunconditionednature fbuddhamages; nd, s a consequence,heireing art fthe niver-sal mandala. ssuch, heyre obefoundnthe harmadhatualace hokkaiga&it)), the nconditionedpace oextensive ith he ealm f ssenceDharma-dhatu)nwhichMahavairocananjoys nlightenment.ecauseoftheir ncon-ditionedature,mages cquire nontologicalnd oteriologicrimacy.t wasargued,or xample,hat ohuman eingshe real"Buddha snot akyamuni,but n mage fSakyamuni;he istoricaluddha s thus educedo mere on-ceptual bstractionroducedythedirectxperiencef a statue. nexcursusthroughsoteric uddhism'sheoriesfrepresentationsthereforenorder,san importantntellectualontextnwhich o locatethediscursiveracticesrelatedohibutsu.

Themost ystematicreatmentf he ssue sthat y n'yfiu[ig 1435-1519).Hebegins isdiscussionypresentinghe ommonsensicalositionhatmagesare rtifactsmitatinghe rue uddha-bodyshinjitsuuttai LJ{AJt),ade orsentienteingswho,ivingn he orruptorld f he nd f he harmajokusemappo fftti), areunable osee t.Asconditionedndvisible bjectszuienkengonuttai fg~{tA$) produceds skillful eansupaya) ogive eligiousguidance opractitionersgyoja nnya obenffi lA;{), images hereforeshould aveno functionntheDharmadhatualace,whichsMahavairocana'sabsolute ndunconditionedody-territoryjisho honen hindo ',:1 I?).66In'yureplies o this ommonsensicalositionhat themeaningfpaintedand culpteduddhamagesbutsuzo)stobefoundnthe epthsf he ecretsofthedoctrineccording o which heveryphenomena re the bsolute sokujinishin pHffi))."67 nfact, eadds, here renoontological istinctionsetweenthe sixgreat lementsrokudaiA7t, thefivematerial lements ndconscious-ness, .e.,the tuffutofwhich he osmos smade),and thefour inds f man-65 On emokuhonen, conceptusually mployed ytheShingiShingon fi: tradition,eeMikkyo aijiten, . 154c;on the orrespondingermnKogi Shingon kAAd doctrinal ebates,see inthe samework, Saie gyozo," p. 745b.66 I am summarizing ere theargumentsroposed nKohitsu hasha sho,fasc.4, p. 361; andSenpo intonsho, asc.4,p. 244.67 Kohitsu hashusho,p. 361.



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RAMBELLI:Secret Buddhas 287dala ofShingon octrine:68he wo ypes fentityontinuouslyransformntoeachother. is positionn this oints similar o that f ShokenBIE (1307-1392),whohadmade lear hatmages renot he nly ntitiesroduced y on-ditionedausation:verythingnthe niverses the esult fcausation. hetenworldsjikkai+-) as such re he erfectharmadhatu andalahokkaiman-dara iffXS): "There s no Dharmadhatuandala part rom hedeceptiveviews fthedeluded eings fthenine owerworlds. he Dharmadhatuan-dala s thedharmasroduced ydiscrimination."69It spossible omake distinction,owever,nterms fdelusion nd nlight-enment. sIn'yu xplains,he eluded nes eebuddhamages s situatedut-side heirminds;he nlightenednes ee mages sunconditionedhonenMM,)and as existingnside heirminds.70hoken ummarizeshe ssue nthefol-lowingway.He argues hatmong hedharmasntheDharmadhatu andalathere rethe bsolutehoniAi) andthe onditionedzuien _i). The condi-tioned harmasre ubjectothe our hases shisoPfIt: irth,biding,ltera-tion,nddeath); owever,hese our hases re nthemselvesmmutablejojiVI{E). here hussno bsolutentityutside ransienteings. heDharmadhatupalace ontainsllbeingsnd ntities;ince he rue uddha-bodynd tsmagesaredifferentntities,heyhould llbepresentnthe alace. t s similar othecase ofwriting.he writtenigns sed nthe ecularworld renot ssentiallydifferentromhe bsoluteharactershosshomonjiftlLZ;) expressing aha-vairocana'senlightenment.71Inotherwords, hoken uggests,acredmages irculatingn thisworld,madeout ofconditionedmaterials y sculptors,renotontologically ifferentromthe true nd unconditioned uddha-body,n thesame way as secular writtencharacters re notessentially ifferentrom heunconditioned raphsof theabsolute anguageofmantras.magesandcharacters re bothmanifestationsfthe ameentity, espectively,he rue uddha-bodynd the ruewritingystem.Significantlso is thefact hat, orShoken, heDharmadhatu alace is thecol-lectionof all entities n theBuddhistuniverse-therefore,t is not a separatespace containingnly ertain bjects, ut scoextensivewith he ntire niverse.His perspectives groundedntheattemptfShingon heology ndepistemol-ogyto overcomedistinctionshrough systematicpplication fthe ogic ofnondualismfuni>f).The dea that acredmages re stored ntheDharmadhatualacecan betraced68The four inds f mandala shishumandaraREOjI ) are,respectively,reatdai A.)man-dala,Dharma ho t) mandala, ymbol sanmayaE5V*) mandala, ndaction karma,Jp.katsu-maIff) mandala.Thegreatmandalapresentshe magesofthedeities epictedn thefive olors.The Dharmamandala contains hewritten eed letters fthedeities.The symbolmandalarepre-sents he deitiesbyobjectsandritualmplementsuch as sword, hunderboltvajra), lotus, ndwheel cakra). The actionmandala s a three-dimensional,culpturalepresentation.69Daisho hyakujo aisanju,fasc.4, p. 652c.70 Kohitsu hasha sho,fasc.3,p. 345.71 For theentire rgument,ee Daisho hyakujo aisanja, fasc.4, pp. 652a-53a.



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288 MonumentaNipponica 57:3back at least to theearlyKamakura eriod. n'yd quotesa passagefromHisodenshoitfii byDohan Ml (1178-1252)thatmakes his ssertion.72Drawing romuchpremises,aiho MST1279-1330?),iving generationrsoafterohan, rovidedhilosophicalrgumentsor he xistencef magesntheDharmadhatualace. Firstly, e wrote, heDharmadhatus thebody/substancetai A)of allbeings,entientndnonsentient.aintedndsculptedimages re hus stablishednthe harmadhatualace, he ealm fMahavairo-cana' enlightenment.econdly,he itualmplementsf sotericuddhismrethe ody/substancefthe nlightenmentf llbuddhas,hereforeheymust epresentnthepalace.Thirdly,armicallyroducedharmasinnenshooNOIi) are unconditionedhoni), he esultftheunconditionedrinciplehonidori FGS.). As such, achsingle magemadebyan artists infact heverysubstanceftheDharmadhatu;hereforehosemagesmust einthe alace.73Theproblemfthe nterrelationetweenhereal Buddha nd his mages,especiallynthe ase of themandala,s also addressedythefifthariantfSokushinobutsugi Jft'WLX{, medieval pocryphonttributedoKukai.74This nterrelations describedhroughhemetaphorf he earlsn ndra's et,inwhich achewelreflectsll othersn napotheosisfpure ight. othe bjec-tion hatnthismetaphornly he ightsreflected,he ubstancefeach ndi-vidualpearldoesnotmergewith ll the thers,he nonymousuthorepliesthatnthe aseoftheBuddha,mageeiW)and ubstanceshichiA) mutuallyinterpenetrate,o that achbuddhamage snot ssentiallyifferentnd epa-rated romllothermages ndfrom he ealBuddha.We havehere caseofthe emioticsf ostensionnvolvingoubles, xamples,ndsamples, sedtogivebuddhamages n unconditionedtatus.75Drawing romuch remises,n'yu urtherlaboratesn the tatusf magesbyproposingnastonishingision f he harmadhatualace s a collectionfbuddhamages,whichreneverthelessxternalrojectionsfMahavairocana'senlightenment.76hewalls ndpillarsf heDharmadhatualace,hestates,reall decoratedshogonAtd) withpainted nd sculpted magesof buddhas,bodhisattvas,eities,ndcelestial eingsmade ccordingo the ndicationsfthe criptures.hese mages renotmadebydeities rhuman eings, ut retheresult f Buddha's mpowermentkaji).They re thereforeroducedyMahavairocana's nlightenment.77n'yuadds, the ublimefushigi 3,)i) colorof he harmadhatuoesnot xceed he ive olors."78heDharmadhatualacecontainshe riginalsf he our inds fmandala, hichmust hereforeppearas paintednd culptedmages.79

72 Kohitsu hashusho,fasc.3,p. 345.73 Shingonhonmoshi, asc.29,pp. 773-75.74 Sokushinobutsugi, ihon5,p. 397a.75 On these emiotic ategories, ee Eco 1976,esp. pp. 217-61. See also below,p. 301.76 Kohitsu hashi sho,fasc.4, pp. 361-62; Senpointonsho asc.4,pp. 244-47.77 Kohitsu hasha sho,pp. 361-62.78 Kohitsu hasha sho,p. 246.79 Kohitsu hashusho,p. 246.



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RAMBELLI:Secret Buddhas 289In'yuexplains herelation etween he rue, riginal odies ofbuddhas, od-hisattvas,ndcelestialbeings ndtheir ainted ndsculpted magesthroughhemetaphorfmoonlight.he moon s like the rue odyof thebuddhas; he ightit emits s like theunconditionedmagesstoredntheDharmadhatu alace; thelight hat eaches he arths like he onditionedmagesweworshipntemples.80By explainingnthiswayone of thefundamentalhingondoctrines,ccordingto which heres no essential ifferenceetween nconditionedealityndcon-ditionedntities,n'yu s ableto save both he xternalityfthe magesand theirfunctionn theeconomyof enlightenment.emples are thussamplesof theabsoluteand unconditioned harmadhatu alace of Mahavairocana.The bud-dha imageswe all see are not mereartifacts,rbitrarily adebyconditionedbeings,butsamplesofMahavairocana'sempowerment,xternalizationsf hisinner nlightenment,ased on unmediatedmodelsdescribednthescriptures.The definitionf sacred bjects nd mages s "doubles," amplesof he bsol-ute,offered ariouspossibilitiesodevelop Shingon's ffirmationfphenomenaagainst heirmetaphysical rinciples. ukai 'i9 (1345-1416) made clear thatthereal buddha andhis images pervadetheentire pace of the Dharmadhatu(henmankoka hokkai Jii$Y1) and areessentiallydentical doto M1) toand nseparablefusoriTfHMifrom ach other. heall-pervasivenessf magesis a consequence ftheprinciplehat henomena rethe bsolute sokujinishin).As such, hey recoextensivewith heDharmadhatu,nd therefore ust e pre-sent ntheDharmadhatu alace.Buddha magesusedtooffereligious uidance

to thedeluded,furthermore,re made on the basis of models existing n theDharmadhatu alace. Since all dharmas rise outofinnate nd unconditionedmatterhonnuth), theremust xist nnate nd unconditionedmages-thosestored nthepalace. The unconditionedmages in thepalace are the result fMahavairocana'senlightenmentnaisho NrE).After ll,thefive olorsand thefive hapes renoneother han hefivewisdoms nd thefivemateriallements-all arising romMahavairocana'senlightenment.81Another ighly riginal ystematicreatmentf the ssue ofrepresentationwas offeredyGoho MS (1306-1362). Goho interpretshe tatus f magesonthebasis of thefour emanticsotopiesof esotericBuddhism shija hishaku l?,f8).82 On a superficialevel (senryakushaku BMt), magesplay theroleattributedo them nKukai's Shoraimokuroku1 Hfi as "fingers ointing tthemoon," killfulmeansusedto ndicate heBuddhist harma ssentiallyran-scending anguage ndrepresentation.83nother assageinKukai's text,Gohoholds, lludesto the econd evel jinpishakuMU'IR)whereinmages, s copiesof he rue uddhaandfunctionsftheDharma ssence hossho t ), contributedirectlyotheprocessofbecoming buddha nthisvery ody.Onthe hirdevel80 Senpo intonsho, asc.4, p. 246.81 Shagiketchakuha,fasc. 1,pp. 19-20.82 Goho shisho,fasc.7,pp. 102-105.83 Shoraimokuroku,. 25a; Englishtranslationn Hakeda 1972,p. 145.



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290 Monumenta ipponica 57:3(hicha inpishaku,r '), images ppear s non-differentrom hetrueBuddha; s a resultfBuddha's mpowerment,mages ecome denticalotherealBuddha ndacquire eal oteriologicowers: hey reachheDharma ndbring enefitsoallbeings. n the ourthnd ast evel hihichaujinpishakut,[P? ,'g~), aintedndsculptedmages avethe tatus fnirmnauakdya,ondi-tionedmanifestationsfbuddhasndbodhisattvasn ourpolluted orld t theendoftheDharma,while he rue athagatabides nhispure nd undefiledworld. heir espectiveelations ike he iving akyamunindhis mage owenshrinedtSeiryoji.n other ords,mages rethe ealbuddhasor sinourage.They redifferentromhe harmakayathe bsolutemodalityf xistenceof heBuddha), utnot ntologically.mages avedirectalvificfficacyor sjustas Sakyamuniad for he entienteings fhisage. In thisway,Gohoexplainsll thevariousnterpretationsbout he tatusf mages ndrepresen-tationsirculatingthis imendprovidesforcefulheologicalxplanationorideas about he nimated ature f Buddhistmages s realpresencesf thedeities.Goho,however,arries isphilosophicalpeculationstep urtherna ver-tiginous evelopmentnfour tages.As a consequencef thefourthsotericlevelofunderstandingf images nd theprinciplehat henomenare theabsolute, e stateshat, irstly,mages re nfact he ubstanceftheDharma(hottai A2S);he ealBuddhasreust ppearancesnd ctivitiesf uch bsoluteandmage-likeubstance.Therefore,"ewrites,onlymagesxist;he harma-naturehossho), eing noperationalffect fthedoctrines,oes not xist."Secondly,when mages s theonly rue uddha nter he tage f Dharma-nature,hats whenheyecome he bject fdoctrinalpeculation,heycquiresoteriologicower or he nenlightened;heTathagatahenmanifestsimselfas a provisionalorm f salvificctivitykeya yffl).hirdly,mages hroughempowermentkaji) becomeequal with he trueBuddha shinbutsu Mh),namelyhehonjishintth' (theDharmakayan ts bsolutemodality).inally,this bsolutemodalityf heDharmakayappearss unconditionedhonimusaHAiP,,SfE).fwe nvestigatets ubstance,owever,aintednd culpturalmagesare theroots, nd therealBuddha s thebranches.n thisway, ransientnddestructiblemages re dentical ith heunconditionedharmakaya,ut t sthe ormerhat ossess nontologicalrimacy.84ThetheoreticalffortsfShingonxegetesodeny he onditionedaturefbuddhamages ndturn hem nto he real hing"anperhapse illuminatedbyGregoryateson's otion fframing,hich obert harf asused o xplainthe mbiguoustatusfBuddhistcons sboth uddhasnd igns f he uddha.Batesonwrote:

In he im egion herert,magic,nd eligion eetnd verlap,umaneingshave volved he metaphorhatsmeant,"he lagwhichmenwill ie o ave,84 Goho shisho,fasc.7, pp. 104-105.



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RAMBELLI:SecretBuddhas 291and he acramenthats felt obemore han anoutwardndvisible ign, ivenunto s."Herewecanrecognizenattemptodeny hedifferenceetweenmapandterritory,nd togetbackto the bsolutennocence fcommunicationymeans fpuremood-signs.85The Shingon fforttodeny hedifferenceetweenmapandterritory"ocusedonbuddha mages ngeneral ather han he pecificitiesfhibutsu. ut,as sug-gested by Goho's reference bove to the relationship etweenthe livingSakyamuni ndtheSeiryoji mage,thehidden haracterfhibutsu ookon anenhancedmeaningwithin hecontextof thateffort.n thathibutsu re notdirectly isible,theirmaterial hape, instead of standing efore theviewer/worshipern physicalform, emainspregnantwithpotential, eighteningheimage'scapacity orepresenthe nvisible ltimate. ariouspractices urround-

ingsecret uddhasreinforcedhisdimension,makinghibutsu erhaps hemostrepresentativenstance ftheBuddhist iscourse n mages,f lso a limited ase.The InvisiblePresenceIn this ectionwe shalldiscusshibutsu's pecificitiesy addressing hreedif-ferent ut elated hematicssues.Thefirsts theparticularitual ontextnwhichhibutsu replacedandworshiped. he second s their aratext-thedescriptions,images,and informationenerally vailable about them hat ontribute o theformationf an mageof a given ecret uddhaon thepart f theworshiper hodoes notactually ee it. The third ssue concerns hesemiotic echnologies tplay nthetransformationfan ordinary uddha mage nto hibutsu.RitualContexts.ntheEdo period,worship fhibutsu ecame a massphenom-enon; festivedisplays kaicho) of secretbuddhasdevelopedintocarnivalisticevents hat ttractedhousands fpeople andgenerated ignificantncomeforthe emples rganizinghem. articularlympressivewerethe tinerantisplays(degaicho) organizedby Zenkoji,whichbroughtts secretbuddha or a copythereof) omanyplaces inHonshu na tourne that asted for everalmonths.Kaicho even constitutedthreat opublicorder, o thepoint hat heTokugawagovernmentssuedrulesandregulationsoncerninghem.86It shouldbe emphasized,however, hat ventodaypublicdisplaysoften onotmakethehibutsu eally visible," ince t canonlybe viewed from ar way,at theend of a dark and crowdedtemplehall.What matters ere s not clearvision, focusedgaze,but proof fpresence-presencethat,when hehibutsuis notondisplay,sproven yconstant itual ttentionndworship.On the therhand,hibutsu an be "seen" according o othermodalities fvision such as thetechniques f"visualization"nd"recollection"Jp.nen ;, Sk.smrti) escribedin variousscriptures,s well as through magining,making nferences,nd85Bateson1972,p. 180. See also Sharf1999,pp. 89-90.86 On these ubjects, ee McCallum 1994.The mostpopularkaichoduringheEdo periodwerethoseoftheZenkojiAmida,Seiry6jiSakyamuni,nd NaritasanFitiE Fudo.



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292 Monumenta ipponica 57:3receiving articular isions.87 s longas offeringsndprayers regivento it,thehibutsus thus real and effectiveresence, devicethrough hich he nvis-ible realmof thebuddhas s made "present"-ifnotfully visible"-to humanbeings ntheprofaneworld.The twopoles of the dialecticsof sacred andprofane, pirit ndmatter representnhibutsuna moreradicalfashion. he status fhibutsuntheir itualcontexts eems to involve two main issues. One concernsvisibility-mostlyindirect-andespecially he pparent eplicabilityfhibutsu; heother ertainsto their ecrecy, ften ue to their eterodoxical,xtracanonicalppearance. etus discuss these wo ssuesingreater epth.As is clear from urprevious iscussion fShingon octrines nthe bsolutenature freligious mages,Buddhist cons can be defined s "doubles" ofthedeities that hey mbody nd withwhomthey tand nmultiple elations-asseparatepresences nthisworld, opies, diagrams, races, amples-in a com-plexmobilization fnumerousmodes of semiotic roduction.88s describednnarratives f origin engimonoRcAi and honjimono tt$), an icon is fre-quently eld torepresentheway nwhich specific eitymanifestedtselfnaspecific ocale during specifichistorical ime.As such tconstitutes "sepa-ratebody" bunshinf4') ofthedeity,withwhom t s ina relation ftoken otype.Other consmaybe identifieds tracesof a past presence f a deity n acertain lace. To this ategory elongthefootprintsf theBuddha. Stillothersare held to be replicasof theappearance f a deity; ven fthey renotperfectcopies,they artakenthe spirit" ftheoriginal. his s the ase of"copies"offamoushibutsu uchas theSeiryoji akyamuni, xplicitly egarded s a "livingBuddha" (shojinno hotoke a ()AL), and theZenkojiAmidatriad.More thanthree undredcopies"exist fthese wo ecret uddhas, ndthey reworshipedin temples ll overJapan.89Manyofthesecopies do notresemble ach other,andthereforehey reobviously ot xactlyikethe riginal-whateverhatmaylook like supposedly, o one has ever seentheZenkojiAmida).Theyare con-sideredneverthelesso be "filiations,"separatebodies"-separate manifesta-tionsoftheoriginal livingBuddha."As such, heir tatus s copiesis notthatof a replicaof theoriginal uta "sample"of t.Thiscircumstancellustrates hatMichaelTaussigcallsthe magicpowerofreplication."90he copy s no less powerful han heoriginala case inpoint sthe shiyamaderaNyoirinKannon,which s in fact replacementmadein theHeianperiod fthedestroyed riginal).Atthe ametime, hepresence fcopiesdoes notdiminish heprivilegedtatus f theoriginal. his s evident nthe aseof theZenkOjiAmida: notonlydo replicasexistthroughoutapan, hesecret87 On theorigin nd the ignificanceftechniques fvisualization ndrecollection,ee Ujike1984. See also Sharf 001.88 On theconceptofsemioticmodes ofproduction,ee Eco 1976. See also below,p. 301.89 Ninety-oneopiesofthe eiryojiSakyamunind some247copiesoftheZenkojiAmidamaybe found ntemples rom outhern yushu onorthernohoku.90 Taussig 1993, p. 2.



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RAMBELLI: Secret Buddhas 293buddha s doubledby copiesknown s maedachibutsu i


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294 Monumenta ipponica 57:3MatarajiniYg1t atToji inKyoto ndJogyodo?ff ofMotsuji mS inHiraizumi,rShinraMyojinfi~5ft atOnjojiBi[J (Shigaprefecture).92hecombinationfmaedachibutsu,ibutsu,ndushirodouggestsninterestingstructurefgrades f nvisibilityhatallsfor urthertudy.93Thespecificeaturesfmanymages ept idden ointoanotherimensionof the dialectic fvisible/invisiblendsacred/profaneurroundingibutsu.Hibutsu, hesanctasanctorum,ere at timesdisturbing,bscene, exuallycharged,desecrated"cons, s in the ase ofthenaked enzaitenrKangitencouples theOtamaJizomentionedt thebeginningf this rticles anotherexample). uddhist octrinesmphasizedhat otustthe emple roundsutalso"plants,rees,nd he erritory"somoku okudo-ith?)-that is,every-where,ncludingrofanepace-is sacred nd ndowedwith uddhahood.yextension,udityndsexuality,lementshatn onesensemaydesecrateheicon ndprovoke eterodoxicalrhereticalhoughtsrbehaviornthe iewers,also conferpontgreateracredness,higherpiritualowerhatmust e con-tained ndcontrolled;his s infact neofthefundamentalenets f esotericBuddhism,ndone ofthemain eaturesf ecret uddhas.94Christineuth assuggestedhat neof hemain eaturesfhibutsus theirheterodoxy-theact hatheyrenoncanonicalrextracanonicalcons.Manysecretmageswere roduceds a resultfdirectrivateevelationsf he eities(kantokuA) to famousmonks.95uthwrites:

In theBuddhistworld,mage-makingormally equires recise dherenceoofficiallyanctionedictorialmodels.Visions, owever,speciallyhose xpe-rienced yeminentmonks t a moment fphysical anger rspiritualrisis,were ecognizeds anauthoritativeasisfor he epresentationfnoncanonicaldeities. ythe ame oken,isionswere lso used o xplainhe riginsf mageswith northodoxconographiceatures,ometimesong fterheir reation.96Guth lsosuggestshatmagesbasedon,oradapted rom,hineseconographic odelswhose riginalignif-icancewasforgottenr ll-understoodnJapanwere ommonbjects f uch x

92 Thisparagraphs based on a personalvisit othetemple.Fora morecompletedescription,see Gohonzongokaicho,a pamphlet roducedbyKiyomizudera n occasion ofthedisplay n2000 ofthehibutsu.Motsuji'sMatarajin,ocated n the ushirodobehindAmida's image n theJogyodo all,was onspecialdisplaybetween15Septembernd 15 November 000. Inthis ase,visitors eceived,nstead fa ticket, sort famulet, eautifully esigned, ncluding shortxpla-nation f thedeity nd tsSiddhammantric eed.To thisMatarajins dedicated heEnnen-mai Iqt ("long-life ance") at thebeginningf theyear.See Motsiji no ennen-mai.93 On thedeities nshrinedntheushirodo nd therituals edicated othem, ee Oda 1992.94 In this egardtmaybe noted hat heMochizukiBuddhist ncyclopedia dducestwodiffer-entreasonsfor hesecrecy fhibutsu: hefirsts the pecial powerof the con,and the econd stheparticular antric orm f the mage,which s regarded s bestkepthidden.The secondrea-sonappears obe a subcaseof thefirst: he pecialpowerofthese mages srelated o their apac-ity oarouse heterodoxical r even un-Buddhisteelings. ee Bukkyo aijiten, . 4326a.95Christine uth, ersonal ommunication,0 May 2000.96 Guth 1999, p. 113.



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RAMBELLI:Secret Buddhas 295postfacto xplanation.o,too,were mages dopted or itual rsectarianur-posesotherhan hose orwhich heywere riginallyntended.97In some cases, the image mayhave suffered disfiguringrauma.KunoTakeshi B{~freports hibutsun smallvillagetemple hat,whenopenedforinspection,urned ut to be a burned tatue nextremelyad condition, roba-bly originallymadeduringheHeianperiod.Kuno suggests hat fter he tatuewasburnedt was notreplacedbutwas insteadworshipeds a hibutsu.98nthiscase, themostpreciousreligious bject nthevillagewas a kindofdetritus,nabjectpiece of burnedmatter.Interestingly,he Yumedono Guze Kannon, ccording o the accountsofitstwomodern discoverers,"lso underwent stateof"abjection."99 ccordingtoOkakuraTenshin'sdescriptionf their recovery" fthe mage,The bad smell ccumulatedver thousand ears ttacked urnoses andwasalmost nbearable. henweclearedway he pider ebswe saw a ritualmple-ment ating rom heHigashiyamaeriod; ndbeyondt, herewasanobject,or8 feet all ndwrappedndlessly ith loth ndpaper tripsf sutras.Whenwebegan oremovehem,tartlednakes ndrats uddenlyppeared.100

Ernest enollosa similarly eportshat oureyesand nostrilswere ndanger fbeingchokedwith hepungent ust."101This linkto"abjection," xtracanonicity,otential eterodoxy,ndmysticalpower eemsfundamentalo the mbivalent ynamics f hibutsu.nthe ase ofsome, at least,the mostsacredis also themostpollutedand vice versa. AsMichaelTaussigwrites,This s the law ofthebase' attheheart freligion ndthings acred.' 102 Inotherwords, he pacewhere hibutsus located s a per-fect xampleof MichelFoucault's"heterotopia"-a placewhereutopia s real-ized: inthiscase, themanifestationsfthe sacred n all itscontradictionsndconceptual xtremism.Paratext.As we havealready een, he ecrecy fhibutsusnever omplete, utis employed o increase the sense ofpresenceand effectivenessf the secretbuddha,something hatdirectvisibilitymaybe less effectiven achieving.Hiddenness nhancesrather handiminishes he sacrednessofhibutsu; t thesametime, heir acrednesssnotdecreasedby periodicdisplay.Publicdisplays(kaichoor museum xhibitions), ictures,nd"copies" all servetoreinforcesense of thenuminous resenceof thebuddharesidingnthestatue.A relatedcomponent ontributingo the aura of sacredness urrounding hibutsu s itstextual arergon,whatGerardGenette alls "paratext": ll kindsofaccessory97Guth1999,p. 114.98 Kuno 1978, p. 13.99On the bject, ee Kristeva1982.100Okakura 1980, pp. 36-37.101Fenollosa 1911,vol. 1,pp. 50-51. Also cited nTanaka 1994,p. 24.102 Taussig 1999, p. 21.



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296 Monumenta ipponica 57:3informationhat onstitutesort f ommentaryoa text nd n aid to ts nter-pretation.103heparatextf a hibutsuontains arrativesf theorigin f theicon engimonondhonjimono),ales fmiraclestperformed,escriptions-more r ess maginary,ore r ess accurate-ofts ppearance,nformationon ritual nddevotionalractices,nd o forth.Origin arrativesometimeseporthatcons nshrineds hibutsu ere,npreviousimes,normal"cons,xposedopublicworship,hat ad ubsequentlybeen ubjectedo cts f conoclasm:efaced,estroyed,bandoned.his s thecase with hefamous enkoji con, heAmida riad,upposedo be thefirstBuddhistcontoreachJapann552 andsaidtohavebecome lmost mmedi-atelyhe bject f nti-Buddhistersecutions.escued,twas aternshrinedtZenkoji.104 rigin tories fSensoji report hat he mageofKannon was ini-tially etrievedn628 from heSumida iver ytwofishermen,hebrothersHinokuma amanariH^ufifi)ndTakenaritTi.n645,when he riesthokaigTjvisitedhe asternegionsndbuilt hall,Kannon ppearedohim nadreamnd skedhim oturnhemagento hibutsu.t ssaid hatwhen n857EnninHFt{visited he pot, e built newhallandmade copyofthe ecretbuddha.105hese ccountsackhistoricaloundations;heirrimaryoal s tostress he ntiquityf heirespectiveibutsund he atter'supernaturalowerandconnections ithmportantriestsrhistoricalventsfthe ast.Such accountseminds, too, hat ibutsureconnectednvariousways opower elationsmong eople ssociatedwith he emplewhere he mage slocated ndresponsibleor ontrolndmanagementfthehibutsu'sowerfulsupernaturalorce.Narrativesbouthibutsu lso bearon the egitimacyndfunctionfthe emplentheworld t arge. heparatexturroundingibutsuthusmake hemignifyingbjects, hat rzysztofomian alls semiophores,"inthefull enseofthe erm,ecause hey epresentndmakevisible socialgroupthe ommunityround he emple,heworshipers),hile stablishingdifferencesnd ocialhierarchiesworshipers/nonworshipers,riests/laypeople,priests ith ccess to thehibutsu/withoutccess).This atterspectsparticu-larly vident nwhatwe could call "sacerdotalhibutsu"imagesthat reonlyvisibletoandworshiped y priests) ndsecret bjectshandeddownfrombbottoabbot.A recentnstance, hat fthe chijiKinrinButchoNyoraiofChusonji, ndi-cates that he creation fparatext urroundingibutsu s an ongoingprocess.This particularmanifestationfMahavairocana,datingback to the ateHeianperiod, s said to have been theprotectorf Fujiwarano Hidehira, he thirdgenerationf rulers nHiraizumi.During heTokugawa period, he magewas103 On theconceptofparergon npainting,ee Derrida1987,pp. 54ff;onparatext,ee Genette1982,p. 9.104 On theoriginnarratives f thishibutsu,ee McCallum 1994.105See Heibonshadaihyakkajiten,.v."Sensoji,"vol.8,pp.766-67. Fora detailed ccount, eeSensoji engi 1692), esp. pp. 408-409.



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RAMBELLI:Secret Buddhas 297considered o be thehonjibutsu tg(A1theoriginalbuddha)ofSanno GongenlfSf, theTendai7&Etutelaryombinatoryeity f heChusonji ompound-an icon ofhonji suijakucombinatory eligiosity.106n modern imes, robablyafter heMeiji persecutions,he mage ost tsritual unctionsnd was placedinthetemplemuseumHomotsukan Afg) together ith ther tatuesno longerinactive ervice.Valorized as anartisticreasure,t was recognized ythe tateas an importantultural roperty.n 1979, however, hetemplewithdrewheimagefrom egulardisplayand resacralized t as a hibutsu.107n the circum-stances theillustratedrtbooks,museumcatalogues, magazines,and touristguidebooks hat ontinue ooffer nformationbout tserve, ike theengimonoof earlier imes, s a kindof textualwindowthroughwhich to see the mage.Eventhoughhiskind f iterature ay reat hehibutsu rimarilys an art bject,it neffect ontributeso thepreservationf themysteriousuraof thenolongervisible con,enhancingwhatWalterBenjamindescribed s its "cultvalue."Farfrom educinghibutsu o theirconographic nd/orntellectual alue,paratex-tual formationsre thus ssential o establish hem s sacred, ivingpresences,importantomponentsnthe ife intellectual,olitical, ymbolic, ndritual) fthecommunity.SemioticTechnologies.How is a hibutsu roduced?n otherwords,how s inan-imatematter urnednto livingpresence f theBuddhathat s to remainnvis-ible?To answerthisquestion, findheuristicallyelpfulKrzysztof omian'sdiscussions n collections ndthe ypologyfobjects, nd MichaelThompson'ssemiotic nalysisof "durable bjects."Pomianhasattemptedclassification fobjectsonthebasisoftheir unction:he differentiateshemnto bodies" corps), waste" dechets), things"choses),and"semiophores"semiophores). orclarity,propose oreformulateomian'terminologys, respectively,physical ntities,"waste," "tools,"and"repre-sentational bjects."Physicalentities re the rawobjectsfoundbyhumans ntheir nvironment; asterefers o objectsthathumans bandon,evacuate,ordestroy ecause theyhave lost their se andfunctionality.he third ategory,"tools," ncludes he bjectsusedtochangeother bjects-to "transformhevis-ibleappearanceorobservableproperties,ragaintomodify he ocalizationofother bjects." Finally,to thecategory frepresentationalbjects,or semio-phores, elongall "visibleobjects nvestedwith ignification,"hich are des-tined o"replace, omplete, rprolong he xchange fwords rtopreserveheirtraces,by rendering isible and stable that whichwould otherwise emainevanescent nd accessibleuniquelyto hearing."According o Pomian,"eachsemiophores nsertednanexchange etween woormore artnersndbetween106 See Sasaki 1999,pp. 168-69.107 MimiYiengpruksawanwrites hat he magemayhave beensecret ormostofthemedievalandearlymodern eriodsYiengpruksawan 991).Foradditionalnformationnthishibutsu,eeYiengpruksawan998,pp. 179-84passim,193-98passim;seealso Sasaki 1999,esp.pp. 162-71.



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298 Monumenta ipponica 57:3the isible nd henvisible." s such, semiophoresubstitutesor omethinginvisible"yshowingt, emindingne of t, ndbypreservingts races.t sthereforeade obeobserved.108

Pomian otes hatthe ppositionetweenhe isiblend he nvisiblean akemanynddiverseforms.he nvisiblesspatiallyistant.... t s alsotemporallyistant.... naddition,t sbeyondllphysicalpace .. in space tructuredotallyiffer-ently.t s situatedn timef ts wn, routsideny assingf ime,neter-nitytself.t can ometimesave corporeityrmaterialitytherhanhatfthe lementsf he isible orld,nd ometimese a sortfpurentimaterial-ity.109Religious itualsroduceemiophoresydisplayingacrificialbjects othe

gazeofhumans ndgodsand/orytransferringbjects romhe ealm fthevisible o that f the nvisibleas, for nstance, hen sacrificialbject sdestroyednorderobe sent ffo he ods).110eingnvolvedin he xchangeprocesstaking]lacebetweenhe isible nd he nvisible orlds,"'11eligiousobjects nd mages unctionas ntermediariesor hisworldnd he ext,he acrednd he ecular,hiletthe ame imeonstituting,t he ery eartf he ecular orld,ymbolsf hedistant,he idden,he bsent.nother ords,heyctedsgo-betweensetweenthosewho azed pon hemnd henvisiblerom henceheyame.Icons, nparticular,represent.. normallynvisibleersonages,iving n theother ideof theboundaryeparatinghe acred rom he ecular."112his-makinghe nvisibleisible,makingtspresenceeltnd orporeal-aswehaveseen,s oneof he unctionsfBuddhistcons.We have lsoseen, owever,hatBuddhistcons re more hanustrepresentations:heyre envisioneds realpresencesf he nvisibleut ndisplayttemplesnd theracred laces.Thepictureecomesmore omplicatedn the ase ofhibutsu.Hibutsure bviouslyemiophores,lbeit f special ind. hey re et part,displayedmost fthe ime,nly o the nvisibleazeofthe ealm fthe ud-dhas) n a special, acred lace, nd erve smediatorsetweenhe isible nddifferentrdersf the nvisible-theealm f thebuddhas,hepsychologyfthe ndividualsarticipatingn the itual,deas bout bjects,heoriesfrepre-sentations,nd onceptionsbout ulturend radition. ore adically,ibutsuare emiophoresf henuminousndrealpresencef he eitynthisworld:nadditionobeing ealpresenceshey isplay resencetself.nthis espect, eshould ememberhe undamentalemioticaw enunciatedyRolandBarthes,108 Pomian1997,esp.pp. 80-83.109Pomian 1994, pp. 172-73.110Pomian1987,esp.pp. 30-37.11 Pomian1994,p. 172.112 Pomian 1994, p. 171.



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RAMBELLI: Secret Buddhas 299namely, n object s not ustuse-value,function,utalso a signof thatfunc-tion.ll3 n thecase ofhibutsu,hey re not ustmerepresence, ut also a pow-erful ignof that resence.JeanBaudrillard as furtherrgued hat bjectshavean additional,metasemioticalue,whathe calls "symbolic alue." In hisdefin-ition, hesymbolics "theu-topia hat utsan end to thetopologiesofthe ouland thebody,man andnature, hereal and thenon-real, irth nd death." 14 tis precisely his ymbolicnvestmentntranscendingualisms ndlimitations,I would ike tosuggest, hat ndowshibutsuwith heir aura" as living ntities.MichaelThompson's tudy fsemiotic ransformationsfcultural bjects angive us some important ints n how to understand heproduction f semio-phores uch s hibutsu. hompson istinguishesetween wogeneral table at-egories nwhichobjectscan be classified, hetransientnd thedurable.115 sJonathan ullerexplains, Objectsplaced nthe ransientlass arethoughtf ashavingfiniteife-spansnd as decreasingnvalueovertime.Objectsviewed asdurableareendowedwith, deally, nfiniteife-spans ndretain heir alue oreven increase n value over time."116ransient bjectsare typically verydaythingsclothes, ools,food, tc.),whereasworks fart elongtothe ategory fdurables.As a norm,when notconsumed ntirelyrdestroyedwithuse, tran-sient bjectsturn ntorubbish r unk,a third ultural ategory fobjects. t isalso possiblefordurables obecometransientssuchas inthecase ofstatues fLenin ntheformerovietUnion)and viceversa as in the ase ofantiques)viatheir ransformationirstntounk.Thompsonuses "junk"or"rubbish" orefertothose hings hat eople accumulatentheir ttics, ut"dispensable" s prob-ablya better nd less confusing erm.The phase inwhichan objectbecomes"dispensable," hats,hasno clearcultural ollocation nd can subsequentlyeeither levated s a durable rdemoted s waste, osomeextentwould seem tocorrespond o what VictorTurnerhas defined s a stateof "liminality."117Liminalentities tandoutside stablished tructuresfmeaning, ccumulatingat random ntheattic, s itwere. Forobjects, he iminalphase,which s oftentheresult fsome form fsocial transformation,eans return oa tabularasa,inwhichtheir reviousvalue and status s denied and annulled. t is a tempo-rary tage, venthoughtcan last ndefinitely.Many contemporaryibutsu xperienced stageofdispensability,roadlydefined.As we have seen,they ftenhave a noncanonical orm ased on indi-vidual andheterodoxical isions alreadya markofliminalitynd a potentialcause fordisposal); they reperpetuallytored wayina sort f"sacredattic"thatmakes themnvisible at least deally)andthat t timesreducesthem o astate fdecay occasionallybeyond epair).118ibutsu hus all t eastpartially113 Barthes 1973, pp. 41-42.114 Baudrillard 1993, p. 133.115 Thompson 1994.116 Culler 1988, p. 171.117On liminality,ee Turner 995.118 Hibutsu reparticularlyubject odecaybecause they rekept losed intheir eretoriesnd



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300 Monumenta ipponica 57:3outside hetwomajorcultural ategoriesf objects thetransientndthedurable). hey eem orevel ntheiriminalitys a means odeny heirwnmaterialitynd, t the ame ime,mphasizeheir owerfulresence. ispen-sabilityhat esultsn iminality,tmighte argued,onstitutesneconditionfor he reationfa secret uddha.On the asisofthe xampleshavediscussedhus ar, nemightummarizethegeneral rocess fformationfhibutsus inthe ollowingiagram.Whileanygiven ibutsu aynothave xperiencedachand very tage,he iagramencapsulateshe ariouslementshatontributeo he ransformationf nobjectinto secret uddha: heBuddhistntologyf mages,he arious hases f heformationfbuddhamages stoldntraditionalarratives,istoricalrocessesofanti-Buddhistersecution,he ransformationfreligiousrtifactsnto rtobjects hat ccurred ithmodernization,nd he ubsequente-sacralizationfnationalreasuress secret uddhas.

stage ne most urable):nvisible tatebuddha s already resentnnonsentientsstage wo transient):isible taterawmaterialsstage hreedurable): isible tate

buddhamagestage ourdispensable): isible tateabandonedtatuesstage ivedurable): isible taterecovereduddha tatuestage ix most urable):nvisible tatehibutsustage even dispensable):nvisible tatehibutsuubject o various ormsfabjectionstage ightdurable): isible tateart bjectstagenine most urable):nvisible tatehibutsu s national reasure

damagecannotbe easilyassessed orrepaired. umidityttractsnsects, nd these ncombinationcause fracturesn thewood, inviting atsto nest n it; thencome snakes to eat therats. SeeNishimura 990,pp. 9-12.



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RAMBELLI:Secret Buddhas 301A hibutsu'sphase ofdurability, e might ay,was precededby a stage nwhichthestatuewas dispensable-it had beendesecrated ndthrownway; itwas in an abjectstate; t was de factowithout alue. Beforethat, owever,wecan envision ther tages, n whichthestatuewas simply piece of nanimatematerialwaitingfor ts"buddha within" obe revealed, nd laterwas an iconopentoviewandreceivingworship. ut even n tsmaterial tate s anuncarvedlog,as wehaveseen, hebuddhawas invisibly resent.tappears hat he acredvalue ofthe conneverdisappears,t ustretreatsopotentiality, aiting o berecovered. here s alwaysa hidden, ecret tate hat recedesdevelopmentntoa hibutsu.

ConclusionThe significationfbuddha mages is based on the semioticphenomenon fostension,which"occurs whena givenobjectoreventproducedbynature rhuman ction intentionallyrunintentionallyndexistingn a world of factsas a fact mongfacts) s 'pickedup' bysomeoneandshownas theexpressionof the lass of which t s a member."119 buddha magecan thus e understoodas a double, s when a cigarettes shown inorder odescribe hepropertiesfa cigarette"';120tcan be usedto showthepropertiesfa realBuddha as a "real"buddha tself as theShingontheory frepresentation aintains).A buddhaimagecan also be an example, n objectthat is selected s a wholetoexpressitsclass,"121 nthis ase an exampleofwhat t means tobe a buddha.Finally,buddha magecan be a sample,as "whenonly partof an object s selected toexpress heentire bject andthereforetsclass)";122 s such t s an indicationof the otalityftheDharmakaya ndtheDharmadhatu. buddha mage s thusan ostensive ignof therealBuddha.This logicofostension xplainsthecom-plex status fbuddha magesas both nobjectand a livingpresence.How,however, an a hibutsu,pecifically,s an invisiblemage which s initself noxymoron), e anostensive ign?Buddha magesareperhapsmorerealthanrealitytself s something irectlyonnected o itsperceived ntological,metaphysicalore.Buddha imagesunderline n inaccessible,mysterious,ndfundamentallyther imension fthereal,while at thesame time onstituting(being)the ymbolic, odily, ndmaterial spectsof thedeities.123 othing et-ter han n invisiblemage, hen, osecretlydisplay" his naccessible ndfun-damentallyther imension freality.t s withinhediscursive ontext utlinedabove that we have to understand he statusand the significance f secretbuddhas.Ontologically nd semiotically, ibutsu re no differentrom therbuddha mages.Like them, hey re embodiments f theunconditioned uddhabody, okens ftheradically ther.Wherehibutsu ifferrom rdinarymages119Eco 1976, pp. 224-25.120Eco 1976, p. 226.121 Eco 1976, p. 226.122 Eco 1976, p. 226.123 On these spects, ee Auge 1988,pp. 13-14.



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302 Monumenta ipponica 57:3is intheir aradoxicallyeightenedapacityofunctions anostensiveign,functioninked o their itualontext,hekind faccessorynformationvail-ableabout hem,nd heirmodes fproduction.Because f heirnvisiblend ecrettatus,ibutsuanbeconsidereddegree-zerobuddhas,"ureBuddha-ness,uddha otentiality.e could ven ay hathibutsu, ith heirnvisibility,isplay hevery oncept fBuddha-hood-omnipresentutoutofsight.n a sense, hen,hehibutsus the eturno andperfectingfthat revioustate f atencynd nvisibility.hehibutsumbod-iesand eproducesithts wn nvisibilityhe idden,oncealed uddha-naturewithouteducingtspresencendefficacy.hehibutsu'smaterialityakes tintrinsicallyransient-atimes ramaticallyransient,sinthe aseofpreciousiconsdestroyedyfire. uteven n this ase a hibutsu oesnot ose tsonto-logical nd acred alues. ince, ccordingoBuddhism,verythingstransient,the ransformationsfhibutsuerve odisplayransiency,hemain ntologicalfeaturefBuddhisteality,nd tthe ame ime he onstanteed oengagendevotionalcts opreserveheBuddhist aw.

REFERENCE ISTAbbreviations ther han hose used regularlynMNDNBZ Dai NihonbukkyoenshoXkHt iL . Ed. Bussho Kankokai {ALIJ