Kongōsan. (J) (金剛山). In Japanese, “Diamond Mountain(s)”; the highest peak in the KATSURAGISAN region, on the border between the present-day Japanese prefectures of Nara and Ōsaka. The mountain was likely visited by EN NO OZUNU, the putative founder of the SHUGENDŌ school of Japanese esoterism, who spent three decades practicing in the Katsuragi mountains. Its name may refer to the belief that En no Ozunu was a manifestation of Hōki Bosatsu (DHARMODGATA), who resided in the Diamond Mountains (see KŬMGANGSAN), according to the account in the AVATAṂSAKASŪTRA.

Kong sprul mdzod lnga. (Kongtrül dzö nga). In Tibetan, lit. “five treasuries of Kong sprul”; the name for a collection of five encyclopedic works composed by the Tibetan author ’JAM MGON KONG SPRUL BLO GROS MTHA’ YAS. Kong sprul himself classified his writings in more than ninety volumes into a scheme of five “treasuries,” in order to preserve and systematize numerous teachings that were in danger of being forgotten or lost. These collections of works, which belonged primarily to the BKA’ BRGYUD and RNYING MA sects of Tibetan Buddhism, are now regarded as a primary source for the so-called nonsectarian (RIS MED) movement of the late nineteenth century and as outstanding literary achievements. The five treasuries are (1) SHES BYA KUN KHYAB MDZOD (“Treasury Embracing All Knowledge”); (2) BKA’ BRGYUD SNGAGS MDZOD (“Treasury of Bka’ brgyud Mantra”); (3) RIN CHEN GTER MDZOD (“Treasury of Precious Treasure Teachings”); (4) GDAMS NGAG MDZOD (“Treasury of Practical Instructions”); and (5) THUN MONG MA YIN PA’I MDZOD (“Uncommon Treasury”).

Konjaku monogatarishū. (今昔物語集). In Japanese, “Tales of Times Now Past”; a collection of Buddhist tales compiled by the Japanese monk Minamoto no Takakuni (1004–1077). The Konjaku monogatarishū is claimed to have originally been composed in thirty-one rolls, but rolls eight, eighteen, and twenty-one are not extant. Rolls one through five are Buddhist tales from India, six through ten from China, and eleven through twenty from Japan. The Konjaku monogatarishū contains stories about the life of the Buddha and the events that occurred after his PARINIRVĀṆA, the transmission of Buddhism to China, the merits that accrue from worshipping the three jewels (RATNATRAYA), and moralistic tales of filial piety and karmic retribution. The tales of Japan provide a narrative of the transmission of Buddhism and the various Chinese schools to Japan, SHŌTOKU TAISHI’s support of Buddhism, the establishment of Buddhist monasteries, the merit of constructing Buddhist images and studying SŪTRAS, and the lives of eminent Japanese monks. Fascicles twenty-two to thirty-one deal with worldly tales about the Fujiwara clan, arts, battles, and ghosts.

Koryŏguk sinjo taejang kyojŏng pyŏllok. (高麗國新雕大藏校正別). In Korean, “Supplementary Record of Collation Notes to the New Carving of the Great Canon of the Koryŏ Kingdom”; a thirty-roll compilation of editorial notes to the carving of the second edition of the Korean Buddhist canon (see KORYŎ TAEJANGGYŎNG), compiled in 1247 by the monk-editor Sugi (d.u.) and his editorial team. See SUGI.

Koryŏ taejanggyŏng. (高麗大藏經). In Korean, “The Koryŏ [Dynasty] Scriptures of the Great Repository”; popularly known in Korean as the P’ALMAN TAEJANGGYŎNG (“The Scriptures of the Great Repository in Eighty Thousand [Xylographs]”); referring specifically to the second of the two xylographic canons produced during the Koryŏ dynasty (937–1392) and widely regarded as one of the greatest cultural achievements of the Korean Buddhist tradition. The first Koryŏ edition of the canon was carved between 1011 and c. 1087 but was destroyed in 1234 during the Mongol invasion of the Korean peninsula. The second edition was carved between 1236 and 1251 and included some 1,514 texts in 6,815 rolls, all carved on 81,258 individual woodblocks, which are still housed today in the Scriptural Repository Hall at the monastery of HAEINSA. This massive project was carried out at royal behest by its general editor SUGI (d.u.) and an army of thousands of scholars and craftsmen. The court supported this project because of the canon’s potential value in serving as an apotropaic talisman, which would prompt the various buddhas, as well as the divinities (DEVA) in the heaven of the thirty-three [divinities] (TRĀYASTRIṂŚA), to ward off foreign invaders and bring peace to the kingdom. By protecting Buddhism through a state project to preserve its canonical teachings, therefore, Buddhism would in turn protect the state (viz., “state-protection Buddhism,” K. hoguk pulgyo, C. HUGUO FOJIAO). Sugi left thirty rolls (kwŏn) of detailed collation notes about the editorial procedures he and his team followed in compiling the new canon, the KORYŎGUK SINJO TAÉJANG KYOJŎNG PYŎLLOK (s.v.). Sugi’s notes make clear that the second Koryŏ edition followed the Song Kaibao and first Koryŏ xylographic canons in its style and format but drew its readings in large measure from the Khitan Buddhist canon compiled by the Liao dynasty in the north of China. The xylographs typically include twenty-three lines of fourteen characters apiece, with text carved on both sides of the block. The second Koryŏ canon is arranged with pride of place given to texts from the MAHĀYĀNA tradition:

1. Major Mahāyāna scriptures (K 1–548), beginning with the PRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀ, followed by the RATNAKŪṬASŪTRA, and continuing through all the major Mahāyāna sūtras and sūtra collections, from the AVATAṂSAKA to the PARINIRVĀṆA, SAṂDHINIRMOCANA, and LAṄKĀVATĀRA

2. Mahāyāna śāstras and scriptural commentaries, beginning with the DAZHIDU LUN (*Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra) (K 549–646)

3. ĀGAMA collections and “hīnayāna” sūtras (K 647–888)

4. VINAYA materials (K 889–937)

5. ABHIDHARMA texts (K 938–977)

6. AVADĀNA and JĀTAKA tales and miscellaneous materials (K 978–1034)

7. Biographies of individual monks, starting with AŚVAGHOṢA, NĀGĀRJUNA, etc. (K 1035–1049)

8. Rosters of numerical lists, scriptural catalogues (K 1050–1064)

9. Travelogues and Biographies of Eminent Monks anthologies (K 1065–1086)

10. Miscellaneous sūtras, DHĀRAṆĪ scriptures, and dhāraṇī anthologies (K 1087–1242)

11. Other miscellaneous sūtras (K 1243–1496)

12. References, Chan anthologies, and indigenous Korean works (K 1497–1514)

Because this second Koryŏ canon was renowned throughout East Asia for its scholarly accuracy, it was used as the basis of the modern Japanese TAISHŌ SHINSHŪ DAIZŌKYŌ (“New Edition of the Buddhist Canon Compiled during the Taishō Reign Era”), edited by TAKAKUSU JUNJIRŌ and Watanabe Kaikyoku, published using movable-type printing between 1924 and 1935, which has become the standard reference source for East Asian Buddhist materials. See also DAZANGJING.

Kośala. (P. Kosala; T. Ko sa la; C. Jiaosaluo guo; J. Kyōsatsura koku; K. Kyosalla kuk 憍薩羅國). Name of an important Indian kingdom during the Buddha’s time, located to the northeast of the Indian subcontinent, in the foothills of modern-day Nepal; also spelled Kosala and Kauśala. Kośala was located to the south of the region of the ŚĀKYA tribe, the Buddha’s native clan, and exerted some political influence over its smaller neighbor. Along with MAGADHA, Kośala was one of the two strongest kingdoms at the time of the Buddha and had its capital at ŚRĀVASTĪ. The Buddha spent much of his time teaching in Śrāvastī, especially in the JETAVANA monastery, which was located on its outskirts. The Kośala kingdom was eventually conquered by King AJĀTAŚATRU of Magadha. Kośala is also one of the twenty-four sacred sites associated with the CAKRASAṂVARATANTRA. See PĪṬHA.

Kosambiyasutta. (C. Changshou; J. Chōju; K. Changsu 長壽). In Pāli, “Discourse to the Kosambians”; the forty-eighth sutta contained in the MAJJHIMANIKĀYA (scholars had presumed that an unidentified recension, perhaps MAHĀSĀṂGHIKA or DHARMAGUPTAKA, appears in the Chinese translation of the EKOTTARĀGAMA, but this putative affiliation seems to be in error); delivered by the Buddha to a gathering of monks in Ghosita’s park at Kosambī (S. Kauśambī). The monks living in Kosambī had fallen into dispute over trivial matters, and the Buddha admonishes them to make loving-kindness (mettā; S. MAITRĪ) the basis of their mutual relations. He describes six principles of cordiality that contribute to the cohesion, harmony, and unity of the SAṂGHA; viz., (1) bodily acts of loving-kindness, (2) verbal acts of loving-kindness, (3) mental acts of loving-kindness, (4) sharing and cooperation, (5) public and private virtue conducive to meditative concentration, and (6) public and private virtue conducive to enlightenment and liberation. The Buddha then describes seven knowledges possessed by the stream-enterer (sotāpanna; S. SROTAĀPANNA). The stream-enterer knows that (1) his mind is well prepared for awakening to the truth, and (2) his mind is serene; (3) the Buddha’s teachings are not contained in the wrong views of other teachers, and (4) he confesses his misdeeds and makes amends for future restraint; and (5) he completes the work that is to be done for the holy life. Furthermore, he knows (6) the strength of one who adheres to right view and (7) that he possesses that strength.

Kotani Kimi. (小谷喜美) (1901–1971). Cofounder along with KUBO KAKUTARŌ (1892–1944) of the REIYŪKAI school of modern Japanese Buddhism, which derives from the teachings of the NICHIRENSHŪ school of Buddhism. Kotani Kimi was the wife of Kotani Yasukichi, Kubo’s elder brother. She and her husband became two of the earliest and most active proponents of Reiyūkai. After her husband died, she became the first official president of the group in 1930, and after Kubo’s death in 1944, she ran the organization successfully on her own, although many splinter groups formed in reaction to her leadership. Kotani focused on the SADDHARMAPUṆḌARĪKASŪTRA (“Lotus Sūtra”), but because ancestor worship was her primary religious practice, she used the sūtra rather idiosyncratically as a path to the spiritual realm. Kotani also focused the group’s energies on social welfare programs, and especially youth education, for she felt that Japan’s rapid modernization was neglecting the needs of the youth.

koṭi. (T. mtha’; C. juzhi; J. kutei; K. kuji 倶胝). In Sanskrit and Pāli, lit. the “end” of a scale and thus effectively referring to any large number; often translated by the Indian numerical term “crore,” and variously numbering as one hundred thousand, ten million, one hundred million, or an infinity. Note this same sense of koṭi as “end” in various Sanskrit and Pāli compounds, such as BHŪTAKOṬI, lit. “end of reality,” and thus “true end” or “ultimate state.” The term can also have a negative connotation in the sense of “extreme,” as in the case of practice or philosophical position far from the moderate. For its use in MADHYAMAKA philosophy, see CATUṢKOṬI.

Kōtokuin. (高德院). In Japanese, “High Virtue Cloister”; located in Kamakura, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. Kōtokuin is best known as the home of the colossal buddha image of Kamakura (see KAMAKURA DAIBUTSU), a huge bronze statue of AMITĀBHA Buddha; as a consequence, the temple is often called Daibutsuji. The temple is associated with the JŌdoshŪ, or Pure Land sect. After one crosses the threshold of the entrance gate into the temple compound, the site appears more like a park dedicated to the colossal buddha image than a temple; in fact, the real Kōtokuin temple buildings are now located to the east of the image and are off-limits to most tourists. Toward the back of the temple is now located the Kangetsudō, or Moon-Viewing Hall, which was brought from Korea in 1934; it enshrines an Edo-period (1603–1868) statue of Kannon (AVALOKITEŚVARA). To the right of the Moon-Viewing Hall is a stone stele on which is inscribed a famous tanka poem by Akiko Yosano (1878–1942) describing her impression on first seeing the Kamakura Daibutsu (although she mistakenly presumes she is viewing ŚĀKYAMUNI, not Amitābha).

kōun ryūsui. (C. xingyun liushui; K. haengun yusu 行雲流水). In Japanese, “moving clouds and flowing water”; the phrase from which the term “clouds and water” (J. unsui; C. yunshui; K. unsu) derives, referring to an itinerant Zen monk in training. See YUNSHUI.

Kounsa. (孤雲寺). In Korean, “Solitary Cloud Monastery”; the sixteenth district monastery (PONSA) of the contemporary CHOGYE CHONG of Korean Buddhism, located on Mount Tŭngun in North Kyŏngsang province. The monastery was founded in 681 by great Hwaŏm (C. HUAYAN) master ŬISANG (625–702), during the reign of the Silla king Sinmun (r. 681–692). The original Chinese characters for Kounsa meant “High Cloud Monastery,” but during the Unified Silla period, the monastery adopted the homophonous name “Solitary Cloud,” after the pen name of the famous literatus Ch’oe Ch’iwŏn (b. 857). During the reign of King Hŏn’gang (r. 875–886), a famous stone image of BHAIṢAJYAGURU was enshrined at the monastery. During the Koryŏ dynasty, the monk Ch’ŏnhae (fl. c. 1018) is said to have seen a Kwanŭm (AVALOKITEŚVARA) statue in a dream; later, he found an identical image on Mount Taehŭng in Songdo and enshrined it in the Kŭngnak chŏn at Kounsa. The monastery was rebuilt and repaired several times during the Chosŏn period. The large-scale rebuilding project that began in 1695 and continued through the eighteenth century helped raise the monastery’s overall status within the ecclesia. Kounsa suffered severe damage from fires that broke out in 1803 and 1835, but the monastery was soon reconstructed. During the Japanese colonial period (1910–1945), Kounsa became one of thirty-one head monasteries (ponsa) and managed fifty-four branch monasteries (MALSA).

koutou Chan. (J. kutōzen/kōtōzen; K. kudu Sŏn 口頭禪). In Chinese, lit. “mouth Chan”; the CHAN that is practiced only through words, referring to practitioners who are versed in Chan theory but have not comprehended that theory themselves through their meditation. This Chan Buddhist expression refers to those practitioners who have merely memorized the pithy sayings and GONG’AN dialogues of the patriarchs and masters (ZUSHI) of the Chan school without actually understanding them or putting them into practice. Cf. YINGWU CHAN.

Kōyasan. (高野山). In Japanese, “Mt. Kōya”; a Japanese sacred mountain in Wakayama prefecture. Currently, the monastery Kongōbuji on Mt. Kōya serves as the headquarters (honzan) of the Kōyasan SHINGONSHŪ sect of the Shingon tradition. While traveling through the lands southwest of Yoshino, the Japanese monk KŪKAI is said to have stumbled upon a flat plateau named Kōya (High Field) on a mountain. Kūkai determined that Kōya was an ideal site of self-cultivation, as it appeared to be an uninhabited area surrounded on four sides by high mountain peaks. It is said that the mountain was revealed to Kūkai by a hunter who was an incarnation of the god (KAMI) of the mountain, Kōya Myōjin. This deity is still worshipped on Mt. Kōya in his hunter form as Kariba Myōjin. In 816, Kūkai received permission from the emperor to establish a practice center dedicated to the study of MIKKYŌ ritual and doctrine at Kōya. Kūkai first sent his disciples Jitsue (786–847) and Enmyō (d. 851) to survey the entire area and went to the site himself in 818. Due to his activities at the official monastery, TŌJI, and his business at the monasteries Jingōji and Murōji, Kūkai’s involvement with Mt. Kōya was limited. In 835, he retired to Mt. Kōya due to his deteriorating health and finally died there, purportedly while in a deep meditative state. Kūkai’s body is housed in the mausoleum complex Okunoin near Kongōbuji. According to legend, he remains there in a state of eternal SAMĀDHI. As a result of the developing cult of Kūkai, who increasingly came to be worshipped as a bodhisattva, Mt. Kōya came to be viewed as a PURE LAND on earth. Later, as a result of political contestations, as well as several fires on the mountain in 994, Mt. Kōya entered a period of protracted decline and neglect. Through the efforts of Fujiwara and other aristocrats as well as the patronage of reigning and retired emperors, Mt. Kōya reemerged as a powerful monastic and economic center in the region, and became an influential center of pilgrimage and religious cultivation famous throughout Japan. In 1114, KAKUBAN took up residence on the mountain and assiduously practiced mikkyō for eight years. In 1132, he established the monasteries of Daidenbōin and Mitsugon’in on Mt. Kōya. Despite his efforts to refocus Mt. Kōya scholasticism around the doctrinal and ritual teachings of Kūkai, his rapid rise through the monastic ranks was met with great animosity from the conservative factions on the mountain. In 1288, the monk Raiyu (1226–1304) moved Daidenbōin and Mitsugon’in to nearby Mt. Negoro and established what came to be known as Shingi Shingon, which regarded Kakuban as its founder. In 1185, Myōhen, a disciple of HŌNEN, moved to Mt. Kōya to pursue rebirth in the pure land, a common goal for many pilgrims to Mt. Kōya. It is said that, around 1192, NICHIREN and Hōnen made pilgrimages to the mountain. MYŌAN EISAI’s senior disciple Gyōyū established Kongōsanmai-in and taught Chinese RINZAI (LINJI) Zen on Mt. Kōya. Zen lineages developed between Mt. Kōya, Kyōto, and Kamakura around this time. In 1585, during the Warring States Period, the monk Mokujiki Ōgo was able to convince Toyotomi Hideyoshi not to burn down the mountain as Oda Nobunaga had done at HIEIZAN. As a result, Mt. Kōya preserves ancient manuscripts and images that would have otherwise been lost. Mt. Kōya’s monastic structures shrank to less than a third of their original size during the Meiji persecution of Buddhism (HAIBUTSU KISHAKU). At that same time, Mt. Kōya lost much of its former land holdings, which greatly reduced its economic base. In the twentieth century, Mt. Kōya went through several modernization steps: the ban against women was lifted in 1905, its roads were paved, and Mt. Kōya University was built on the mountain. At present, Mt. Kōya is a thriving tourist, pilgrimage, and monastic training center.

Kōzen gokokuron. (興禪護國論). In Japanese, “Treatise on the Promulgation of Zen as Defense of the State”; written by MYŌAN EISAI in 1198 to legitimize the new ZEN teachings that he had imported from China. In ten sections, Eisai responds to the criticisms from the monks at HIEIZAN (see ENRYAKUJI and TENDAISHŪ) with extensive references to scriptures, Chan texts, and the writings of SAICHŌ, ENNIN, and ENCHIN. Eisai argued that the new teachings would protect the state and allow for the “perfect teachings” (see JIAOXIANG PANSHI) of Tendai to flourish.

kriyātantra. (T. bya rgyud). In Sanskrit, “action tantra”; the lowest of the traditional fourfold categorization of tantric texts, the others being (in ascending order) CARYĀTANTRA, YOGATANTRA, and ANUTTARAYOGATANTRA. According to traditional commentaries, this class of tantras is so called because they emphasize the performance of external action or ritual over the practice of meditation. Tantras classified in this group include the *SUSIDDHIKARASŪTRA and the SUBĀHUPARIPṚCCHĀTANTRA.

krodha. (P. kodha; T. khro ba; C. fen; J. fun; K. pun 忿). In Sanskrit, “anger,” or “wrath.” One of the forty-six mental factors (see CAITTA) according to the ABHIDHARMAKOŚABHĀṢYA, and one of the fifty-one according to the YOGĀCĀRA school. Krodha is the infuriation one feels toward unpleasant objects and is one possible way in which aversion (DVEṢA) manifests itself. Krodha is distinguishable from “enmity” (UPANĀHA) in that “anger” is a more potent but more quickly dissipated kind of emotion, whereas “enmity” is a long-term simmering grudge.

*Kṛśā Gautamī. (S). See KISĀ GOTAMĪ.

Kṛṣṇācārya. [alt. Kṛṣṇā[cārya]-pāda/Kṛṣṇacārin/Kāṇha] (T. Nag po pa/Nag po spyod pa). Sanskrit proper name of one of the eighty-four MAHĀSIDDHAs. A number of tantric works by an author or authors whose name is usually rendered in Tibetan as Nag po pa (the dark-skinned one) are extant in Tibetan translation.

kṛtsna/kṛtsnāyatana. (S). See KASIṆA.

kṛtyānuṣṭhānajñāna. (T. bya ba sgrub pa’i ye shes; C. chengsuozuo zhi; J. jōshosachi; K. sŏngsojak chi 成所作智). In Sanskrit, “the wisdom of having accomplished what was to be done”; one of the four [alt. five] wisdoms of a buddha described in the YOGĀCĀRA school, which is created through the transmutation of the five sensory consciousnesses (VIJÑĀNA). This type of wisdom brings about perfection in all one’s action, which benefits both oneself and others. This particular type of wisdom thus works on behalf of the welfare of all sentient beings and serves as the cause for the various emanations of a buddha.

kṣaṇa. (P. khaṇa; T. skad cig; C. chana; J. setsuna; K. ch’alla 刹那). In Sanskrit, “instant” or “moment”; the shortest possible span of time, variously measured as either the ninth part of a thought moment or the 4,500th part of a minute. The term figures prominently in mainstream Buddhist discussions of impermanence and epistemology (see KṢAṆIKAVĀDA). Physical objects and mental events that persist over time are posited in fact to be merely a collection of these moments. As a result of ignorance, these are falsely perceived as lasting more than one moment. For example, sense experience is composed entirely of the perception of these moments of a given object, but this is not noticed by ordinary sense consciousness, and thought mistakenly projects continuity onto sense experience. The term therefore appears commonly in expositions of impermanence (ANITYA). According to the VAIBHĀṢIKA school of abhidharma, ultimate truths (PARAMĀRTHASATYA) are only these indivisible instants of time and partless particles of matter (PARAMĀṆU); one of the MADHYAMAKA arguments concerning emptiness (ŚŪNYATĀ) is that even the apparently smallest units of time and matter have parts. ¶ As the “right moment,” kṣaṇa also has the denotation of an “opportune birth” (KṢAṆASAṂPAD), referring specifically to birth at a time and place where a buddha or his teachings are present and with the faculties to be able to understand his teachings. This fortunate birth is contrasted with eight kinds of “inopportune births” (AKṢAṆA), where one by contrast will be born in a place or state where one is either incapable of learning anything from a buddha or, even if one could learn, no buddha is present in the world.

kṣaṇasaṃpad. (P. khaṇasampadā; T. dal ’byor; C. chana juzu; J. setsunagusoku; K. ch’alla kujok 刹那具足). In Sanskrit, lit. “fortunate moment,” or an “auspicious moment,” viz., “opportune birth” (see KṢAṆA), referring specifically to rebirth as a human being and under circumstances that permit access to the practice of the dharma. The Tibetan literally means “freedom and endowment” or “leisure and opportunity,” referring to an auspicious human birth. Indian texts enumerate eight conditions of “nonleisure” (such as rebirth as an animal) and ten conditions of opportunity (such as rebirth in a land where the dharma is present). The absence of these eight conditions defines AKṢAṆA, “inopportune birth” (lit. “not a right moment”), referring specifically to a birth in which one will not be able to learn from a buddha. These are, when one is born (1) in one of the hells (NĀRAKA); (2) as an animal, (3) hungry ghost (PRETA), or (4) a long-lived divinity (DEVA); (5) in a border land or barbarian region; (6) with perverted views or heretical disposition; (7) stupid and unable to understand the teachings; or (8) at a time when no buddhas have appeared. An opportune birth (kṣaṇasaṃpad, kṣaṇa), by contrast, means to be born at a time and place where a buddha or his teachings are present and where one has the faculties to understand his teachings.

kṣaṇika. (T. skad cig ma; C. chana qing; J. setsunakei; K. ch’alla kyŏng 刹那頃). In Sanskrit, “momentary”; originally used in the sūtras in its literal sense of a very small fraction of time, the term has also been used synonymously with “impermanence” (ANITYA) to indicate the “momentary” (kṣaṇika) nature of all phenomena. Kṣanika acquired technical significance when the doctrine of impermanence (ANITYA) came to be elaborated and interpreted in the various mainstream Indian schools in their attempt to ground the Buddhist understanding of the processes governing compounded existence on a logically defensible basis. These developments led the SAUTRĀNTIKA school to advocate a “doctrine of momentariness” (KṢAṆIKAVĀDA), viz., that a dharma lasts only a single moment (KṢAṆA), in which is comprised both its genesis and its destruction.

kṣaṇikavāda. (T. skad cig ma smra ba; C. chanalun; J. setsunaron; K. ch’allaron 刹那論). In Sanskrit, “doctrine of momentariness”; a doctrinal position emblematic of the SAUTRĀNTIKA school of the mainstream Buddhist tradition. The doctrine of momentariness derives from attempts to elaborate the foundational Buddhist concept of impermanence (ANITYA): viz., how long exactly do causally created events or objects exist before their destruction? Some of the early mainstream schools of Buddhism, such as the SARVĀSTIVĀDA and STHAVIRANIKĀYA, presume that this process of existence, although extremely brief, could be differentiated into several specific moments. The Sarvāstivāda school, for example, assumed that events persisted through four moments (KṢAṆA), viz., the four marks (CATURLAKṢAṆA) of birth, subsistence, decay, and extinction; the Sarvāstivāda school posited that these marks were forces dissociated from thought (CITTAVIPRAYUKTASAṂSKĀRA), which exerted real power over compounded objects, carrying an object along from one force to another, until the force “extinction” extinguishes it. According to the Sthaviranikāya, all mental events include three moments of origination (uppāda), subsistence (ṭhiti), and dissolution (bhaṅga), which together constitute the present. The SAUTRĀNTIKA, by contrast, believed that the elements of existence (DHARMA) are momentary (KṢAṆIKA) appearances in the phenomenal world, which are disconnected in space and not linked by any pervading substance. They are also disconnected in time or duration, since they last only a single moment (kṣaṇa), a moment that includes both its genesis and its destruction. Unlike the Sarvāstivāda school, then, the Sautrāntikas assert that, because all conditioned dharmas are inherently destined to be extinguished, annihilation occurs spontaneously and simultaneously with origination, without the exertion of a specific “force.”

kṣānti. (P. khanti; T. bzod pa; C. renru; J. ninniku; K. inyok 忍辱). In Sanskrit, “patience,” “steadfastness,” or “endurance”; alt. “forbearance,” “acceptance,” or “receptivity.” Kṣānti is the third of the six (or ten) perfections (PĀRAMITĀ) mastered on the BODHISATTVA path; it also constitutes the third of the “aids to penetration” (NIRVEDHABHĀGĪYA), which are developed during the “path of preparation” (PRAYOGAMĀRGA) and mark the transition from the mundane sphere of cultivation (LAUKIKA-BHĀVANĀMĀRGA) to the supramundane vision (DARŚANA) of the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS (catvāry āryasatyāni). The term has several discrete denotations in Buddhist literature. The term often refers to various aspects of the patience and endurance displayed by the bodhisattva in the course of his career: for example, his ability to bear all manner of abuse from sentient beings; to bear all manner of hardship over the course of the path to buddhahood without ever losing his commitment to liberate all beings from SAṂSĀRA; and not to be overwhelmed by the profound nature of reality but instead to be receptive or acquiescent to it. This last denotation of kṣānti is also found, for example, in the “receptivity to the fact of suffering” (duḥkhe dharmajñānakṣānti; see DHARMAKṢĀNTI), the first of the sixteen moments of realization of the four noble truths, in which the adept realizes the reality of impermanence, suffering, emptiness, and nonself and thus overcomes all doubts about the truth of suffering; this acceptance marks the inception of the DARŚANAMĀRGA and the entrance into sanctity (ĀRYA). Kṣānti as the third of the aids to penetration (nirvedhabhagīya) is distinguished from the fourth, highest worldly dharmas (LAUKIKĀGRADHARMA), only by the degree to which the validity of the four noble truths is understood: this understanding is still somewhat cursory at the stage of kṣānti but is fully formed with laukikāgradharma.

kṣāntipāramitā. (P. khantipāramī; T. bzod pa’i pha rol tu phyin pa; C. renru boluomi; J. ninnikuharamitsu; K. inyok paramil 忍辱波羅蜜). In Sanskrit, “perfection of patience.” See KṢĀNTI.

Kṣāntivādin. (P. Khantivādī; T. Bzod pa smra ba; C. Renru xianren/Chanti xianren; J. Ninniku sennin/Sandai sennin; K. Inyok sŏnin/Sanje sŏnin 忍辱仙人/羼提仙人). Lit. “Teacher of Patience”; one of the more famous previous lives of the Buddha as recounted in the Sanskrit and Pāli JĀTAKA collections. Over the course of millions of lifetimes, the BODHISATTVA is said to accrue vast stores of merit (PUṆYA) through the practice of the six or ten perfections (PĀRAMITĀ). The story of Kṣāntivādin is the most famous story about the bodhisattva’s practice of patience (KṢĀNTI). In the story, the bodhisattva is a brāhmaṇa who renounces the world and lives in a forest near Benaras. One day, the king comes into the forest accompanied by his female attendants, who entertain him. Exhausted by his indulgence in pleasure and drink, the king falls asleep. The women wander off, eventually coming upon Kṣāntivādin seated beneath a tree. They gather around him and he preaches to them. The king awakes to find the women gone and becomes enraged. When he finally locates them, he presumes that Kṣāntivādin has stolen them away. When he asks the ascetic what he teaches, Kṣāntivādin replies “patience.” Seeking to test the ascetic’s ability to remain free from anger when injured and abused, he tortures him, cutting off his limbs, his nose, and his ears in turn, at each point asking the ascetic whether he still teaches patience; the various versions differ as to the order in which the limbs are severed and whether they are severed by the king himself or by his executioner. Leaving the ascetic to die of his wounds, the king walks away, only to be swallowed by the earth and transported to the AVĪCI hell. It is said that the king was DEVADATTA in a former life and that his fate prefigured Devadatta’s own demise.

kṣapita. (P. jhāpita; T. zad byed; C. chapi/tupi; J. dabi; K. tabi/tobi 茶毘/荼毘). In Sanskrit, “destroy” or “burn up”; the Chinese characters are simply a transcription of the Sanskrit. This term refers to the cremation of the corpse and is performed especially as part of the funerary rites for a monk or nun. Elaborate manuals of cremation ceremonies are available in many Buddhist traditions to guide the celebrants in the steps of preparing the pyre and cremating the corpse. Living within the precincts of a cremation site or charnel ground (ŚMAŚĀNA) is also considered to be one of the most powerful ascetic practices (DHUTAṄGA), which helps to vanquish lust and establish the mindfulness of death (see KAMMAṬṬHĀNA).

kṣatriya. (P. khattiya; T. rgyal rigs; C. chali; J. setsuri; K. ch’alli 刹利). In Sanskrit, “warrior” or “royalty”; the second of the four castes of traditional Indian society, along with priests (brāhmaṇa), merchants (vaiśya), and servants (śūdra). As the son of the Śākya king, ŚUDDHODANA, the soon-to-be buddha GAUTAMA belonged to the kṣatriya caste. Many of the leading figures in the ŚRAMAṆA movement, ascetic wanderers who stood in opposition to the brāhmaṇa priests of traditional Vedic religion, derived primarily from people of kṣatriya background. The Buddha’s caste may also account for the frequent disparagement in the sūtras of the sacrificial activities of Vedic priests and the common topos in the sūtras of redefining the meaning of brahman (brāhmaṇa) in terms of meditative achievement and enlightenment (see KASSAPASĪHANĀDASUTTA; TEVIJJASUTTA), although it is also the case that brāhmaṇa priests were a chief rival of the early Buddhist community for patronage. The Buddhist and broader śramaṇa suspicions of the soteriological efficacy of the sacrifices performed by brāhmaṇas also appear in the dismissal of religious rites and rituals (ŚĪLAVRATAPARĀMARŚA) as one of the three coarser fetters (SAṂYOJANA) or wrong views (MITHYĀDṚṢṬI) that must be given up to attain stream-entry (SROTAĀPANNA). It is said that buddhas are only born into two castes, the brāhmaṇa and the kṣatriya, depending upon which is regarded most highly at the time of that buddha’s birth.

kṣayajñāna. (T. zad pa shes pa; C. jinzhi; J. jinchi; K. chinji 盡智). In Sanskrit, “knowledge of cessation”; one of the two types of knowledge that accompanies liberation from rebirth (SAṂSĀRA). Kṣayajñāna is the understanding that one has eradicated the afflictions (KLEŚA), viz., greed, hatred, and delusion. Kṣayajñāna occurs at the point that the adept becomes an AŚAIKṢA (one who has no more need of religious training) and brings an end to the clinging to existence, thus eradicating the desire for continued rebirth. This type of knowledge is typically paired with the “knowledge of nonproduction” (ANUTPĀDAJÑĀNA), the awareness that the kleśas, once eradicated, will never arise again.

Kṣemā. (P. Khemā; T. Dge ma; C. Anwen; J. Annon; K. Anon 安穩). The chief of the Buddha’s nun (BHIKṢUṆĪ) disciples and foremost among them in wisdom (PRAJÑĀ). According to Pāli sources, Khemā was born to the royal family of Sāgala and became the chief queen of King BIMBISĀRA. Known for her exceptional beauty, she was said to have a complexion the color of gold. When Khemā’s husband became a lay disciple of the Buddha, he encouraged her to accompany him to listen to the Buddha’s sermons, but she resisted, lest the great sage disparage her beauty to which she was greatly attached. Coaxed by court poets extolling the charms of the Veḷuvana (S. VEṆUVANA), or Bamboo Grove, where the Buddha was sojourning, Khemā finally agreed to visit him there. At her approach, the Buddha created an apparition of a celestial nymph that far exceeded in feminine beauty any human woman. He then caused the apparition to age and die in decrepitude before Khemā’s eyes, filling the queen with dismay and disgust. With her mind thus prepared, the Buddha preached to her a sermon on the frailty of physical beauty and the vanity of lust; as she listened to his words, she attained arahantship (S. ARHAT). As an arahant, Khemā could no longer live the householder’s life, and with the consent of her husband King Bimbisāra, she took ordination as a nun. During the lifetimes of the previous buddhas Kassapa (S. KĀŚYAPA), Kakusandha, and Konāgamana, she had great monasteries built for them and their disciples, and during the time of Vipassī (S. VIPAŚYIN) Buddha, she became a renowned preacher of dhamma. Once while staying at Toranavatthu, Khemā gave a discourse to King Pasenadi (S. PRASENAJIT) of Kosala (S. KOŚALA) on whether or not the Buddha exists after death, which allayed his doubts.

kṣetraśuddhi. [alt. kṣetraviśuddhi] (T. dag zhing). In Sanskrit, “pure [buddha] field”; a type of buddha-field (BUDDHAKṢETRA) created by a buddha as a result of his practice and which comes into existence at the time of that buddha’s enlightenment. The nature of the purity is variously defined but typically means that in this world the realms of animals, ghosts, and hell beings do not exist; although songbirds may exist, they have been created by the buddha for the delight of the inhabitants of his buddha-field. The pure buddha-field is regarded as the outcome of the training (PRAYOGA) in purifying a buddha-field, one of the final practices of BODHISATTVAS set forth in the fourth chapter of the ABHISAMAYĀLAṂKĀRA’s explanation of the PRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀ SŪTRAs. The purification is brought about by the six perfections (PĀRAMITĀ): for example, perfect giving (DĀNAPĀRAMITĀ) brings about an external pure field (parallel to the BHĀJANALOKA) supplied with all the enjoyments of the deities, and so on. See also JINGTU.

kṣīṇāsrava. (P. khīnāsava; T. zag pa zad pa; C. loujin; J. rojin; K. nujin 漏盡). In Sanskrit, “contaminants destroyed” or “free from impurities”; an epithet of the ARHAT who has destroyed all of the contaminants (ĀSRAVA) and will enter NIRVĀṆA upon death. The term appears commonly in the opening passages of the MAHĀYĀNA SŪTRAS when describing the arhats who have gathered to hear the Buddha’s teaching. In an example of the self-praise of the Mahāyāna sūtras at the expense of the arhat, the ŚŪRAṂGAMASAMĀDHISŪTRA declares that a man who has committed the five deeds of immediate retribution (ĀNANTARYAKARMAN) yet has heard the sūtra is superior to an arhat who has destroyed the contaminants; this is because the former may achieve buddhahood while the arhat is destined only for nirvāṇa. See also ĀSRAVAKṢAYA.

Kṣitigarbha. (T. Sa yi snying po; C. Dizang; J. Jizō; K. Chijang 地藏). In Sanskrit, lit. “Earth Store,” an important BODHISATTVA who has the power to rescue beings who have the misfortune to be reborn in the hells. Although Kṣitigarbha is known in all Mahāyāna countries through his inclusion in the widely known grouping of eight great bodhisattvas (MAHOPAPUTRA; AṢṬAMAHOPAPUTRA), he was apparently not the object of individual cultic worship in India or Tibet. It was in East Asian Buddhism that Kṣitigarbha came into his own and became widely worshipped. In China, the cult of Kṣitigarbha (C. Dizang) gained popularity by at least the fifth century, with the translation of the Dasheng daji Dizang shilun jing (“Mahāyāna Mahāsannipāta Sūtra on Kṣitigarbha and the Ten Wheels”), first in the Northern Liang dynasty and subsequently again by XUANZANG in 651 CE. The eponymous KṢITIGARBHASŪTRA, translated at the end of the seventh century, specifically relates the bodhisattva’s vow to rescue all beings in the six realms of existence before he would attain buddhahood himself and tells the well-known prior-birth story of the bodhisattva as a young woman, whose filial piety after the death of her heretical mother saved her mother from rebirth in the AVĪCI hell. It was his ability to rescue deceased family members from horrific rebirths that became Dizang’s dominant characteristic in China, where he took on the role of the Lord of Hell, opposite the Jade Emperor of native Chinese cosmology. This role may possibly have resulted from Dizang’s portrayal as the Lord of Hell in the apocryphal (see APOCRYPHA) Foshuo Dizang pusa faxin yinlu shiwang jing and reflects Buddhist accommodations to the medieval Chinese interest in the afterlife. This specialization in servicing the denizens of hell seems also to have evolved alongside the emergence of Dizang’s portrayal as a monk, whom the Chinese presume to reside on the Buddhist sacred mountain of JIUHUASHAN in Anhui province. (See also CHIJANG; KIM KYUGAK.) Kṣitigarbha is easily recognizable in Chinese iconography because he is the only bodhisattva who wears the simple raiments of a monk and has a shaved head rather than an ornate headdress. In Japan, where Kṣitigarbha is known as Jizō, the bodhisattva has taken on a different significance. Introduced to Japan during the Heian period, Jizo became immensely popular as a protector of children, patron of travelers, and guardian of community thresholds. Jizō is typically depicted as a monk carrying a staff in his left hand and a chaplet or rosary in his right. The boundaries of a village beyond which children should not wander were often marked by a stone statue of Jizō. Japanese fisherman also looked to Jizō for protection; statues of the bodhisattva erected by early Japanese immigrants to Hawaii are still found today at many popular shoreline fishing and swimming sites in the Hawaiian Islands. In modern Japan, Jizō continues to be regarded as the special protector of children, including the stillborn and aborted. In memory of these children, and as a means of requesting Jizō’s protection of them, statues of Jizō are often dressed in a bib (usually red in color), sometimes wearing a knit cap or bonnet, with toys placed nearby (see MIZUKO KUYŌ). Tibetan iconography typically has Kṣitigarbha seated on a lotus flower, holding a CINTĀMAṆI in his right hand and displaying the VARADAMUDRĀ with his left.

Kṣitigarbhasūtra. (C. Dizang pusa benyuan jing; J. Jizō bosatsu hongangyō; K. Chijang posal ponwŏn kyŏng 地藏菩薩本願經). In Sanskrit, “The Scripture on Kṣitigarbha,” now extant only in a Chinese translation (which may be rendered as “Scripture on the Original Vows of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva”) made by the Khotanese monk ŚIKṢĀNANDA between 695 and 700 CE. The Chinese recension is in a total of thirteen chapters, which are divided into three sections. The sūtra is presented as a dialogue between ŚĀKYAMUNI Buddha and KṢITIGARBHA before a congregation of buddhas, BODHISATTVAs, divinities, and ghosts. The sūtra describes Kṣitigarbha’s vow to save all beings from SAṂSĀRA before becoming a buddha himself and offers various accounts of his prior births, during which he exhibited the uncanny ability to save beings from rebirth in the AVĪCI hell. For example, in one prior-birth story, the bodhisattva is portrayed as a young girl mourning the death of her non-Buddhist mother; through the girl’s filial devotion, her mother was rescued from avīci hell and reborn in one of the heavens. Another chapter outlines the far-reaching effects of Kṣitigarbha’s vows, by demonstrating that even beings suffering in different hells (the attributes of which are described in vivid detail in the sūtra) were rescued by various other transformations of Kṣitigarbha. Some chapters also detail proper religious behavior: for example, in one chapter, Śākyamuni Buddha outlines in detail the ways one should pray to Kṣitigarbha, while in another is delineated the appropriate actions for honoring and benefiting the dead and the dying.

kṣuramārga. (T. spu gri’i lam; C. daoren lu/jianshu diyu; J. tōjinro/kenjujigoku; K. toin no/kŏmsu chiok 刀刃路/劍樹地獄). In Sanskrit, “razor road”; the third of the four “neighboring hells” (PRATYEKANARAKA) located to the four sides of the eight hot hells (see NĀRAKA). This hell is a road made of sword blades, which the hell denizens must traverse before entering a razor forest (ASIPATTRAVANA) where blades fall from the trees and where they are forced to climb trees embedded with iron spikes (AYAḤŚĀLMALĪVANA).

Kubera. (T. Lus ngan po; C. Jufeiluo; J. Kubeira; K. Kup’yera 吠囉). In Sanskrit, the ancient Indian god of wealth and king of the YAKṢAs, related to VAIŚRAVAṆA and JAMBHALA. According to Hindu mythology, Kubera was the son of Viśrāva; hence, Vaiśravaṇa is his patronym. His abode is said to be in Sri Lanka, although prior to becoming the god of wealth he lived at Mount KAILĀSA. Kubera is especially popular in the Himalayan regions, where he is usually depicted as a rich man with a large potbelly and holding a mongoose, which vomits jewels when he squeezes it.

Kubjottarā. (P. Khujjuttarā; T. Rgur ’jog; C. Jiushouduoluo; J. Kujutara; K. Kusudara 久壽多羅). In Sanskrit, “Hunchbacked”; an eminent lay disciple best known from Pāli sources, whom the Buddha declared to be foremost among laywomen of wide learning (P. bahussuta; S. bahuśruta); she was the slave of Sāmāvatī (S. ŚYĀMĀVATĪ), the wife of Udena and queen of Kosambī (S. Kauśambī). Kubjottarā was hunchbacked, which was said to have been retribution for having once, in a previous existence, mocked a solitary buddha (paccekabuddha; S. PRATYEKABUDDHA) for having this same disfigurement. In another lifetime, she had made a nun do chores for her, which led to her rebirth as a slave. As the servant of Sāmāvatī, Kubjottarā was sent to the market every day with eight coins to purchase flowers, where she would spend four coins and pocket the rest. One day, she witnessed the Buddha preach and at once became a stream-enterer (sotāpanna; S. SROTAĀPANNA). Returning to the palace, she confessed her previous wrongdoing to Sāmāvatī, who immediately forgave her; the slave then related the contents of the Buddha’s sermon. Fascinated, Sāmāvatī requested Kubjottarā to listen to the Buddha’s sermons every day and tell her and her harem attendants the Buddha’s message upon returning to the palace. Through Kubjottarā’s instructions, Sāmāvatī and her attendants also became stream-enterers. Kubjottarā suggested that they pierce a hole in the walls of the harem so that they could watch as the Buddha passed in the street below and worship him. After her mistress’s death, Kubjottarā spent her time in religious works, teaching and preaching the DHARMA. She was said to be extremely intelligent and to have memorized the entire canon (tipiṭaka; S. TRIPIṬAKA).

Kubo Kakutarō. (久保角太郎) (1892–1944). Cofounder along with KOTANI KIMI of the REIYŪKAI school of modern Japanese Buddhism, which derives from the teachings of the NICHIRENSHŪ school of Buddhism. Kubo Kakutarō was an orphan who by age thirteen was employed as a carpenter’s apprentice in Tōkyō. He began to work for the Imperial Household Ministry, where he met Count Sengoku, a bureaucrat who sponsored Kubo’s marriage to a woman from the aristocratic Kubo family; he then took the family’s surname. His parents-in-law were followers of Nichiren. After learning of the possibility of self-ordination through the teachings of Toki Jonin, he founded Rei No Tomo Kai with Wakatsuki Chise; this group became known as Reiyūkai in 1924. Kubo also grew increasingly interested in ancestor veneration, a key component in the practice of the Reiyūkai school.

Kucha. (S. *Kucīna; C. Qiuzi; J. Kiji; K. Kuja 龜茲). Indo-European oasis kingdom at the northern edge of the Taklamakhan Desert, which served as a major center of Buddhism in Central Asia and an important conduit for the transmission of Buddhism from India to China; the name probably corresponds to *Kucīna in Sanskrit. Indian Buddhism began to be transmitted into the Kuchean region by the beginning of the Common Era; and starting at least by the fourth century CE, Kucha had emerged as a major Buddhist and trade center along the northern SILK ROAD through Central Asia. Both mainstream and MAHĀYĀNA traditions are said to have coexisted side by side in Kucha, although the Chinese pilgrim XUANZANG, who visited Kucha in 630, says that SARVĀSTIVĀDA scholasticism predominated. Xuanzang also reports that there were over one hundred monasteries in Kucha, with some five thousand monks in residence. The indigenous Kuchean language, which no longer survives, belongs to Tocharian B, one of the two dialects of TOCHARIAN, the easternmost branch of the western Indo-European language family. In the fourth and fifth centuries CE, many Kuchean monks and scholars began to make their way to China to transmit Buddhist texts, including the preeminent translator of Buddhist materials into Chinese, KUMĀRAJĪVA. To the west of Kucha are the KIZIL caves, a complex of some 230 Buddhist caves that represent some of the highest cultural achievements of Central Asian Buddhism. Construction at the site perhaps began as early as the third century CE and lasted for some five hundred years, until Kucha came under Muslim control in the ninth century. Since the mid-eighteenth century, during the Manchu Qing dynasty (1644–1912), Kucha has been under the political control of China, and the present-day city of Kucha is located along the banks of the Muzat River in Baicheng County, in the Uighur Autonomous Region of China’s Xinjiang province. In East Asia, monks from Kucha were given the ethnikon BO, the Chinese transcription of the surname of the reigning family of Kucha. See also KHOTAN.

Kuiji. (J. Kiki; K. Kyugi 窺基) (632–682). Scholar–monk of the Tang dynasty, commonly regarded as the founder of the FAXIANG ZONG of Chinese YOGĀCĀRA Buddhism. Orphaned as a boy, Kuiji was ordained as a teenager and assigned to the imperial translation bureau in the Tang capital; there, he emerged as one of the principal disciples of XUANZANG, under whom he studied Sanskrit and Indian Buddhist ABHIDHARMA and Yogācāra scholasticism. He participated in Xuanzang’s numerous translation projects and is closely associated with the redaction of the CHENG WEISHI LUN, which included extensive selections from ten Indian commentaries. Kuiji played a crucial role in selecting and evaluating the various doctrinal positions that were to be summarized in the text. Kuiji subsequently wrote a series of lengthy commentaries on DHARMAPĀLA’s doctrinally conservative lineage of VIJÑAPTIMĀTRATĀ-Yogācāra philosophy. His elaborate and technical presentation of Yogācāra philosophy, which came to be designated pejoratively as Faxiang (Dharma Characteristics), contrasted markedly with the earlier Chinese Yogācāra school established by PARAMĀRTHA. Because he resided and eventually died at DACI’ENSI, he is often known as Ci’en dashi (J. Jion daishi; K. Chaŭn taesa), the Great Master of Ci’en Monastery. Kuiji commentaries include the Chengweishi lun shuji and the DASHENG FAYUAN YILIN ZHANG. See also WŎNCH’ŬK.

Kūkai. (空海) (774–835). In Japanese, “Sea of Emptiness”; monk who is considered the founder of the tradition, often referred to as the SHINGONSHŪ, Tōmitsu, or simply MIKKYŌ. He is often known by his posthumous title KŌBŌ DAISHI, or “Great Master Who Spread the Dharma,” which was granted to him by Emperor Daigo in 921. A native of Sanuki province on the island of Shikoku, Kūkai came from a prominent local family. At the age of fifteen, he was sent to Nara, where he studied the Chinese classics and was preparing to become a government official. However, he seems to have grown disillusioned with this life. At the age of twenty, Kūkai was ordained, perhaps by the priest Gonsō, and the following year he took the full precepts at TŌDAIJI. He is claimed to have experienced an awakening while performing the Kokūzō gumonjihō, a ritual dedicated to the mantra of the BODHISATTVA ĀKĀŚAGARBHA. While studying Buddhist texts on his own, Kūkai is said to have encountered the MAHĀVAIROCANĀBHISAṂBODHISŪTRA and, unable to find a master who could teach him to read its MANTRAs, decided to travel to China to learn from masters there. In 804, he was selected as a member of a delegation to China that set sail in four ships; SAICHŌ was aboard another of the ships. Kukai eventually traveled to the Tang capital of Chang’an, where he studied tantric MIJIAO Buddhist rituals and theory under HUIGUO and Sanskrit under the Indian monk PRAJÑA. Under the direction of his Chinese master, Kūkai was initiated into the two realm (ryōbu) MAṆḌALA lineages of YIXING, ŚUBHAKARASIṂHA, VAJRABODHI, and AMOGHAVAJRA. In 806, Kūkai returned to Japan; records of the texts and implements he brought with him are preserved in the Shōrai mokuroku. Little is known about his activities until 809, when he moved to Mt. Takao by imperial request. Kūkai described his new teachings as mikkyō, or “secret teachings,” VAJRAYĀNA (J. kongōjō), and MANTRAYĀNA (J. shingonjō). At the core of Kūkai’s doctrinal and ritual program was the belief that all acts of body, speech, and mind are rooted in, and expressions of, the cosmic buddha MAHĀVAIROCANA (see VAIROCANA), as the DHARMAKĀYA. Kūkai argued that the dharmakāya itself teaches through the artistic and ritual forms that he brought to Japan. Once his teachings gained some renown, Kūkai conducted several ABHIṢEKA ceremonies, including one for the TENDAI patriarch SAICHŌ and his disciples. However, Kūkai and Saichō’s relationship soured when Kūkai refused to transmit the highest level of initiation to Saichō. In 816, Emperor Saga granted Kūkai rights to KŌYASAN, to serve as a training center for his Shingon mikkyō tradition. In early 823, Kūkai was granted the temple of TŌJI in Kyōto, which became a second center for the Shingon tradition. In the summer of 825, Kūkai built a lecture hall at Tōji, and in 827 he was promoted to senior assistant high priest in the Bureau of Clergy. In 829, he built an abhiṣeka platform at Tōdaiji. In early 834, he received permission to establish a Shingon chapel within the imperial palace, where he constructed a maṇḍala altar. Kūkai passed into eternal SAMĀDHI (J. nyūjō) in 835 on Mt. Kōya, and it is said that he remains in his mausoleum in meditation waiting for the BODHISATTVA MAITREYA to appear. Kūkai authored a number of important texts, including the BENKENMITSU NIKYŌRON, a treatise outlining the inherent differences of kengyō (revealed) and mikkyō (inner) teachings; Sokushin jōbutsugi, a treatise on the doctrine of attainment of buddhahood in “this very body” (J. SOKUSHIN JŌBUTSU); Unjigi, a text describing the contemplation of Sanskrit syllables (S. BĪJA, J. shuji); Shōjijissōgi, a text outlining Kūkai’s theory of language in which all sounds and letters are themselves full embodiments of the dharmakāya’s teachings; and his magnum opus, the HIMITSU MANDARA JŪJŪSHINRON, in which Kūkai makes his case for recognizing Shingon mikkyō as the pinnacle of Buddhist wisdom. Kūkai was an accomplished calligrapher, poet, engineer, and sculptor and is also said to have invented kana, the Japanese syllabary.

Kukkuṭapāda, Mount. (T. Ri bo bya rkang; C. Jizushan; J. Keisokusen; K. Kyejoksan 鶏足山). In Sanskrit, “Cock’s Foot”; a mountain located in the ancient Indian state of MAGADHA; also known as Gurupādaka (Honored Foot); the present Kurkihar, sixteen miles northeast of BODHGAYĀ. The mountain is renowned as the site where the Buddha’s senior disciple, MAHĀKĀŚYAPA, is said to be waiting in trance for the advent of the future buddha MAITREYA. Once Maiteya appears, Mahākāśyapa will hand over to him the robe (CĪVARA) of ŚĀKYAMUNI, symbolizing that Maitreya is his legitimate successor in the lineage of the buddhas. The Chinese monk–pilgrim FAXIAN visited the mountain on his sojourn in India in the fifth century CE, describing the mountain as home to many dangerous predators, including tigers and wolves.

Kukkuṭārāma. (T. Bya gag kun ra; C. Jiyuansi; J. Keionji; K. Kyewŏnsa 鶏園寺). Major Indian Buddhist monastery, located to the southeast of the Mauryan capital of PĀṬALIPUTRA (P. Pāṭaliputta, present-day Patna); founded by King AŚOKA in the third century BCE, with YAŚAS serving as abbot. The Chinese pilgrim XUANZANG visited the site of the monastery in the seventh century, but only the foundations remained. Aśoka is said to have often visited the monastery to make offerings, but Puṣyamitra, who founded the Śuṅga dynasty in 183 BCE, destroyed the monastery when he invaded Pāṭaliputra and murdered many of its monks. Next to the monastery was a large reliquary named the Āmalaka STŪPA, which is said to have been named after half an āmalaka fruit that Aśoka gave as his final offering to the SAṂGHA before his death; thanks, however, to the merit that accrued from the profound sincerity with which the king made even such a meager offering, Aśoka recovered from his illness, and the seeds of the fruit were preserved in this stūpa in commemoration of the miracle. The KAUKKUṬIKA school, one of the three main subgroups of the MAHĀSĀṂGHIKA branch of the mainstream Buddhist tradition, is said to have derived its name from this monastery.

kukūla. (T. me ma mur; C. tangwei zeng; J. tōezō; K. tangoejŭng 煨增). In Sanskrit, “heated by burning chaff”; the first of the four “neighboring hells” (PRATYEKANARAKA) located to the four sides of the eight hot hells (see NĀRAKA). This hell is a pit of hot ashes where the hell denizens are burned.

kula. (T. rigs; C. jiazu; J. kazoku; K. kajok 家族). In Sanskrit, lit. “family”; used metaphorically to refer to a community of practice. The term is particularly associated with tantric Buddhism and is used to categorize the various buddhas, BODHISATTVAS, other deities, and initiates into spiritual families, or groups. Early tantric texts utilize a threefold system of three buddha families, comprising the tathāgata family (TATHĀGATAKULA) associated with ŚĀKYAMUNI or VAIROCANA, the vajra family (VAJRAKULA) associated with VAJRAPĀṆI or AKṢOBHYA, and the lotus family (PADMAKULA) associated with AVALOKITEŚVARA or AMITĀBHA. Later tantric traditions employ a fivefold system, wherein initiates are divided into five buddha families based on their predominant affliction and the ability of a particular buddha to lead them to enlightenment. The five buddha families (PAÑCATATHĀGATA) are correlated with the five wisdoms (PAÑCAJÑĀNA) or aspects of enlightenment (BODHI) and are composed of the tathāgata family (Vairocana), the vajra family (Akṣobhya), the ratna family (RATNASAṂMBHAVA), the lotus family (Amitābha), and the action family (AMOGHASIDDHI).

kuladuhitṛ. (P. kuladhītā; T. rigs kyi bu mo; C. shannüren; J. zennyonin; K. sŏnyŏin 善女人). In Sanskrit, “daughter of good family,” or “respectable family”; an Indian term of address used by teacher toward a female student; hence, in the sūtras, the Buddha typically addresses his “pupils” as kuladuhitṛ and “sons of good family” (KULAPUTRA). In the Mahāyāna sūtras, the term is often interpreted to mean a woman who belongs to the BODHISATTVA lineage.

kuladūṣaka. (P. kuladūsaka; T. khyim sun ’byin pa; C. wujia; J. wake; K. oga 汚家). In Sanskrit, “corruptor of good families.” “Corrupting” refers to a monk (or nun) imposing on the services of a lay family with acts that, it was feared, might destroy the laity’s religious faith in and respect for the institution of the SAṂGHA. Such acts include giving flowers, garlands, fruits, powder, toiletries, etc., as gifts to the laity—presumably for the purpose of courting favor—or acting as a physician, messenger, or marriage go-between. A monk or nun who does any of these things is guilty of a suspension offense (S. SAṂGHĀVAŚEṢA; P. saṅghādisesa).

kulaṃkula. (T. rigs nas rigs su skye ba; C. jiajia; J. keke; K. kaga 家家). In Sanskrit, “one who goes from family to family”; a specific type of stream-enterer (SROTAĀPANNA); one of the twenty members of the ĀRYASAṂGHA (see VIṂŚATIPRABHEDASAṂGHA). According to the ABHIDHARMAKOŚABHĀṢYA, the kulaṃakula has eliminated one or two of the nine sets of afflictions (KLEŚA) that cause rebirth in the sensuous realm (KĀMADHĀTU); these are the impediments to the first DHYĀNA that the mundane (LAUKIKA) path of cultivation (BHĀVANĀMĀRGA) removes prior to reaching the path of vision (DARŚANAMĀRGA). They will take two or even three rebirths among the humans or divinities of the sensuous realm before they reach the goal of ARHAT. They are called “family to family” because the two rebirths are of a similar class, for example, in the sensuous realm.

kulaputra. (P. kulaputta; T. rigs kyi bu; C. shannanzi; J. zennanshi; K. sŏnnamja 善男子). In Sanskrit, “son of good family,” or “son of respectable family”; an Indian term of address used by a teacher toward a male student; hence in the sūtras, the Buddha typically addresses his “pupils” as kulaputra and “daughters of good family” (KULADUHITṚ). In the MAHĀYĀNA sūtras, the term was often interpreted to mean a man who belongs to the BODHISATTVA lineage.

Kulatā. (S). One of the twenty-four sacred sites associated with the CAKRASAṂVARATANTRA. See PĪṬHA.

Kumano. (熊野). In Japanese, lit. “Ursine Wilderness”; a mountainous region in Wakayama prefecture on the Kii Peninsula; Kumano is an important site in the history and development of SHUGENDŌ, a syncretistic tradition of mountain asceticism in Japan. Artifacts from the seventh century provide the earliest traces of Kumano’s sacred roots, although worship there likely predated this time. Throughout the medieval period, the area developed ties with the powerful institutions of Japanese Tendai (TIANTAI), SHINGON, the Hossō monastery KŌFUKUJI, and the imperial family, with additional influences from PURE LAND Buddhism. By the eleventh century, its three major religious sites, collectively known as Kumano Sanzan (the three mountains of Kumano), were well established as centers of practice: the Hongū Shrine, home to Amida (AMITĀBHA); the Shingū Shrine, home to Yakushi (BHAIṢAJYAGURU); and Nachi Falls and its shrine, the residence of the thousand-armed BODHISATTVA Kannon (AVALOKITEŚVARA; see SĀHASRABHUJASĀHASRANETRĀVALOKITEŚVARA). Following the principle of HONJI SUIJAKU (buddhas or bodhisattvas appearing in the world as spirits), Buddhist deities were readily adopted into the local community of gods (KAMI). Hence, Amida took the form of the god Ketsumiko no kami, Yakushi manifested as Hayatama no kami, and Kannon appeared as Fusubi no kami. Kumano developed close ties with the aristocratic elite in Kyōto from the tenth through the twelfth centuries. After the ex-Emperor Uda’s pilgrimage to Kumano in 907, a long line of monarchs, often retired, made one or multiple journeys to the sacred destination. In the early twelfth century, ex-Emperor Shirakawa granted Shōgoin—a Japanese Tendai (TIANTAI) monastery in Kyōto—to the monk Zōyō, whose appointment included responsibility for overseeing Kumano. Later in the Tokugawa Period (1600–1868), it was Shōgoin that regulated Tendai-affiliated Shugen centers around the country, consequently making a large impact on their doctrine and practice. The nearby Yoshino mountains of Kinbu and Ōmine, where Shugendō’s semilegendary founder EN NO OZUNU regularly practiced, share much history with Kumano. A text known as the Shozan Engi (1180?) describes Kumano as the garbhadhātu (J. TAIZŌKAI, or “womb realm”) MAṆḌALA and the northern Yoshino mountains as the vajradhātu (J. KONGŌKAI, or “diamond realm”) maṇḍala. These two geographic maṇḍalas, now superimposed over the physical landscape, became the basis of the well-known Yoshino–Kumano pilgrimage route, which is still followed today. As the prestige and patronage of the court began to wane in the late twelfth century, revenue from visitors to the area became an important source of income for the local economy. In the following centuries, increasing numbers of pilgrims, including aristocrats, warriors, and ordinary people, undertook the journey, accompanying Kumano Shugen guides (sendatsu).

kumārabhūta. (T. gzhon nur gyur pa; C. tongzhen; J. dōshin; K. tongjin 童眞). In Sanskrit, lit. “youthful,” and “in the form of a prince”; a name commonly used in Sanskrit sources as an epithet of the BODHISATTVA MAÑJUŚRĪ, who is considered to remain perennially youthful in appearance. The term may also be used to refer to either a novice monk (ŚRĀMAṆERA), in particular one between the ages of four or eight and twenty; an unmarried man over the age of eight; or BODHISATTVAs in general. ¶ In Korea, Tongjin is identified with either BRAHMĀ, the king of the BRAHMALOKA, the first DHYĀNA heaven in the realm of subtle materiality (RŪPADHĀTU), or Skandha (K. Wit’a; C. Weituo), the guardian deity who is one of the eight generals subordinate to VIRŪḌHAKA, one of the four heavenly kings (caturmahārāja; see LOKAPĀLA), who is the king of the southern quarter of the world. In both cases, Tongjin is described as a dharma protector (DHARMAPĀLA). His name is interpreted to mean a “youth” (tong), whose character is “authentic” (–jin). Hanging paintings (T’AENGHWA) of Tongjin and the SINJUNG (“host of spirits”; lokapāla) are often displayed on the right wall of the main shrine halls (TAEUNG CHŎN) in Korean monasteries. In these paintings, Tongjin is typically portrayed wearing a grand, feathered headdress accompanied by over a dozen associates, who aid him in protecting the religion. Tongjin’s image also sometimes appears on the first and last pages of a Buddhist scripture, thus protecting its content.

Kumārajīva. (C. Jiumoluoshi; J. Kumarajū; K. Kumarajip 鳩摩羅什) (344–409/413). The most influential translator of Buddhist texts into Chinese. He is regarded by tradition as the founder of the Chinese SAN LUN ZONG or “Three Treatises” branch of the MADHYAMAKA school of MAHĀYĀNA philosophy. According to his hagiography, Kumārajīva was born in the Central Asian petty kingdom of KUCHA, where he was related to the royal family on his mother’s side. In his youth, he studied SARVĀSTIVĀDA doctrine in Kashmir but was later converted to MAHĀYĀNA at the Central Asian oasis town of Kashgar by the monk BUDDHAYAŚAS. When the Chinese general Lü Guang conquered Kucha in 383, he took Kumārajīva back with him to Liangzong near the Chinese outpost of DUNHUANG as a prize, only to lose the eminent scholar–monk to Yaoxing (r. 394–416) when the Latter Qin ruler reconquered the region in 401. During his eighteen years as a hostage, Kumārajīva apparently learned to speak and read Chinese and seems to have been one of the first foreign monks able to use the language fluently. A year later in 402, Yaoxing invited Kumārajīva to the capital of Chang’an, where he established a translation bureau under Kumārajīva’s direction that produced some of the most enduring translations of Buddhist texts made in Chinese. The sheer number and variety of the translations made by Kumārajīva and his team were virtually unmatched until XUANZANG (600/602–664 CE). Translations of some seventy-four texts, in 384 rolls, are typically attributed to Kumārajīva, including various sūtras, such as the PAÑCAVIṂŚATISĀHASRIKĀPRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀSŪTRA, AṢṬASĀHASRIKĀPRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀ, SADDHARMAPUṆḌARĪKASŪTRA, VIMALAKĪRTINIRDEŚA, SUKHĀVATĪVYŪHASŪTRA, and VAJRACCHEDIKĀPRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀSŪTRA, and important śāstras such as the MŪLAMADHYAMAKAKĀRIKĀ, ŚATAŚĀSTRA, Dvādaśamukhaśāstra, and the DAZHIDU LUN. Because Kumārajīva was one of the first foreign monks to have learned Chinese well, he produced translations that were readily comprehensible as Chinese, and his translations remain the most widely read in East Asia of any translator’s; indeed, where there are multiple translations of a scripture, it is almost inevitably Kumārajīva’s that remains part of the living tradition. The accuracy of his translations is said to be attested by the fact that his tongue remained unburned during his cremation. Along with his correspondences with the monk LUSHAN HUIYUAN found in the DASHENG DAYI ZHANG, these translations laid the foundation for Mahāyāna thought, and especially Madhyamaka philosophy, in China. His many famous disciples include DAOSHENG, SENGZHAO, Daorong, and Sengrui, who are known collectively as the “four sages.”

Kumāra-Kāśyapa. (P. Kumāra-Kassapa; T. ’Od srung gzhon nu; C. Jiumoluo Jiashe; J. Kumara Kashō; K. Kumara Kasŏp 鳩摩羅迦葉). An ARHAT declared by the Buddha as foremost among his monk disciples in eloquence (PRATIBHĀNA) or versatile discourse (P. chittakathika). According to Pāli sources, his mother was a banker’s daughter who had married after her father refused to give his consent for her to join the Buddhist order. But her new husband was sympathetic to her religious quest and granted her permission. Unbeknown to her, however, she was already pregnant when she was ordained and ended up giving birth to her son in the monastery. When her condition became known, Devadatta rebuked her as a PĀRĀJIKA, but the Buddha handed the case to UPĀLI for adjudication, who declared that there was no transgression. (In such cases, the VINAYA authorizes the nuns to care for the child until he is weaned, after which he should be given to a BHIKṢU and ordained as a novice, or ŚRĀMAṆERA, or else handed over to relatives to be raised. According to the MŪLASARVĀSTIVĀDA VINAYA, however, his parents Udāyin and Guptā were an ordained monk and nun, who conceived him—supposedly not through sexual intercourse but through the nun impregnating herself with the monk’s semen—and then raised him in the monastery.) After his birth, the boy was raised by the king of ŚRĀVASTĪ and was ordained as a novice when he reached the minimum age of seven. He received the epithet kumāra (youth) because of his youth when he was ordained and his royal upbringing and because he was a favorite of the Buddha, who used to give him sweets. Kumāra-Kāśyapa attained arhatship by pondering fifteen questions put to him by a BRAHMĀ god, who was himself a nonreturner (ANĀGĀMIN) and had been the boy’s companion in a previous life. Kumāra-Kāśyapa, in turn, assisted his mother in attaining insight. His mother was very attached to him and had wept for twelve years because she never saw him. When one day she happened upon him, she was so overwhelmed with emotion that she stumbled and milk flowed from her breasts. Realizing that her love for him was an impediment to her liberation, he harshly rebuked her to lessen her affections; that evening, she attained arhatship. Kumāra-Kāśyapa received higher ordination (UPASAṂPADĀ) as a monk prior to reaching the minimum age of twenty, as the VINAYA normally stipulates, when Buddha ruled that the ten months spent in the mother’s womb could be included in determining the ordinand’s age. During the time of a previous buddha, Kumāra-Kāśyapa was a brāhmaṇa who overheard a disciple of the Buddha being praised for his eloquence; it was then that he vowed to attain the same distinction under a future buddha.

kumbhāṇḍa. [alt. kumbhaṇḍa] (P. kumbhaṇḍa; T. grul bum; C. jiupantu; J. kuhanda; K. kubando 鳩槃荼). In Sanskrit, a type of evil spirit, and typically listed along with especially RĀKṢASA, but also PIŚĀCA, YAKṢA, and BHŪTA spirits. VIRŪḌHAKA (P. Virūḷhaka), one of the four world-guardians (LOKAPĀLA), who protects the southern cardinal direction, is usually said to be their overlord, although some texts give Rudra this role instead. The kumbhāṇḍa are also sometimes listed among the minions of MĀRA, evil personified.

Kŭmgang sammaegyŏng non. (C. Jingang sanmei jing lun; J. Kongō sanmaikyōron 金剛三昧經論). In Korean, “Exposition of the KŬMGANG SAMMAE KYŎNG” (*Vajrasamādhisūtra); composed by the Korean monk WŎNHYO (617–686). The circumstances of the commentary’s composition are provided in Wŏnhyo’s biography in ZANNING’s SONG GAOSENG ZHUAN. According to that account, an unidentified Silla king sent an envoy on a voyage to China in search of medicine that would cure his queen. On his way to China, however, the envoy was waylaid and taken to the dragon king’s palace in the sea, where he was told that the queen’s illness was merely a pretext in order to reintroduce the Vajrasamādhi into the world. The dragon king informed the envoy that the scripture was to be collated by an otherwise unknown monk named Taean (d.u.) and interpreted by Wŏnhyo, the most eminent contemporary scholar of the Korean Buddhist tradition. The commentary that Wŏnhyo wrote later made its way into China, where it was elevated to the status of a ŚĀSTRA (lun; K. non), hence the title Kŭmgang sammaegyŏng non. Wŏnhyo’s commentary is largely concerned with the issue of how to cultivate “original enlightenment” (BENJUE), that is, how it is that the original enlightenment motivates ordinary sentient beings to aspire to become enlightened buddhas. Wŏnhyo discerns in the Kŭmgang sammae kyŏng a map of six sequential types of meditative practice, which culminate in the “contemplation practice that has but a single taste” (ilmi kwanhaeng). In Wŏnhyo’s account of this process, the ordinary sensory consciousnesses are transformed into an “immaculate consciousness” (AMALAVIJÑĀNA), wherein both enlightenment and delusion are rendered ineluctable and all phenomena are perceived to have but the “single taste” of liberation. In Wŏnhyo’s treatment, original enlightenment is thus transformed from an abstract soteriological concept into a practical tool of meditative training.

Kŭmgang sammae kyŏng. (S. *Vajrasamādhisūtra; C. Jingang sanmei jing; J. Kongō sanmaikyō 金剛三昧經). In Korean, “Adamantine Absorption Scripture,” usually known in English by its reconstructed Sanskrit title *Vajrasamādhisūtra. East Asian Buddhists presumed that the scripture was an anonymous Chinese translation of an Indian sūtra, but the text is now known to be an apocryphal scripture (see APOCRYPHA), which was composed in Korea c. 685 CE, perhaps by an early adept of the nascent SŎN (C. CHAN) school, which would make it the second oldest text associated with the emerging Chan movement. The sūtra purports to offer a grand synthesis of the entirety of MAHĀYĀNA doctrine and VINAYA, as the foundation for a comprehensive system of meditative practice. One of the main goals of the scripture seems to have been to reconcile the newly imported Chan teachings with the predominantly Hwaŏm (HUAYAN) orientation of Korean Buddhist doctrine (see KYO). The text also includes quotations from BODHIDHARMA’s ERRU SIXING LUN and teachings associated with the East Mountain Teachings (DONGSHAN FAMEN) of the Chan monks DAOXIN and HONGREN, arranged in such a way as to suggest that the author was trying to bring together these two distinct lineages of the early Chan tradition. Unaware of the text’s provenance and dating, WŎNHYO (617–686), in the first commentary written on the sūtra, the KŬMGANG SAMMAEGYŎNG NON, presumed that the sūtra was the scriptural source of the emblematic teaching of a treatise, the DASHENG QIXIN LUN (“Awakening of Faith According to the Mahāyāna”), that was written over a century earlier, viz., the one mind and its two aspects, true-thusness (ZHENRU; viz., S. TATHATĀ) and production-and-cessation (shengmie), which correspond respectively to ultimate truth (PARAMĀRTHASATYA) and conventional truth (SAṂVṚTISATYA), or the unconditioned (ASAṂSKṚTA) and conditioned (SAṂSKṚTA) realms. (For the traditional account of the putative “rediscovery” of the sūtra and the writing of its commentary, see KŬMGANG SAMMAEGYŎNG NON s.v.).

Kŭmgangsan. (C. Jingangshan; J. Kongōsan; 金剛山). In Korean, “Diamond (S. VAJRA) Mountains,” Buddhist sacred mountains and important Korean pilgrimage site. The mountains are located in Kangwŏn Province, North Korea, on the east coast of the Korean peninsula in the middle of the Paektu Taegan, the mountain range that is regarded geographically and spiritually as the geomantic “spine” of the Korean peninsula. The mountains are known for their spectacular natural beauty, and its hundreds of individual peaks have been frequent subjects of both literati and folk painting. During the Silla dynasty, Kŭmgangsan began to be conceived as a Buddhist sacred site. “Diamond Mountains,” also known by its indigenous name Hyŏllye, is listed in the Samguk sagi (“History of the Three Kingdoms”) and SAMGUK YUSA (“Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms”) as one of the three mountains (samsan) and five peaks (o’ak) that were the objects of cultic worship during the Silla period; scholars, however, generally agree that this refers to another mountain closer to the Silla capital of KYŎNGJU rather than what are now known as the Diamond Mountains. The current Diamond Mountains have had several names over the course of history, including Pongnae, P’ungak, Kaegol, Yŏlban, Kidal, Chunghyangsŏng, and Sangak, with “Kŭmgang” (S. VAJRA) becoming its accepted name around the fourteenth century. The name “Diamond Mountains” appears in the AVATAṂSAKASŪTRA as the place in the middle of the sea where the BODHISATTVA DHARMODGATA (K. Pŏpki posal) resides, preaching the dharma to his congregation of bodhisattvas. The Huayan exegete CHENGGUAN (738–839), in his massive HUAYAN JING SHU, explicitly connects the Avataṃsakasūtra’s mention of the Diamond Mountains to Korea (which he calls Haedong, using its traditional name). The AṢṬASĀHASRIKĀPRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀ also says that the Dharmodgata (K. Tammugal; J. Donmuketsu; C. Tanwujian) preaches the PRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀ at GANDHAVATĪ (K. Chunghyangsŏng; C. Zhongxiangcheng; J. Shukōjō, “City of Multitudinous Fragrances”), one of the alternate names of the Diamond Mountains and now the name of one of its individual peaks. According to the Koryŏ-period Kŭmgang Yujŏmsa sajŏk ki by Minji (1248–1326), on a visit to the Diamond Mountains made by ŬISANG (625–702), the vaunt-courier of the Hwaŏm (C. Huayan) school in Korea, Dharmodgata appeared to him and told him that Kŭmgangsan was the place in Korea where even people who do not practice could become liberated, whereas only religious virtuosi would be able to get enlightened on the Korean Odaesan (cf. C. WUTAISHAN). For all these reasons, Pŏpki Posal is considered to be the patron bodhisattva of Kŭmgangsan. Starting in the late-Koryŏ dynasty, the Diamond Mountains became a popular pilgrimage site for Korean Buddhists. Before the devastation of the Korean War (1950–1953), it is said that there were some 108 monasteries located on Kŭmgangsan, including four primary ones: P’YOHUNSA, CHANGANSA, SIN’GYESA, and Mahayŏnsa. Mahayŏnsa, “Great Vehicle Monastery,” was built by Ŭisang in 676 beneath Dharmodgata Peak (Pŏpkibong) and was considered one of the ten great Hwaŏm monasteries (Hwaŏm siptae sach’al) of the Silla dynasty. Currently, the only active monasteries are P’yohunsa and its affiliated branch monasteries, a few remaining buildings of Mahayŏnsa, and Sin’gyesa, which was rebuilt starting in 2004 as a joint venture of the South Korean CHOGYE CHONG and the North Korean Buddhist Federation. In the late twentieth century, the Diamond Mountains were developed into a major tourist site, with funding provided by South Korean corporate investors, although access has been held hostage to the volatile politics of the Korean peninsula. ¶ In Japan, Diamond Mountains (KONGŌSAN) is an alternate name for KATSURAGISAN in Nara, the principal residence of EN NO OZUNU (b. 634), the putative founder of the SHUGENDŌ school of Japanese esoterism, because he was considered to be a manifestation of the bodhisattva Dharmodgata.

Kŭmsansa. (金山寺). In Korean, “Gold Mountain Monastery,” the seventeenth district monastery (PONSA) of the contemporary CHOGYE order of Korean Buddhism; located on Moak Mountain near Kimje in North Chŏlla province. The monastery was founded in 600 CE and grew quickly. The Silla monk CHINP’YO (fl. c. 800), one of the early figures associated with the transmission of the monastic regulations (VINAYA) to Korea, was responsible for a major expansion of the monastery that took place between 762 and 766. Chinp’yo dedicated the monastery to the BODHISATTVA MAITREYA and built a three-story main shrine hall, or TAEUNG CHŎN, which is dominated by the golden 39-ft. high statue of Maitreya, standing in the gesture of fearlessness (ABHAYAMUDRĀ) between two attendants who are both 29-ft. high. The south wall of the hall is decorated with a T’AENGHWA painting of Maitreya conferring the monastic rules (vinaya) on Chinp’yo. The monastery was expanded again in 1079 by the Koryŏ YOGĀCĀRA monk Hyedŏk Sohyŏn (1038–1096), who added several additional hermitages and sanctuaries; a STŪPA reputed to enshrine his ŚARĪRA is located on the monastery grounds. In 1596, the Japanese burned the monastery, whose monks had organized a 1,500-man force to resist the Hideyoshi invasion force. The oldest buildings currently on the site date to 1635, when the monastery was reconstructed under the leadership of the monk Sumun (d.u.). The scriptural repository (Taejang chŏn) at Kŭmsansa was built in 1652 but moved to its current site in 1922; inside can be found images of ŚĀKYAMUNI and the two ARHATs MAHĀKĀŚYAPA and ĀNANDA. The wooden building is quite ornate and is one of the best-preserved examples of its type from the Chosŏn period. There are various other items of note on the monastery campus, including a hexagonal stone pagoda made from slate capped by granite, another five-story pagoda, and a stone bell resembling those at T’ONGDOSA and Silluksa. Carvings on the bell date it to the Koryŏ dynasty and depict buddhas, dharma protectors (DHARMAPĀLA), and lotus flowers (PADMA).

kuṇapa. (T. ro myags ’dam; C. shifenzeng; J. shifunzō; K. sibunjŭng 屍糞增). In Sanksrit, “mud of corpses”; the second of the four “neighboring hells” (PRATYEKANARAKA) located to the four sides of the eight hot hells (see NĀRAKA). This hell is a swamp of rotting corpses.

Kun byed rgyal po. (Kun che gyalpo). In Tibetan, the “All-Creating King,” an important tantra for the RNYING MA sect of Tibetan Buddhism, known for its exposition of RDZOGS CHEN. Within the tripartite division of ATIYOGA, it is placed in the SEMS SDE class. Although presented as an Indian text (in which case, its Sanskrit title would be Kulayarāja), the work is likely of Tibetan origin, dating from the late tenth century. A work in eighty-four chapters, it takes the form of a dialogue between the All-Creating King and Sattvavajra. Among its famous teachings are the “ten absences” (med pa bcu) that point to the special nature of primordial awareness, called BODHICITTA as well as the “all-creating king” in the text. The ten are as follows: no philosophical view on which to meditate, no vows to maintain, no method to seek, no MAṆḌALA to create, no transmission to receive, no path to traverse, no BHŪMI to achieve, no conduct to abandon or adopt, an absence of obstacles in the primordial wisdom, and spontaneous perfection beyond all hope and fear.

Kun bzang bla ma’i zhal lung. (Kunzang Lame Shelung). In Tibetan, “Words of My Perfect Teacher,” a popular Buddhist text, written by the celebrated nineteenth-century Tibetan luminary DPAL SPRUL RIN PO CHE during a period of prolonged retreat at his cave hermitage above RDZOGS CHEN monastery in eastern Tibet. It explains the preliminary practices (SNGON ’GRO) for the KLONG CHEN SNYING THIG (“Heart Essence of the Great Expanse”), a system of RNYING MA doctrine and meditation instruction stemming from the eighteenth-century treasure revealer (GTER STON) ’JIGS MED GLING PA. The work is much loved for its direct, nontechnical approach and for its heartfelt practical advice. Dpal sprul Rin po che’s language ranges from lyrical poetry to the vernacular, illustrating points of doctrine with numerous scriptural quotations, accounts from the lives of past Tibetan saints, and examples from everyday life—many of which refer to cultural practices specific to the author’s native land. While often considered a Rnying ma text, the Kun bzang bla ma’i zhal lung is read widely throughout the sects of Tibetan Buddhism, a readership presaged by the author’s participation in the RIS MED or so-called nonsectarian movement of eastern Tibet during the nineteenth century.

Kuṇḍadhāna. (C. Juntubohan; J. Kuntohakan; K. Kundobarhan 君屠鉢漢). In Sanskrit and Pāli, name of an ARHAT who is listed as one of the four great ŚRĀVAKAs (C. sida shengwen). According to Pāli sources, the Buddha declared him to be foremost among monks in receiving food-tickets (salākā; S. śalākā), small slips of wood used to determine which monks would receive meals from the laity, a distinction he was given because he was always the first of the Buddha’s disciples to receive food-tickets when he accompanied the Buddha on invitations. Kuṇḍadhāna was a learned brāhmaṇa from Sāvatthi (S. ŚRĀVASTĪ) who knew the Vedas by heart. When he was already an old man, he heard the Buddha preach and decided to renounce the world and join the Buddhist order. However, beginning on the day of his ordination, an apparition of a young woman would follow him wherever he went, although he himself could not see her. This caused great amusement among the public, and he became a frequent butt of jokes that he could not comprehend. On alms rounds (PIṆḌAPĀTA), women would place two helpings of food in his bowl, remarking that the first was for him and the second for his lady friend. In the monastery, his fellow monks and even novices were relentless in their teasing, until one day he lost his temper and abused his tormentors. This outburst was duly reported to the Buddha, who admonished the old monk to be patient, as he was only suffering retribution from some past misdeed. King Pasenadi (PRASENAJIT) of Kosala (S. KOŚALA) heard of Kuṇḍadhāna’s strange case and, after an inquiry that proved his innocence, supplied him with requisites so that he need no longer go into the city for alms. Free from the taunting, Kuṇḍadhāna was able to concentrate his mind and in due course became an arahant (S. ARHAT), whereupon the apparition disappeared. Kuṇḍadhāna’s wrongdoing had occurred during the time of Kassapa (S. KĀŚYAPA) Buddha, when, as a sprite, he played a trick on two monks to test their friendship. Assuming the form of a maiden rearranging her clothes after a tryst, he caused one monk to accuse his companion of a violation. Because his mischief forever ended the friendship of the two monks, the sprite was reborn in hell for an eon and, in his last life, as the monk Kuṇḍadhāna, he was compelled to be followed around by this apparition of a maiden. He is also sometimes listed as one of the four great śrāvakas (C. sida shengwen); the lists vary widely but typically include either MAHĀKĀŚYAPA, PIṆḌOLA-BHĀRADVĀJA, and RĀHULA; or MAHĀMAUDGALYĀYANA, Mahākāśyapa, and ANIRUDDHA; or ŚĀRIPUTRA, Mahāmaudgalyāyana, Mahākāśyapa, and SUBHŪTI, etc.

Kun dga’ bzang po. (Kunga Sangpo) (1382–1456). A Tibetan Buddhist master, better known as Ngor chen, “the great man of Ngor”; renowned as the founder of the Ngor subsect of the SA SKYA sect after the seat he founded at NGOR E WAM CHOS LDAN monastery in 1429 (alt. 1434) near Shigatse (Gzhis ka rtse) in Gtsang (Tsang). His collected works in four volumes include works on the LAM ’BRAS (path and result), and rituals and guidance texts for a wide range of tantric practices including HEVAJRA, GUHYASAMĀJA, VAJRABHAIRAVA, and CAKRASAṂVARA. Among his students are SHĀKYA MCHOG LDAN and GO BO RAB ’BYAMS PA BSOD NAMS SENG GE.

Kun dga’ dpal ’byor. (Kunga Paljor) (1426/8–1476). The second “throne holder” (’Brug chen) of the ’BRUG PA BKA’ BRGYUD sect of Tibetan Buddhism, after GTSANG PA RGYA RAS YE SHES RDO RJE, the founder of the ’Brug pa bka’ brgyud. Prior to Kun dga’ dpal ’byor (called Chos rje “dharma lord”), the line of ’BRUG CHEN INCARNATIONS passed down for twelve generations through Gtsang pa rgya ras’s family; the line of incarnations is counted from Chos rje Kun dga’ dpal ’byor, a great teacher and author. His collected works in two volumes include explanations of MAHĀMUDRĀ, tantric songs (mgur), and special instructions.

kuṇḍikā. (T. ril ba spyi blugs/ril tshags; C. jingping/junchi; J. jōbyō/gunji; K. chŏngbyŏng/kunji 淨甁/軍持). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “water pot” or “water sprinkler”; also seen spelled as kuṇḍika or kuṇḍaka (there are similarly many variations in the Chinese transcriptions and translations); the vessel originally used by monks and nuns for carrying water, which later became a common ritual implement used in a wide variety of Buddhist ceremonies for sprinkling water for purification. The kuṇḍikā was one of the eighteen requisites (PARIṢKĀRA, NIŚRAYA) that monks and nuns were allowed to keep and could be used either as a canteen for drinking water or as a pot for carrying water to use at the latrine. The kuṇḍikā has a distinctive shape: the oval main vessel, which can typically hold over three liters of water has a separate short spout, which was used to fill the pot with water, and its long neck is topped with a long slender tube through which water was poured (although these functions were sometimes interchanged). The two spouts were capped with metal, bamboo, or even fabric so that insects and dirt would not foul the water. The vessels were commonly made from earthenware, porcelain, or bronze. Scores of metal kuṇḍikā that were used in rituals are found in East Asia from the seventh and eighth centuries. During the Koryŏ dynasty in Korea, such kuṇḍikā were widely used by nobility and commoners, monks, and laypersons for storing water. A particularly exquisite twelfth-century bronze kuṇḍikā, inlaid with silver willows and aquatic birds, is a Korean national treasure. The BODHISATTVA AVALOKITEŚVARA, especially his moon in the water form (SHUIYUE GUANYIN), is often depicted holding a kuṇḍikā capped by a willow twig and filled with the nectar of immortality (AMṚTA), which he used to alleviate the suffering of sentient beings.

Kŭngsŏn. (K) (亘璇). See PAEKP’A KŬNGSŎN.

Kuo’an Shiyuan. (J. Kakuan Shion; K. Kwagam Sawŏn 廓庵師遠). (d.u.). Chinese CHAN monk best known as author of one of the two classic depictions of the ten oxherding pictures (C. Shiniu tu) that eventually became normative within the Chan tradition. Shiyuan was a disciple of Dasui Yuanjing (d. 1135) in the YANGQI PAI of the LINJI ZONG but little else is known about his life or career. His set of ten oxherding pictures traces the development of the Chan student (the “herdsman”) who seeks to tame the “ox” of his unchecked thoughts, so that he may put his enlightened mind to use in the service of all sentient beings. His images of each stage, accompanied with his own explanatory verses, spread widely across East Asia and became a staple of Chan pedagogy. See OXHERDING PICTURES, TEN.

Kurukullā. (T. Dbang gi lha mo). Sanskrit proper name of a form of TĀRĀ; Kurukullā appears in both peaceful and wrathful manner, generally red in color. Wrathful, she stands in ARDHAPARYAṄKA ĀSANA, one face with three eyes, wearing a crown of skulls and holding in her four hands a bow and arrow and snare (pāśa) and displaying the ABHAYAMUDRĀ. When peaceful, she is portrayed in seated posture and has eight arms. Kurukullā is propitiated in a rite of VAŚĪKARAṆA, by which men are bewitched. She is therefore considered the Tārā of love, propitiated by women seeking success in romance. Her mantra is oṃ kurukulle hrī svāhā.

kuśala. (P. kusala; T. dge ba; C. shan; J. zen; K. sŏn 善). In Sanskrit, “wholesome,” “virtuous,” “salutary,” or “meritorious.” Kuśala is the primary term used to identify salutary deeds of body, speech, and mind (often enumerated as ten) that result in favorable rebirths. A “wholesome” action generally refers to any volition (CETANĀ) or volitional action, along with the consciousness (VIJÑĀNA) and mental constructions (SAṂSKĀRA) associated with it, that is not motivated by the afflictions (KLEŚA) of greed (LOBHA), hatred (DVEṢA; P. dosa), or delusion (MOHA). Such volitional actions produce fortunate results for the actor and ultimately are the cause of the favorable rebirths in the destinies (GATI) of humans and divinities (DEVA). A list of ten wholesome courses of actions (kuśalakarmapatha; see KARMAPATHA), which are the opposite of the unwholesome (AKUŚALA) courses of action is typically given. These include, under the category of body, the avoidance of killing and instead sustaining life, the avoidance of stealing and instead giving, and the avoidance of sexual misconduct and instead maintaining sexual morality; under the category of speech, the avoidance of lying and instead speaking truthfully, the avoidance of slander and instead speaking harmoniously, the avoidance of offensive speech and instead speaking kindly, and the avoidance of prattle and instead speaking sensibly; under the category of mind, unselfishness, good will, and right views (SAMYAGDṚṢṬI).

kuśalakarmapatha. In Sanskrit, the ten “wholesome courses of action.” See KARMAPATHA.

kuśalamahābhūmika. (T. dge ba’i sa mang; C. da shandi fa; J. daizenjihō; K. tae sŏnji pŏp 大善地法). In Sanskrit, “wholesome factors of wide extent”; the principal factors (DHARMA) that ground all wholesome activities. In the SARVĀSTIVĀDA ABHIDHARMA system, ten specific forces associated with mentality (CITTASAṂPRAYUKTASAṂSKĀRA) are identified as accompanying all wholesome activities and therefore are described as “wholesome factors of wide extent.” These ten dharma are (1) “confidence” or “faith” (ŚRADDHĀ), (2) “heedfulness” or “vigilance” (APRAMĀDA), (3) “tranquillity” or “pliancy” (PRAŚRABDHI), (4) “equanimity” (UPEKṢĀ), (5) “sense of shame” (HRĪ), (6) “fear of blame” (APATRĀPYA), (7) “absence of craving” (ALOBHA), (8) “absence of ill will” (ADVEṢA), (9) “absence of harmful intentions” (AHIṂSĀ), (10) and “vigor” or “effort” (VĪRYA).

kuśalamūla. (P. kusalamūla; T. dge ba’i rtsa ba; C. shangen; J. zengon; K. sŏn’gŭn 善根). In Sanskrit, the term “wholesome faculties,” or “roots of virtue,” refers to the cumulative meritorious deeds performed by an individual throughout his or her past lives. Different schools offer various lists of these wholesome faculties. The most common list is threefold: nongreed (ALOBHA), nonhatred (ADVEṢA), and nondelusion (AMOHA)—all factors that encourage such wholesome actions (KARMAN) as giving (DĀNA), keeping precepts, and learning the dharma. These three factors thus will fructify as happiness in the future and will provide the foundation for liberation (VIMUKTI). These three wholesome roots are the converse of the three unwholesome faculties, or “roots of nonvirtue” (AKUŚALAMŪLA), viz., greed (LOBHA), hatred (DVEṢA), and delusion (MOHA), which lead instead to unhappiness or even perdition. In place of this simple threefold list, the VAIBHĀṢIKA school of ABHIDHARMA offers three separate typologies of kuśalamūlas. The first class is the “wholesome roots associated with merit” (puṇyabhāgīya-kuśalamūla), which lead to rebirth in the salutary realms of humans or heavenly divinities (DEVA). These include such qualities as faith, energy, and decency and modesty, the foundations of moral progress. Second are the “wholesome roots associated with liberation” (MOKṢABHĀGĪYA-KUŚALAMŪLA), which eventually lead to PARINIRVĀṆA. These are factors associated with the truth of the path (MĀRGASATYA) or various factors conducive to liberation. Third are the “wholesome roots associated with spiritual penetration” (NIRVEDHABHĀGĪYA-kuśalamūla), which are the four aspects of the direct path of preparation (PRAYOGAMĀRGA): heat (ŪṢMAN), summit (MŪRDHAN), receptivity (KṢĀNTI), and highest worldly dharmas (LAUKIKĀGRADHARMA). These nirvedhabhāgīyas open access to the path of vision (DARŚANAMĀRGA), where the first stage of sanctity, stream-entry (SROTAĀPANNA), is won. The nirvedhabhāgīya differ so markedly from the two previous categories of wholesome roots that they are often listed independently as the four wholesome faculties (catvāri kuśalamūlāni). The wholesome roots may be dedicated toward a specific aim, such as rebirth in a heavenly realm; toward the benefit of a specific person, such as a parent or relative; or toward the achievement of buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings.

Kuṣāṇa. (S). See KUSHANA.

Kusan Sŏnmun. (九山禪門). In Korean, “Nine Mountains School of Sŏn,” the major strands of the Korean SŎN (C. CHAN) school during the Unified Silla and early Koryŏ dynasties. Due to severe opposition from the exegetical traditions supported by the court, especially Hwaŏm (C. HUAYAN), Korean adepts who returned from China with the new teachings of Chan (pronounced Sŏn in Korean) established monasteries far away from the Silla capital of KYŎNGJU to propagate the new practice. At least nine such mountain monasteries appeared during the latter Unified Silla and early Koryŏ dynasty, which soon developed into independent lines of Sŏn. Each line was named after the mountain (san) on which the monastery of its founder was built. Toŭi is regarded as the founder of the Kajisan line of Sŏn, Hongch’ŏk of Silsangsan, Hyech’ŏl of Tongnisan, Muyŏm of Sŏngjusan, Pŏmil of Sagulsan, Toyun of Sajasan, Hyŏnuk of Pongnimsan, Iŏm of Sumisan, and Tohŏn of Hŭiyangsan. With the exception of Iŏm’s Sumisan line of Sŏn, all these traditions traced themselves back to the HONGZHOU lineage of MAZU DAOYI. The earliest biographies of many of these founders of the Kusan Sŏnmun are found in the CHODANG CHIP (“Hall of the Patriarchs Record”), a tenth-century genealogical anthology and one of the earlier “lamplight histories” (denglu). Along with the other Buddhist traditions in Korea, the Nine Mountains Sŏn traditions were largely united and reorganized under the rubric of Sŏn (Meditation) and Kyo (Doctrine) by King Sejong (r. 1419–1450) in 1424.

Kusan Sŏnp’a. (九山禪派). In Korean, “Nine Mountains Lineage of Sŏn.” See KUSAN SŎNMUN.

Kushana. (S. Kuṣāṇa). A northwest Indian kingdom (late first to third centuries CE) located adjacent to the GANDHĀRA region of the Indian subcontinent. The story of the Kushan king KANIṢKA’s conversion to Buddhism is widely found in the literature, but it seems to belong to the realm of legend, not history. Thanks to Kaniṣka’s putative support, the Kushan kingdom has traditionally been assumed to have been an important conduit for the introduction of Buddhist materials into China via the Silk Roads of Central Asia. Recent evidence of the decline in west Central Asian trade during the Kushan period, however, may suggest instead that the Kushans were more of an obstacle than a help. Hence, it may not have been the Kushans who facilitated the transmission of Buddhism but their Indo-Scythian predecessors in the region, the Saka (S. Śaka) tribe. The Chinese tradition identifies several important early translators of Buddhist materials as hailing from the Kushan kingdom, including *LOKAKṢEMA, who was active in the last quarter of the second century. Monks who hailed from this region were given the ethnikon ZHI by the Chinese.

Kuśinagarī. [alt. Kuśinagara] (P. Kusinārā; T. Rtswa mchog grong; C. Jushinajieluo; J. Kushinagara; K. Kusinagera 拘尸那羅). The town in Uttar Pradesh where the Buddha entered into PARINIRVĀṆA among a grove of ŚĀLA trees. While he was sojourning in VAIŚĀLĪ, the Buddha had repeatedly hinted to his disciple ĀNANDA that it would be possible for him to live out the KALPA, if only Ānanda would make such a request. (See CĀPĀLACAITYA.) However, Ānanda did not understand what the Buddha was insinuating and neglected to make the request, so the Buddha renounced his will to live, saying that he would pass away three months hence. (Ānanda is said to have had to confess this mistake when the first Buddhist council was convened; see COUNCIL, FIRST.) After they had traveled to Kuśinagarī for the parinirvāṇa, Ānanda had asked the Buddha not to attain parinirvāṇa in such a “little mud-walled town, a back-woods town, a branch township,” but the Buddha disabused him of this notion, telling him that Kuśinagarī had previously been the magnificent capital of an earlier CAKRAVARTIN king named Sudarśana (P. Sudassana). The Buddha passed away on a couch arranged between twin śāla trees. Following the Buddha’s cremation, the brāhmaṇa DROṆA was called upon to decide the proper procedure for apportioning the Buddha’s relics (ŚARĪRA). Droṇa divided the relics into eight parts that the disputing kings could carry back to their home kingdoms for veneration and built a reliquary STŪPA in Kuśinagarī to house the vessel that had temporarily held the relics. As the site of the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa, Kuśinagarī became one of the four major Indian pilgrimage sites (MAHĀSTHĀNA) and is often depicted in Buddhist art.

Kūṭadantasutta. (C. Jiuluotantou jing; J. Kuradantōkyō; K. Kuradandu kyŏng 究羅檀頭經). In Pāli, “Discourse to Kūṭadanta”; the fifth scripture in the Pāli DĪGHANIKĀYA (a separate DHARMAGUPTAKA recension appears as the twenty-third SŪTRA in the Chinese translation of the DĪRGHĀGAMA). According to the Pāli recension of the scripture, the Buddha engages in a discourse with an accomplished brāhmaṇa teacher and debater named Kūṭadanta, who was living in the prosperous brāhmaṇa village of Khānumata in the country of MAGADHA. While Kūṭadanta was preparing to make a grand sacrifice of thousands of cattle, he consulted the Buddha on how properly to conduct the rite. The Buddha tells him a story of an earlier king, who conducted an exemplary sacrifice under the guidance of his wise court chaplain, in which all four castes took part. The king and his chaplain both were endowed with eight virtues suitable to their royal and priestly functions. Their sacrifice entailed the killing of no living creatures, and the labor for the sacrifice was not conscripted but offered voluntarily. The sacrifice was offered for the benefit of all and not just the king, and no regrets were felt during any stage of the rite. The Buddha then proceeds to describe even better kinds of sacrifice in increasing order of benefit, beginning with the serving and feeding of recluses; the building of monasteries (VIHĀRA) for the Buddhist order (SAṂGHA); taking refuge in the three jewels (RATNATRAYA) of the Buddha, the dharma, and the saṃgha; observing the precepts; renouncing the world to become a Buddhist monk; controlling the senses with mindfulness (sati; S. SMṚTI); cultivating the four meditative absorptions (JHĀNA; S. DHYĀNA); and developing the six higher knowledges or supernormal powers (abhiññā; S. ABHIJÑĀ), which culminate in enlightenment and liberation from the cycle of rebirth. Upon hearing the discourse, Kūṭadanda becomes a stream-enterer (sotāpanna; S. SROTAĀPANNA) and declares himself a disciple of the Buddha. Through this parable, the Buddha expresses his disapproval of blood rituals, highlighting the unnecessary cruelty and waste involved in such sacrifices. Through this lengthy discourse, he persuades Kūṭadanta of the correctness of these principles and converts him to Buddhism. The conversion of this respected brāhmaṇa is regarded as one of the great spiritual victories of the Buddha.

kuti. In Thai, “monk’s residence,” a small, simple, hut-like building, made of wood and/or bamboo, used as living quarters for a monk or at some monasteries for lay meditators in Thailand. A kuti is usually built on stilts in the traditional Southeast Asian style. The word can also be used to refer to a monk’s room in a larger building.

Kūya. (空也) (903–972). Japanese monk and itinerant holy man (HIJIRI) renowned for his efforts to spread the practice of nenbutsu (C. NIANFO) or invocation of the name of the buddha AMITĀBHA among the common people. Little is known of his early life, but legends of his building bridges and roads and producing images of buddhas and BODHISATTVAs abound. He is also famous for preaching at the marketplace, for which he came to be known as the “holy man (hijiri) of the marketplace.” Kūya is said to have received full ordination from the TENDAISHŪ monk Enshō (880–964) on HIEIZAN in 948. A famous statue of Kūya practicing nenbutsu is now housed at his temple Rokuharamitsuji. It shows the syllables of the nenbutsu emerging from this mouth in the form of buddhas.

kwaebul. (掛佛). In Korean, lit. “hanging buddha [image].” See T’AENGHWA.

Kwallŭk. (J. Kanroku 觀勒) (d.u.). Early seventh-century Korean monk from the kingdom of Paekche, who arrived in Japan in 602 CE and was instrumental in transmitting Buddhism and Sinitic civilization to the Japanese isles. According to the account in the Nihon shoki, Kwallŭk was a specialist in the MADHYAMAKA school of MAHĀYĀNA philosophy, who arrived in Japan also bringing documents on calendrics, astronomy, geometry, divination, and numerology to the Japanese court, which placed many students under his tutelage. Kwallŭk’s interests were so diverse, in fact, that he was later chastised by the Japanese ruler for paying too much attention to astronomy and geography and confusing them with the “true vehicle” of Buddhism. Kwallŭk became arguably the most influential monk of his time and was eventually appointed in 624 by Queen Suiko (r. 593–628) to the new position of SŌJŌ (saṃgha primate), one of the earliest ecclesiastical positions created within the Japanese Buddhist church. His appointment to this position also indicates the prestige that monks from the Paekche kingdom enjoyed at the incipiency of Buddhism in Japan.

Kwangmyŏngsa. (廣明寺). In Korean, “Vast Radiance Monastery,” a major SŎN (CHAN) monastery during the Koryŏ dynasty; located on Songak Mountain in the Koryŏ capital of Kaesŏng. The monastery was established in 922, when the founder of the Koryŏ dynasty, Wang Kŏn (T’aejo, 877–943/r. 918–943), donated his residence to the Buddhist order. With King Kwangjong’s (r. 925–975) launching of an ecclesiastical examination system (SŬNGKWA), Kwangmyŏngsa was designated as the site for the selection examination for monks in the Sŏn (Meditation) school, with WANGNYUNSA (Royal Wheel Monastery) chosen to administer the Doctrinal (KYO) school examinations. During the military rule of the Ch’oe family during the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the monastery was also one of the major sites in the capital for the discussing Sŏn dharma assembly (tamsŏn pŏphoe), along with Pojesa (Universal Salvation Monastery) and Sŏpot’ongsa (Western Universal Penetration Monastery). A well located to the northeast of the monastery was associated with the legend of Chakchegŏn, the ancestor of the Koryŏ ruling family, who is said to have visited the Dragon King’s palace. The monastery was the site of many Buddhist court ceremonies during the Koryŏ dynasty. King Ch’ungnyŏl (r. 1236–1308) visited the monastery in 1282 with his queen to meet the monk IRYŎN (1206–1289), writer of the SAMGUK YUSA, and a ceremony to speed the king’s recovery from illness was held there in the following year. King Ch’ungnyŏl later held an *ULLAMBANA (K. Uranbunje) rite (1296) and a yonghwahoe (dragon flower assembly; 1301, 1302) at the monastery. In 1371, King Kongmin (1330–1374/r. 1351–1374) commanded NAONG HYEGŬN (1320–1376) to administer there the monastic training examination (kongbusŏn, see sŭngkwa), an advanced test taken by the monks from the two meditative and five doctrinal schools. Kwangmyŏngsa’s close relationship with the royal family continued into the early Chosŏn dynasty, when, for example, King T’aejong (1367–1422/r. 1400–1418), granted grain and slaves to the monastery in 1405. The monastery was reassigned to the Kyo (Doctrinal) school after 1424 and subsequently drops from Korean Buddhist sources.

Kwanŭmsa. (觀音寺). In Korean, “AVALOKITEŚVARA monastery,” the twenty-third parish monastery (PONSA) of the contemporary CHOGYE ORDER of Korean Buddhism, located on Halla Mountain on Cheju Island. Its foundation date is uncertain. The monastery was destroyed during the eighteenth century and rebuilt in 1912 by the laywoman Pong Yŏgwan (fl. c. 1907), who named it Pŏpchŏngam (Dharma Well Hermitage). While Pong was on a sea journey to Piyang Island in 1901, she felt she would have been lost at sea were it not for the saving grace of Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. Pong subsequently was ordained as a nun (BHIKṢUṆĪ) in 1907 and returned to Cheju island to rebuild the monastery. As the monastery’s following increased, it became known as Kwanŭmsa. The monastery’s main buddha image and its hanging picture (T’AENGHWA) of the Buddha were brought from Kwangsansa and Yonghwasa. Kwanŭmsa currently manages approximately thirty branch temples (MALSA).

kwāpā dya. A Newari term for the image of the central, nontantric, deity located on the ground floor shrine in a Newar monastery (BĀHĀ), most often located directly across from the main entryway. The term is likely derived from the Sanskrit koṣṭhapāla, “guard,” “watchman,” and carries the meaning of “guardian of the SAṂGHA,” although the image does not generally function as a “guardian or protector deity.” The shrine of the kwāpā dya is generally open to the public, and, although visitors are not normally permitted inside, they may view the image from the gate and make offerings through the shrine’s attendant.

kyaung. (Burmese). See VIHĀRA.

Kyeyul chong. (戒律宗). In Korean, “VINAYA school.” See KYO.

Kyo. (C. jiao; J. kyō 敎). In Korean, “doctrine” or “teaching,” generally referring to doctrinally oriented Buddhist schools and their tenets, as distinguished from meditation-oriented Buddhist schools and practices (SŎN; C. CHAN). While the Chinese and Japanese Buddhist traditions appear to have used the term doctrine only to describe one of two generic approaches to Buddhism, in Korea Buddhist schools have often been categorized as belonging to either the Doctrine (Kyo) or the Meditation (Sŏn) schools; indeed, during the period of Buddhist suppression under the Chosŏn dynasty, Kyo and Sŏn became the specific designations for the two officially sanctioned schools of the tradition. During the stable political environment of the Unified Silla period (668–935), five major Kyo schools are traditionally presumed to have developed in Korean Buddhism: NIRVĀṆA (Yŏlban chong), VINAYA (Kyeyul chong), Dharma-nature (PŎPSŎNG CHONG), Hwaŏm [alt. Wŏnyung chong], and YOGĀCĀRA (Pŏpsang chong). Toward the end of the Unified Silla period, however, the newly imported Sŏn (C. Chan, Meditation) lineages, which were associated with local gentry on the frontier of the kingdom, began to criticize the main doctrinal school, Hwaŏm, that was supported by the old Silla aristocracy in the capital of KYŎNGJU; these schools came to be called the “Nine Mountains School of Sŏn” (KUSAN SŎNMUN). These various doctrine and meditation schools were collectively referred to as the “Five Doctrinal [Schools] and Nine Mountains [Schools of Sŏn]” (OGYO KUSAN). The Ogyo Kusan designation continued to be used into the succeeding Koryŏ dynasty (937–1392), which saw the first attempts to bring together these two distinct strands of the Korean Buddhist tradition. Attempts to find common ground between the Kyo and Sŏn schools are seen, for example, in ŬICH’ŎN’s “cultivation together of scriptural study and contemplation” (kyogwan kyŏmsu) and POJO CHINUL’s “cultivation in tandem of concentration [viz., Sŏn] and wisdom [viz., scripture]” (chŏnghye ssangsu). The Ch’ŏnt’ae (C. TIANTAI) and CHOGYE schools that are associated respectively with these two monks were both classified as Sŏn schools during the mid- to late-Koryŏ dynasty; together with the five previous Kyo schools, these schools were collectively called the “Five Kyo and Two [Sŏn] Traditions” (OGYO YANGJONG). This designation continued to be used into the early Chosŏn dynasty (1392–1910). The Confucian orientation of the new Chosŏn dynasty led to an increasing suppression of these Buddhist traditions. In 1407, King T’aejong (r. 1400–1418) restructured the various schools then current in Korean Buddhism into three schools of Sŏn and four of Kyo; subsequently, in 1424, King Sejong (r. 1418–1450) reduced all these remaining schools down to, simply, the “Two Traditions, Sŏn and Kyo” (SŎN KYO YANGJONG), a designation that continued to be used through the remainder of the dynasty. The modern Chogye order of Korean Buddhism claims to be a synthetic tradition that combines both strands of Sŏn meditation practice and Kyo doctrinal study into a single denomination.

Kyōgyō shinshō. (教行信証). In Japanese, “Teaching, Practice, Faith, and Realization,” composed by the Japanese JŌDO SHINSHŪ teacher SHINRAN (1173–1263), also known as the Ken jōdo shinjitsu kyōgyōshō monrui. The Kyōgyō shinshō is considered one of the most important texts of the Jōdo Shinshū tradition. The exact dates of its compilation are unknown, but it seems to have gradually developed into its current shape over the first half of the thirteenth century. Several other similar works were also composed during this period by disciples of HŌNEN, largely in response to the monk MYŌE KŌBEN’s criticism of exclusive nenbutsu (C. NIANFO), the hallmark of the Jōdo traditions. The Kyōgyō shinshō largely consists of citations of scriptural passages on the practice of nenbutsu or invocation of the name of the buddha AMITĀBHA. Perhaps the most important section of the Kyōgyō shinshō is that on faith (shinjin; C. XINXIN), where Shinran attempted to demonstrate that faith is based on the practice of nenbutsu and comes not from the effort made by the practitioner but from Amitābha himself (see TARIKI). Citing the SUKHĀVATĪVYŪHASŪTRA’s teachings on the original vows (hongan) of the BODHISATTVA DHARMĀKARA (the future Amitābha), Shinran also emphasized the importance of the “single nenbutsu” (ĪCHINENGI) in attaining rebirth in the PURE LAND. He also sought to legitimize the practice of nenbutsu through recourse to the notion of the “final age of the DHARMA” (J. mappō, C. MOFA) when other types of Buddhist practice were ineffective.

Kyojong sŏn. (敎宗選). In Korean, the “Doctrinal (KYO) School examination.” See SŬNGKWA.

Kyŏnghan. (K) (景閑). See PAEGUN KYŎNGHAN.

Kyŏnghŏ Sŏngu. (鏡虚惺牛) (1849–1912). The preeminent Korean SŎN master of his generation, renowned for his efforts to revitalize Korean Buddhism at the end of the Chosŏn dynasty. Kyŏnghŏ lost his father at an early age, and his mother entrusted him to the monastery of Ch’ŏnggyesa in Kwangju, where he became a monk. He was tonsured by the monk Kyehŏ (d.u.) in 1857, but when Kyehŏ later renounced his vows, Kyŏnghŏ left for Tonghaksa, where he continued his studies under the monk Manhwa Kwanjun (1850–1919). Later, Kyŏnghŏ went to the hermitage Ch’ŏnjangam in Hongju and became the disciple of the monk Yongam (d.u.). For the next twenty years, Kyŏnghŏ taught at various places including Ch’ŏnjangam, Kaesimsa, and PUSŎKSA. In 1899, he settled down at the major monastery of HAEINSA, where he presided over the publication of Buddhist scriptures and the reopening of POJO CHINUL’s SUSŎNSA. Kyŏnghŏ is presumed to be the author of the SŎNMUN CH’WARYO (“Selected Essentials from the Gate of Sŏn”), an anthology of the essential canon of the Korean Sŏn school. Kyŏnghŏ subsequently led the life of an itinerant monk until his death in 1912. Kyŏnghŏ was a strong advocate for the revitalization of GONG’AN meditation practice (kanhwa Sŏn; see KANHUA CHAN) and did much to reestablish what was then a moribund meditation tradition in Korean Buddhism. Among his disciples, MAN’GONG WŎLMYŎN (1871–1946) and HANAM CHUNGWŎN (1876–1951) are most famous. Largely through the influence of his disciples, many modern and contemporary Korean Sŏn monks came to trace their lineages back to Kyŏnghŏ.

Kyŏngju. (慶州). Ancient capital of the Korean Silla dynasty and location of hundreds of important Buddhist archeological sites—for example, South Mountain (NAMSAN) in central modern Kyŏngju. Among the many monasteries in Kyŏngju, HWANGNYONGSA (Yellow Dragon monastery) was one of the most renowned. It was built during the reign of King Chinhung (r. 540–576), and its campus had seven rectangular courtyards, each with three buildings and one pagoda, covering an area of around eighteen acres; in 645, a 262 ft. high nine-story pagoda was added. Hwangnyongsa was destroyed during the Mongol invasion in 1238 and was never rebuilt. PULGUKSA (Buddha Land monastery) was built in 535 during the reign of the Silla King Pŏphŭng (r. 514–540). The main courtyard is dedicated to the buddha ŚĀKYAMUNI and includes on either end the highly decorative Pagoda of Many Treasures (Tabot’ap), resembling the form of a reliquary (ŚARĪRA) shrine and symbolizing the buddha PRABHŪTARATNA, and the Pagoda of Śākyamuni (Sŏkkat’ap). During a 1966 renovation of the Sŏkka t’ap, the world’s oldest printed document was discovered sealed inside the stūpa: the MUGUJŎNGGWANG TAEDARANI KYŎNG (S. Raśmivimalaviśuddhaprabhādhāraṇī; “Great DHĀRAṆĪ Scripture of Immaculate Radiance”). The terminus ad quem for the printing of the Dhāraṇī is 751 CE, when the text was sealed inside the Sŏkkat’ap, but it may have been printed even earlier. Four kilometers up T’oham Mountain to the east of Pulguksa is its affiliated SŎKKURAM grotto temple, which was built in the late eighth century. In contrast to the cave temples of ancient India and China, the rotunda of Sŏkkuram was assembled with granite. The central image is a stone buddha (probably of Śākyamuni) seated cross-legged on a lotus throne, surrounded by BODHISATTVAs, ARHATs, and Indian divinities carved in relief on the surrounding circular wall. A miniature marble pagoda, which is believed to have stood in front of the eleven-faced Avalokiteśvara, disappeared in the early years of the Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula in the early twentieth century.

Kyōō gokokuji. (J) (教王護国寺). See TŌJI.

kyōsaku. (C. jingce; K. kyŏngch’aek 警策). In Japanese, “admonition,” also pronounced keisaku by the RINZAI ZEN tradition. The term kyōsaku came to refer to the long wooden stick used by the SŌTŌ Zen tradition for waking, alerting, and instructing monks during meditation sessions.

Kyoto school. An influential school of modern and contemporary Japanese philosophy that is closely associated with philosophers from Kyōto University; it combines East Asian and especially MAHĀYĀNA Buddhist thought, such as ZEN and JŌDO SHINSHŪ, with modern Western and especially German philosophy and Christian thought. NISHIDA KITARŌ (1870–1945), Tanabe Hajime (1885–1962), and NISHITANI KEIJI (1900–1991) are usually considered to be the school’s three leading figures. The name “Kyoto school” was coined in 1932 by Tosaka Jun (1900–1945), a student of Nishida and Tanabe, who used it pejoratively to denounce Nishida and Tanabe’s “Japanese bourgeois philosophy.” Starting in the late 1970s, Western scholars began to research the philosophical insights of the Kyoto school, and especially the cross-cultural influences with Western philosophy. During the 1990s, the political dimensions of the school have also begun to receive scholarly attention. ¶ Although the school’s philosophical perspectives have developed through mutual criticism between its leading figures, the foundational philosophical stance of the Kyoto school is considered to be based on a shared notion of “absolute nothingness.” “Absolute nothingness” was coined by Nishida Kitarō and derives from a putatively Zen and PURE LAND emphasis on the doctrine of emptiness (ŚŪNYATĀ), which Kyoto school philosophers advocated was indicative of a distinctive Eastern approach to philosophical inquiry. This Eastern emphasis on nothingness stood in contrast to the fundamental focus in Western philosophy on the ontological notion of “being.” Nishida Kitarō posits absolute nothingness topologically as the “site” or “locale” (basho) of nonduality, which overcomes the polarities of subject and object, or noetic and noematic. Another major concept in Nishida’s philosophy is “self-awareness” (jikaku), a state of mind that transcends the subject–object bifurcation, which was initially adopted from William James’ (1842–1910) notion of “pure experience” (J. junsui keiken); this intuition reveals a limitless, absolute reality that has been described in the West as God or in the East as emptiness. Tanabe Hajime subsequently criticized Nishida’s “site of absolute nothingness” for two reasons: first, it was a suprarational religious intuition that transgresses against philosophical reasoning; and second, despite its claims to the contrary, it ultimately fell into a metaphysics of being. Despite his criticism of what he considered to be Nishida’s pseudoreligious speculations, however, Tanabe’s Shin Buddhist inclinations later led him to focus not on Nishida’s Zen Buddhist-oriented “intuition,” but instead on the religious aspect of “faith” as the operative force behind other-power (TARIKI). Inspired by both Nishida and such Western thinkers as Meister Eckhart (c. 1260–1327), Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), and Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) (with whom he studied), Nishitani Keiji developed the existential and phenomenological aspects of Nishida’s philosophy of absolute nothingness. Concerned with how to reach the place of absolute nothingness, given the dilemma of, on the one hand, the incessant reification and objectification by a subjective ego and, on the other hand, the nullification of reality, he argued for the necessity of overcoming “nihilism.” The Kyoto school thinkers also played a central role in the development of a Japanese political ideology around the time of the Pacific War, which elevated the Japanese race mentally and spiritually above other races and justified Japanese colonial expansion. Their writings helped lay the foundation for what came to be called Nihonjinron, a nationalist discourse that advocated the uniqueness and superiority of the Japanese race; at the same time, however, Nishida also resisted tendencies toward fascism and totalitarianism in Japanese politics. Since the 1990s, Kyoto school writings have come under critical scrutiny in light of their ties to Japanese exceptionalism and pre-war Japanese nationalism. These political dimensions of Kyoto school thought are now considered as important for scholarly examination as are its contributions to cross-cultural, comparative philosophy.

Kyunyŏ. (均如) (923–973). Korean monk, exegete, poet, and thaumaturge during the Koryŏ dynasty, also known as Wŏnt’ong. According to legend, Kyunyŏ is said to have been so ugly that his parents briefly abandoned him at a young age. His parents died shortly thereafter, and Kyunyŏ sought refuge at the monastery of Puhŭngsa in 937. Kyunyŏ later continued his studies under the monk Ǔisun (d.u.) at the powerful monastery of Yŏngt’ongsa near the Koryŏ-dynasty capital of Kaesŏng. There, Kyunyŏ seems to have gained the support of King Kwangjong (r. 950–975), who summoned him to preach at the palace in 954. Kyunyŏ’s successful performance of miracles for the king won him the title of great worthy (taedŏk) and wealth for his clan. Kyunyŏ became famous as an exegete of the AVATAṂSAKASŪTRA. His approach to this scripture was purportedly catalyzed by the deep split between the exegetical traditions associated with the Korean exegete WŎNHYO (617–686) and the Chinese-Sogdian exegete FAZANG (643–712). Kyunyŏ sought to bridge these two traditions of Hwaŏm (C. HUAYAN) exegesis in his numerous writings, which came to serve as the orthodox doctrinal standpoint for the clerical examinations (SŬNGKWA) in the Koryŏ-period KYO school, held at the royal monastery of WANGNYUNSA. In 963, Kyunyŏ was appointed the abbot of the new monastery of Kwibŏpsa, which the king established near the capital. Kyunyŏ’s life and some examples of his poetry are recorded in the Kyunyŏ chŏn; the collection includes eleven “native songs,” or hyangga, one of the largest surviving corpora of Silla-period vernacular poems, which used Sinographs to transcribe Korean. His Buddhist writings include the Sŏk Hwaŏm kyobun’gi wŏnt’ong ch’o, Sŏk Hwaŏm chigwijang, Sipkujang wŏnt’ong ki, and others.