The secret blessing responds to the waters of each heart and never ceases.

The background of this sentence

After mastering Esoteric Buddhism in Tang China, Kukai returned to Japan. Yet the mandalas he had brought back, sacred diagrams of the esoteric world, were damaged by time.

Kukai grieved that, if nothing were done, the true teaching could no longer be handed on correctly to later generations. He therefore resolved to create new mandalas. This was also an act of gratitude for the “four debts”: to parents, to the nation, to all living beings, and to Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.

In that vow text, he praised Mahavairocana Buddha in words such as these:

The light of Mahavairocana fills every corner of the universe.

The Buddha’s teaching is forever being proclaimed within that light.

The Buddha's compassion reaches each heart according to its condition and never breaks off.

How wondrous, and how vast, this is.

Kukai wanted to hand on this magnificent teaching in the form of mandala, but along with that he wanted to tell us, with deep feeling, that the Buddha’s compassion never abandons even one person.

The special light called “Buddha-sun”

A key point here is the special nature of the Buddha's light, described as the “Buddha-sun.”

Ordinary sunlight creates shadows when it strikes an object. But the Buddha's light is a different kind of light, one that creates no shadow anywhere. What does that mean?

It means that the compassionate light of the Buddha shines warmly into every corner of your heart: the bright places, the hidden places, and even the dark places.

The parts of yourself that you dislike, the weakness you want no one to see, the pain and sorrow hidden at the bottom of the heart: the Buddha's light does not cast those places into shadow. It gently embraces them all.

A deeper meaning

Another important phrase is “responds to the waters.” Water appears in many forms. At times it is clear, at times muddy, at times still, at times rough with waves. The human heart is much the same.

Yet the Buddha's light reaches us in the form we most need, whatever the state of the heart may be: as gentleness when gentleness is needed, as courage when courage is needed, and as peace when healing is needed.

No condition of heart is ever judged unworthy of being illuminated.

Why Kukai wanted to say this

Kukai himself knew confusion and suffering on the path to awakening.

In this same vow he confesses, in effect, that he did not yet know the true road and stood weeping again and again at the crossroads.

Yet even in that suffering, the Buddha's guidance never stopped. In time he completed his studies in China and was able to bring the whole of Esoteric Buddhism to Japan.

That is why he wanted to tell us that no matter how dark or painful things become, the Buddha's compassionate light will continue to shine on us without casting us into shadow.

A message for us today

Byodoji's 24-hour livestream is one modern form of this teaching. At any time and from any place, you can remain connected to Yakushi Nyorai, the principal image traditionally said to have been carved by Kobo Daishi himself.

In anxious mornings, busy afternoons, lonely nights, and sleepless hours before dawn, Yakushi Nyorai’s healing light continues to shine upon your whole being without casting any part of you aside.

You are not alone.

Even now, the Buddha’s shadowless and warm light is embracing you.

Namu Daishi Henjo Kongo
Namu Yakushi Rurikō Nyorai