Shugendo Course Summary

Shugendo is Japanese esoteric Buddhism. The professor was French and had an accent that sometimes made it difficult for me to understand him. He also used a lot of complex words. The combination of the two (plus me not always reading the required text) made it difficult to follow the lectures every once in a while. But when I did I got a lot out of it. First of all I learned the difference between esoteric and exoteric. I also gained a lot of background information about Buddhism and Shintoism, not just about Shugendo. I feel more rounded having some knowledge about these traditions now. Shugendo itself is captivating. I hope I am not saying that with the white colonizer’s gaze for who exotic is something to exploit. More like a religious practitioner, who attempts to understand a different system of belief. The Shugendo monks (the Yamagushi) concepts of sacred space is the most evolved I know of. Most mountains and natural objects are sacred. They use the land in a ritual way, where each peak has a different significance. The way you get there, what you do there is defined not just in theological terms but applied to all levels. I wrote a paper on how water relates to all of it. I wish my professor good health now, as he didn’t always have it during the quarter.