ABSTRACT
In this essay I will address the issue of secrecy from the standpoint of the esoteric episteme and esoteric rituals. In addition, I will discuss the education process of Shingon initiates in which these rituals were transmitted. In particular, I will outline the main features of the epistemic field of medieval esoteric Buddhism in which the Japanese discourse of secrecy originated, the nature of the semiotic entities it employed, and the multileveled structure of meaning within which the esoteric signs were organized. By contextualizing the nature of secret knowledge within the ways in which the esoteric episteme was stored in texts and transmitted, it is possible to avoid the risk of reducing the teachings of esoteric Buddhism to a vague and ineffable mysticism.
