ABSTRACT
When we take a closer look at practices of concealing and disclosing secrets in Japanese Buddhism, we soon realise that secrecy in this context is a very ambiguous concept. The word “secret” (hi-秘, as in hiden 秘伝 “secret transmission,” hiki 秘記, “secret record,” hih2 秘法 “secret method,” etc.) certainly should not be taken at face value, as classified information that must never be revealed. Today, a visit to the library is enough to find written documentation of many of the secrets of temple lineages in various periods of Japanese history. The collected secret transmissions of T3mitsu 東密 (Shingon) lineages, for example, are readily accessible to anyone who is curious enough to plough through the twenty-two volumes of the T2mitsu shoh2ry4 injin ruij4 (“Assorted initiation documents of the various Dharma lineages of T3mitsu”), compiled by Wada Daien and published in Osaka between 1988 and 1991. Here, one can find detailed documentation of the secret knowledge that for centuries has been passed down from teacher to disciple under strict vows of secrecy – and that in many cases is still being transmitted in this way today.
