3 - Computing in the Humanities and Social Sciences

Buddha (Ujike 1984: 106). Later, the term dhåra√∆ was extended to signify tools and
methods that were used to enable or facilitate the mastering of the Dharma. It is at this
point that dhåra√∆ came to refer to formulae and linguistic expressions used with
mnemonic purposes.
Dhåra√∆ are not only tools for acquiring wisdom and purifying the mind; they also
allow for the acquisition of supernatural powers (jinz¥) as a side effect of samådhi
meditation. These powers can be employed to attain worldly benefits (genze riyaku), and
dharanic expressions used to this end were called “divine spells” (Jp. shinju). This seems
to be a belief and practice common throughout Mahayana. Ujike writes that the status of
“divine spells” did not change even with the development of the early forms of esoteric
Buddhism (known in Shingon scholasticism as zømitsu, “miscellaneous esoteric
teachings”). In fact, zømitsu texts, constituted mostly by formulae, might be a
development of the “Dhåra√∆ chapters” contained in many Mahayana scriptures (Ujike
1984: 21). If this is the case, the rise of esoteric Buddhism would testify to an increased
importance of magical linguistic formulae in Buddhism. Essentially, dhåra√∆ in both
Mahayana and early esoteric Buddhism serve to facilitate the mastering of the Buddhist
teachings and to secure material benefits. As tools of the incessant bodhisattva practices,
they operate on the causal level (in’i) but are not directly related to the attainment of
enlightenment and liberation, which is, according to Mahayana, the final result of an
infinite ascetic process. (Ujike 1984: 21).
Significantly, Ujike argues that the development of esoteric Buddhism from
Mahayana through an earlier, miscellaneous form (zømitsu), can be better understood
through the study of the development of conceptions concerning esoteric linguistic
expressions (Ujike 1984: 31), as represented by the transformation of dhåra√∆ into
mantras/shingon. In this process, perhaps the most important step was the qualitative
transformation of dhåra√∆. From a faculty of the bodhisattva first, and a tool to attain it
later, dhåra√∆ subsequently turned into a goal in itself (Ujike 1984: 47). This
transformation occurred thanks to the mediation of so-called mitsugo, words that were
endowed with secret, initiatory meanings.
Beginning with the Shugokyø, dhåra√∆ as a faculty was equated with the
expressions on which that faculty was grounded (Ujike 1984: 117-129); at that point,
mantric formulae in general came to be considered as the wisdom of the buddhas.
Mature esoteric Buddhism (junmitsu) presents itself also as a new episteme that
systematizes non-ordinary linguistic expressions and encompasses them within its
teachings and practices. A wide range of non-systematic spells (ju) and dhåra√∆ thus
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