Truth Triumphant - Benjamin G. Wilkinson

translating the.best works from other lands into
Japanese thought and literature. When he was in
China he was most impressed with the teaching of
Amitabha, or, as the Japanese named him, Amita.
Amitabha was the divinity who obtained the
supreme position in the Buddhist body of doctrine.
Kobo Daishi had been sent by Japan not to
reconcile Christianity with Shintoism, but to
reconcile Buddhism with Shintoism. Nevertheless,
he was so powerfully impressed by Christianity
that when he returned to his native land he
introduced a new body of doctrine which he called
Shingon, or true word. In the course of time this
Shingon sect was destined to become the largest
sect in Japan. Baptism became an important rite in
the mysteries of Shingon. Kobo Daishi succeeded
in reconciling the native gods of Japan with the
Buddhist divinity. Thus, he could identify the
Japanese sun-goddess with Amita, the great
illuminator.
“Shinto architecture took many hints from
Buddhist temples,” says Sansom.[18] Many other
items might be enumerated to show how Kobo
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