High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Shingon Buddhism "true words" is a major school of Japanese Buddhism. It is often called "Japanese Esoteric Buddhism", or "Orthodox Esoteric Buddhism". The word shingon is the Japanese reading of the kanji for the Chinese word zh?nyán, literally meaning "true words", which in turn is the Chinese translation of the Sanskrit word mantra. Shingon Buddhism arose in Japan's Heian period (794-1185) when the monk K?kai went to China in 804 and studied tantric practices in the city of Xian under Hui Ko and returned with many texts and art works. In time, he developed his own synthesis of esoteric practice and doctrine, centered on the universal Buddha Vairocana.
