Kukai Calligraphy

I was passing through London this week to give a talk on Kukai at the Southampton Buddhist Centre, and took the opportunity to call into the British Library. I have been keen for sometime to read: R.H. Van Gulik's Siddham : An Essay on the History of Sanskrit Studies in China and Japan and unable to obtain a copy via the interlibrary loan system. I did not have much time to read the text but was delighted at the examples of Siddham calligraphy, and especially to find some reproductions of Kukai's pen.

On the right is the Amitabha mantra: namo amitabaḥ (an idiosyncratic spelling). Alongside it on the left is Kukai's signature and his seal (larger version on the Kukai page).

I've also added an alphabet brushed by Kukai; and a Mantra of Light, on the Vairocana page.

Kukai Mantra

I've added a page on Kūkai and his mantra. The mantra is in Japanese but can be written in Siddhaṃ without difficulty. Kūkai was responsible for introducing Siddhaṃ to Japan, which subsequently gave rise to the Kana scripts.

namu daishi henjō kongō

南 無 大 師 遍 照 金 剛