What is Shingon Buddhism?
Shingon is a school of Buddhism which traveled from India to China before it was brought to Japan by a monk called Kūkai (now known as Kōbō Daishi) in the 9th century. The word "Shingon" (which means "True Word" in Sino-Japanese) is a translation of the Sanskrit word "mantra." As the name suggests, Shingon practice centers on these Sanskrit phrases, which express the essence of Buddhas themselves.
Shingon sees humans, and indeed all of reality, as comprised of three parts, called the "Three Mysteries": body, speech, and mind. You might think of these three "places of action" as like parts of a machine; though they're originally shiny and work smoothly, unskillful use makes them gum up with dirt and rust. For us, the so-called "three poisons" of greed, aversion, and delusion, when expressed through our body, speech, and mind, obscure their original purity.
Shingon methods of prayer present a way to reveal the original nature of our body, speech, and mind by uniting them with the Three Mysteries of Enlightened Beings called Buddhas. We do this by forming mudras, gestures which embody the activity of the Buddhas; saying mantras, which are the speech of the Buddhas; and visualizing the Buddhas, which unites our mind with theirs.
The result of this style of prayer-meditation was expressed by Kūkai in the phrase sokushin jōbutsu: "Becoming a Buddha in this very body." While other schools of Buddhism at the time suggested that enlightenment took many thousands of rebirths and successive lifetimes to attain, Kūkai believed that anyone, with diligent practice of the Three Mysteries, could attain it in their current lifetime.
But what is the point of enlightenment? When we read scriptures that describe the Buddhas and their activity, we find that they work tirelessly so that all beings can be free from suffering. This is our goal as well.
Though the theory seems complex and the bar impossibly high, on this site you'll find advice on foundational Buddhist practices that begin the process of engaging our entire being, body, speech, and mind, in order to free us from the things that cause us to suffer.