Shingon-in 　真言院

KEY WORD :　architecture / buildings & structures

Also called Shingondou 真言堂, Shuuhouin 修法院 or Mandara doujou 曼荼羅道場. Lit. the mantra hall. A hall at the Imperial Palace, Kyoto, erected in 835 under the guidance of the Shingon 真言 founder *Kuukai 空海 (774-835; posthumously *Koubou Daishi 弘法大師). Its purpose was to enact a seven-day New Year ritual called goshichinichi-no-mizuhou 後七日御修法, to pray for the emperor's well-being, the eternal continuation of the imperial line, peace and a good harvest. This ritual was eliminated after 1868 but was revived by the priests at Kyouougokokuji 教王護国寺 (1883) in Kyoto, and still continues. Shingon (Sk: mantra) means a mystical phrase, secret word or even a single syllable important in the doctrines of *Dainichi 大日 (Sk: Mahavairocana), the central deity of the Shingon sect, and said to have been uttered by him.

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