In his Tendai Shingon Nishu Doi sho, Hocchi-bo Shoshin (宝地房証真) uses the term hongaku (‘Original Enlightenment’) in two different senses: firstly, within the context of ‘honrai-jikaku-butsu’ (本来自覚仏) to denote the dharmakaya (‘Dharma-body’); and, secondly, within the context of ‘hongaku-bussho’ (本覚仏性) to denote buddhata (‘Buddha-nature’). However, Shoshin accepts honrai-jikaku-butsu not from the standpoint of Actuality (事, ji) but rather merely from the standpoint of Principle (理, ri), and he argues for the identity of the Tendai teaching of Perfection with Shingon esotericism (円密一致, enmitsu-icchi). He does so by taking the Lotus Sutra's conception of the Buddha as dharmakaya to be the true intention of the Teaching of Perfection as well as the true meaning of the Tendai teaching. Yet, at the same time, Shoshin appears to contradict himself by denying honrai-jikaku-butsu. For in his Hokke-Gengi-Shiki, he instead takes the Buddha as described in the Lotus Sutra to be merely sambhogakaya. This would suggest that when it is necessary to identify the Tendai teachings with Shingon, Shoshin accepts hongaku from the standpoint of Principle, in an actual positive rather than merely potential sense, despite this contradiction between his two works. This paper argues that it is for this reason that Shoshin, despite regarding the Buddha as merely sambhogakaya, was nonetheless forced to clearly assert that the Buddha as dharmakaya did indeed consitute the true understanding of the Tendai teaching.
