Within the Shikoku Pilgrimage, there’re temples that are not under the Shingon School (真言宗) or do not even practice Mikkyō (密教). I’m very curious on how they are related to Kōbō Daishi (弘法大師), and why/how they are included in the Shikoku Pilgrimage.
When I visited those temples, I’m not sure whether it’s polite to ask them such questions; and I cannot find many info on web at the moment.
Please tell me where I can find academic materials on this topic, Japanese or English are OK. Or if there’re other subs that I should try to post these questions, please inform me as well. Thank you very much.
https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/17nfi0i/not_sure_if_i_should_post_here_but_ive_got/
2 comments
For the 8 temples that are not under the Shingon School, at least some of them were once under the Shingon School then changed to other schools as far as I know.
I’m not sure if all of them are of the same case, and am not sure how a temple can actually change the school that they once followed (for a person to change the school he/she has been adhering to, I know that’s called Ridan (離檀)).
There aren’t a lot of Japanese here on r/Japan, and even fewer will know enough about Japanese Buddhism to answer your question.
You might have some luck over at r/Buddhism. In general they’re a very chill, helpful, and friendly subreddit, as befits them.