1 Fabio Rambelli

So far we have discussed the first two types of the esoteric practices on signs (gomitsu), i.e., the recitation and memorization of mantric formulae and the study and writing of shittan graphs. These two kinds of practices, based on the manipulation of the phonetic and graphic signifiers of esoteric signs, are already endowed with salvational power; however, they also are the introduction to the entrance in the “third gate” of gomitsu, that is, the most secret and exclusive step of the esoteric episteme, consisting in “the understanding of the true meanings of each graph/syllable.”1 Kakuban identifies two levels in this “gate.” The first level is the “general interpretation of the deep meaning of each graph”;2 the second level is the “complete and correct understanding of the Dharma-realm and the Dharma-body.”3 The first level refers to the semantic structure of the esoteric expressions and the related interpretive practices; the second level consists in a sort of “mandalization” of esoteric signs by integrating them into a complex network of homologous series of cosmic elements. Such mandalization, which was systematized by Kakuban, operates on two different planes: on the one hand, esoteric expressions (shingon + shittan) are treated as minimal mandalas in which the entire Dharma-realm is condensed;4 on the other hand, the Mandala of the two realms (ryøgai mandara), the fundamental mandala of Shingon Buddhism, is reduced to the two mantric seeds (shuji) that generate it, namely, A for the Womb (taizøkai) mandala and vaμ (Jp. ban) for the Vajra (kongøkai) mandala.5 In this