Inner Dharma began because of my interest in the Japanese religion of Shugendō, a mixture of Vajrayana Buddhism and Daoism practiced with a focus on ritual pilgrimage and retreat in sacred mountains.
I became interested in Shugendō in the 1990s when training at an Aikidō school in NYC that was inspired by Mt. Haguro. Visiting Dewa Sanzan and Mt. Haguro in 2001 and 2004, I wanted to learn more about the history and practice of Shugendō, especially as it related to traditional martial arts.
I began studying Yoga and Buddhism in earnest in 2004. I attended a 200 hour teacher training in Vinyasa Yoga in 2006 at Charm City Yoga and then taught in Baltimore for a number of years before moving to Seattle. During that time I read in Buddhism and attended the Kalachakra for World Peace held in DC in 2011.
From 2008 to 2016, I studied Kashima-shinden Jiki Shinkage-ryū (opens in a new tab) heihō kenjutsu at the Hōbyōkan dōjō under the guidance of Dr. David Hall, who practiced several koryū and was ordained as a Tendai priest. Dave was the leading western expert on the Buddhist warrior deity Marishiten and her role in classical Japanese martial arts and his writing on that subject inspired me to look deeply at the influence Shugendō had on early martial traditions.
In 2024 I attended a 300 hour teacher training led by Robert Thurman and Michele Loew in conjunction with Tibet House on the union of Hatha Yoga and Vajrayana — afterwards I felt better prepared to begin a small project on these topics.
The result is Mountain, Sword, and Mind, a project on the influence of mountain religion on medieval Japanese martial arts that began on Inner Dharma and grew into two volumes that span over eight hundred pages.1
Volume I: Shugendō and Heihō
Shugendō and Heihō: Sacred Space and Martial Practice (opens in a new tab), Mountain, Sword, and Mind, Volume I. Inner Dharma, 2026. 409 pages.
In this work we begin by examining the practice of peak entry, discuss the Buddhist ten realms, the concept of tengu and their relationship to gongen, and provide a brief overview of two important early Shugendō figures: En no Gyōja and Rigen Daishi (Shōbō).
We provide an inventory of the tengu and yamabushi-related material in the Bujutsu Sōsho and then discuss historical sacred sites in Japan and the martial traditions attached to them, drawing from the Honchō Bugei Shōden (本朝武藝小傳) and Bujutsu Ryūso-roku (武術流祖錄) and other sources. This includes Kuramadera, Atago, Kashima, Katori, Dewa Sanzan, Kumano Sanzan, Udo, and Hikosan.
We then translate Kūkai’s Secret Key to the Heart Sūtra commentary and examine the Shugendō canon’s pantheon, including Manjushri (Monju), Fudō Myōō, the Five Wisdom Kings, Zaō Gongen, Sanbō Kōjin, Māra, Marishiten, Mahakala (Daikoku) and Bishamonten. We close with a discussion on military Shugendō including the kuji (nine syllables), goshinhō (protective rites), and the concept of the diamond (vajra) body.
Volume II: Mikkyō, Zen, and Daoist Sources in Shinkage-ryū
forthcoming
Mikkyō, Zen, and Daoist Sources in Shinkage-ryū: Reading the Heihō Kadensho, Tsuki no Shō, Honshiki Sanmondō, and Shinpishō, Mountain, Sword, and Mind, Volume II. Inner Dharma, 2026.
In Volume II we examine core Yagyū writings from the 17th century, including the Heihō Kadensho of Yagyū Munenori and the Tsuki no Shō of Yagyū Mitsuyoshi, which records oral teachings (kuden) of Munenori and writings of Sekishūsai. For completeness, we provide new translations of several works by Takuan, including the Taiaki and Fudōchi Shinmyōroku. The gokui of Yagyū Shinkage-ryū at the time are examined in relation to Zen and Mikkyō concepts.2
We then provide an overview of early Owari Shinkage Yagyū-ryū and the changes introduced into its curriculum, examine the gokui concept of seikōsui in the Honshiki Sanmondō of Kimura Kyūho (senior student of Yagyū Munenori who was given the name Unchū-ryū). Then we read the Edo Yagyū-ryū Shinpishō of Sano Yojizaemon, examine Kyushu area Shinkage-ryū densho, and close with an analysis of how the Shinkage-ryū philosophical concepts are found in mid Edo period Jikishinkage-ryū (opens in a new tab).
End Notes
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A work of this scale would not have been possible for me to accomplish without the use of AI – some information on research methods and conventions is available, including the use of automated tools for optical character recognition, translation, search, and proofreading. ↩
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These volumes attempt to be precise but are not academic histories. Instead they are close readings of historical sources. In doing so, we relate the statements made about many older martial traditions by their witnesses and practitioners, but each surviving faction or group will have their own in-tradition orthodoxy. ↩