Kukai Biography

Kūkai (空海), also known posthumously as Kōbō-Daishi (弘法大師, The Grand Master Who Propagated the Buddhist Teaching), 774–835, was a Japanese Buddhist monk, civil servant, scholar, poet, and artist who founded the Shingon or "True Word" school of Buddhism. Shingon followers usually refer to him by the honorific title of Odaishisama (お大師様) and the religious name of Henjō-Kongō (遍照金剛).