 In Benkenmitsu nikkyōron, Kūkai sets out to establish the basic differences between the brand of Buddhism he was introducing to Japan, which he regarded as “esoteric teachings” (mikkyō; “secret teaching”) on the one hand, and the forms of Buddhism already officially recognized and practiced in Japan, which he classified as “exoteric teachings” (kengyō; “revealed teaching,” “public teaching”). This distinction between “esoteric” (mitsu) and “exoteric” (ken) Buddhism is not found in his Indian predecessors. But some of his Japanese predecessors had already been using the binary ken-mitsu categories. Kūkai’s contribution was to interpret them in a new way through appropriation of the esoteric texts he had brought back from China. In Kūkai’s thinking, that distinction is crucial. While we shall discuss some of these ideas in the following sections with greater depth, we may here summarize the general distinctions laid out in Benkenmitsu nikkyōron for now as follows: 1) For exoteric Buddhism, the “embodiment of truth” (Skrt: dharmakāya; Jpn: hosshin) is abstract and transcendent and hence does not preach. But for esoteric Buddhism, the phenomenal world from the enlightened perspective – that is, the standpoint of the Buddha – is the preaching activity of the cosmic Buddha Dainichi (Skrt: Mahāvairocana) and as that “embodiment of truth.” Hence while exoteric teachings may be traced to Śakyamuni, the historical Buddha, esoteric teachings come directly from the Buddha Dainichi. 2) For exoteric Buddhism, the absolute truth, i.e., the Dharma, transcends world and language, and thus cannot be explained. But for esoteric Buddhism, that Dharma itself is being perpetually expressed in and as its embodiment in the phenomenal world, in its sounds, movements, and forms, and even in the thoughts of sentient beings. In other words, its embodiment refers not only to the meditation of the Buddha but also to the Buddha’s creative and communicative activities. 3) Exoteric Buddhism lacks, according to Kūkai, a practical methodology for experiencing esoteric truths. While exoteric Buddhism emphasizes the intellectual study and comprehension of the doctrines set forth in the sūtras, esoteric Buddhism provides a bodily hermeneutic whereby esoteric truths hidden in the sūtras as well as in the world at large can be experienced. And: 4) For exoteric Buddhism, it takes three infinitely long epochs of repeated rebirths of training in order for one to attain enlightenment (Buddhahood); but esoteric Buddhism makes it possible for anyone, irrespective of karmic dispositions, to immediately become a buddha in one’s present embodied state.