 The realization of enlightenment cannot be attained on one’s own. For one is not a substantial, i.e., ontologically independent, being to begin with. As the cosmos itself is a web of interdependently originating thing-events, nothing can stand alone to claim complete self-sufficiency. The same interdependency that obtains horizontally between the constituents of the cosmos also obtains vertically. That is, the whole is what it is in virtue of its parts just as the parts are what they are in partaking of the whole. The realization of enlightenment then as an event, as well as the relative degrees of spiritual development, entails a micro-cosmic and macro-cosmic correlativity. This is expressed in Sokushinjōbutsugi, ch. 5, in Kūkai’s notion of kaji (Skrt: adhisthāna), which has been variously translated as “empowerment” or “grace.” In religious (or devotional) terms, this is explained to involve both the Buddha’s great compassion and the practitioner’s piety, devotion, or faith, which in their correspondence, act together in the attainment of enlightenment. But one must keep in mind that kaji in itself is not necessarilly enlightenment because the empowerment is in proportion to the level of spirituality attained by the practitioner. Through such mutuality, one’s own effort partakes in the omnipresencing of the hosshin, realized in various degrees. This mutuality is expressed in the meanings of the two characters that make up kaji: Ka, literally meaning “adding” or “increasing,” is explained to be the Buddha’s compassion that pours down upon, entering into, the practitioner’s mind (shin) like sunrays on water. And ji, literally meaning “retaining” or “holding,” is explained to refer to the practitioner’s mind that keeps a-hold of, absorbs, the compassion just as water retains and reflects the sunlight. Ka is the gift that Dainichi gives; and ji is our acknowledgment of that gift by cherishing it. Practically speaking this becomes expressed in the bodily ritual training that the practitioners undergo as they strive to ascend “upwards,” to meet Dainichi’s compassionate descent “downwards.” In the terminology that becomes later popularized with Pure Land Buddhism, this would signify a mutuality and non-duality between self-power (jiriki) and other-power (tariki). The two movements are aspects of a single movement of enlightenment. In other words, one’s own striving is the “grace” of the Buddha helping one towards enlightenment. But this cannot simply be construed to mean one’s reliance upon other-power but entails that one must appropriate that “grace” in self-power. This mutuality of kaji is also expressed in Kūkai’s phrase, nyūga ganyū (“[Buddha] entering into me, and I entering [into Buddha]”).