 Kūkai’s elucidation of these three aspects provide both a theoretical and a practical grounding for his own conception of sokushinjōbutsu or “becoming Buddha in this very embodied existence,” by clarifying both its possibility and its method. Japanese commentators have often classified his thought along the following lines: the theory of the six universal elements as providing a metaphysic, the theory of the four mandalas as providing an epistemology, and the theory of the three mysteries as providing a metapraxis. But one must also keep in mind that all three concerns – metaphysical, epistemological, and practical – are intertwined and inseparable in Kūkai’s thinking. Furthermore all three involve the significance of the body so that even in his so-called “epistemology,” embodiment cannot be ignored.