 Shingon has inherited much of the metaphysics of Chinese Mahāyāna thought: e.g., the equation of hosshin and hokkai, traceable to Hua-yen Buddhism; and the equation of the hosshin with the universal Buddha-nature inherent in all beings as their “original enlightenment”, traceable to T’ien-t’ai (Tiantai; Jpn: Tendai) Buddhism. Combining these Mahāyāna equations, in Shingon, the embodiment of the Dharma equals the cosmos as the realm of truth, the Dharma, which in turn means the inherent universal original enlightenment (honnu hongaku) in all beings. But what distinguishes Kūkai’s thought is in his focus upon the body and its concrete practice. The cosmos is the “body of truth” and our own bodies take part in that cosmic body. It is this bodily aspect, as a universal medium or plenum that allows for the concretization of universal enlightenment to be realized through ritualized bodily experience. Both Hua-yen and T’ien-t’ai had similar notions of universal original enlightenment although that idea was quite new to Japan at the time. But what they lacked was any concrete ritual means for realizing that enlightenment aside from basic meditation. Kūkai contended that their teachings were thus lacking in the area of practice. His emphasis upon a bodily ritual praxis that cohered with scriptural doctrine provided them with soteriological – rather than just magico-secular – significance. This helped to bridge the gap between theory and practice, doctrine and ritual, that was previously left unexplained by the orthodox Nara schools of Buddhism. As a consequence of his explication of sokushinjōbutsu, Kūkai thus provided both a coherent explanation of the relationship between theory and practice, and a concrete method for realizing through bodily experience those teachings, a practical method for realizing what Mahāyāna already taught in China as hongaku.