 Kūkai’s Shingon Buddhism postulated four forms of embodiment as the hosshin itself. This notion of the four forms of the hosshin (shishu hosshin) roughly corresponds to, while reworking, the Mahāyāna trikāya doctrine. 1) First there is the hosshin in its absolute sense, called jishō hosshin. This is the embodiment of the Dharma as Dainichi eternally remaining in the state of samadhi but also engaging in a monologue, which reveals its “self-nature” and unfolds the Dharma through its omni-presencing manifestations in the cosmos. 2) Secondly there is the juyū hosshin, which is the hosshin enjoying bliss. But this is characterized in its two aspects: A) “the self-oriented embodiment” (jijuyūshin) describing the hosshin as enjoying its own state of samadhic bliss; and B) “the other-oriented embodiment” (tajuyūshin) describing the hosshin in the form of various celestial buddhas directing the blissful fruits of self-enlightenment for the benefit of others. 3) Thirdly there is the hosshin in its historical and earthly transformation, called henge hosshin as manifest in the enlightened personage of Śakyamuni. This historical Buddha guides ordinary, ignorant, and irreligious people towards the Dharma, but for this sake must improvise skillful (or: expedient) means (Skrt: upāya; Jpn: hōben) appropriate to the time, place, and comprehension of a given audience. 4) And fourthly there is the hosshin in its universal emanation, called tōru hosshin. This is its manifestation in all sorts of bodily forms appropriate to the situation in order to expound the Dharma, often appearing in the same form as the listener in order to share in his suffering. This conception also became generalized by Kūkai to include all phenomenal thing-events – together with their respective environments or “realms” – as “bodies” filling up the entire cosmos. As such every phenomenon plays the role of a “buddha,” teaching some aspect of the Dharma and expressing the Buddha’s enlightened wisdom and compassion, to realize the original enlightenment of all. Interestingly this implies that each one of us are already buddhas expounding some aspect of the Dharma to one another, but which we must then become aware of in order to realize our own Buddhahood.