Kukai

"...how can a man remain bad always? When favorable conditions are provided, even a fool aspires to the great Way." (p. 69 Yoshito Hakeda Kukai (1972))

Reading about the 10 stages of development in the 68 page essay in English, Precious keys to the secret treasury by Kukai has an interesting sense of development in 8/9 century Japan.

Kukai  (774-835) was a revolutionary and legendary figure in Japan. Perhaps 1257 years after the Buddha. We’re at 2,503 in 2023. That is almost a midpoint (770) between now and the Buddha parinirvana. 

Kukai seems to have anticipated many connections we see today, including the connection to the body.

Poem (p. 71-2)

The sea of Mind is forever tranquil
Without even a single ripple;
Stirred by the storm of discriminations,
Billows rage to and fro.

Men in the street are deluded;
They are fascinated by phantomlike men and women.
Heretics are crazed;
They adhere to the grand tower of mirage.

They do not know
That heaven and hell are fabricated by their own minds.
Do they come to realize
That "mind-only" will free them from their tragedies?

Be that as it may,
By practicing the Six Paramitas for three aeons,
By practicing the fifty-two stages of enlightenment,
They will uncover One Mind.

When they become purehearted,
Cutting off their emotional and mental obstacles,
They will find their own Treasury-
Enlightenment, or Nirvana.