There is a lot in this question that could be addressed but I will only focus on the explicit question and then I would like to ask you to comment on a follow-up question.This is for Esoteric Buddhists, those of you who follow Vajrayana, be it Tibetan or Shingon or other sects. In your school there are secret Dharma teachings that only the initiated can receive from a Guru. My question is, how does your tradition interpret these passages from the Nikayas:
Three things shine openly, not in secret. What three? The orb of the moon, the orb of the sun and the Dhamma and discipline taught by the Tathàgata (Anguttara Nikaya I. 283).
I have proclaimed the Dhamma without any idea of a hidden and open teaching. I do not have the closed fist of the teacher who holds anything back (Digha Nikaya II. 100).
There are no secret teachings in Shingon. Teachings are all available to non-ordained people. An increasing amount of work has been published in English and is readily available to anyone wishing to read and study the Sutras and teachings. Your question, like many of the questions in this forum confuse two very different things. Teachings and Practice. Yes, there are practices which can only be taught to ordained pracitioners just like there are classes in a University that can only be taught to admitted students who’ve met certain prerequisites. I don’t understand the issue with that.
So, in summary, your question is ill-addressed. The Buddha mentions hidden teachings, not advanced practices available to those who have studied and performed the required prerequisites.
My question, Why so many questions about Shingon practice and not one single question on Shingon teachings? No comments or inquiries on Kukai’s Secret Key to the Heart Sutra? Or his work on The Meanings of Sound, Word and Reality? I find it puzzling.