Shingon Buddhism (眞言, 真言 "true words") is a major school of Japanese Buddhism, It is often called "Japanese Esoteric Buddhism", or "Orthodox Esoteric Buddhism". The word shingon is the Japanese reading of the kanji for the Chinese word zhēnyán (箴言), literally meaning "true words", which in turn is the Chinese translation of the Sanskrit word mantra (मन्त्).