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眞實經文句

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Text ID
KR6c0122
Date
806–835
Dynasty
日本

Zhēnshí jīng wénjù 眞實經文句

Phrasal Commentary on the True-Real Sūtra (Adhyardhaśatikā-Prajñāpāramitā / Rishukyō) by 空海 (撰)

About the work

A one-juan section-by-section phrasal commentary (wénjù 文句 — a Tiāntái-derived genre name designating word-and-phrase exposition of a sūtra) on the Adhyardhaśatikā-prajñāpāramitā Mahāsukha-vajra-satya-samaya-sūtra (KR6c0120, T8n0243), the Shingon school’s principal liturgical prajñā sūtra. Composed by Kūkai 空海 (空海, 774–835) under his Esoteric ordination-name Henjō-Kongō 遍照金剛 (“Universally-Illuminating Vajra”). Unlike the Rishukyō kaidai (KR6c0121, a programmatic title-exposition), the present wénjù is a line-by-line scholastic gloss that segments the sūtra into its component parts and identifies the doctrinal content of each phrase. Preserved in Taishō Vol. 61, No. 2237.

Abstract

The commentary begins with the standard tripartite division of the sūtra into introduction-narration (yuánqǐfēn 縁起分, the first seven elements), main exposition (zhèngshuōfēn 正説分, the seventeen central chapters), and transmission (liútōngfēn 流通分, the final verse) — the classical Buddhist sānfēnkējīng 三分科經 division. The introduction is parsed phrase-by-phrase under the seven elements of a canonical sūtra-opening: evaṃ mayā śrutam (如是我聞), the temporal eka-samaye (一時), the audience, the location, and so on. Each element is interpreted both at the standard scholastic-Mahāyāna level and at the Esoteric kemmitsu depth.

The doctrinal core is the seventeen-chapter scheme of the Rishukyō — the seventeen prajñā discourses (lǐqù 理趣 chapters) on the seventeen Esoteric samaya maṇḍala-positions. Kūkai enumerates them in order:

  1. Dàlè bùkōng chū jíhuì pǐn 大樂不空初集會品 — Vajrasattva
  2. Pílúzhēnà lǐqùhuì pǐn 毘盧遮那理趣會品 — Vairocana
  3. Xiáng sānshì pǐn 降三世品 — Trailokyavijaya
  4. Guānzìzài púsà lǐqùhuì pǐn 觀自在菩薩理趣會品 — Avalokiteśvara
  5. Xūkōngzàng pǐn 虚空藏品 — Ākāśagarbha
  6. Jīngāngquán lǐqù pǐn 金剛拳理趣品 — Vajra-fist
  7. Wénshūshīlì lǐqù pǐn 文殊師利理趣品 — Mañjuśrī
  8. Cáifāyì púsà lǐqù pǐn 纔發意菩薩理趣品 — newly-arisen-bodhi-mind bodhisattva
  9. Xūkōngkù púsà lǐqù pǐn 虚空庫菩薩理趣品 — Ākāśagarbha (treasury form)
  10. Cuīyīqièmó púsà lǐqù pǐn 摧一切魔菩薩理趣品 — Māra-destroying bodhisattva
  11. Xiáng sānshì jiàolìnglún pǐn 降三世教令輪品 — Trailokyavijaya as command-wheel
  12. Wài jīngānghuì pǐn 外金剛會品 — outer-Vajra assembly
  13. Qīmǔ nǚtiān jíhuì pǐn 七母女天集會品 — seven-mother goddesses
  14. Sān xiōngdì jíhuì pǐn 三兄弟集會品 — three-brother assembly
  15. Sì zǐmèi jíhuì pǐn 四姉妹集會品 — four-sister assembly
  16. Sìbōluómìbù dà màntúluó zhāng 四波羅蜜部大曼荼羅章 — four-pāramitā great maṇḍala
  17. Wǔzhǒng mìmì sānmódì zhāng 五種祕密三摩地章 — five-fold esoteric samādhi

Each chapter is then expounded using the standard three-fold method of biāozhāng (chapter-marking), shìyì (meaning-exposition), and tàndé (virtue-praise). For the opening Vajrasattva chapter, Kūkai unfolds the seventeen-phrase prajñā exposition by mapping the sixteen attendant deities onto Vajrasattva’s directional positions — the four near-bodhisattvas sì qīnjìn púsà (Desire-Vajra 欲金剛, Touch-Vajra 觸金剛, Love-Vajra 愛金剛, Pride-Vajra 慢金剛, in the East), the four inner offerings nèi sì gōngyǎng (Sight, Pleasure, Greed, Pride), the four outer offerings wài sì gōngyǎng (Spring-, Cloud-, Autumn-, Winter-Vajras, corresponding to flower, incense, lamp, unguent), and the four attractive bodhisattvas sì shè púsà (Form-, Sound-, Smell-, Taste-Vajras, corresponding to hook, rope, chain, bell). The exposition of each chapter follows the same architectural scheme, anchoring every textual unit of the sūtra in the Esoteric maṇḍala-position it represents.

The colophon-verse — wǒ yī běnjiā shì, zhé chū cǐ wénjù; jí rán wújìndēng, yuàn biàn míng fǎjiè 我依本家釋輒出此文句即燃無盡燈願遍明法界 (“Following my school’s interpretation, I have set forth this phrasal commentary; may it kindle the lamp of inexhaustibility and illuminate the dharmadhātu”) — situates the work explicitly within the lineage-school (běnjiā 本家, “home-school,” i.e. the Tang Esoteric tradition Kūkai received from Huìguǒ) and frames it as a Dharma-lamp-transmission work.

Dating follows the same Kūkai post-806 / pre-835 window. Authorship is uncontested — the HenjōKongō signature is the standard Esoteric-ordination signature Kūkai used for doctrinal writings.

Translations and research

  • Ian Astley, The Hannya-Rishukyō, Tring: Institute of Buddhist Studies, 1991 / 2004 — principal English study of the Rishukyō and its commentarial tradition; treats the Kūkai wénjù in detail.
  • Hakeda Yoshito, Kūkai: Major Works, Columbia University Press, 1972 — context.
  • Ryūichi Abé, The Weaving of Mantra, Columbia, 1999.
  • Japanese-language scholastic literature (the modern Mount Kōya / Daigo-ji Rishukyō-tradition).

Other points of interest

The text is a precise illustration of the methodological complementarity in Kūkai’s exegetical corpus on a single sūtra: a kaidai (the Rishukyō kaidai KR6c0121) provides the programmatic doctrinal framing, while a wénjù (the present text) carries out the line-by-line lexical work. The two genres are not redundant — they perform different exegetical labors, and Kūkai’s school deploys them as a paired methodology. The wénjù form itself is a Tiāntái borrowing into the Esoteric school: Kūkai is transferring the most prestigious genre of the Chinese Mādhyamika-Tiāntái scholastic tradition to the Esoteric prajñā corpus, claiming for the Esoteric school an exegetical depth at least equal to that of the established xiǎnjiào (exoteric) schools.

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