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大樂經顯義抄

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Text ID
KR6c0124
Date
1050–1115
Dynasty
日本

Dàlè jīng xiǎnyì chāo 大樂經顯義抄

Released-Meaning Commentary on the Mahāsukha (Adhyardhaśatikā-Prajñāpāramitā) Sūtra by 濟暹 (撰)

About the work

A two-juan scholastic doctrinal commentary on the Adhyardhaśatikā-prajñāpāramitā Mahāsukha-vajra-satya-samaya-sūtra (KR6c0120, T8n0243, the Rishukyō) by the late-Heian Shingon scholar Saisen 濟暹 (濟暹, 1025–1115). The text presents itself in the colophon as a self-consciously technical follow-up to the foundational commentaries: based on the deep intent of the Lǐqùshì 理趣釋 of Bùkōng and following the section-division and phrasing of the Zhēnshíjīng wénjù 眞實經文句 of Kūkai (= KR6c0122), with material drawn from both apparent and Esoteric teachings. It is the most substantial late-Heian Shingon doctrinal commentary on the Rishukyō and was originally composed for restricted school-internal circulation — the opening notice 此書頗可祕之 (“this work is to be kept rather secret”) flags its esoteric, lineage-internal character. Preserved in Taishō Vol. 61, No. 2239.

Abstract

The work is organized under the classical three-gate scheme of doctrinal exegesis: (1) the occasion of the teaching’s arising jiàoqǐyīn 教起因; (2) the title of the sūtra jīngtímù 經題目; (3) the body of the sūtra běnwén 本文.

The opening section on the occasion of the teaching’s arising is the most doctrinally distinctive. Saisen subdivides it into the general occasion of the rise of the Esoteric teaching (zǒng 總) and the particular occasion of the rise of this sūtra (bié 別). The general section operates entirely within the kemmitsu 顯密 distinction Kūkai had established in the foundational Bendō kenmitsu nikyō ron 辨顯密二教論 — which Saisen had already commented on at length elsewhere. He quotes Kūkai’s classical formulation: yìnghuà kāishuō míng yuē xiǎnjiào; yán xiǎnlüè dòu jī, fǎfó tánhuà wèi zhī mìzàng 應化開説名曰顯教，言顯略逗機，法佛談話謂之密藏 (“the nirmāṇakāya / saṃbhogakāya expositions are called the apparent teaching, abbreviated for the capacity of beings; the Dharma-Body’s discourse is called the Esoteric store”). The apparent teaching is exposited within the standard three-vehicle / liùdù (six-pāramitā) framework “for the sake of teaching the triple-great cause and beyond”; the Esoteric is the Dharmakāya’s self-enjoyment teaching (zìshòu fǎlè 自受法樂), the discourse the Dharmakāya gives to its own retinue in the Vajra-realm palace. Saisen anchors this in three principal Esoteric scriptural sources — the Mìzàng bǎoyào 祕藏寶鑰 of Kūkai, the Yúqí jīng 瑜祇經 (Vajra-summit yoga scripture), and the Mahāvairocanasūtra 大日經 with Yīxíng’s 一行 commentary.

The particular occasion of the Rishukyō is then linked to Bùkōng’s Lǐqùshì: the sūtra is said to have been spoken so that practitioners of yoga “would remain unstained while transmigrating, would broadly perform the welfare-causes for beings, would rapidly attain immeasurable samādhi-liberation wisdom, would rapidly gather merit-and-wisdom provisions, and would overcome Māra and the vināyaka hordes.”

The middle section (title-exposition) follows Kūkai’s kaidai template (KR6c0121) but in much expanded form: each constituent term — vajra-summit, great-bliss, non-empty, true-real, samaya, Prajñāpāramitā, Rishukyō — is given a doctrinal-philological exposition citing the full range of Esoteric scriptural authorities. The third section, the principal body of the work, is a section-by-section gloss of the sūtra’s seventeen-chapter sequence, parallel to Kūkai’s wénjù but considerably more developed, integrating Bùkōng’s Lǐqùshì, the Mahāvairocana-tradition exegesis, the Vajra-summit doctrinal apparatus, and the standard early-Heian Shingon scholastic vocabulary.

Dating: Saisen was born 1025 and died 1115; his doctrinal-productive maturity falls roughly 1050–1115. Within that bracket the Dairakukyō kengishō is a mature work that presupposes his prior commentaries on the Bendō kenmitsu nikyō ron and the Shì móhēyǎn lùn, but a more precise dating is not securely established in the textual record.

Translations and research

  • Ian Astley, The Hannya-Rishukyō: A Translation and Study (Tring, 1991/2004) — principal English study of the Rishukyō commentarial tradition; addresses the late-Heian scholastic commentaries.
  • Japanese scholastic literature on the Ono-ryū scholastic tradition and the Saisen corpus; standard reference works on the Daigo-ji school.
  • No substantial dedicated Western-language monograph located.

Other points of interest

The text is a key witness to the late-Heian institutionalization of the Esoteric prajñā commentarial tradition: by Saisen’s generation the foundational Kūkai works (KR6c0121, KR6c0122) had become canonical, and the next-generation commentarial labor consisted in sub-commentary on Kūkai integrated with Bùkōng’s authoritative Tang source. The kemmitsu (apparent/Esoteric) opening section of the work is a model exposition of the Kūkai-Saisen doctrinal architecture and is frequently cited as a paradigmatic Shingon scholastic statement of the zìshòu fǎlè 自受法樂 (“Dharma-Body’s self-enjoyment teaching”) thesis. The opening cǐ shū pō kě mì zhī 此書頗可祕之 (“this work is to be kept rather secret”) notice is significant evidence for the restricted-circulation pedagogy of late-Heian Shingon scholastic culture: the work is positioned not as a public exposition but as a within-lineage teaching aid for advanced disciples.

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