Jiàowáng jīng kāití 教王經開題
Introductory Exegesis on the Teaching-King Sūtra (Jp. Kyōōgyō kaidai) by 空海 (Kūkai, 撰)
About the work
A second introductory exegesis (kāití / kaidai) by Kūkai (空海) on the Vajraśekhara-sūtra (KR6j0024, T18n0865), focusing on the title-element dàjiàowáng 大教王 (“great teaching-king”) of the scripture’s full title. The text is companion to KR6j0025 (Kūkai’s other kāití on the same scripture, focusing on the Jīngāngdǐng / Vajraśekhara title-element).
Abstract
The Kyōō-gyō kaidai unfolds the Esoteric significance of the jiàowáng 教王 (“teaching-king”) epithet. In Esoteric exegesis, the jiàowáng is the cosmic dharmakāya Mahāvairocana himself — the cosmic Buddha whose self-disclosure constitutes the entire Buddhist teaching, of which the xiànjiào 顯教 (“manifest teaching”, i.e., the exoteric Mahāyāna scriptures) is one stratum and the mìjiào 密教 (“Esoteric teaching”, i.e., the Mahāvairocana- and Vajraśekhara-sūtras) is the consummating stratum. Kūkai’s exposition develops the dengyō-mikkyō nikyō-ron 顯密二教論 (the doctrinal stratification of exoteric vs. Esoteric teaching) that is foundational to the Shingon school’s claim to a transmission that supersedes the exoteric Mahāyāna scriptures.
The text dates from Kūkai’s mature period at Tō-ji and Mt. Kōya, bracketed 815–835. It is one of the principal Heian-Kamakura textual sources for the Shingon dual-mandala doctrine.
Translations and research
- Kōbō-Daishi Kūkai zenshū 弘法大師空海全集. Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō, 1983–1986.
- Abé, Ryūichi. The Weaving of Mantra. New York: Columbia UP, 1999.