Jīngāngfēng lóugé yīqiè yújiā yújí jīng xiūxíng fǎ 金剛峰樓閣一切瑜伽祇經修行法
Practice Manual on the Sūtra of All-Yoga Yogin of the Vajra-Peak Pavilion (Jp. Yugi-kyō shugyōhō) by 安然 (Annen, 撰)
About the work
A three-fascicle Esoteric practice manual on the Yújí jīng (KR6j0031, T18n0867) by Annen 安然 (安然, 841–915?), the foremost scholar of the Japanese Tendai-Esoteric (Taimitsu) tradition in the late-Heian period and the principal systematic synthesizer of the Tendai Esoteric doctrinal apparatus.
Abstract
Annen’s Xiūxíng fǎ (Jp. Shugyō-hō) is the principal Heian Tendai-Esoteric (Taimitsu) practice manual on the Yújí jīng. It systematically articulates the ritual procedures for the Yugi-kyō yoga-tantra practice — the construction of the eight-petal Yugi-kyō mandala, the abhiṣeka sequences for the central Mahāvairocana and the eight surrounding deities, and the sādhana visualisation-recitation prescriptions.
Annen was the principal Heian Taimitsu scholastic, integrating Ennin’s and Enchin’s Tang-imported Esoteric materials into a comprehensive doctrinal-practical synthesis. His other works — including the Bodaishin-gi shō 菩提心義抄, the Kyōji-ki 教時記, and the Shittan-zō 悉曇藏 — established the Taimitsu standard reference works. The Yugi-kyō shugyōhō is his contribution to the Vajradhātu-yoga ritual literature.
The composition dates from Annen’s mature career, conventionally bracketed 869 (the year of his ordination at age 29) to 915 (a conventional later death-date estimate).
Translations and research
- Stone, Jacqueline I. Original Enlightenment. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1999. — Discusses Annen’s Taimitsu doctrinal synthesis.
- Groner, Paul. Saichō: The Establishment of the Japanese Tendai School. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2000. — Background on the Tendai-Esoteric tradition Annen developed.