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大日經疏演奧鈔

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Text ID
KR6j0666
Date
1325–1398
Dynasty
日本

Dàrì jīng shū yǎnào chāo 大日經疏演奧鈔

Expounded-Secrets Notes on the MahāvairocanaSūtra Commentary (Jp. Dainichikyō sho enʼōshō) by 杲寶 (Gōhō, 撰) — orally transmitted by 賴寶 (Raihō) — supplemented by 賢寶 (Kenpō)

About the work

A 60-fascicle medieval Tō-ji scholastic commentary on Yīxíng’s Dàrìjīng shū (KR6j0662, T39n1796) — the great Tang Esoteric foundational commentary on the Mahāvairocanasūtra — produced by the Three Treasures of Tō-ji 東寺三寶: orally transmitted by Raihō 賴寶 (賴寶), recorded in writing by Gōhō 杲寶 (杲寶, 1306–1362), and supplemented by Kenpō 賢寶 (賢寶, 1333–1398). The catalog meta credits Gōhō alone, in keeping with the standard medieval-and-modern attribution (formalized in the 1712 Edo printed preface, see below), although in actual composition all three figures are essential.

Prefaces

The Edo printed edition (1712) opens with an extensive printing preface by Ryūkō 隆光 of Nara (lines 5–62 of the source text), giving the complete genesis of the work:

“…The Dàrìjīngwáng is the inner-witness of the dharmakāya Tathāgata, the heart-of-hearts of the response-and-transformation Tathāgata. Surpassing wondrous, towering, far transcending the realm of the five-categories-of-speech… The Buddha-Bhagavān… preached the Three-Mystery dharma-teaching… [Yīxíng] wrote down ‘Following-the-text Discourse-Notes’, altogether 20 fascicles, titled the Dà Pílúzhēnà chéngfó shénbiàn jiāchí jīng shū. The deep secrets of this commentary are most lofty and most vast… Only its first two-and-a-half fascicles, explicating the opening chapter, have been the subject of extensive study; the remaining ten-or-so fascicles have been preserved only through master-disciple oral transmission, never set in writing.

“Tō-ji’s Master Gōhō, lamenting this gap, received the oral instructions from Master Raihō, recorded them in writing, and prepared this work [演奧鈔] as a mirror-and-guide. Throughout, he expanded by citing across exoteric and esoteric, scriptures and commentaries, fully transmitting the deep-secret essentials of his ancestor-teachers. He named [the work] Yǎnào shāo. The accomplishment of this great task is at its limit. Alas, however, before completing his work he fell ill and passed away 惜哉未遂其功。臥病終逝矣. Master Kenpō, ardent in the Esoteric dharma, devoting his will and his thought to filling out the deficiencies — but, alas, this Master also unfortunately passed away 命矣夫此闍梨亦不幸逝去. From then onwards, no one supplemented it; from beyond fascicle 17-and-a-half of the original commentary 本疏第十七卷半以下, the commentary remains unfinished, and it was never completed.

“For many years it was simply stored away in chests. Then Jōgon 淨嚴 of the Reiun monastic-residence in the military-government [= Edo] — the all-around master of his generation — fortunately obtained this book and reading it thoroughly, savoured it. Finding many characters that had become fish-and-rat [errors] and citations that had drifted, he wished to correct it and have it engraved and circulated. Before he had finished, however, he fell ill and suddenly departed. Jōgon’s dharma-heir, the vinaya teacher Ekō 慧光律師, continuing the will of the bright Good Teaching, undertook the editorial collation; over two-or-three springs and autumns, he completed it. … How surprising that the great-vessel arrives late — that is what is said here. So I urge the engraver to print and transmit it to the distant regions, that it may reach all later generations forever.

“Time: the second year of Shōtoku [正徳二], year-cycle Rénchén [壬辰], the day of the Buddha’s Parinirvāṇa in second-vernum [= the 15th day of the 2nd month, 1712 CE]. By Ryūkō, hermit of the Chōshōtō at the Northwest of the Southern Capital 南都西北超昇隱棲隆光草.”

A second editorial preface (校定大疏演奧鈔凡例) follows, by Ryūkō, setting out editorial principles in nine items. He notes pointedly:

“This one book, its discourse was originated by Raihō; its recording was achieved by Gōhō; its work was completed by Kenpō. That a great accomplishment was effected — and that its benefit was secured by its publication — these are due to the strength of the three masters; the reader may not but be mindful of their kindness. — But in printing it today, we standalone-attribute it to Gōhō: why? Only because his accomplishment is the greatest of the three masters.” 厥説創于頼寶。厥記興于杲寶。厥功畢于賢寶。… 今攸印刻者特標杲寶 何也。但論其勣則長乎二公也

The body of the work then begins (fascicle 1, line 119):

“MahāvairocanaSūtra Commentary Expounded-Secrets Notes Fascicle 1 “Tō-ji Kanchi-in Hōin Gōhō, 撰述 (composed) “Edo Reiun-ji bhiksu Jōgon, 校閲 (edited)“

Abstract

The Yǎnào shāo is the canonical medieval Tō-ji scholastic engagement with Yīxíng’s Dàrìjīng shū. Its method is the full mature medieval-Japanese-Shingon scholastic apparatus, drawing on:

  • the foundational Tang Esoteric corpus (Yīxíng’s Dàrìjīng shū as parent-text; Bùkōng-amoghavajra’s various ritual codifications; Kim’gōchi-vajrabodhi’s translations);
  • Kūkai’s foundational works — the Bendō kenmitsu nikyō ron, the Sangō shīki, etc.;
  • the Heian Onoryū transmissions (with explicit citation of the KR6j0665 Sījì of Saisen and other late-Heian commentaries);
  • the Heian Hirosawaryū transmissions;
  • the medieval Tō-ji oral apparatus (its principal contribution: Raihō’s oral instructions on the previously-unwritten secret-transmission portions of the Dàrìjīng shū commentary tradition).

The work proceeds chapter-by-chapter through Yīxíng’s 20-fascicle Dàrìjīng shū, providing for each section both a general doctrinal frame (大意) and a detailed phrase-by-phrase exegesis. However — as Ryūkō notes — only the portion up to fascicle 17.5 of the original commentary was completed; the work breaks off there, leaving the final ritual-procedure chapters of Yīxíng unexegeted in the Yǎnào shāo recension.

The work is partially incomplete, then, in scope — though Yīxíng’s first 17.5 fascicles cover the doctrinal foundation of the entire Mahāvairocanasūtra. The completed portion is in 60 fascicles; the missing portion (Yīxíng’s final 2.5 fascicles, dealing with the ritual-practice chapters of the scripture) was never filled in. This contrasts with the complete Onoryū engagement of Yūhan in the Miàoyìn chāo (KR6j0663), which treats the whole of Yīxíng’s commentary.

Composition dates: Raihō’s oral instructions were given to Gōhō from the 1320s onwards; Gōhō recorded the bulk of the work during his mature career at the Tō-ji Kanchi-in 東寺觀智院 (1330s–1362); Kenpō supplemented and partially completed during his career (1362–1398). The work was therefore essentially completed (to the extent it ever was) by Kenpō’s death in 1398, and remained substantially unrevised in print until Jōgon and Ekō’s editorial recovery in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, culminating in the 1712 printed edition. The headers in the printed edition give the editor as Edo Reiun-ji bhiksu Jōgon 東都靈雲寺苾芻淨嚴校閲, while the composer is Tō-ji Kanchi-in Hōin Gōhō 東寺觀智院法印杲寶撰述.

The Yǎnào shāo and the Miàoyìn chāo of Yūhan (KR6j0663) constitute the two principal medieval Japanese scholastic engagements with the Dàrìjīng shū, the former preserving the Tō-ji Sanbō transmission and the latter preserving the Onoryū transmission. Together they constitute the medieval Japanese systematic-scholastic apparatus for the Mahāvairocanasūtra commentary corpus.

Translations and research

No substantial secondary literature located. (The Yǎn-ào shāo is the principal medieval reference for Japanese Esoteric Dàrìjīng shū studies and is heavily cited in modern Japanese-language Shingon scholasticism, but has not received dedicated Western-language treatment.)

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