Dà Táng Qīnglóngsì sāncháo gòngfèng dàdé xíngzhuàng 大唐青龍寺三朝供奉大德行狀
Conduct-Record of the Eminence Who Served Three Reigns at Qīnglóng Monastery of the Great Táng
anonymous, early 9th c.; subject is 惠果 (Huìguǒ, 746–805)
About the work
A short anonymous xíngzhuàng of 惠果 (Huìguǒ, 746–805) — the principal disciple of 不空 (Amoghavajra), abbot of the great esoteric monastery Qīnglóngsì 青龍寺 in Cháng’ān, and the master from whom the Japanese pilgrim Kūkai 空海 (774–835) received the full Shingon 真言 transmission in 805. The text is preserved in the Taishō (T50 no. 2057). Compiler is unnamed; given the close internal relationship to the dating, it is presumed to be a near-contemporary disciple. A second xíngzhuàng of 惠果 is preserved at KR6r0049 in the Xuzangjing.
Abstract
惠果 (Huìguǒ) succeeded 不空 (Amoghavajra) as the leading esoteric master at Qīnglóng-sì in Cháng’ān. He held the office of imperial preceptor under three Táng emperors (Dàizōng 代宗, Dézōng 德宗, Shùnzōng 順宗) — hence “sāncháo gòngfèng” 三朝供奉 (“served three reigns in attendance”). His most consequential act, in world-historical terms, was the transmission of the Mahāvairocana and Vajraśekhara mandalas and the full Esoteric initiation to the visiting Japanese pilgrim Kūkai in the spring and summer of 805, just months before his own death. This transmission is the foundational moment of Japanese Shingon Buddhism.
The xíngzhuàng gives Huìguǒ’s birth in 746 in Yáng-Wēi 雍縣 (modern Shaanxi), his entry into the saṃgha, his training under 不空 from a young age, the full esoteric initiations he received, his subsequent imperial-court career, and his death in 805. The composition window is bracketed by Huìguǒ’s death (805) and the productive years of the disciples; a bracket of 805–815 is the safe range. Internal consistency with Kūkai’s own writings on Huìguǒ’s last months (the Goshōrai mokuroku 御請來目錄) suggests composition by an immediate disciple shortly after the death.
Translations and research
- Yoshito S. Hakeda, Kūkai: Major Works (New York: Columbia UP, 1972) — translates Kūkai’s Goshōrai mokuroku and discusses 惠果 in introduction.
- Ryuichi Abe, The Weaving of Mantra: Kūkai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse (New York: Columbia UP, 1999) — extensive treatment of 惠果 as Kūkai’s master.
- Charles D. Orzech (ed.), Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia (Leiden, 2011) — multiple chapters on the late-Táng esoteric establishment.
- George J. Tanabe, “Kūkai’s Esoteric Buddhism,” in his Religions of Japan in Practice (Princeton, 1999).