Chuánjiào dàshī jiānglái Yuèzhōu lù 傳教大師將來越州錄
The Catalog of [Texts] Brought Back from Yuè-zhōu by the Great Master of Transmission of the Teaching by 最澄 (撰), = Saichō 最澄 (767–822)
About the work
A single-juan Japanese Buddhist canonical-importation catalog, the companion to Saichō’s KR6s0105 Tāizhōu lù. This catalog documents the texts that Saichō received during the Yuèzhōu 越州 portion of his 805 return route from Tang China — particularly the Esoteric texts and rituals he received at Lóngxīngsì 龍興寺 in Yuèzhōu under the master Shùnxiǎo 順曉. Preserved at T55 no. 2160. See KR6s0105 for the principal substantive treatment of Saichō and his Tang mission.
Prefaces
The text has no preserved separate preface; the body provides the catalog of Yuè-zhōu-acquired texts.
Abstract
Authorship and date: composed by Saichō in 805 CE immediately upon his return to Japan, complementing KR6s0105. notBefore = 805, notAfter = 805. Catalog dynasty 日本.
The Yuè-zhōu portion of Saichō’s mission is significant for the Esoteric content: at Lóng-xīng-sì he received Esoteric initiation under Shùn-xiǎo 順曉, including ritual transmissions and dhāraṇī texts that became the foundational Esoteric component of the Tendai-Shingon integration that characterizes the Tendai school’s doctrinal-ritual structure (in contrast to the more strictly Esoteric Shingon lineage of Kūkai, who received his Esoteric transmission directly from Huì-guǒ 惠果, the eighth Esoteric patriarch in Cháng-ān).
The two Saichō catalogs (KR6s0105 + KR6s0106) together document the complete inventory of Saichō’s 804–805 Tang study mission — totaling some 460 texts (per the combined counts of the two catalogs).
Translations and research
See KR6s0105 for general references on Saichō.
Other points of interest
The Yuèzhōu Esoteric component of Saichō’s mission is one of the principal pieces of evidence for the Tendai school’s distinctive Esoteric integration — distinguishing it from the more strictly doctrinal-only Tang Tiāntái lineage and from the more strictly Esoteric Shingon lineage. The Tendai-Esoteric integration (called Taimitsu 台密) became one of the defining features of Japanese Tendai Buddhism.
Links
- DILA authority: (Saichō has no Chinese DILA entry)
- CBETA: T55n2160
- Author: Saichō 最澄 (767–822)
- Companion catalog: KR6s0105 Tāizhōu lù
- Yuèzhōu Esoteric teacher: Shùnxiǎo 順曉 of Lóngxīngsì 龍興寺
- Doctrinal context: Tendai Taimitsu 台密 (Tendai-Esoteric) integration