Tāizàngjiè xūxīn jì 胎藏界虚心記
Notes on the Empty-Heart Mudra-Practice of the Garbha-Realm by 圓仁 (撰)
About the work
A two-fascicle ritual-procedural notebook on the Garbha-realm (tai-zang-jie 胎藏界, Mahākaruṇā-garbhodbhava-maṇḍala) mudra-and-mantra practice centered on the xū-xīn 虚心 (“empty-heart”) mudra — the foundational hand-gesture of the Garbha-realm sequence. The work is the first of five short esoteric-ritual records by Ennin 圓仁 (Jikaku Daishi 慈覺大師, 794–864) preserved in succession in the Taishō canon (KR6t0083–KR6t0087), and constitutes the canonical Hiei-zan source for the Garbha-realm practice as Ennin transmitted it from his Tang teacher.
Abstract
Authorship. The header is unambiguous; Ennin is the author per the catalog meta and the CANWWW record.
Date. No internal date. Ennin returned from Tang in 847 (he had departed in 838) bringing the Tang Shingon Mahāvairocana-tantra teachings of his preceptors Yìzhēn 義眞 (sic — different person from Saichō’s disciple Gishin) and the great Fǎquán 法全 at Qinglongsi. His ritual-procedural notes were composed during his post-Tang teaching career at Hiei-zan, between 847 and his death in 864. notBefore = 847, notAfter = 864 is the appropriate bracket.
The work opens with the canonical opening sequence: “The empty-heart-añjali; thrice chant hūṃ; *seal at three places — namely heart, forehead, throat. Now, the Vajra-realm ‘empty-heart’ añjali presses the two thumbs (ākāśa-mudrā) straight up together; this teaching is not so: the two thumbs are straight up, the finger-tips slightly bent, and the two wind-fingers do not touch.” The text proceeds through the canonical opening rites of a Garbha-realm session: the cleansing of the three karmas (淨三業); the three-part samaya mudras and mantras (Buddha-part, Lotus-part, Vajra-part); the principal deity-mantra of each section; the protection-of-the-body mudras; the invocation of the assembly through the Vajra-Sattva gateway; the consecration-water offerings; the eight-petal lotus visualization; the seed-syllable placement.
The work is paired thematically with KR6t0084 (Vajra-realm) and KR6t0085 (Susiddhi), constituting Ennin’s procedural triad for the three Tang Shingon ritual cycles.
A late copy-marker is preserved on T75n2385 from the Genbun-era recutting, but the original Ennin text is unmistakable.
Translations and research
- Edwin O. Reischauer, Ennin’s Diary: The Record of a Pilgrimage to China in Search of the Law (New York: Ronald Press, 1955), gives the historical context of Ennin’s Tang esoteric studies.
- Misaki Ryōshū 三崎良周, Taimitsu no kenkyū 台密の研究 (Tokyo: Sōbunsha, 1988), the principal Japanese study.
- Saeki Arikiyo 佐伯有清, Jikaku Daishi den no kenkyū 慈覺大師傳の研究 (Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1986).