Jīngāng sānmì chāo 金剛三密抄
Compendium of the Three Mysteries in the Vajra-Realm Tradition by 覺超 (撰)
About the work
A five-fascicle systematic exposition of the “Three Mysteries” (sānmì — body, speech, mind) as they operate in the Vajra-realm (金剛界) tradition, by Kakuchō 覺超 (960–1034). The work is the Vajra-realm counterpart to KR6t0097 (the Garbha-realm compendium) and provides the canonical Tosotsu-dani-lineage procedural exposition of the Vajra-realm liturgy under the Three Mysteries analytical framework.
Abstract
Authorship and date as the companion Garbha-realm compendium: Kakuchō, 990–1034 CE.
The work opens with the canonical Vajra-realm opening citation: “The ritual-manual says: ‘The Vajraśekhara-sūtra Lotus-Family Heart-Recitation Ritual-Manual. Privately note: The two-fascicle version says: First chapter of the Body-Completion Assembly. Some say: this assembly is the Great-Round-Mirror Wisdom.’ [Verse] ‘Take refuge and bow to Samantabhadra and Vajra-Lotus-Hand, who preach the yoga cultivation Dharma. First one should bow to the Three Treasures.‘”
The five fascicles unfold the Vajra-realm major-method liturgy under the Three-Mysteries analytical categories:
- Fascicle 1: the Body-Completion Assembly (成身會), with the 37 deities of the Vajra-realm maṇḍala — each treated under its mudra, mantra, and visualization.
- Fascicle 2: the Karma Assembly (羯磨會) — the supplementary maṇḍala for the practical actualization of the Vajra-realm deities’ powers.
- Fascicle 3: the Four-Seal Assembly (四印會) — the four directional Buddhas Akṣobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitāyus, Amoghasiddhi treated independently.
- Fascicle 4: the Single-Seal Assembly (一印會) and the Liberation-Wheel Assembly (理趣會, corresponding to the Prajñāpāramitā-naya-sūtra).
- Fascicle 5: the Subduing Vajra Assembly (降三世會) — the wrathful Vajra-Trailokyavijaya — and the boundary-dissolution rites.
The work integrates Annen’s duìshòu records (= KR6t0089) with the systematic Three-Mysteries framework, making the Vajra-realm liturgy accessible to the practitioner as a structured ritual-doctrinal whole.
Translations and research
- No complete Western-language translation located.
- Misaki Ryōshū 三崎良周, Taimitsu no kenkyū (Tokyo: Sōbunsha, 1988).