Sānmèiliú kǒuchuán jí 三昧流口傳集
Collected Oral Transmissions of the Sanmai-ryū by 良祐 (記)
About the work
A two-fascicle compendium of the Sanmai-ryū 三昧流 (Samādhi-lineage) kuden (oral-transmission) corpus, compiled by Ryōyū 良祐 (active late 12th century). The Sanmai-ryū was a sub-lineage of the late-Heian Tendai-esoteric Kawa-ryū tradition, in the line of descent from Chōen 長宴 (長宴).
Abstract
Authorship. The work bears no opening colophon, but the catalog meta and Taishō edition attribute it to Ryōyū consistently. The text opens directly with a numbered topic-index.
Date. Within Ryōyū’s lifespan, conventionally mid- to late 12th century.
Content. The opening mokuroku table of contents lists the work’s principal topics:
- Shéngōng 神供 — deity-offering ritual.
- Sì-zhǒng màn-tú-luó 四種曼荼羅 — the four maṇḍala types (great, samaya, dharma, karma).
- Sānzhǒng xīdì 三種悉地 — the three categories of siddhi attainment.
- Zūn-shèng jìng-shuǐ 尊勝淨水 — Uṣṇīṣa-vijayā purified-water rite.
- Zūn-shèng jīn-gāng bō-luó-mì guān 尊勝金剛波羅蜜觀 — Uṣṇīṣa-vijayā vajra-pāramitā contemplation.
- Chì-shèng-guāng màn-dá-luó 熾盛光曼陀羅 — Tejaḥprabha maṇḍala (the blazing-light deity).
- (further topics through to item 78, including individual deity rites, homa procedure, and ritual-procedural questions).
Each topic is presented in kuden format: a short procedural-doctrinal exposition followed by Ryōyū’s record of his teacher’s oral teaching, often with alternative readings, variant procedural details, and contrary opinions from other Taimitsu sub-lineages noted for comparison.
Significance. The work is one of the principal Sanmai-ryū lineage statements preserved in the Taishō corpus, and is a key documentary source for medieval Kawa-ryū diversification — alongside Chōen’s KR6t0108 Sìshí tiè jué and Chōgō’s Sōjishō (KR6t0112 of 澄豪). The work was studied within the medieval Hiei-zan Taimitsu tradition and is cited in the encyclopedic KR6t0110 Keiran-shūyōshū.
Translations and research
- No Western-language translation located.
- Misaki Ryōshū 三崎良周, Taimitsu no kenkyū (Sōbunsha, 1988).
- Mizukami Fumiyoshi 水上文義, Taimitsu shisō keisei no kenkyū (Shunjūsha, 2008).