Zǒngchí chāo 總持抄
All-Holding Compendium (Sōji-shō) by 澄豪 (撰)
About the work
A ten-fascicle deity-indexed procedural compendium of Tendai-esoteric (Taimitsu 台密) rites, compiled by Chōgō 澄豪 (1259–1350) of the Sanmai-ryū 三昧流 line at Sanzen-in 三千院, Ōhara. The work is the principal Sanmai-ryū procedural reference of the late-Kamakura / Nanboku-chō period and a key witness for the procedural-ritual articulation of medieval Hiei-zan Taimitsu.
Abstract
Authorship. The catalog meta and Taishō edition consistently attribute the work to Chōgō. The Sanmai-ryū lineage origin is evident in the procedural details, which match those preserved in KR6t0111 Sānmèiliú kǒuchuán jí of Ryōyū.
Date. Within Chōgō’s mature career, conventionally early 14th century, contemporary with the compilation of Kōshū’s Keiran-shūyōshū (KR6t0110).
Content. The work’s mokuroku gives the deity-indexed organization:
- Volume 1: Akṣobhya 阿閦, Ratnasaṃbhava 寶生, Amitābha 阿彌陀, Śākyamuni 釋迦, Bhaiṣajyaguru 藥師.
- Volume 2: Jīn-lún 金輪 (Cakra of Mahāvairocana), Zūn-shèng 尊勝 (Uṣṇīṣa-vijayā), Chú-zhàng 除障 Fó-dǐng (Vikīrṇa Uṣṇīṣa), Dà Fó-dǐng 大佛頂 (Mahā-Uṣṇīṣa).
- Volume 3 onward: progresses through the Bodhisattvas (Avalokiteśvara in his many forms, Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, Kṣitigarbha), the Wisdom-Kings (Acalanātha, Yamāntaka, Gōzanze, Trailokyavijaya, the Five Wisdom-Kings), and the Protector deities (Four Heavenly Kings, Twelve Devas, the Great Spirit-Kings).
For each deity, Chōgō provides:
- Altar arrangement — the appropriate altar form, banners, vessels.
- Honzon image — the prescribed iconographic form.
- Mantra and mudrā — the principal recitation formulas and hand-seals.
- Contemplative sequence — the visualization procedure.
- Sanmai-ryū kuden variants — distinctive procedural details transmitted in his lineage.
Significance. The work served as the canonical Sanmai-ryū procedural manual through the medieval and Edo periods. Its procedural details often differ in subtle but doctrinally-significant ways from those of Seinen’s KR6t0109 Xínglín chāo (the Hōman-in lineage compendium), and the comparative study of these two compendia is the foundation for the reconstruction of medieval Taimitsu sub-lineage diversification.
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).
- Tsuda Tetsuei 津田徹英, Chūsei Tendai mikkyō no kenkyū (Sankibō, 2000).