Qiānfúlún xiāng xiǎnmì jí 千輻輪相顯密集
Compendium on the Thousand-Spoked-Wheel Mark in Apparent and Esoteric Modes by 興然 (撰)
About the work
A single-fascicle iconographic-doctrinal treatise on the thousand-spoked-wheel mark (千輻輪相) — one of the thirty-two major marks of a cakravartin / Buddha — as understood across apparent and esoteric Buddhist traditions, by Kōnen 興然 (1121–1203). The work uses the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra 涅槃經 as its principal scriptural foundation, signaled by the subtitle “With the Nirvāṇa-sūtra as its root” (涅槃經爲本).
Abstract
Authorship. Kōnen.
Date. Within Kōnen’s career, mid-to-late 12th century.
Content. The work opens with a verse of homage:
“Bowing-in-refuge to the Tathāgata of the Twin Trees, Śākyamuni — / on the crown, the chest, the hands, the waist, the navel, the feet, in their midst — / I pray that you will show me the proper places of reverence — / by your great-compassion, indicate the teaching of the places where worship is properly directed.”
(歸命雙林釋迦尊 頂胸手腰臍足中 唯願示我敬禮處 大悲示教所禮處)
Followed by the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra narrative source:
“At that time Kāśyapa, having spoken this verse, the World-Honoured One, in great compassion, then manifested the thousand-spoked-wheel marks on his two feet…”
The work proceeds to expound, in detail, the comparative apparent-esoteric understanding of the thousand-spoked-wheel mark:
- The Nirvāṇa-sūtra foundational narrative — the Buddha’s display of the marks for Kāśyapa.
- The apparent doctrinal understanding — the thousand-spoked-wheel mark as one of the thirty-two major marks of a cakravartin / Buddha; its standard Mahāyāna iconographic-doctrinal significance.
- The esoteric doctrinal understanding — the thousand-spoked-wheel as a mandala-form, with each spoke corresponding to a Bodhisattva or deity in the Vajra-realm mandala; its connection to the Cakra-Cintāmaṇi (one-thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara) iconography and the Mahā-Uṣṇīṣa Cakravartin Esoteric deity-rites.
- The places of reverence on the Buddha-body — head-crown, chest, hands, waist, navel, feet — and their iconographic-Esoteric significance.
Significance. The work is an unusual case of an apparent / esoteric comparative iconographic treatise, bringing the Nirvāṇa-sūtra iconographic tradition into doctrinal-iconographic dialogue with the Esoteric mandala-tradition. It is a key documentary source for the medieval Japanese Buddhist kemmitsu iconographic-doctrinal harmonization tradition.
Translations and research
- No Western-language translation located.
- Mochizuki Shinkō 望月信亨, Bukkyō daijiten — for the standard reference on the thirty-two major marks.
Links
- CBETA: T77n2446
- Scriptural foundation: Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra (大般涅槃經, e.g., KR6c0001).