Shíbā qìyìn yì shì shēngqǐ 十八契印義釋生起
Genesis-Exegesis of the Doctrine of the Eighteen Mudrās by 定深 (撰)
About the work
A single-fascicle introductory ritual manual for beginning practitioners (爲初心始行人略記) on the Eighteen Mudrās of Esoteric Practice (shíbā qìyìn 十八契印) — the canonical sequence of hand-seals that structure the daily Shingon practice routine. The work is by Jōjin 定深 (b. 1065), a late-Heian Shingon master whose lifedates are conventionally placed in the second half of the 11th century. A copyist’s colophon dates the present transmission to Ninnan 3 (1168), 2nd month, 5th day, copied at the Rishu-in, by Hangō 範杲.
Abstract
Authorship and dating: the work is universally ascribed to Jōjin in the Shingon catalogs; the composition window is ca. 1090–1168 (with the upper bound set by the earliest copyist’s colophon). The Taishō header gives the title as 大八契印義釋生起 — a scribal slip for 十八契印 (dà 大 misread for shíbā 十八); the body of the text and the closing colophon both give the correct Eighteen Mudrās title.
Doctrinal content: the work opens with the canonical Shingon definition of esoteric practice as two great methods — the Garbha-realm and the Vajra-realm — each with its own detailed practice procedure (xíngyí 行儀): the Garbha detailed procedure is the Susiddhikara (KR6f0099 / T893), and the Vajra detailed procedure is the Yuqi jing 瑜祇經 (KR6c0090 / T867). The Eighteen Mudrās are the Garbha-realm branch of the Susiddhikara practice. The author then sets out the six-method structure of the Eighteen Mudrās:
- Practitioner-adornment (莊嚴行者法), comprising five mudrās: purification of the three karmas, Buddha family, Lotus family, Vajra family, self-protection.
- Boundary-binding (結界法), comprising two: earth-binding and vajra-wall.
- Dais-adornment (莊嚴道場法), comprising two: dais visualization and Ākāśagarbha universal offering.
- Invitation (勸請法), comprising three: vehicle-dispatch, vehicle-summons, formal invitation.
- Bound-protection (結護法), comprising three: mantra of one’s own family, etc.
- The praxis-proper (供養法), the central abhiṣeka-mode offering procedure.
The text then walks through each of the eighteen, giving the meditative visualization, the mudrā formation, and the corresponding mantra. The work is one of the standard pedagogical introductions to Shingon practice and was used continuously through the medieval period for novice training.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language secondary literature located.
- The Eighteen Mudrās are treated in Adrian Snodgrass, The Matrix and Diamond World Mandalas in Shingon Buddhism (1988), and in the Mikkyō daijiten s.v. Jūhachidō 十八道.