Chuánshòu jí 傳受集
Collected Transmission-Receptions by 寛信 (撰)
About the work
A four-fascicle Shingon ritual encyclopedia of bessen-hō 別尊法 (individual-deity rites) compiled by Kanshin 寛信 (1084–1153), the late-Heian master of the Daigo-ji Riju-bō 理趣房 transmission. The work covers thirty-six numbered rituals, organized in the standard Shingon pantheon-sequence: from the Bhaiṣajya-guru and Amitābha rites through the wrathful-king, vidyārāja, dhāraṇī-deity, and finally protector-deva rituals.
Abstract
Authorship and dating: the Riju-bō (理趣房) chamber-name in the prefatory rubric identifies the author as Kanshin of that chamber at Daigo-ji. The composition window is ca. 1110–1153, within his mature scholarly career. Three principal Edo-period copyists’ colophons are preserved: Kan’ei 9 (1632), 3rd month, 26th day, copied at the Hō-on-in 報恩院 sub-temple of Kami-Daigo by Nyoshū 如周 of Chōkoku-ji 長國寺; Jōkyō 5 (1688), 3rd month, 21st day, by Engan-gyokushū 圓岩玉周 of the Hō-Kongō-in 法金剛院, collated and copied with red-ink edits; and Genbun 4 (1739), 12th month, 2nd day, copied at the Hō-Kongō-in of Ten’an-ji 天安寺, by Keihō 圭峯 of Hachiman Hōen-ji 八幡法園寺.
Doctrinal content: the table of contents lists thirty-six rituals, numbered: (1) Bhaiṣajya-guru; (2) Amitābha; (3) Pure-Light Stainless (無垢淨光); (4) Mahā-Buddhoṣṇīṣa (大佛頂); (5) Cakravartin (金輪); (6) Vijaya / Uṣṇīṣa-vijayā (尊勝); (7) Buddhalocanā (佛眼); (8) Mahāmāyūrī Sūtra (孔雀經); (9) Renwang sūtra; (10) the five-family beads (五部念珠); (11) Rain-prayer Sūtra (請雨經); (12) Six-Syllable Sūtra (六字經); (13) the Great Dhāraṇī method, including the small mantra (大陀羅尼法小呪事); (14) Sahasrabhuja (千手); (15) Eleven-Faced (十一面); (16) Cundī (准胝); (17) Amoghapāśa (不空羂索); (18) Five-syllable Mañjuśrī (五字文殊); (19) Eight-syllable Mañjuśrī (八字文殊); (20) Ākāśagarbha (虚空藏); (21) Memory-and-Retention (求聞持); (22) Nāgārjuna (龍樹); (23) Rāgarāja (愛染王); (24) Five-jewels etc. of the Ono [tradition] (五寶等小野); (25) Acala’s nineteen contemplations (不動十九觀); (26) Anchin (安鎭, the dwelling-stabilization rite); (27) Vajrayakṣa (金藥叉); (28) seed-syllables of the Devas (天等總種子); (29) Śrīmahādevī (吉祥天); (30) Northern Dipper (北斗); (31) Star Worship (星供); (32) Hāritī (訶利帝); (33) Sarasvatī (辨才天); (34) Gaṇeśa (歡喜天); (35) finger-variation names (指異名); (36) intention-only contemplation-offering (觀意供).
For each ritual, the text gives the dais visualization (dào-chǎng guān 道場觀) — the visualization of palace, lotus-throne, seed-syllable, transformation, and iconic body of the chief deity — followed by the eighteen-mudrā sequence, the special mantras, and any lineage-specific variants Kanshin had received in his transmission. The closing entry, on Hāritī, includes detailed parturition-protection instructions: “the Child-sūtra: on the 8th and 15th days of the month, transcribe and offer the sūtra; transcribe in silent fast; suspend Hāritī’s image in front; offer seven cups of cooked rice as standard; have the five-colour thread tied by the mother and wet-nurse; if the [main] dhāraṇī-holder is reciting, have another person tie. For the child’s life-direction water, draw water at the Tiger hour as inkstone-water; insert an eastern mulberry branch into the inkstone-water, cut.”
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language secondary literature located.
- The Daigo Riju-bō transmission and the bessen-hō ritual encyclopedia genre are treated in the Mikkyō daijiten s.v. Kanshin, Bessen-hō.