Mì chāo 祕鈔
The Secret Compendium by 勝賢; edited by 守覺親王 (輯)
About the work
An eighteen-fascicle Shingon ritual encyclopedia preserving the transmissions of Shōken 勝賢 (1138–1196) of Daigo Sanbō-in, edited and compiled by Shukaku Shinnō 守覺親王 (1150–1202) of Ninnaji. Together with the companion KR6t0194 Zé chāo (Hirosawa-ryū materials from Kakujō, also edited by Shukaku) and the parallel KR6t0201 Bóshuāngzhǐ of Jōken, the work forms the principal late-Heian / early-Kamakura ritual encyclopedia trilogy of imperial-prince Buddhism at Ninnaji. CANWWW links the Mì chāo to the further-derived Kakuzen-shō 覺禪鈔 (KR6t0226 / T79n2535).
Abstract
Authorship and dating: CANWWW records both Shōken (AUT01121, role unknown) and Shukaku Shinnō (AUT01123, role 輯 compiled). The composition window is ca. 1170–1202, between Shōken’s mature career (he reached Tōji chōja in the 1170s) and Shukaku’s death. Multiple Kamakura-period copyists’ colophons preserve the transmission history: Jōō 1 (1222), 8th month, 23rd day, transmitted at the Henji-in 遍智院 (the Daigo sub-temple); Bunei 2 (1265), 5th month, 12th day, copied from the autograph of Kakudō-in Sōjō 覺洞院僧正 (= Jōken 成賢?); Kenchō 2 (1250), 8th month, 11th day; Bunei 8 (1271), 5th month, 21st day, copied at the Renzō-in 蓮藏院; Kōan 2 (1279), 10th month, 26th day, received from the autograph of the abbot; and so on through Kenchō 4 (1252), 5th month, 23rd–24th day, copied at the Tōfuku-ji of Hokkyō (the Eastern Capital, i.e. Kamakura).
Doctrinal content: the table of contents of the eighteen fascicles is:
- Akṣobhya, Ratnasaṃbhava, Amitābha, Bhaiṣajya-guru (with seven-Buddha Bhaiṣajya-guru appended), Buddhalocanā, Śākyamuni.
- Mahā-Buddhoṣṇīṣa, Cakravartin, Uṣṇīṣa-vijayā (with appended Uṣṇīṣa-vijayā).
- Mantra-of-Light, Subsequent Seven-Day Imperial Ritual (with appended empowered fragrant water).
- Mahāmāyūrī, Renwang.
- Rain-Prayer Sūtra.
- Lotus Sūtra, Adhyardhaśatikā (Rishu-kyō).
- Six-Syllable.
- Holy Avalokiteśvara, Sahasrabhuja, Hayagrīva, Eleven-Faced, Cundī, Cintāmaṇi-cakra, Amoghapāśa, White-Robed, Leaf-Clothed, Mahāsthāmaprāpta.
- Aparimitāyus, Samantabhadra-Aparimitāyus, Five-Esoteric, Five-Ākāśagarbha.
- Ākāśagarbha (with memory-and-retention appended).
- Samantabhadra, Mañjuśrī, Five-syllable, Eight-syllable, Maitreya, Mahā-Vajra-Vidyā, Mahāpratisarā, Kṣitigarbha.
- Dharma-Wheel Turning.
- Acala (with dwelling-stabilization appended), Trailokyavijaya, Kuṇḍalin, Mahāyamāntaka, Vajrayakṣa, Ucchuṣma, Vajrakumāra.
- Dhātu (the relic-rite).
- Mahā-Maṅgala.
- Deva-procedure general, Vaiśravaṇa, Śrīmahādevī, Yama-deva, Varuṇa, Pṛthivī.
- Gaṇeśa, Twelve-Devas, Hāritī, Child-Sūtra.
- Northern Dipper.
For each section, the work gives the canonical dais-visualization, mudrā, mantra, ritual-purpose schedule, and lineage-specific variants — the standard format of the late-Heian bessen-hō encyclopedias. The eighteen-fascicle scope makes this the largest of the Sanbō-in / Ninnaji ritual encyclopedias and the principal reference for imperial-house Shingon in the late 12th and 13th centuries.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language secondary literature located.
- The work is treated in connection with the Kakuzen-shō in Brian Ruppert, Jewel in the Ashes (2000); the Mikkyō daijiten s.v. Hishō 祕鈔, Kakuzen-shō 覺禪鈔.