Biànkǒu chāo 遍口鈔
Compendium of Universal-Oral [Teachings] by 成賢; recorded by 道教 (記)
About the work
A six-fascicle Shingon ritual kuden compendium preserving the oral teachings of Jōken 成賢 (1162–1231) of Daigo Kakudō-in, recorded by his disciple Dōkyō 道教 (also read Dōgyō). The title Biànkǒu — “universal mouth,” i.e. all that the master uttered — reflects the work’s character as a comprehensive transcription of Jōken’s oral teaching on a wide range of bessen-hō particulars.
Abstract
Authorship and dating: CANWWW records Jōken (AUT01124) as transmitter and Dōkyō (AUT01125) as recorder (記). The composition window is ca. 1190–1231, within Jōken’s career. The work’s title-rubric carries an unusually severe transmission-secrecy clause: “The master’s note: As to this volume, no one other than the single dharma-transmission disciple who has had water poured into his vessel may view it. If anyone, transgressing this principle, looks at it without the master’s permission, he is to suffer the punishments of the two-realm deities and the eight great patriarchs.” (御本云。凡於此卷物者。附法寫瓶一人之外。更不可披見。若背此旨不蒙師免。自由披見者可蒙兩部諸尊八大高祖之罰者也). The transcription is signed: “Gondaisōzu Dōkyō, recorded by hand.” Two late-period copyists’ colophons date subsequent transmissions to Eiroku 1 (1558), 11th month, 16th day, “on the day of Wing-Star, Sun-Day”, by Hōin Gondaisōzu Kaibun 快旻, at the Nan-in 南院 of Kōyasan, his lodgement being given as “Henshōin Jinchō 深超 of Jion-ji of Mogami in Dewa Province”; and Eiroku 8 (1565), 8th month, 20th day.
Doctrinal content: the table of contents lists specialized ritual topics:
- The Rain-Speech rite’s chief deity (雨言法部主事).
- The two-syllable [meaning] of the Rain-Speech rite (雨言法二字觀事).
- The Cintāmaṇi-cakra rite’s secret matter (如意輪法祕密事).
- The use of the comet-prayer rite (彗星御祈用心事).
- The five-pronged and single-pronged vajra (五古獨古事).
- The Henji-in [Daigo’s] abhiṣeka hall matter (遍智院灌頂堂事).
- The Uṣṇīṣa-vijayā mandala.
The work is a primary source for the specialised bessen-hō topics not covered in the general encyclopedias, and its tightly-guarded transmission-secrecy reflects the early-Kamakura Shingon practice of segregating advanced from elementary ritual knowledge.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language secondary literature located.
Links
- CBETA: T78n2496
- DILA authority: A001124 (成賢), A001125 (道教)
- Related: KR6t0201 Usushi (Jōken’s principal compendium).