Sì juǎn 四卷
The Four Fascicles by 興然 (撰)
About the work
A Shingon ritual encyclopedia by Kōnen 興然 (1121–1203), the late-Heian Kōyasan master of the Chū’in-ryū 中院流 transmission line, bearing the unadorned title Yon-kan — “The Four Fascicles.” The minimal title (literally just the work’s physical length) is characteristic of Kōyasan ritual notebooks that were used as internal lineage-specific working references rather than as broadly-circulated treatises.
Abstract
Authorship and dating: the work is universally ascribed to Kōnen in the Shingon catalogs; composition window ca. 1130–1203, within his mature scholarly career on Kōyasan.
Doctrinal content: the table of contents (here marked as “personally abbreviated” 私略) lists the principal specialised bessen-hō:
- Dharma-Wheel-Turning (轉法輪).
- Buddhalocanā; Cakravartin; Mahā-Buddhoṣṇīṣa.
- Rāgarāja as-procedurally-performed; Rāgarāja two-headed; Defilement-Love-King two-headed.
- Five-Ākāśagarbha; Maitreya.
- Perfect-Round Vajra (圓滿金剛).
- Seven-Star Cintāmaṇi-cakra.
- Eight-syllable Mañjuśrī with dwelling-stabilization; Six-syllable Mañjuśrī; Five-syllable Mañjuśrī; One-syllable Mañjuśrī.
- Tai-mu (太無).
- Great Adamantine Wheel.
- Permission/Authorisation (許可) — i.e. the formal license to perform the rite.
The opening entry on the Dharma-Wheel-Turning rite for subjugation purposes is annotated: “This rite, in full, is just as in the small folded-paper [version]; here personally abbreviated” (此法全如小折紙。私略之). A parallel transmission of the same rite according to the Anjō-ji 安祥寺 lineage is also noted: “This rite is as given in the small folded-paper [version]; here personally abbreviated” (同法安祥寺傳。此法如出小折紙。私略之). This dual-transmission documentation is characteristic of Kōnen’s careful Chū’in-ryū scholarship.
The work is one of the principal Kōyasan ritual references of the late 12th century and a foundational document of the Chū’in-ryū, the major Kōyasan branch of Shingon that became the dominant lineage of Kongōbu-ji in the medieval period.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language secondary literature located.
Links
- CBETA: T78n2500
- DILA authority: A001104 (興然)
- Related: KR6t0210 Chū’in-ryū shido kuden (Yūkai’s later Chū’in-ryū codification).