Wǔlún jiǔzì míng mìmìshì 五輪九字明祕密釋
Esoteric Exegesis of the Five-Wheel and Nine-Syllable Bright Mantras by 覺鑁 (撰)
About the work
A single-fascicle doctrinal-meditation treatise by 覺鑁 Kakuban (1095–1144) — together with the Mitsugon jōdo ryakkan (KR6t0221) one of his two principal Pure Land works and the foundational text of the Esoteric-Pure-Land synthesis (mikkyōjōdo gōshū 密教淨土合宗) for which Kakuban is most famous. The work’s alternate title is Tongo ōjō hikan 頓悟往生祕觀 (Secret Contemplation of Sudden Awakening and Pure-Land Rebirth), making the Pure-Land orientation explicit. The doctrinal thesis is that Mahāvairocana 大日如來 and Amitābha 阿彌陀如來 are one Buddha under two names (毘盧彌陀同體異名), and that the Western Pure Land of Sukhāvatī and the Esoteric Pure Land of Mitsugon 密嚴 are one place under two names (極樂密嚴名異一處).
Abstract
Doctrinal thesis (preface): “The two-by-seven [Vajra-and-Garbha] maṇḍala is the inner-realisation of the King-of-the-Dharma Mahāvairocana and the heart-essence of the World-Honored Amitābha — the universal-gate of the great-awakening in this present life and the single-road of the anupūrva rebirth (in the Pure Land)… outside the exoteric Śākyamuni teaching there is an Amitābha; the Esoteric Mahāvairocana is itself the Pure-Land teaching-master Amitābha. Know then: the ten-direction Pure-Lands are all the transformation-lands of one Buddha; the tathāgatas are all Mahāvairocana. Vairocana and Amitābha are one substance under different names; Sukhāvatī and Mitsugon are one place under different names. The wonderful-discerning wisdom adds its supernatural-grace; on the body-substance of Mahāvairocana there appears the form of Amitābha.”
Structure: ten doctrinal gates (十門):
- Selecting the dharma — provisional and true converging 擇法權實同趣門
- Direct entrance into the secret-mantra 正入祕密眞言門
- The merit attained is incomparable 所獲功徳無比門
- Secret-practice in which what is done is self-fulfilled 所作自成密行門
- A single practice cultivated yields many 纔修一行成多門
- Direct realisation of the highest [Pure-Land] grade in this present body 上品上生現證門
- Discerning and counter-acting demonic interference 覺知魔事對治門
- True practice of becoming-Buddha-in-this-very-body 即身成佛眞行門
- Open the five-wheel gate (五輪門), reveal the dharma-body of innate-nature; establish the nine-syllable gate (九字門), to mark the reward-body of enjoyment.
- …
Doctrinal apparatus: the Five Wheels (五輪 gorin) are the five elemental seed-syllables A-Vam-Ram-Ham-Kham — corresponding to earth-water-fire-wind-space and to the five points of the body (crown / face / heart / belly / knees) — collectively constituting the dharma-body of innate-nature (自性法身). The Nine Syllables (九字 kuji) — Oṃ A-Mṛ-Ta Te-Je Ha-Ra Hūṃ — are the bright-mantra of Amitābha in the Amitābha-dhāraṇī-sūtra, marking the enjoyment-body of reward (受用報身) of Amitābha. The union of the two is the foundational Kakuban-school Shingon-Pure-Land doctrine.
Dating: composed in his mature Kōyasan-period, conventionally placed in the 1130s and closely connected with the Mitsugon jōdo ryakkan (KR6t0221).
Significance: the principal foundational text of the Japanese Shingon-Pure-Land synthesis (Mikkyōjōdo) and of medieval Japanese gorin symbolism (the five-elemental tower-symbolism that gives rise to the gorintō 五輪塔 stūpa-tower form). The work directly influenced the subsequent Shingi-Shingon tradition and (through it) the Pure-Land turn in medieval Japanese Buddhism.
Translations and research
- van der Veere, Henny, A Study into the Thought of Kōgyō Daishi Kakuban, Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2000 — contains substantial discussion and partial English translation of the Wǔ-lún jiǔ-zì míng mì-mì-shì.
- Inaya Yūsen 稲谷裕宣, Kakuban no kenkyū 覺鑁の研究, Kōyasan: Kōyasan Daigaku, 1969.
- The text is paired with KR6t0221 Mitsugon jōdo ryakkan as the two foundational Kakuban Pure-Land works.
Other points of interest
The doctrinal identification of Sukhāvatī and Mitsugon as one place is a Kakuban innovation that distinguishes the Shingi-Shingon school from the older Kōyasan tradition, and was a major doctrinal element of the Kōya-Negoro schism of 1140.