Jīngāngdǐngjīng liánhuábù xīn niànsòng cìdì shātài 金剛頂經蓮華部心念誦次第沙汰
Disquisition on the Sequence of the Lotus-Section Heart-Recitation of the Vajraśekhara-sūtra by 覺鑁 (撰)
About the work
A single-fascicle ritual-handbook by 覺鑁 Kakuban (1095–1144) — a kuden on the Lotus-section (蓮華部) heart-recitation sequence of the Vajraśekhara-sūtra 金剛頂經 (the Diamond-Crown-Pinnacle Sūtra, foundational Esoteric Buddhist sūtra of the Vajradhātu maṇḍala). The work belongs to the same series of shata (沙汰) ritual-handbooks as KR6t0223 (十八道) and KR6t0225 (胎藏界).
Abstract
Opening question: why does the title juxtapose Vajradhātu (金剛界) with the Lotus-section (蓮花部)? — the answer is doctrinal: the Vajra-Crown ritual-procedure (儀軌) is here so configured by the master’s transmission; vajra (金剛) signifies either Buddha or Wisdom (Vajra-Wisdom 金剛智), under which heading both Buddha-section and Vajra-section are subsumed. The Lotus-section then constitutes the Triple-section heart-recitation. Alternatively, gikiki 儀軌 means the rule-and-the-retaining (軌則 + 軌持), corresponding to the dharma-maṇḍala (法曼荼羅) — to which the Lotus-section is bound as speech-mystery (語密). Therefore Lotus-section words = mantras = dharma. A third gloss notes that the lotus and the moon-wheel are one thing: the lotus is the moon-wheel-mass, and the Vajra-realm moon-wheel-contemplation is the foundational body.
Structure (master’s oral instruction): the ritual is mapped onto the five-clause gate of skill-in-means 方便具足五句門 — the cause / practice / proof / entry / skill-in-means fivefold structure of the Bodhicitta Treatise 菩提心論. (a) Cause — from entering the residence-cell through the seat-taking, with bodhicitta as cause; (b) Practice — from anointing-incense through the five-great-vows and universal offering; (c) Proof — from the four-immeasurables through the three-samaya recitation, when the round is complete; (d) Entry — at the visualisation of the bodhimaṇḍa, the wisdom of the great-empty-space etc.; (e) Skill-in-means — at the use of the karma-mudrā 羯磨印 etc. The doctrinal correlation derives from the Bodhicitta Treatise of Nāgārjuna (cf. KR6t0217).
Significance: a primary Kōyasan-Daidenpōin ritual document of the Vajraśekhara-derived Lotus-section heart-recitation sequence, paired in the canon with Kakuban’s parallel jūhachi-dō and Garbhadhātu shata texts.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language translation located.
- For background on the Vajraśekhara ritual tradition see Giebel, Rolf, Two Esoteric Sutras: The Adamantine Pinnacle Sutra; The Susiddhikara Sutra, Berkeley: Numata Center, 2001.
- van der Veere, Henny, A Study into the Thought of Kōgyō Daishi Kakuban (2000).