Mìmì zhuāngyán bùèr yì zhāng 祕密莊嚴不二義章
Treatise on the Non-Dual Doctrine of Secret-Adornment by 覺鑁 (撰)
About the work
A single-fascicle doctrinal treatise in question-and-answer by 覺鑁 Kakuban (1095–1144) on the non-duality (不二 funi) of the secret-adornment (祕密莊嚴 himitsu-shōgon) doctrine. The work defends the orthodox Shingon position that the Vajradhātu and Garbhadhātu — the two-section maṇḍala (兩部) — are simultaneously two and non-dual, against an objector who argues that non-duality implies a third unifying realm beyond the two.
Abstract
Opening question: “What teaching and what mind-dharma does secret-adornment (祕密莊嚴) point to?” Answer: “The originally-existent three-secrets, the innate-virtue maṇḍala — this is called the secret-adornment mind, namely the Vajradhātu and Garbhadhātu two-section ocean-assembly.”
Polemical exchange: an interlocutor objects — “Of the two-section, the non-dual great-vehicle, the conventional-and-ultimate of the middle (二諦中) — which is it? Since the two-section has been divided, how is it equal to non-duality? Non-duality is the principle of one-mind one-suchness, the speech-of-no-two-no-three. How can the name ‘not-one’ constitute the meaning ‘no-two’? On this consideration: outside the two-section there must exist a non-dual realm. Within the non-dual, how can the two-section be established? Furthermore, by the Hizō-ki (祕藏記): the Lotus-section is named principle (理), the Vajra-section is the wisdom (智). When this principle and this wisdom — at the ordinary stage not yet manifest, at the awakened stage fully manifest — are completely furnished, awakening is perfect; this is called the Buddha-section. Thus beyond the Lotus-principle and the Vajra-wisdom there is the Buddha-section. Beyond the Garbha-principle and Vajra-wisdom two-realm display, surely there is a still-bright-and-illuminating non-dual dharma-realm… If you allow a non-dual Buddha-section beyond the two-section, then secret-adornment ought to be the same as non-duality.”
Kakuban’s reply: “Your doubts and the doctrines you propose, though they appear deep, are actually crooked. You do not even know the secret-name of the two-section…” — and proceeds to refute the position by showing that the Buddha-section is not a third outside the two but is precisely the non-dual point of unity by which the two-section is itself constituted.
Significance: a foundational text of the secret-adornment non-duality doctrine (祕密莊嚴不二 himitsu-shōgon-funi) of the Shingon school; a primary witness to the doctrinal controversies of the Heian Shingon scholastic tradition.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language translation located.
- van der Veere, Henny, A Study into the Thought of Kōgyō Daishi Kakuban (2000).
Links
- CBETA: T79n2524