Yětāi kǒujué chāo 野胎口決鈔
Oral-Transmission Record on the Garbhadhātu (in the Hirosawa Tradition) by 頼瑜 (撰)
About the work
A two-fascicle ritual oral-transmission record by 頼瑜 Raiyu (1226–1304), the Garbhadhātu 胎藏界 companion to KR6t0236 Yějīn kǒujué chāo. Together the Yějīn / Yětāi pair preserve the Vajradhātu / Garbhadhātu twin-realm ritual sequence in the Hirosawa-ryū (廣澤流, no = Hirosawa tradition).
Abstract
Opening: “From the cell to before the Buddha, the practice-procedure is as in the Vajradhātu.” The text proceeds through the Garbhadhātu ritual sequence stage-by-stage, with the master’s oral-instructions recorded after each clause. Recurring methodological points:
- The Vajrasattva-attitude uses the Garbha-fist (台拳) rather than the Vajra-fist (金拳).
- At the hall-gate (堂門) one visualises Acalanātha (the alternative anyone-cannot-prevail deity 無能勝); but since Acala is properly a Vajradhātu deity, this is a not-yet-transmitted master’s-oral private preference (未傳師口私意樂).
- The seat-taking and salutation sequence uses the universal-salutation mudrā and mantra; half-lotus posture; anointing-incense — three-secret contemplation — pure-three-activities — three-section samaya — body-protecting armor — master’s oral-instruction: anointing-incense ritual and three-secret contemplation, the mudrā-and-visualization-and-mantra and repetition-count etc. all follow the Vajradhātu model.
The work’s careful side-by-side organization with KR6t0236 makes it the principal documentary witness to the parallelisms-and-divergences of the Vajradhātu and Garbhadhātu ritual sequences in the late-Kamakura Hirosawa-ryū tradition.
Significance: with KR6t0236 Yějīn kǒujué chāo, one of the foundational pair-texts of the late-Kamakura Shingi-Shingon scholastic ritual tradition.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language translation located.
- For the Konkai / Taikai twin-realm ritual system see Snodgrass, Adrian, The Matrix and Diamond World Mandalas in Shingon Buddhism (1988); Yamasaki, Taikō, Shingon (1988).