Xītán lüèjì 悉曇略記
Abbreviated Notes on Siddham by 玄昭 Genshō (撰)
About the work
A single-fascicle Siddham introductory treatise by Genshō 玄昭 玄昭, a Shingon-line scholar of the mid-Heian period. The Shittan ryakki — “Abbreviated Notes on Siddham” — is a pedagogical condensation of the principal Siddham scholarly tradition descending from 空海 Kūkai and 安然 Annen. Its purpose is to provide a concise introductory reference for monastic students embarking on Siddham study, in contrast to the encyclopedic Shittan-zō KR6t0413 of Annen and the elaborate Shingon-line works.
Abstract
The treatise covers: (1) the fifty Siddham letters and their phonetic values, in summary form; (2) the basic conjunct-consonant rules; (3) the principal bīja seed-syllables of the esoteric maṇḍala — a, vam, ham, raṃ, etc. — and their doctrinal meanings; (4) the basic dhāraṇī corpus and how to read it phonetically.
The work circulated widely as a Shingon noviciate primer through the late Heian and Kamakura periods. Its compactness relative to the encyclopedic predecessors made it the principal Siddham textbook actually used by working monks, as opposed to the principal Siddham scholarly reference.
Date. Genshō’s precise lifedates are not securely attested. The work is generally placed in the mid-Heian period, conservatively c. 1000–1100, on the basis of doctrinal vocabulary and references.
Structural Division
The CANWWW entry (div25.xml, T84N2704) records the work as a single-fascicle treatise by Genshō with no internal toc sub-list and no related-text cross-references tabulated.
Translations and research
Critical edition: Taishō vol. 84. No English translation. Major studies: R. H. van Gulik, Siddham (1956); Yamanaka Yukio, Nihon shittan-gaku no kenkyū (Hōzōkan, 1981); Chiba R. B. K., Shingon mikkyō shittan-gaku no kenkyū (Hyakkaen, 1984).
Links
- CBETA online
- Author: 玄昭 (Genshō)
- Predecessors: KR6t0412 (Kūkai), KR6t0413 (Annen)