Donjaku 曇寂 (1674–1742) — Edo-period Japanese Shingon scholar, principal exegete of the Mahāvairocana-sūtra and Vajraśekhara-sūtra in the early-modern period. Born and educated in the Shingon scholastic tradition, his lifelong project was a comprehensive Esoteric scholastic commentary cycle on the foundational scriptures.
His principal works in the Buddhist canon include:
- Dàrì jīng zhùxīnpǐn shū sījì 大日經住心品疏私記 — private notes on the first chapter of the Mahāvairocanasūtra commentary tradition.
- Jīngāngdǐng dàjiào-wáng jīng sī-jì 金剛頂大教王經私記 (KR6j0029, T61n2225) — a substantial 19-fascicle private-notes commentary on the Vajraśekhara-sūtra. The work’s length and scholastic sophistication establish it as the most extensive Edo-period Japanese commentary on T865.
- Dàrì jīng jiàozhǔ yì 大日經教主義 — doctrinal exposition on the principal-teacher (i.e., Mahāvairocana) of the Mahāvairocanasūtra.
His scholarship represents the Edo-period Shingon scholastic revival — the early-modern systematic reorganisation of the medieval Heian-Kamakura Shingon tradition into a coherent doctrinal-exegetical edifice. His lifedates (1674–1742) place him in the Genroku-Kyōhō period, the high point of Edo-Buddhist scholasticism.
Source: DILA Buddhist Person Authority A001782; CBETA bibliographic database; Edo-period Shingon-school biographical registers.