Explicating Shōji jissō gi
A Study of Interpretation, Debate, and Innovation in a Shingon
Buddhist Commentarial Tradition
A Master’s Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Master
Program of MA Asian Studies: Japanese Studies (120EC), Leiden University
By: Bruce Winkelman
0918474
Supervisor and First Reader: Dr. H. van der Veere
Second Reader: Dr. H.W.A. Blezer
Word count: 23.522 (including references)
Submitted on 15 July 2015
Explicating Shōjigi
B. Winkelman, 0918474
Notes on Languages and Terms
In the following study I have followed the stylistic conventions proposed by the
Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. Where Japanese words are concerned I
transliterated based on the modified Hepburn system. For Chinese names I
transliterated by means of pinyin, and for those in Sanskrit I followed the MonierWilliams conventions. I have generally rendered foreign words in italics, but did not
treat words found in the Oxford Dictionary of English, such as Buddha, bodhisattva,
Shinto, and so on, as foreign words where permitted.
In transliterating technical Buddhist terms I have attempted were possible to
follow the accepted Buddhist pronunciation of the terms instead of those used in daily
speech. Problems are still present, because different schools and lineages may follow
different traditions of pronunciations, but I have tried to remain faithful to the context
as much as possible.
I have refrained from translating the titles of texts for conceptual reasons.
Where lengthy titles are commonly abbreviated in Buddhist sources I have followed
those abbreviations, only explaining the full form when it was of immediate relevance
to the discussion.
All translations are mine unless stated otherwise.
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Abstract
This thesis investigates the Shingon esoteric commentarial tradition on the text Shōji
jissō gi, written by Kūkai (774-835). More specifically, it focuses on a selection of
commentaries produced by prominent Shingon thinkers between the thirteenth and
early fifteenth centuries, in order to trace the contours of the tradition and its
development during this period. After an assessment of the historical context and the
functioning of the texts therein, it is suggested that these commentaries are primarily
composed and used for the education of Shingon scholar priests during dharma
lectures (dangi). It is also revealed that exegetical texts not only interpret the original
text, but also connect it to contemporary concerns that are informed by doctrinal
debate inside and outside the Shingon school. On the basis of these observations, it is
proposed that a slight shift in methodology for the study of commentarial literature
may be necessary.
Keywords:
Commentary; Shingon; Shōji jissō gi; scholar priest education; dangi; debate
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Table of Contents
NOTES ON LANGUAGES AND TERMS .......................................................................................... 2
ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................... 3
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 5
1. PROLOGUE: KŪKAI’S SHŌJI JISSŌ GI .....................................................................................14
2. TIDE OF THE TIMES: COMMENTARIES IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT ............................22
PROLIFERATION, REVITALIZATION, AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF KŪKAI AS FOUNDER OF SHINGON
.......................................................................................................................................................................... 22
THE WORLD OF MEDIEVAL SHINGON DOCTRINAL STUDIES ................................................................. 25
3. RAIYU’S KAJI-BODY AND THE LANGUAGE OF ZEN ..........................................................30
NEW VERSUS “OLD”: THE HONJI-KAJI DEBATE ........................................................................................ 30
ZEN MISUNDERSTOOD: “STRAIGHT FROM THE MIND TO THE VOICE” ................................................ 35
4. TEXTUAL EXPLICATION OR VERBAL EXPLICATION? - DANGI LECTURES AND THE
PRODUCTION OF SHŌJIGI COMMENTARIES ..........................................................................42
DANGI LECTURES AND THE COMMENTARIAL TEXT................................................................................. 42
MONDŌ: EXPLICATION THROUGH DEBATE................................................................................................ 45
WRITING COMMENTARIES........................................................................................................................... 49
5. FROM TEXTUAL MONDŌ TO VERBAL MONDŌ AND THE BUILDING OF
TRADITION .......................................................................................................................................54
6. THE “SPIRIT” OF THE SHŌJIGI ...............................................................................................62
SHŌJIGI AND SOKUSHINGI: SETTING UP THE ESOTERIC METHOD ........................................................ 63
THE 835 KANPU DOCUMENTS: SHŌJIGI AND THE TRAINING OF THE NENBUNDOSHA..................... 65
GENBŌ: VISUALIZING SHŌJI JISSŌ ............................................................................................................... 69
THEORETICAL SHŌJIGI?: KAKUBAN’S DENBŌE LECTURE ...................................................................... 70
7. CONCLUSIONS ..............................................................................................................................77
REFERENCES .....................................................................................................................................81
ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................................................ 81
PRIMARY SOURCES........................................................................................................................................ 82
SECONDARY SOURCES................................................................................................................................... 84
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Introduction
The text Shōji jissō gi 声字実相義 (hereafter Shōjigi, KZ1 521-534) by Kōbō Daishi
Kūkai 弘法大師空海 (774-835) requires explication. This can be glanced from the
abundance of commentarial literature that has been written on since - an overview in a
recent edition of Kūkai’s collected works lists fifty-five known commentaries on the
text. (KDKZ 8, 258-264) This is a substantial amount for an esoteric text read in
comparatively small circles. Looking at the dating of the commentaries, the list in the
collected works suggests that there has been a more or less steady output of exegetical
works on Shōjigi from the time of the earliest known commentary in 1240 to the
present day.1 Most of these commentarial texts have been composed by priests of the
Shingon school (Shingonshū 真言宗) of esoteric Buddhism (mikkyō 密教), that looks
up to Kūkai as a founding father. While composing commentaries, these scholars
engaged with the insights of their predecessors, echoing their insights, including them
as alternative opinions, or arguing against them. Moreover, some scholars have even
written several commentaries on the Shōjigi, while others dedicated themselves to
writing commentaries on the commentaries. There thus exists, I would suggest, a
Shingon tradition of writing commentarial literature on the Shōjigi. In this thesis, I
present a preliminary investigation of this tradition of Shōjigi explication from a
primarily historical perspective.
The production of commentarial literature, in the jargon called masshaku 未釈,
is an essential part of Shingon’s theoretical studies (kyōso 教相). In line with tradition
Nasu Seiryū has published a modern commentary in 1982 that has become one of the standard
textbooks on the Shōjigi; it was recently reprinted. (Nasu 2011) Another example of a recent
commentary is an unpublished textbook by Ōtsuka Nobuo. (Ōtsuka 2002b)
1
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that has precedents in Indian Buddhism, numerous commentaries have been produced
on all major Shingon scriptures, as well as Kūkai’s major works. It would not be an
exaggeration to say that a substantial segment of Shingon’s scholastic output consists
of such commentarial literature.2 Moreover, other sorts of Shingon texts to large
extent feature similar modes of exegetical explication. As also hinted at by the fact
that authors sometimes produced multiple commentaries on the same text, and that
commentaries were also written on commentaries, the masshaku is an esteemed form
of Shingon scholastic text.
This commentarial literature is fairly well studied in Japanese Shingon
scholarship, but with little attention for the commentary as textual genre with a
specific historical role. Attention for Shingon commentaries in Anglophone
scholarship is sparse.3 The approaches taken to Shōjigi’s commentaries are, I think,
representative of larger tendencies in the academic approach to Shingon commentarial
literature. Henmi Shūhan’s study of Shōjigi, which uses the explanations of traditional
commentators to come to a closer understanding of the original text, is illustrative of
one of the typical approaches taken.4 (Henmi 1957) This method effectively turns
traditional scholars into voices in the academic debate surrounding the Shōjigi.
Another typical approach is to take a single commentary and investigate it with an
interest in its author’s doctrinal stances.5 These are proven methods of which the
usefulness to the researcher is beyond doubt and I have no wish to discount their
This is easy to assess in Sawa’s overview of the various Shingon canons in print: MJ, addendum 8488.
2
3
By exception, Hendrik van der Veere has presented an interesting study on the role of commentarial
literature in the theoretical explanation of the cult of Kūkai-veneration. (van der Veere, 2014)
Others who take this approach are: Tanaka 1967; Nasu 2011; Ōsawa 2013. In a recent article,
Matsunaga Keiji suggests that he will focus on the commentaries in similar fashion during in an
upcoming publication. (Matsunaga K 2014, 69)
4
See for instance Nakamura 1999. Ōtsuka Nobuo has done similar work on commentaries on one of
Kūkai’s other works. (Ōtsuka 2002a)
5
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validity, but I wonder whether it would not be possible to approach this material in a
different way.
In this thesis, I therefore propose to make the commentarial text itself the
focus of study, to look at its functions in the Shingon school and how it facilitates
ongoing commentarial debate on important Shingon texts. Masshaku have been
written in all of the Shingon tradition’s major learning centers and thus reflect distinct
styles of scholarship and different interpretations. As subsequent generations of
scholars priests wrote commentaries on the same text, they stood on the shoulders of
their predecessors and added, by means of accepted exegetical conventions, their own
interpretations to the original text; a tradition. Because of a tradition’s diachronic
nature, this means that commentarial literature provides us with an opportunity to
trace developments in the composition of commentaries, as well as to take inventory
of the interpretational debate itself. Perhaps some careful suggestions to modify the
accepted methodologies may also be made.
It is important to study these developments because they are tightly woven
into the tapestry of Shingon’s historical development. One question that has occupied
researchers for some time now is whether the tradition in its later phases can be
understood accurately solely on the basis of Kūkai’s ideas, or whether practice and
thought in later times also owes debts to subsequent thinkers. In light of recent
insights, it is safe to assume that much of the tradition’s elaborate ritual and doctrinal
repertoires came about through the efforts of those in Kūkai’s footsteps. (van der
Veere 1998, Rambelli 2013) Elsewhere, Hendrik van der Veere has recently argued
convincingly that, much like Shingon’s other forms of scholastic literature,
commentaries are very much part of these innovative efforts to occasionally adjust the
tradition to the demands of the times. (van der Veere 2014) In addition, the very
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existence of exegetical literature suggests that a system of exegesis is present and
functioning. These systems play an integral part in the composition of Shingon
scholastic literature and by studying exegetical texts this system can be observed in
action. Without methodical study of commentarial literature, our understanding of
Shingon’s theoretical pursuits, the subtle interpretational differences between
different denominations of the Shingon tradition, and by extension Shingon’s
historical development, will necessarily remain incomplete.
I find that commentarial texts on Shōjigi present a particularly suitable starting
point for studying Shingon commentarial traditions for a number of reasons. First, the
text is of undisputable importance to both Kūkai’s thought and the theoretical
foundations of the tradition, because it articulates the linguistic theory of shingon 真
言 (Sk. mantra), upon which the tradition’s ritual system is built.6 Studying
commentaries may contribute to our understanding of the Shōjigi itself, albeit this is
only of secondary importance in the present study. Second, the Shōjigi presents
exegetes with a particularly varied set of interpretational challenges: the terminology
is somewhat complicated, there seem to be chapters missing, there are various highly
ambiguous passages, and so on. The work of the commentators also suggests that
although the importance of the text is unanimously recognized, its precise place in the
doctrinal frameworks of the school is rather ambiguous. In addition, a number of
commentaries written by some of the most influential thinkers in the Shingon school
have been made available in print and are easily accessible. These are representatives
For illustrations of the importance of these linguistic notions in Kūkai’s thought, see: Abé 1999,
especially 278-93; Winfield 2013, especially 66-104. For more on the orthodoxy of esoteric ritual and
worldviews during the medieval period, see Kūroda’s much debated yet highly informative theories of
the kenmitsu system. (Kuroda 1996) For a critical assessment of this kenmitsu system in the light of
Kūkai’s thought and the subsequent development of the Shingon tradition, see: Abé 1999, 416-28.
Lastly, for an informative discussion of how esoteric Buddhist notions of language - in particular those
of Kūkai - came to inform kokugaku 国学 linguistic thought during the Edo period, see: Murphy 2009.
6
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of the scholarly approaches of the school’s various scholastic strongholds. And lastly,
as far as I am presently aware, no other treatment of Shōjigi’s commentarial literature
is available in English as of today.
It is perhaps tempting to see the commentary - a text on another text - as
derivative and only of secondary importance, but such a view would not be
historically correct. The commentary is in fact an important type of text in East-Asian
intellectual history at large, held in high esteem in Buddhist, Confucian, Daoist, and
literary circles alike. Though it is still relatively unexplored compared to other
formats of text. (E.g., Gardner 1998; Buswell 2003) In fact, the commentaries on
Shōjigi share much with other commentarial traditions in Asia. The general style of
Shōjigi, which cuts the original text into sentences or short passages and presents
commentarial gloss in classical Chinese for each sentence individually, often
commenting, at length, on each individual term, is observed across these traditions.
(E.g., Boot 2013, 70-97) In a study of Chinese Confucian commentaries, Gardner
calls this style “interlinear” because it breaks up the original text and inserts
commentarial gloss. He has theorized this format to some extent, stating that because
of the interlinear format “a [Confucian] classic, depending on the particular
commentary traveling with it, would take on a different meaning, in a sense becoming
a different text with each different commentary.” (Gardner 1998, 402) Gardner’s
approach is predominantly based on the textual-format of the commentary. Perhaps
the historically oriented focus proposed in this study will allow for some observations
that can contribute to improving his framework. For now, however, I depart from a
premise built on his musings: In the case of Shōjigi, the commentary is a new text that
contains the Shōjigi in its entirety, but through the commentarial gloss presents a
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particular interpretation that is historically informed and built on top of layers of
interpretations by previous generations. Though traditional, it is highly innovative.
The commentarial tradition of Shōjigi has manifold facets that are of equal
importance for coming to a well-balanced picture. To answer the question how
commentators have explained the Shōjigi, the present study develops from the
concrete into the abstract. After a brief prologue (1) that introduces the text Shōjigi
and the necessary terminology, I will present a sketch (2) of the historical backdrop
against which commentarial activity took place. I will then (3) discuss how
contemporary doctrinal questions appear in commentarial literature and (4) attempt to
reconstruct the concrete historical conditions in which the Shōjigi commentaries were
composed. A subsequent (5) exploration of the observations made until then will pave
the way for a (6) brief dip into the commentarial debate itself.
To keep the material manageable within the constraints of the present study, I
have limited the investigation to a selection of commentaries produced from the early
thirteenth to the early fifteenth century. Because this set belongs to a relatively short
period of the commentarial history of Shōjigi and moreover represents only a modest
selection of the literature from that period, the picture will necessarily remain
incomplete. Nevertheless I feel some important observations can be made that can
form the basis further investigation on the Shōjigi commentarial literature from this
period. The commentaries under investigation are, in possible chronological order:

Shōji jissō gi mondō 声字実相義問答 in one volume, author unknown.
Dated 1222.7 (SZ 14, 37-48)
7
The commentary is a record of a debate session that supposedly took place in 1222, but the edition of
the text available to us seems to be a merger of two previous manuscripts that was compiled in 1252.
(SZ 14, 48)
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
B. Winkelman, 0918474
Shōji jissō gi shō kikigaki 声字実相義抄聞書 in two volumes, by Dōhan
道範 (1178-1252). Dated 1240. (SZ 14, 9-36)

Shōji jissō gi kaihi shō 声字実相義開秘鈔 in two volumes, by Raiyu 頼
瑜 (1226-1304). Dated 1280. (SZ 14, 49-114) (1)

Shōji jissō gi gusō 声字実相義愚草 in two volumes, by Raiyu. Dated
1280. (ZSZ 17, 323-418) (2)

Shōji jissō gi kuhitsu 声字実相義口筆 in five volumes, written by Genbō
賢宝 (1333-1398) and taught by Gōhō 杲宝 (1306-1362). Dated 1357
(SZ 14, 115-203)

Shōji jissō gi shō 声字実相義鈔 in three volumes, by Yūkai 宥快 (13451416). Date unknown. (SZ 14, 205-257) (1)

Shōji jissō gi kenshin shō 声字実相義研心鈔 in ten volumes, by Yūkai.
Date unknown. (ZSZ 17, 421-573) (2)
In order to avoid confusion due to the similarity of the titles these works will be
referred to by the names of their respective authors. “First” and “second” will be used
henceforth to distinguish commentaries by Raiyu and Yūkai corresponding to the
order in which they are given in the list above. Where relevant, reference to other
commentarial texts on Shōjigi will be made as well.
Some preliminary observations may be useful. The Shingon tradition places
high value on ritual practice and the verbal transmission. Access to both of these is of
course limited for the present-day academic student, but it is important not to forget
that the texts under discussion here were made to function in such an environment.
This means that one must take into account that texts were likely meant to be
supplemented by oral information. And moreover, that the validity of an interpretation
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could not only be based on scriptural sources, but also on mystical insights.
Moreover, Shingon is an esoteric system where access to secret knowledge is
regulated by means of ritual initiation (kanjō 灌頂) and only shared with members
within the group. Texts contain inferences only properly understood by the group and
may leave obvious or secret matters out of the text because these are supposed known
on the side of the reader. Shōjigi’s commentary is largely limited to the theoretical
domain, which makes the texts accessible in comparison to ritual texts, but it is
nevertheless important to take these observations into account.
During this brief investigation I hope to propose that from at least the
thirteenth century onward, a tradition of commentarial debate on Shōjigi was in
development where commentators interpreted the text, actively connected it to
contemporary concerns, and used commentarial texts to transmit their views to the
next generation. Importantly, this places the composition of commentaries in an oral
environment, which may have consequences for how the study of commentaries
should be studied. Because interpretation happened at different historical moments in
different, competing scholastic institutions, hence there is also normative Shingon
interpretation of the Shōjigi but a variety of interpretations.
In conclusion a brief note on the methodological project underlying this study. In
order to “make sense” of tantric Buddhism in India, Christian Wedemeyer has
recently developed a dual hermeneutical approach were he first deconstructs modern
academic narratives of tantric Buddhism, and then in light of that deconstruction
proposes a re-reading of tantric texts. Key to this double hermeneutic is a move
Wedemeyer refers to as “going native.” He carries out his deconstruction of academic
historical narratives of Tantra by juxtaposing these against the historical narratives
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produced by the tradition itself, i.e., how the tradition has described its history on its
own terms. This sensitivity for the tradition’s own sensibilities, Wedemeyer argues,
opens up the possibility for the re-readings of tantric documents, which comprises the
second step of his hermeneutic. This is a compelling idea, but as I already suggest
earlier, Japanese academics have been incorporating the insights of traditional
commentators for some time already.
Perhaps a similar move to “go native” could be made for Wedemeyer’s second
step of the hermeneutic as well - to use the traditional exegetical tools to read primary
sources. When Wedemeyer carries out his re-reading of tantric passages, he does so
by means of Roland Barthes’ semiotic theories. This leads to important observations,
but I wonder whether it might not be so that deploying Barthes’ semiotic theory as it
is - not intentionally designed to meet the specific sensibilities of premodern tantrism
- cancels out, at least partially, the sensitivity built up during the first step of the
hermeneutic by “going native”. Foregoing the first, deconstructive stage of
Wedemeyer’s double hermeneutic, this study will experiment with “going native” on
the analytical level. That is, to take account of how the tradition has “made sense” of
its own texts while attempting to make sense of the tradition’s texts for academic
purposes.
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1. Prologue: Kūkai’s Shōji jissō gi
Before proceeding with the analysis of the commentarial tradition it may prove useful
to gain some more familiarity with the Shōjigi and the relevant terminology.
The Shōji jissō gi 声字実相義8 is a linguistic treatise in which Kūkai9 explains the
relation between language and reality. More specifically, it explains the concept of
hosshin seppō 法身説法 - the notion that the absolute dharmakāya (hosshin), the
Buddha Dainichi 大日 that plays a central in Kūkai’s views of the cosmos, actively
expounds the Dharma. An important part in that activity is played by shingon 真言
(“true speech”, Sk. mantra), a form of speech capable of speaking the truth as it is and
in its totality (nyogi gonsetsu 如義言説).
This notion of hosshin seppō is one of the primary points at which Kūkai
differentiated his own esoteric teachings (mikkyō) from the exoteric teachings (kengyō
顕教) of his contemporaries. The exoteric teachings, he claimed, upheld a
conceptualization of the dharmakāya that taught that it was absolute, immobile,
formless, and beyond language. In response to this Kūkai advanced, on the basis of
substantial scriptural evidence, thesis that hosshin does in fact have activities and
form. Moreover, the hosshin communicates the Dharma by linguistic means.10
8
There have been a number of attempts to translate the text into other language. Hakeda prepared the
first English edition of the text, but omitted its most technical sections. (Hakeda 1973, 234-46)
Kawahara and Jobst have presented an informative and annotated German translation of the text.
(Kawahara & Jobst 1992, 53-81) Abé has translated and discussed selections from the text. (Abé 1999,
278-88) Nasu has prepared what is probably the best modern annotated commentary on Shōjigi. (Nasu
2011) Ōtsuka has written a textbook on Shōjigi (Ōtsuka 2002b) and Katsumata has also prepared an
annotated version of the text (KCZ 1, 59-76).
For more on Kūkai, his life, and his thought, see: Katsumata 1970; Hakeda 1972; Abé 2005; Fujii
2008; Katō 2012; Ōsawa 2013.
9
Kūkai advanced this point explicitly and provided evidence for it in Benkenmitsu nikyōron 弁顕密二
教論 (KZ 1, 474-505). As evidence he pointed to a number of sutras already known in Japan before his
10
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Kūkai’s argument is rooted in a dual/a-dual view on the world where the
absolute exists both beyond duality (a-dual), but at the same time within duality. This
idea can be summarized in the expression nini funi 二而不二; “two, but not two,” or
rather “distinct, but not different.” Though the conditioned and absolute worlds may
seem different and separate, they are in fact both part of reality. The sentient being, in
its present form, is already the Buddha (sokushin jōbutsu 即身成仏). By extension,
the activities, forms, and communication of the phenomenal world themselves are
those of the hosshin, these comprise the true teaching. In Shōjigi Kūkai describes how
one can make this teaching - always right in front of us, provided that one knows how
to gain access to it - discernable.
Shōjigi’s precise date of composition is unknown, academic discussion places
its composition somewhere between 815 and 825. The studies of both Nasu and
Katsumata have refrained from making comments on the texts dating. (Nasu 2011;
KCZ 1: 579) Based on the content of the Shōjigi, Matsunaga Yūkei places both
Sokushin jōbutsu gi 即身成仏義 (hereafter Sokushingi, KZ 1, 506-520) and Shōjigi in
the second period of the development of Kūkai’s thought, during which he “solidified
the logical structure of the esoteric teachings and actively propagated its unique
qualities.” This period lasted from about 816 to around 826. (Matsunaga Y 2013, 70)
The earliest dating is that of Fujii, who judges on the basis of the development
of Kūkai’s thought that Shōjigi must have been written sometime between 815 and
818. This is because the Shōjigi clearly predates a shift in posture vis-à-vis other
schools between that occurred between 818 and 821. (Fujii 2008, 137-38) Toward the
time - notably the Nehankyō 涅槃経 (T374 12) and the Ryōgakyō 楞伽経 (Sk. Laṅkāvatāra sutra,
T671 16). Though Kūkai may have claimed that the “exoteric” teachings did not recognize that the
hosshin expounds the Dharma, Fujii has pointed out that some of Kūkai’s predecessors among the Nara
schools, notably those belonging to the sanron study group 三論宗, had in fact already acknowledged
the possibility. (Fujii 2008, 209-234)
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other extreme we find Katsumata’s vicarious dating made in another of his
publications. (Katsumata 1970, 153-54) He observes that Shōjigi contains citations of
Sokushingi, suggesting that it was composed later. Since Sokushingi may have been
written as late as 825-6, this would make the composition of Shōjigi even later than
that. However, some doubt has been cast on the authenticity of the Sokushingi
citations found in Shōjigi. (Fujii 2008, 343-44) Traditional commentators have also
discussed the dating of the Shōjigi (E.g., Yūkai, SZ 14, 205-206), but facing the same
lack of evidence they have only suggested a relative dating, placing the Shōjigi’s
composition after that of Sokushingi and before Kongōchōgyō kaidai 金剛頂経開題
(KCZ 2, 256-278). On the basis of the evidence currently available it is difficult to
make a definite determination as to the dating of the Shōjigi.
The structure of the Shōjigi is very clear, and so is that of its argument. The
first chapter of the text consists of an introduction that summarizes its main point.
Chapter two is divided in a shorter section that explicates the title and a significantly
longer section containing the main argument. The main argument unfolds as a lineby-line interpretation of the verses of a poem in which Kūkai distilled his argument.
Though the table of contents at the beginning of the work lists a question-and-answer
(mondō 問答) section as third chapter, the text cuts off abruptly after chapter two.
This “missing mondō” has become a matter of commentarial debate, which
formulated a number of different theories.11
The elaboration of hosshin seppō in Shōjigi focuses not so much on the
activity itself, but on the “substance of the teaching” (kyōtai 教體) that is
11
The explanation in Yūkai’s first commentary is particularly lucid. (SZ 14, 208)
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expounded.12 The consensus of the contemporary kyōtai discourse held that this
substance was formed by the elements of language, which were considered to be
provisional dharmas (kehō 仮法), and thus not capable of containing the truth. Hence
both the teaching and its substance were provisional means that pointed to an abstract
absolute which defied all means of linguistic expression. In Shōjigi Kūkai unfolds a
very different picture, where the hosshin itself is the substance of the teaching. The
teaching is the literal expression of the truth, which is embodied by the hosshin.
Therefore the activity of seppō goes far beyond the notion of oral teaching in
Kūkai’s ritual cosmos. Though “oral teaching“ might symbolically still work when
hosshin is seen as a human figure in the form of Dainichi, this would not suffice for
the view of hosshin as the complex of the six elements (rokudai 六大體大) , which
Kūkai posited as the substance of all existence in his Sokushingi. Rather this seppō is
the hosshin’s unceasing communicative activity in all its facets, which is not limited
to but includes language and falls within the three mysterious activities of the hosshin
(sanmitsu 三密).13 Kūkai explains in Shōjigi that this activity takes place in all six
fields of sensory perception (rikujin 六塵14), where it unfolds the objective world and
makes it intelligible. Hosshin seppō is thus the manifesting of the truth itself, the
12
The discussion over the substance of the teaching is one of the vehicles of Buddhist linguistic
speculation. I would suggest that Kūkai’s linguistics also ought to be seen in light of similar concerns.
His point is not to describe language out of an academic or philosophical interest, but out of an interest
what can subsequently be done with language in the ritual setting. Commentator Gōhō, as well as Nasu
and Henmi, have done valuable work to embed Kūkai in the larger kyōtai debate. (SZ 14, 116-119;
Henmi 1975; Nasu 2011, 6-7)
13
All things in existence, Buddha or otherwise, are endowed with the three mysterious activities of
body (shinmitsu 身密), speech (kumitsu 口密), and mind (imitsu 意密). By synchronizing his activities
to that of the deity (sanmitsu kaji 三密加持), the Shingon practitioner can during the ritual
performance realize the state of oneness with the deity (sokushin jōbutsu).
14
The six defiled worlds of perception form consist of the objects of perception and are often also
referred to as the rokkyō 六境 (“six domains”). These are: forms (shiki kyō 色境), sound (shōkyō 声境),
smells (kōkyō 香境), tastes (mikyō 味境), tactile objects (sokukyō 触境), and objects of thought (hōkyō
法境). Most commentators suggest that Kūkai chose to use rikujin because jin 塵 can mean dirt,
suggest that their observation defiles the mind or that they are perceived from the point of view of the
unenlightened mind.
17
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B. Winkelman, 0918474
teaching, in material form. Because the hosshin is co-extant with the universe, this
means that in the activity of seppō the hosshin “unfolds” its own body, the reality that
is its teaching. Because every object of sensory perception partakes in this activity,
teaching is perfectly plain and apparent, right in front of one’s eyes (or nose),
provided that one knows how to look (or listen).
Shōjigi develops its linguistic argument through exegesis of the term that
makes up its title: shōji jissō 声字実相. This expression can be divided into three: shō
声, ji 字, and jissō 実相.15 It can be traced back to a passage in the commentary on the
Dainichikyō 大日経, on of the main Shingon scriptures.16 Traditional commentators
oddly enough discuss Kūkai’s linguistic theory at length in the framework of
contemporary “exoteric” linguistic debate on the kyōtai, they have generally made
little effort to contextualize it in the linguistic notions of the Dainichikyō(sho), though
this is clearly where Kūkai drew most of his inspiration from.17 Through the
Dainichikyō Indian notions of language seeped into Kūkai’s interpretation, though it
is also informed by Chinese linguistic ideas.18
Shō 声 in the conventional linguistic sense means “voice” but is in Buddhist
discourse on the sensory worlds used in the sense of “sound,” where it generally
refers to all sound perceived. (Henmi 1957, 63-68) Raiyu and some other
commentators have read the shō in shōji jissō as referring the world of sound, the
Some commentators say it can be divided into four as well by making shōji an additional compound
concept of shō and ji. (KDZ 1, 585)
15
Dōhan points this out in his commentary on the Shōjigi. (SZ 14, 9a) The relevant passages in the
Dainichikyō and the commentary are: T0848 18, 10b & T1796 39, 657 respectively. The commentary
referred to is the Dainichikyōshō 大日経疏 by Zenmui 善無畏 (Sk. Śubhakarasiṃha, 637-735) and
Ichigyō 一行 (Ch. Yī Xíng, 683-727) and is of such importance to Shingon that study of the
Dainichikyō usually means study of this commentary. For an easy introduction to Shingon’s most
important scriptures, see: Sakaki & Honda 2009; Miyasaka 2011.
16
17
Henmi Shūhan observed this as well. (Henmi 1957, 72a)
Matsunaga Keiji has discusses the impact of Chinese linguistics on Kūkai’s use of the term myō 名,
particularly as it is deployed in the Shōjigi. (Matsunaga K 2014)
18
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B. Winkelman, 0918474
domain of one of the six senses. Shō is then the assembled body of all sounds heard in
the universe, as well as each individual sound. Others, notably Dōhan, have
conceptualized the shō somewhat differently, as the quality of speech of Dainichi
from which the whole universe unfolds. This means that this shō is contained in all
things, though not necessarily manifest as sound.19 I find that Dōhan seems to
approach Kūkai’s explanation most accurately. Kūkai explains that all objects (the
monji) in all six sensory fields contain shō, even scents and visual forms, because they
are manifest forms (functions) of the shō (substance).20 This is in line with the
cosmology of the Dainichikyō, where the world unfolds from Dainichi’s speech.
Each manifest shō has the function of signifying a certain meaning, which
Kūkai calls ji 字. Reading ji 字 in the conventional sense of “character” which is used
in, for instance “Chinese character (kanji 漢字)”, does not suffice within such a
framework; it is too limited. That shō can signify a certain meaning is predicated on
mon 文 (sometimes read as aya) or patterns that make on one manifest form of the
shō different from others. E.g., though “A” and “B” are both manifest forms of shō
that signify meaning (shōji), the distinct meanings that they signify is owing to the
differences (shabetsu) between the patterns that constitute their form. These patterns
and the signifying property are not separate from each other, claims Kūkai, hence
Kūkai claims that mon equals ji, which leads to monji 文字. There is thus a particular
signifying function (and signified meaning) for every pattern. The term monji is
conventionally used to denote characters of a written form (moji 文字), but once
19
Some academic authors have pointed out that this is bears interesting parallels to Indian notions of
śabda that hold that Voice is an absolute, transcendent utterance that is contained within all phenomena
and is made manifest by the act of speech. (Shitamura 1982, 33; Rambelli 85-86)
Kūkai explains this substance-function relation for sound specifically in the exegesis of the first line
of his poem. (KZ1, 524-25)
20
19
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again such a translation would not be appropriate.21 (Though written characters are
instances of Kūkai’s concept of monji) Smells are not written characters. Or rather
they are, but they are not instantly recognizable as such. In Kūkai’s framework, a
tentative translation like “specific pattern signifying a certain meaning” for monji
would be more suitable. Because the manifest form is not different from its substance,
Kūkai claims that shō corresponds directly to ji; they are the same.22
The meaning that shō signifies in manifest form is jissō 実相, the truth or
literally “true aspect”. Kūkai identifies this jissō as hosshin. (KZ 1, 524) Because
reality contains both the phenomenal world, the passions, and the absolute in its nonmanifest, this leads Kūkai to the conclusion that it must be so that shō in its manifest,
signifying form (shōji) corresponds to the truth it expresses because it embodies it:
shōji are jissō. And though shōji express specific meanings, these are in the end
qualities of hosshin. In the end, all monji or objects in phenomenal existence thus
refer to hosshin; they are symbols (hyōji 幖幟) of Dainichi that constitute both his
body and his teaching. The hyōji is then a rather peculiar kind of symbol. In contrast
to certain other theories of signs, where symbols refer to something different and
removed, the monji refer to something of which they themselves are inherently part.
I would like to close with a short disclaimer. The view of Shōjigi I have presented
here does not conform to that of the traditional commentators because there is no
correct and normative interpretation of the text. My translations for the technical
terms are based on my own interpretive choices. Traditional interpreters have made
Rambelli has discussed Kūkai’s concept of monji and how it is discussed in Shōjigi in some detail.
Though I do not fully agree with him, he makes some very valid observations. (Rambelli 1994)
21
Henmi has dedicated article to a detailed discussion of Kūkai’s concept of shōji against the backdrop
of the “traditional” Buddhist linguistics of Kusharon 倶舎論 and Yugaron 瑜伽論, as well as that of
the Dainichikyō and Ichigyō’s commentary. (Henmi 1953)
22
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different choices and hence their explanations of the terms require different
translations. In order to make sure that as little as possible is lost in translation and to
refrain from forcing particular views onto the commentarial texts, I will henceforth
refrain from translating important conceptual terms such as shō.
21
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2. Tide of the Times: Commentaries in Historical Context
Before dipping into the commentarial literature itself I think it will be informative to
explore the historical developments that form the background against which the
tradition of Shōjigi commentary developed between the thirteenth and early fifteenth
centuries.
Proliferation, Revitalization, and the Construction of Kūkai as Founder of Shingon
The production of commentaries and other scholastic texts belongs to the theoretical
pursuits (kyōsō) of Shingon, interest in which initially waned after Kūkai’s death.
Probably owing largely to a more pronounced interest in the ritual practical side of
things (jissō 事相), this resulted in a significant drop in scholastic output.
There was, for instance, no formulated response from the Shingon side to critical
voices in the Tendai tradition that pointed out a number of aporia in Kūkai’s writing.
(Kushida 1964, 144; van der Veere 1998, 73-74) The large-scale Dharma lectures
(denbōe 伝法会), set up at the Tōji 東寺 temple and on Mt. Kōya (Kōyasan 高野山) two influential Shingon monastic centers - by Kūkai’s immediate disciples in
accordance with his wishes, also came to a stop within the first few decades after his
demise. This is not to say that all scholastic activity was abandoned, but that there was
a diminished of interest to systemically produce, on a large scale, scholarship
addressing the whole gamut of doctrinal topics.
During this period of diminished interest in theoretical pursuits, emphasis lay
primarily on providing ritual services for the protection of the state (chingo kokka 鎮
護国家) and assuring practical benefits in the present world (genze riyaku 現世利益)
at both the collective and individual levels. The lack of a single institutional center
and absence of an overarching doctrinal authority - a situation that characterizes the
22
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entire history of the Shingon tradition into the present day - facilitated the
proliferation of numerous ritual lineages (ryūha 流派) that, though very different,
collectively came to be referred to as Shingon. As these lineages settled around
different monastic centers, increased amounts of divergence developed in the details
of ritual practice, as well as the accompanying interpretations. The two most
important groups are the onoryū 小野流 and the hirosawaryū 広沢流, which
developed around the organizations of the Daigōji temple 醍醐寺 and Ninnaji 仁和寺
temple respectively, but others exist as well.23 These groups consist of many sublineages. As certain monastic centers, such as Ninnaji, gained influence, others fell
behind. Mt. Kōya, that had been so important during Kūkai’s time for instance, fell
into disrepair.
The revitalization of theoretical pursuits was brought about roughly three
centuries after Kūkai’s time, in the early twelfth century, by the efforts of priests such
as Kakuban 覚鑁 (1095-1144). These reformers operated in what is generally
described as a time of upheaval and great change; a time of both decline and
creativity. Violence burst loose as the governmental order began to come apart and a
new one began the rise to power, cultural values transformed, and great changes
occurred in the ritual landscape occurred as well. (Bowring 2005, 217-266) Against
this background, one of Kakuban’s aims was to restore the Shingon tradition to what
he thought had been Kūkai’s original vision of it. For one, he sought initiations into as
many ritual lineages as possible to reconstruct the genuine, original esoteric lineage.
But his effort at restoration also inspired him to bring the long underappreciated
theoretical pursuits back into the picture, though not to the extent that it diminished
For a detailed overview of the many lineages, when they developed, and how the “traditional”
division schemes of these lineages were developed, see: Koda 2003.
23
23
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B. Winkelman, 0918474
the importance of jisō. (Van der Veere 1998) Kakuban’s scholastic work (kyōgaku 教
学) systematically treated a wide array of matters and attempted to tie up the loose
ends left by Kūkai. Aside from this, his scholarship also reacted to new developments,
such as then upcoming Amida nenbutsu 阿弥陀念仏 practices.
As part of this theoretical revival, Kakuban also reinstated of a system of
regular denbōe lectures where eminent scholars - among whom he himself - would
teach multiple-day seminars on Shingon doctrine and ritual at a large scale.24 The
success of such efforts can be glanced from the renewed interest in scholarship in
various other Shingon centers, as well as the development of similar seminar-like
systems. As far as these restorative efforts are concerned, Kakuban is perhaps best
remembered because he was so successful, but he is a figure representative of a larger
restorative movement.25
In light of out interest in commentarial literature specifically, this may be a
good time for a brief look at Tomabechi Seiichi’s work on how Kūkai’s works
became object of exegesis. (Tomabechi 2010) According to Tomabechi, it is also
around Kakuban’s time that Kūkai’s status as founder of the Shingon school had
become consolidated. While this already gave his writings a certain status, the
concurrent construction of Kūkai as Bodhisattva, which made him an object of
veneration, imbued his writings with even more value. Seen as the utterances of a
Bodhisattva, suggests Tomabechi, Kūkai’s writings began to be construed as texts on
par the sutras and treatises on which Kūkai had based his interpretations. (Tomabechi
For more on Kakuban’s denbōe and which topics were discussed see: Shinpo 1992, 102-3; Van der
Veere 2007, 606-7.
24
Kakuban’s master Kanjo 寛助 (1057-1125) also took an interest in the restoration of Mt. Kōya and
made efforts to organize denbōe. (Van der Veere 2007, 602) See also Marc Buijnsters’ study of
Jichihan 実範 (ca. 1088-1144). (Buijnsters 1999) For more on developments in Shingon at large during
this time period, see: Kushida 1964, especially 105-733; Kushida 1979, especially 65-585.
25
24
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B. Winkelman, 0918474
2010, 42) Though I am somewhat reluctant to follow Tomabechi as far to suggest
that this may have come about because his writings were by this time seen as the
words of a Bodhisattva, I agree with him that the fact that Kūkai’s writings had by
this time attained a certain status may have been a motivation for exegetical practices.
The World of Medieval Shingon Doctrinal Studies
The revitalizing efforts of Kakuban and his contemporaries were successful and
inspired developments in doctrinal scholarship and lecture-initiatives at various
monastic centers. During the two hundred years between Dōhan and Yūkai a
significant number of Shingon scholars devoted themselves to doctrinal studies and
exerted themselves to build up and develop institutions of scholastic learning that
could compete with each other and those of other schools. Meanwhile, a new state
order came to power and consolidated its grip, accompanied by the rise of what
Kuroda Toshio has called an orthodoxy of ritual power centers (kenmitsu taisei 顕密
体制) that was framed by an esoteric worldview. (Kuroda 1996) Concurrently, the
continuing rise in popularity of Amida nenbutsu gave rise to new organizations, while
newer movements such as Zen and that of Nichiren 日蓮 (1222-1282) also appeared
on the scene.26 The period is also known as a time of intense debate in Japan’s ritual
landscape, as theories on inherent enlightenment (hongaku 本覚) and notions of
indigenous kami 神 as manifestations of Buddha’s (honji suijaku 本地垂迹) had
taken hold and were developed further. (Stone 1995; Teeuwen & Rambelli 2003)
During this period, the division of priests that occupied itself with theoretical
studies (gakusō 学僧, gakuryo 学侶) formed a relative minority among the Shingon
26
For an expansive overview of these developments see: Bowring 2005, especially parts III. For more
detailed discussion of developments within the Shingon school specifically, see: Kushida 1964,
especially 105-733; Kushida 1979, especially 65-585.
25
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B. Winkelman, 0918474
clergy, which also consisting of itinerant priests, worker priests, and so on. (Rambelli
2014, 28) Though the precise organizational structures differed depending on
scholastic institution and historical moment, there were, as in most educational
systems, both academic and administrative hierarchies in place. There were teachers
and students of varying degrees, from beginners to advanced levels. Particularly
competent teachers were often made headmasters (gakutō 学頭) - oftentimes there
were two at one learning center - and put in charge of the curriculum, the
administration of the educational institute. Gakutō also regularly delivered lectures.
(Toganoo 1982b, 356-367; MDJ, 204, 230)
The various scholar priests whose Shōjigi commentaries we are investigating
here operated from various such scholastic institutions. During the time of their
Shōjigi commentaries they moved among the higher ranks of the scholar priests, being
or becoming headmasters of their respective institutions. Their work is widely praised
in Shingon scholasticism and as any historical overview of the Shingon tradition will
quickly show, they constitute an important presence in the tradition’s historical
development. (E.g., Kushida 1964; 1974)
Dōhan, to begin with, operated from the Shōchiin 正智院 on Mt. Kōya.
Initiated into the chūinryū 中院流 lineages, his Shingon scholarship is largely
inspired by the ideas of Kakukai 覚海 (1142-1223), another prominent scholar on Mt.
Kōya Dōhan studied under. Besides this, Dōhan is also well known for his active
interest in practices on the kōmyō shingon 光明真言 and Amida’s nenbutsu. He is
considered a member of the esoteric nenbutsu (himitsu nenbutsu 秘密念仏)
movement and in his ideas about the nenbutsu drew inspiration from the work of
previous esoteric thinkers such as his master Jōhen 静遍 (1166-1224), Jichihan, and
26
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B. Winkelman, 0918474
Kakuban. Saliently, there are hardly any traces of Dōhan’s nenbutsu ideas to be found
in his in his Shōjigi commentary. That is, despite that fact that he did perceive a
connection between the two, as is clearly seen when he deploys Shōjigi to explain the
nenbutsu in his Himitsu shū nenbutsu shō 秘密宗念仏鈔, (DBZ 43, 53c-54a).
(Kushida 1964, 168, 213-219; Sanford 1994; Buijnsters 1999; Satō 1999; Satō 2001)
Raiyu 頼瑜 (1226-1304), heir to the sanbōinryū 三宝院流, operated first from
Mt. Kōya, but left for Mt. Negoro (Negorosan 根来三) after conflict with other
factions on the mountain. He is widely praised and looked up to as the founder of
shingi Shingon 新義真言 (litt. “new interpretation Shingon), a faction that developed
from his time on alongside its counterpart, the faction of kogi Shingon 古義真言 (litt.
“old interpretation Shingon”).27 A debate about the teacher of the Dainichikyō became
one of the main doctrinal points on which the two factions would differentiate, and
the theory upheld by the shingi side is attributed to Raiyu. The matter revolves around
the question whether it is the honjihosshin 本地法身 (“original base dharmakāya) or
the kajihosshin 加持法身 (dharmakāya in communication with sentient beings) that
teaches the Dainichikyō. Raiyu suggests that it is the kaji-body that expounds the
Dharma, while kogi Shingon holds that it is the honji-body. We will return to this
matter later.28
Gōhō and his closest disciple Genbō were active at the Tōji 東寺 in present
day Kyōto, they belonged to the sanbōinryū 三宝院流. (MDJ, 530-31) Together with
Gōhō’s master Raihō 頼宝 (1279-1330?), they have retrospectively become known as
Kiyota Minoru has described the development of these two factions as a “schism” in the tradition,
but this would presume that there was a single united tradition to begin with. (Kiyota 1978, 76)
27
28
For more on Raiyu, I recommend this volume of collected essays that was published to
commemorate the seven hundredth anniversary of his passing: San ha gōdō kinenron shūhen shūi’in
kai, 2002.
27
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B. Winkelman, 0918474
the “three jewels” (sanbō 三宝) of the Tōji since their names end in the character for
jewel: hō 宝. All three became headmasters of the Tōji and worked in rapid
succession to re-consolidate the tradition its tradition of theoretical learning,
producing an astounding amount of scholastic works.29 Gōhō carried on the efforts
initiated by his master Raihō, while Genbō worked to finish what Gōhō had left
undone, even finishing some of his master’s writings. Gōhō’s scholastic work work is
meticulous and characterized by moments where he explicitly provides his personal
opinion on the matter under discussion. Some research has been done on Gōhō’s
posture towards Zen Buddhism, rising in prominence at the time, in a number of his
writings. (E.g., Chiba 1994)
According to Kushida, Genbō’s scholarship was very much along the lines of
that of Gōhō and he tied up many of his master’s doctrinal loose ends. Typical for his
scholarship, but also his master, is a text-critical approach that insisted on determining
the correct readings of terms and their efforts to reconstruct texts by comparing
different manuscripts. (Kushida 1979, 337-49) Genbō studied under Gōhō from at
least the age of fifteen and the two became very close both professionally and
personally. Gōhō’s was a sickly man and during his episodes, Genbō would regularly
fill in as lecturer. At other times, when Gōhō did lecture, Genbō would take notes and
they would together annotate these notes into commentarial texts.
With Yūkai we find ourselves back on Mt. Kōya about a century after
Dōhan’s time, in the presence of a scholar known for the polemical nature of his
work.30 Though first initiated in the chūinryū, also had initiations in the sanbōinryū,
Kushida provides a lists of Gōhō’s works (Kushida 1979, 317-323), while his footnotes citing a great
number Genbō’s texts give a sense of his respective scholastic productivity (Kushida 1979, 327, 33332, 340).
29
30
For more on Yūkai, see the work of Rinzan and Kanayama. Rinzan 2005;2007; Kanayama 1973,
542-600.
28
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B. Winkelman, 0918474
saiinryū 西院流, and jimyōinryū 持明院流. (MDJ 2192) Yūkai not only criticized his
contemporary Chōkaku 長覚 (1340-1416), another scholar on Kōyasan, but also his
predecessors in Kōya-scholasticism, Dōhan and Jōhen. (Rinzan 2007, 107) His
polemics also targeted the Tachikawa ritual lineage (tachikawa ryū 立川流),
criticizing in a text called Hōkyōshō 宝鏡鈔 that it practiced on an incorrect
interpretation of the Shingon maxim bonnō soku bodai we have already encountered.
(Rinzan 2005, 178)31 These observations run the risk, however, of misrepresenting
him and his scholarship. His commentaries on Shōjigi are insightful and when he
criticizes the interpretations of other scholars, his alternatives are well founded and
convincingly argued. Yūkai is also known for having formulated a systematized kogi
Shingon reply to Raiyu’s kaji-body theory, which almost ironically suggests that the
“old” kogi Shingon interpretation may plausibly be more recent than that of “new”
shingi Shingon (Takagami 1989, 155)
While sketching the historical background against which our Shōjigi
commentarial literature was written I have also made some observations on the
possible functions such texts may have performed in the tradition. Besides explaining
the meaning of a text that had perhaps become difficult to comprehend due to the
changing of the times - certainly one of the primary concerns - commentaries were
produced as part of a theoretical practice that met the demands of the times. In the
face of increasing competition over ritual clientele, owing partially to the large
number of esoteric ritual lineages and the rise of new movements, doctrinal studies
It is perhaps partially owing to Yūkai love of polemics that the Tachikawa lineage is now generally
stigmatized as a “heretical movement” and researched as such. Yūkai dismissed another contemporary
of his, Yūhan 宥範, for being “heretical” as well because he was too interested in Tendai ideas.
(Rinzan 2007, 111)
31
29
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provided a means to make sense of the situation and explain the superior ritual
efficacy of one’s own ritual center. More specifically, by the study of doctrine it was
possible to articulate and justify differences in ritual practices, as well as to
differentiate that praxis from practices of other groups.
The status and authority of Kūkai’s writings made it possible to do this with
the works of the tradition’s “founder” as well. Commentaries allowed the explicator
to advance an interpretation of an important text and explain the differences between
the interpretation of his group and those. Moreover, the fact that rivaling scholastic
groups sought their legitimacy in Kūkai’s writings may very well have provided an
additional incentive for others to do so as well. Because various center of learning
composed commentaries on Shōjigi, different transmissions of Shōjigi interpretation
were developed that actively reacted to eachother.
But how do such concerns surface in the Shōjigi commentaries? I will explore
this in the next chapter by means of two examples.
3. Raiyu’s kaji-body and the language of Zen
In order to explore how “sectarian” concerns and disagreement over doctrinal
interpretations not directly related to Shōjigi are brought into the commentarial
literature, this chapter shall discuss two informative exegetical passages. One is taken
from Raiyu’s first commentary, where he takes advantage of the opportunity offered
to express his views of the Dharma exposition of the kaji-body. The other is taken
from Dōhan’s commentary and attempts to adjust Shōjigi ideas so that they
accommodate popular claims made by Zen movements.
New versus “Old”: The honji-kaji debate
30
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B. Winkelman, 0918474
As already mentioned Raiyu, and the Shingi faction in his wake, upheld the theory
that the exposition of the Dharma is carried out by the kaji-body and not the honjibody. When the term kaji occurs in the Shōjigi, Raiyu’s first commentary jumps at the
chance to use this “new” theory in order to explain what Kūkai means to say. This
both explains Kūkai’s text and constructs legitimacy for Raiyu’s interpretation
because it is in accord. Raiyu writes:
“[Shōjigi says:] Hence the kaji 加持 of the nyorai 如来 shows a way to return
to that domain.
[...]
Now, this kaji here is the kaji of the dharma form in its essential nature
(jishō 自性). It is not the kaji of the juyū 受用 form and so on. [...] The
point (i 意) of this is that in the state (i 位) of fundamental inner
enlightenment (honji jishō 本地自證), there is no exposition of the
Dharma. Hence, [the Buddha] here abides in the kaji-body and points
out the way to return to that domain. Hence is it says later [in Shōjigi]
that “Dainichi nyorai expounds the meaning of shōji jissō.”
Moreover, part three of the commentary on the Dainichikyō
says “however, because it is by means of his kaji power (kajiriki 加持
力), that the form (shin 身) of the eight-petalled lotus of the taizō 胎蔵
manifests from the virtue of the Buddha’s state of inner enlightenment
(bodai jishō 菩提自證).”32
32
The passage comes from: T1796 39, 610b.
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Moreover, my commentary on the commentary on the
Dainichikyō says: “The kaji-body is the deity that appears on the lotus
in the middle of the mandara. This one is also called the Buddha who
is endowed with the paths (dō 道) of the various jimon 字門. Hence we
also call him the endowed kaji body (gukajishin 具加持身)”33
The point (i 意) of these [two quotes] is that in the state of
fundamental inner enlightenment, there is no exposition of the dharma.
And hence, when it says now that “the kaji 加持 of the nyorai 如来
shows a way to return to that domain,” it refers to the Buddha who is
endowed with the paths (dō 道) of the various jimon 字門. This is the
kaji-body that can be seen in the juyū forms and so on. The kaji form
in its essential nature is the comprehensive body [that contains
everything] and hence it is called the endowed kaji body.
Because of this, the Dainichikyō says: “Because it is by the
power of kaji, that the [the nyorai] teaches by means of monji in order
to make all the different worlds cross over [to the domain of
enlightenment.]”34 This is the point!
(SZ 14, 53-54)
This quote, albeit somewhat lengthy, clearly articulates Raiyu’s theory of the
preaching kaji-body on the basis of evidence drawn from the scriptures, as well as one
of his own commentaries thereon. The kaji of the nyorai in Shōjigi, he says, must
refer to the kaji-body, because that is the one that expounds the Dharma. In order
Raiyu here refers to a sentence in his own commentary on the commentary on the Dainichikyō, the
Dainichikyōsho shishinshō 大日経疏指心鈔. T2217 59, 600a.
33
34
The passage comes from: T0848 18, 9b.
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prove this he produces a quote from the Dainichikyō as evidence of kajishin seppō
that happens to mention the monji so important in Shōjigi’s discussion as well. This
emphasizes that Raiyu’s interpretation is in accordance with the Shōjigi.
In order obtain a clearer view of how Raiyu here advances a doctrinal stance
that is distinctive, it may be informative to take a look at the basic problems from
which was theory derived. First, there is discussion over the nature of the teacher,
kyōshu 教主, of the Dainichikyō as it is explained in the commentary. Whereas it can
in certain instances be read as suggesting that the honji-hosshin (“Dharma body of the
original state”) expounds the sutra, other passages suggest that the teacher is the kajishin (i.e., the body that manifests to communicate with sentient beings). Two
solutions are thus possible and Raiyu selected the kaji-body.
The disagreement over the teacher of the Dainichikyō would perhaps not have
become such a point of contention had Kūkai written about it, but he did not. Kūkai
had proposed a theory of a fourfold Buddha body (shishuhosshin 四種法身) based on
the dharmakāya’s activities in different functions. There is the jishō hosshin 自性法
身 (“original nature form”), that is the body of the Dharma world (hokkai 法界, Sk.
dharmadhātu) residing in the state of samadhi that characterizes all existence. Then
there is the juyū hosshin 受用法身, that knows two aspects. As ji juyū hosshin 自受
用法身 (“self-receiving function form”) it expresses the Dharma for its own
enjoyment, while as ta juyū hosshin 他受用法身 (“other receiving function form”) it
expounds the Dharma for the sake of others. As third, there is a “transformation form”
(henge hosshin 変化法身) that expounds the Dharma in historical environments such
as the human world. And lastly there is the tōru hosshin 等流法身 (“equal outflowing
form”) that is comprised of all phenomena and sentient beings as manifestations of
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hosshin. The problem in light of the kyōshu-problem of the Dainichikyō is that Kūkai
had stated explicitly that the jishō hosshin is the ultimate teacher of the Dharma, but
had not equated his fourfold scheme to the twofold scheme of the Dainichikyō.35
The question for Raiyu and his contemporaries thus became how the kaji-body
and honji-body relate to Kūkai’s fourfold body theory. And this is exactly what we
see explained in the quote from Raiyu’s first Shōjigi commentary. Raiyu proposes a
solution where Kūkai’s jishō hosshin has the aspects of both the honji-body and the
kaji-body. Though as honji-body it does not directly teach, the jishō hosshin manifests
a kaji-body and then unfolds the teaching. And this kaji-body is the Dainichi at the
center of the two mandara from which all three other forms in Kūkai’s scheme arise.
Hence, “the kaji form in its essential nature is the comprehensive body [that contains
everything] and hence it is called the endowed kaji body.” (SZ 14, 53) This
corresponds to the shingi-Shingon view.
The kogi-Shingon view holds that the jishō hosshin corresponds only to the
Dainichikyō’s honji-body, and that this body provides the basis from which the other
three forms arise directly as kaji-bodies. Such a view clearly cannot be reconciled
with the above quote from Raiyu’s commentary. To say it in the more concrete terms
that Raiyu also uses: this means that the Dainichi on the central dais of the lotus in the
taizō-mandara 胎蔵曼荼羅 is in Raiyu’s view the kaji-form of the Buddha, it is in the
kogi-Shingon interpretation the jishō hosshin. In both cases the functional relation
between the central Dainichi and the other Buddhas is the same: the Dainichi is the
total form (sōtai 総體) that encompasses the others. Nevertheless, this very subtle
difference in terminology became one of the fundamental interpretational differences
Later thinkers, such as Donjaku 曇寂 (1674-1742) and Hōjū 法住 (1723-1800), have make attempts
to synthesize the two views, but these ideas did not find much resonance among their contemporaries.
For further discussion of this issue and the surrounding debate, see: Sakaki & Honda 2009, 184;
Takagami 1989, 151-174.
35
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upon which the kogi-shingon and shingi-shingon factions would predicate their
sectarian distinction.
Raiyu clearly takes advantage of the opportunity offered by the occurrence of
the term “nyorai kaji” in the Shōjigi to push forward his own interpretation on a
matter and seek legitimacy in one of Kūkai’s writings. By contrast, Dōhan’s earlier
commentary makes no remark on the term. Yūkai, though known for having
formulated the kogi response most systematically, does not bring it up either. In a
much later commentary, the priest Shūkai 周海(?-1789) a shingi priest of the busanha 豊山派 does and he follows Raiyu’s explanation by even quoting from that
commentary. (SZ 14, 354b)
Zen Misunderstood: “Straight from the Mind to the Voice”
Another telling moment is in Dōhan’s commentary, when it becomes necessary to
adjust an idea in Shōjigi to a newly arisen claim Kūkai could not have foreseen when
he originally wrote the text. Whereas Kūkai claims in Shōjigi that there is no teaching
in the world that does not rely on shōji, Dōhan’s commentary raises the question of
whether the Zen school, which supposedly claims to transmit the Dharma directly
from mind to mind, is an exception. If that were so, the consequence would be that
Kūkai would have been wrong - an acknowledgment I am yet to encounter in the
commentarial literature, which rather seems to assume that Kūkai is always right.36
Nevertheless, it is an interesting occasion to see in action how exegetical methods are
deployed to “repair” Kūkai’s claim from this “attack.” It also demonstrates how
Nakamura has written a short article about this little discussion of Zen in Dōhan’s commentary.
However, he is more interested in the repercussions of what is said here for Dōhan’s linguistic views.
This is interesting because in light of observations I make in the next chapter, it may very well be that
the discussion here may not be representative for Dōhan’s views. (Nakamura 1999)
36
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contemporary concerns such as rise of new ritual movements informed the
composition of masshaku. The questioner asks:
“Question: [Shōjigi says] That the esoteric and the exoteric, the larger vehicle
and the smaller vehicle, all teachings, rely on shōji jissō, this must truly be so.
However, in the Zen school, they say that they “convey from mind to mind”
(ishin denshin 以心伝心), and that their transmission is extra-canonical
(kyōgai 教外), and also that they do not establish monji. Does this mean that
their teaching does not rely on shōji jissō?”
(SZ 14, 12a)
So Zen groups presented a challenge to Kūkai’s assertions on the teachings of the
universe because they profiled themselves as exception. They claimed - or at least
were understood to have claimed - that their transmission took place outside of the
canon (kyōgai 教外) and made no use of linguistic means. To state the matter in
Shōjigi terms, they claimed that their teachings were of a different kyōtai 教體, that
they did not use monji.
The reply reads:
“Answer: These Zen schools establish their interpretations on the basis of the
non-duality beyond words of the Yuimakyō37. This non-duality is number five
In this passage the Yuimakyō 維摩経 is referred to by the term Jōmyō 浄名, a Chinese translation of
the figure after which the Yuimakyō was named, Vimalakīrti. For three Chinese translation of the text,
see: T474 14;T475 14; T476 14.
37
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among the five types of language (goshugonsetsu 五種言説38), the nyogi
gonsetsu 如義言説 or “linguistic expression in accordance with the correct
meaning.” How could this not be on the basis of shōji jissō? After Śākyamuni
had entered into nirvana, his disciple Kashō 迦葉39 transmitted it in a golden
coffin (konkan 金棺), so how could it not have been a teaching? It is only that
the scholars of the time called it “outside of the canon” or beyond words. They
did not know the meaning of nyogi 如義, so they only argued about it to the
[limited] extent of the four types of deluded verbal expression. But how could
a “discourses of attachment” that [claims] comprehensiveness (sō 総) but
[still] affirms it’s own position and negates that of others possibly be in accord
with the truth (shōgi 正義)!”
(SZ 14, 12a)
A number of remarkable things happen here. First, Zen interpretations are not
dismissed but instead defended. The view that is proposed by the questioner, i.e., the
understanding of Zen as kyōgai or without monji, is not the position of Zen but an
incorrect understanding of their position. This incorrect view is traced to the
misunderstanding of contemporary scholars. (Contemporaries of Kashō in India,
perhaps?) These scholars did not understand the type of language that Zen
transmissions did make use of and called them kyōgai.
The model of five types of linguistic expression is mentioned at the end of Kūkai’s discussion of
shingon theory at the end of the first section of the second chapter of the Shōjigi. (KZ 1, 526) The five
types of language are: 1. “linguistic expression based on causal, external observation“ (sō gonsetsu 相
言説) 2. “linguistic expression based on dream experiences” (mu gonsetsu 夢言説) 3. “linguistic
expressions based on false views” (mōshū gonsetsu 妄執言説) 4. “linguistic expression based on
[desires] without beginning“ (muji gonsetsu 無始言説) 5. “linguistic expression in accordance with
reality” (nyogi gonsetsu 如義言説). This model can be seen in Shakumakaenron and is attributed
Nagārjuna. (T1668 32, 605b) Nasu explains the model’s implementation in Shōjigi: Nasu 2011, 63-64.
38
Kashō 迦葉 (Sk. Kāśyapa), often referred to as Daikashō 大迦葉/Makakashō 摩訶迦葉 (Sk.
Mahākāśyapa) is the disciple of Śākyamuni who in Zen interpretations is held to have received and
transmitted the Zen teachings outside of the established written canon.
39
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Second, by correcting this view, Zen thought is placed within the linguistic
hierarchy of the five types of language discussed elsewhere in the Shōjigi. This is an
inclusive move to give Zen thought, like any other interpretation, a respective place
within the esoteric view. However, by giving Zen the doctrinal basis of “language in
accordance with reality,” the answerer puts Shingon’s own position in jeopardy. After
all, shingon is supposed to be the only language that is in accordance with reality. The
interrogator pursues this matter further:
“Now, with regards to placing Zen at the fifth level of language in accordance
with reality. [Kūkai’s] Nikyōron takes this nyogi language from
Shakumakaenron and calls it “shingon”. If that is so, then would not Zen be
shingon?”
(SZ 14, 12a)
The answerer is now, of course, in a tight spot. Due to his answer, the interpretations
of Shingon and Zen have now come to stand on equal par. And this is where repair
becomes necessary because Zen is talked into a position that does in fact pose a
challenge to Shōjigi ideas. But not all is lost; the answerer has another hierarchy of
terms up his sleeve.
“Answer: If we interpret nyogi in the wide sense, there are three gates
(sanmon 三門) of nyogi. What we call the nyogi of Zen is the “language in
accordance with the reality of thusness (shinnyo nyogi 真如如義)” of these
three gates. This is not the gate of non-duality. In Shakumakaenron, the nyogi
of the Sanmaikyō 三昧経 contains shinnyo nyogi. And hence
Shakumakaenron’s chapter on the “shinnyo gate (真如門)“ provides proof for
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B. Winkelman, 0918474
this shinnyo nyogi. But the Daishi [i.e, Kūkai] took this and made it into the
nyogi of the gate of non-duality. Shinnyo nyogi is the darkness and stillness of
true emptiness (shinkū no myōjaku 真空冥寂). The nyogi of non-duality is the
exact likeness of essential nature and phenomenal characteristic (shōsō ennen
性相宛然).”
(SZ 14, 12b)
So because there are different types of being in accordance with reality (nyogi), there
are also different modes of linguistic expression to correspond to those realities. The
reality of Zen is portrayed as a quiet and dark emptiness, Shingon’s reality of nonduality is described by means of an expression akin to sokuji nishin 即事而真, i.e.
“phenomena are no different from reality”. The matter is resolved and the Shingon
interpretation is saved from the Zen threat.
However, the Zen matter seems to be an important point on the agenda, and
the discussion pushes on a little bit further, showing us a further glimpse of the
contemporary intellectual climate:
“Question: Some people consider Zen to be the “mind mystery (imitsu 意密)”
of shingon. Can such an interpretation be tolerated?”
“Answer: [Zen says that] originally there are no passions and desires (bonnō
煩悩) and that fundamentally these are the thoughts and views (ikan 意観) of
enlightenment (bodai 菩提). Even though one must concede that this is indeed
one [possible] interpretation of “phenomena are no different from reality”
(sokuji nishin 即事而真), though shallow and abbreviated, the fact is that
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B. Winkelman, 0918474
these are not endowed with the three mysteries means that they cannot attain
the equal sanmitsu of the Dharma Buddha. Hence, these can be distinguished
and one must not confuse them.”
(SZ 14, 12b)
The questioner thus rephrases his previous questions whether Shingon and Zen are the
same in a slightly different form. Here, Zen is likened to Shingon practices focusing
on the mind, i.e., visualizations. I am at present not familiar with any major Shingon
thinkers that may have held this position, but it would seem that from within the
tradition such a position would be untenable, as the answerer rightly points out.
In this brief example we see clearly that the commentary goes somewhat out
of its way and departs from the Shōjigi’s main text in order to address a contemporary
issue that has some relation to the theme under discussion. Dōhan is not the only one
who did so, considering that Yūkai later did so as well. In this way, the commentary
accomplishes two things simultaneously. First it articulates a clear distinction between
Shingon and Zen, which hints at the sectarian-political concerns I have outlined above
for doctrinal studies. At the same time and crucially, however, it makes the Shōjigi of
immediate relevance to a contemporary audience, drawing it into the contemporary
state of the doctrinal discourse. For reasons that will hereafter become clear, I think it
is significant that this is brought up by means of a question-and-answer exchange
(mondō).
This chapter has attempted to illustrate how commentators could make active use of
the opportunity offered by exegesis of one of Kūkai’s works to advance their own
doctrinal interpretations and to address contemporary issues. Raiyu did so for his kaji-
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body theory and effectively turned the commentarial text into a vehicle for doctrinal
development. He jumped at the opportunity to demonstrate concomitant with his
explanation of Kūkai’s words that his ideas are not counter to those of Kūkai’s, but
rather in congruence with them. In a similar fashion Dōhan’s commentary brought up
a contemporary issue in order to “adjust” the content of the Shōjigi to accommodate
claims attributed to Zen groups. By addressing such contemporary issues in the
commentarial text, the original work is woven even tighter into the doctrinal debate of
the time. If anything, the commentaries do much more than “just” explain Shōjigi. So
though traditional, there is pronounced innovation to be seen in the commentarial
discourse.
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4. Textual Explication or Verbal Explication? - Dangi
lectures and the Production of Shōjigi Commentaries
Though the historical discussion above illuminates one of the functions commentarial
literature may have played in the tradition during this particular period of its history, it
also leaves a number of questions unanswered. Why did Yūkai write five different
commentaries on the text? Or why were commentaries on commentaries written?
In this chapter I suggest that the texts themselves furnish us with insights that
may contribute toward answering these questions. Though commentarial texts are
generally treated as textual scholarship, there is evidence to suggest that the
composition of Shōjigi commentaries coincided with moments of oral knowledge
transmissions (kuden 口伝), a form of knowledge transmission that is in Shingon’s
esoteric systems valued above textual transmission.
Dangi lectures and the Commentarial Text
That there exists a close connection between Shōjigi’s commentaries and oral
knowledge transmission is apparent from the titles of the texts. Genbō’s commentary
is titled Shōji jissō gi kuhitsu 声字実相義口筆, where one could render kuhitsu in
English as something along the lines of “verbal notes.” Other examples of such titles
are: kuketsu 口決 (“oral definition”), kōen 講筵 (litt. “lecture seat”), kikisho 聞書
(“aural notes”), and so on. There is also a commentary titled Shōji jissō gi mondō 問
答 “question-and-answer” (SZ 14, 37-48), where the mondō format is more than
merely a literary device and, and as we shall see, likely denotes an actual questionanswer session on the Shōjigi.
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A more detailed inspection of the colophons of the various commentaries is
even more revealing. The colophon of Raiyu’s first commentary states at the end that
“the manuscript (sō 草) was finished in the “straw roofed hut“ (sōan 草庵) at the
Denbōin 伝法院 on Mt. Kōya, succeeding the Dharma lectures (denbōe dangi 伝法会
談義) in the third year of Kōan 弘安 (1280).”40 (SZ 14, 113) The Denbōin was an
institution dedicated to such lectures that had been constructed by Kakuban somewhat
earlier as part of his effort to reinstate such seminars. Moreover, the same colophon
suggests that the commentary was still used for lectures on the Shōjigi after Raiyu’s
his death. A priest named Ryōei 良英 (dates unknown) copied the text during the
dangi conference of the Shōhōin 正法院 in Ōei 応永 27 (1420). (Ibid.) Though I have
not been able to ascertain whether the topic of the 1420 seminar was Shōjigi or not
(he may also have copied it in preparation for the next year), it is at least clear that the
occasion of the conference gave Ryōei the chance to do so.
Similar observations can be made for Dōhan’s commentary, where the
colophon states that “it was lectured on at the meditation hall (zenteiden 禅定殿) from
the twenty-third day of the tenth month [sic] to the fourth day of the tenth month of
the first year of Ninji 仁治 (1240).” (SZ 14, 35) And, moreover, that “the seating
arrangement (jōza 常座) was that the precept master (risshi 律師) Bōjin 房信 was
made to write down the teaching (hōmon 法門) that was discussed, and so on (un’un
云々).“ (Ibid.) As we shall see below, it is not unlikely that the eventual commentary
written by Dōhan was composed on the basis of notes such as those taken by Bōjin.
Unfortunately it is impossible to determine from the printed edition whether Raiyū himself wrote the
manuscript or not.
40
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B. Winkelman, 0918474
Toganoo Shōun has treated these dangi seminars in some detail in his historical study
of Shingon’s scholastic educational systems, though he is mostly concerned with
those events held at Mt. Kōya and Mt. Negoro (Negorozan 根来山). (Toganoo 1982)
Under the name of denbōe, such conferences had already been held by two of Kūkai’s
direct disciples, Jichie 実恵 (786-847) and Shinzen 真然 (804-891), at the Tōji and on
Mt. Kōya respectively. These initiatives came to a halt fairly quickly and it would not
be until roughly two centuries later that serious, large-scale conferences came to be
held again on Mt. Kōya at the initiative of Kakuban.41 As evidenced by Kakuban’s
request to construct a larger venue, his sessions were immensely successful with
crowds numbering hundreds of attendees. After Kakuban’s time, such conferences
began to be held continuously in one form or another at different centers of learning.
Though the specific names (e.g., dangi, denbōe, denbōdai’e 伝法大会) and formats
for such sessions differed depending on time, place, and lineage, Toganoo concludes
that a general template can be discerned that became increasingly rigid and
pronounced from the early Kamakura period onward, leading to highly ritualistic
forms of lecture and debate towards the end of the period. (Toganoo 1982b, 394)
Dangi conferences typically lasted a set number of days - Kakuban’s, for
instance, seem to have lasted fifty, though durations of twenty days were common as
well - and were at times invoked as parallels to the yearly Indian Buddhist retreat for
the monsoon.42 It was also not uncommon that two sessions were held sessions per
Shinpo Ryūshō has compared the denbōe of Jichie, Shinzen, and Kakuban respectively. (Shinpo
1992) Akatsuka Yudō and Henny van der Veere have discussed Kakuban’s denbōe in some detail.
(Akatsuka 2007; Van der Veere 2007)
41
Genbō’s commentary, for instance, refers to the seminar on the Shōjigi as a “lecture for the retreated
assembly” (rōshū dangi 籠衆談義). Whether this actually means that a lecture was held for itinerant
priests who had retreated to the Tōji for a certain period, as would be suggested by a literal
interpretation of the term “retreat” (komori 籠), cannot be determined from this. The term was also
used to refer to a certain rank and status for scholar priests in the Shingon training program. (Toganoo
1982b, 356)
42
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year, one before summer and one after. The lectures were delivered by highly learned
speakers and each conference typically focused on a certain text, be it sutra scripture,
commentaries thereon, other treatises important for Shingon doctrine (e.g.,
Shakumakaenron 釈摩訶衍論 (T1668 32)), or works by Kūkai. Each lecture session
was usually preceded by the necessary ceremonials, such as the chanting of the
sonshōdarani 尊勝陀羅尼 and related ritual proceedings, after which the headmaster
(gakutō) of the institute, or another scholar who had been invited to deliver the lecture,
presented a “reading” of the handout materials (haibun 配文). He would comment on
the proper readings of characters, the meaning of specific terms, and interpret
passages from the text.
Mondō: explication through debate
Questions raised during the lectures were to be resolved by means of mondō
“question-and-answer” sessions, where it became common practice to divide the
assembly in a “question” group and an “answer” group. The division of the audience
into groups was determined beforehand and the two groups would be seated
separately during the sessions. Debate thus focused on the text under discussion.
Though initially freer in format and likely intended as a form of debate where
students could demonstrate their skill at debate, the mondō-sessions later became
more formalized developed standard debate progressions based on more elaborate
divisions of roles in the debate.
The Shōjigi Mondō commentary provides some valuable glances and the
proceedings of such a session on Mt. Kōya. The text says that the session was held in
the first year of Jōō 貞応 (1222). The participants listed are: Kakukai, Shinkan 信寛,
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Shōhen 證遍, Genchō 源朝, Hosshō 法性, Shōso 尚祚, and Dōhan who is already
familiar. (SZ 14, 48) The Mondō reports:
“Subsequently, the following question was asked. With regards to [the section
of the Shōjigi that reads] ‘The exposition of the Dharma by the nyorai 如来
(Sk. tathāgata) necessarily depends on monji 文字,’ and so on. What is the
extent (bunzai 分齊) of ‘the exposition of the Dharma by the nyorai’?
The nyūji 入寺43 Hosshō replied that with regards to the exposition of the
Dharma that spreads throughout the world of passions (shaba sekai 娑婆世界)
Dainichi and Shakyamuni [and all other Buddha’s] can have no limitations.
The nyūji Dōhan criticized this by saying that Hōō’s 法応 [sic] statement that
the various Buddha’s cannot be limited [in their preaching] is too wide in
scope (kōryō 荒涼). It is explained somewhere that ‘on the side of samādhi
(jōhen 定辺) there is no verbal expression (gonsetsu 言説), but on the side of
wisdom (ehen 恵辺) there is verbal expression.’44 What about it if this is to
43
A rank for scholar priests in the service that were more advanced than regular students, but not yet at
the level of a master (ajari 阿闍梨). (MDJ, 1708)
This is a passage taken from the Hizōki 秘蔵記, a text that was originally attributed to Kūkai, but is
now considered apocryphal. See: Ōsawa 2013. The whole passage from which this quote was taken
reads: “The hosshin has two sides (hen 辺), that of samādhi (jō 定) and that of wisdom (e 恵). If we
liken this to water, its being crystalline clear and tranquil is samādhi and its reflecting of all forms and
marks (shokusō 色相) is wisdom. What the esoteric teachings explain is that there is no linguistic
expression on the side of samādhi, but that there is linguistic expression on the side of wisdom. The
water is crystalline clear and tranquil, and it reflects the forms and marks. Nevertheless, the winds of
the vows and practices (gangyō 願行) cause waves to appear and these waves make sounds. These are
the sounds of seppō.” (KZ 2, 22)
44
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mean that it is not possible for the hosshin of subsumed principle (ri hosshin
理法身) to expound the Dharma?
Consequently, the following question was raised: ‘[But] are the hosshin of
subsumed principle and the jōhen [from the quote] the same thing, or different
things?’
In short, all those present agreed that these are the same. A correct
interpretation (shōgi 勝義) was not yet accepted nor rejected (seibai 成敗).
[...]
The next day, following that Shōhen, Hosshō, Dōhan, and so on, come in,
refined debate (seidan 清談) was held again on the teachings (hōmon 法門) of
the previous day.”
(SZ 14, 46)
Leaving the doctrinal intricacies of this debate aside for now, some observations can
be made with regards to how such ceremonies were conducted. Questions were raised,
though it is not clear from the text whether this is by the audience, the master, or an
appointed interrogator, and different scholars stepped forward and attempted to
answer the questions. Their rank as nyūji suggests that the debaters were of advanced
scholarly rank. When a difficult issue was raised, those present were asked to share
their opinion as well, seeing as “all those present agreed”. Sessions could, moreover,
last multiple days and unresolved issues were carried over to the next sitting. As
becomes apparent by further reading of this commentarial passage, the debate has a
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certain flow and progresses by new questions being posed in response to answers
given to other questions.
In Raiyu’s format, to take a contrasting example of one of the later developed
rigid debate progressions, there seems to be little room for such an organic
progression of the discussion. As part of his effort to systematize the dangi and their
mondō sessions before and after his move to Mt. Negoro in 1288, he developed a
mondō in three stages: the first stage comprised a brief question and a brief answer,
during the second stage the questioner would evaluate and negate, based on scriptural
evidence, two possible positions. The answerer would then reply to this with his own
interpretation by building on the opponent’s evidence and providing new evidence of
his own. The third stage would comprise another attack from the side of the
interrogator. (Toganoo 1982b, 119-20) This is but one example of a practice that was
developed in various learning centers of the tradition that had their own systems and
approaches to the matter, but I think it gives a good sense of how such debates were
carried out.
Because of the restriction posed by this format, Raiyu took some of the other
elements out of the dangi sessions and dedicated separate moments. In order to let
other prominent scholars share alternative views on the matters under discussion he
developed dedicated sessions called rongi 論議. He also extracted the examination
element from the dangi and made it a separate occasion, ryōgi 竪義. (Toganoo 1982b,
121)
Mondō debate thus focused on a number of concerns. Establishing the correct
meaning of statements in the text, the meanings of certain words, exploring its ideas
from different perspectives by moving somewhat away from the original statements
and bringing in sections from other texts. That this is down with so much attention
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and dedication to detail may have been, as Toganoo suggests as well, to handhold
new students present at the sessions. (Toganoo 1982b, 110-11) The lecture sessions
and accompanying the debates thus served didactic purposes for students at different
levels. For those of the higher levels by letting them demonstrate their skill and
knowledge during debate, while for those of less advanced level by providing them
with the traditional interpretations of certain terms and a demonstration of how to
construct those interpretations as an argument.
Writing Commentaries
So how exactly where these commentaries used and composed during the
dangi sessions? As suggested by its colophon, the Mondō-commentary just discussed
later became a template for future sessions. When Yūjitsu copied the text from the
first manuscript he consulted, he wrote down that he copied it “because it was set as
the textbook (haibun 配文) for the seminar (gakudō 学道) of this institution (tōin 当
院) [i.e., the kangakuin 勧学院 in the southern valley of Mt. Kōya] next year.” (SZ 14,
44) This would seem to suggest that commentarial texts such as this Mondō can be
linked to in dangi sessions in two ways: On the one hand as a record the proceedings
and the interpretations established, and on the other to serve as textbook for future
sessions.
A note in one of Raiyu’s commentaries supports this and gives more precise
indications on how his composition of commentaries was closely intertwined with his
teachings of denbōe sessions. He writes that the end of his second commentary: “The
writing [of this text] was finished succeeding the lecture (dangi) of the denbōe
[conference] at [...] the Denbōin on Mt. Kōya at the beginning of the fifth month of
the third year of Kōan 弘安 (1280). The questions by the assembly (daie 大会) at that
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time were included therein. After the assembly had attended the debate session (rongi
論議), I added the remaining ones myself.” (ZSZ 17, 417b)
What is suggested here, then, is that Raiyu first delivered a lecture on the
Shōjigi during which the audience raised questions. A number of these questions - or
all of them - would be taken up and discussed further in the mondō session that was
part of the dangi, and thus written down in the commentary. After that, a debate
session or rongi was held during which alternative interpretations and additional
question were discussed. Raiyu then added these to the commentary. This conforms to
Raiyu’s format for the denbōe as Toganoo discusses it, which emphasizes that Raiyu
strictly distinguished the dangi and the rongi. (Toganoo 1982b, 122) The “results” of
these separate events, however, were compiled into one resulting text: the
commentary. Significantly, the colophon suggests that this text too was copied for use
as a haibun during dangi sometime later in 1488. (ZSZ 17, 369)
An additional salient detail is that both of the commentaries by Raiyu that are
under investigation here are dated to the beginning of the fifth month of 1280. This
suggests that they were likely written in connection with the same denbōe session on
Shōjigi. Their styles, however, differ somewhat. One of the two has a more “narrative”
style if you will, that explains the text and at times brings up questions, while the
second commentary is more problem driven and predominantly takes these up in the
form of mondō. It lists passages from the Shōjigi and then point by point matters (koto
事) for discussion that are all developed in the mondō fashion. In light of the text’s
just discussed colophon that mentioned questions posed by the audience, as well as
those that came up during the rongi I would suggest it is supposed to be an overview
of the debate point of that seminar on Shōjigi. This is somewhat at odds with what
Fabio Rambelli has suggested elsewhere.
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In a brief article on Raiyu, Fabio Rambelli mentions in passing that Raiyu’s
works with gusō 愚草 (litt. “foolish notes”) were drafts on the basis of which Raiyu
delivered his lectured and which he would later rewrite into the final commentaries.
(Rambelli 2002, 1231) This observation would not hold in the present case because
the gusō very well did go through the whole process of revision. But it is likely that
Rambelli is right in suggesting that Raiyu as well as other commentators did indeed
lecture on the basis of draft commentarial texts to which they might later add points
that came up during the lectures to produce the definitive version of the text. To
return to Raiyu’s two commentaries of the same date, we can observe that though
there is some overlap in their contents, both mention things that the other does not as
well; they are two distinct texts likely composed for two different purposes.
Let us take a closer look at one more commentary, that of Genbō. Whereas
Raiyu’s commentaries suggest that he himself wrote them in light of lectures he
delivered, Genbō wrote his commentary on the basis of lectures delivered by his
master Gōhō, for which he even recorded the dates of the sessions and noted the
names of those present/absent for a certain session.45 It is, as already mentioned, a
kuhitsu, or collection of verbal notes. It is also easily glanced from remarks in the text
that Genbō wrote the commentary during the lectures of his master Gōhō. He wrote
these notes, as suggested by remarks in the text, rather hurriedly during the sessions
themselves and read completed them in his room afterwards. His master Gōhō would
then annotate this kuhitsu in order to create the final commentary. (SZ 14, 115, 127)
If the process indeed proceeded as is suggested here, this has interesting
implications for certain occurrences in the commentary. Both the scholarship of
Genbō and of Gōhō are characterized by moments of personal interpretation signified
At the beginning of the commentary Genbō writes that it is the first dangi for an ordinand called
Kyōgen 教源 (dates unknown).
45
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by expressions such as “shiki 私記” or “watakushi iwaku 私云.” This presents the
reader of the commentary with a conundrum: does the “I” in the commentary refer to
Genbō the author, or to Gōhō the teacher?
The commentaries under discussion here provide concrete evidence that they
were written and later reproduced during and for the aforementioned Dharma
seminars (denbō dangi 伝法談義) that were held periodically. The express goal of
these seminars was to train the scholastic clergy by means of lecture and debate,
where advanced students demonstrated their skill in debate (a form of examination),
while those of lower level in the audience learned by listening.46 Composed in such an
environment, commentaries seem to serve a primarily didactic purpose that aims to
instill in students an understanding of the original text, but also attempts to answer
their questions. Lecturers incorporated the questions discussed the seminars into the
definitive editions of their commentaries, improving their educational value even
further. Commentaries thus actively participate in the process of transmitting and
preserving the Dharma.
Such observations may contribute to an explanation of why certain scholars
wrote multiple commentaries, but also the attention for detail in the commentarial
texts. It may also provide a concrete explanation of how seemingly “external matters”
such as the previously discussed Zen-question can come up during the sessions.
Someone may simply have asked the question.
These suggestions have a potentially profound impact on the approaches by
which masshaku are studied in the present day academy, which on the whole do not
46
Paul Groner has remarked that the Tendai tradition also developed educational systems that focused
on lectures and debate around the same time. (Groner 2011)
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seem take into account this environment of oral transmission. In the next chapter I
will explore the potential methodological implications of the observations made here
by deploying the in an argument that points out the possibility that problems external
to Shōjigi’s own text became part of one of the traditional transmissions. In the end, I
will propose that it is important to read the commentaries while taking the educational
context of their composition into account.
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5. From Textual Mondō to Verbal Mondō and The Building
of Tradition
In the previous chapter I briefly quoted from the discussion recorded in the Shōjigi
Mondō commentary to illustrate the proceedings of such a verbal exchange. The
matter that was debated there, i.e., whether the rihosshin expounds the Dharma or not,
comes up in Dōhan’s own commentary as well. Sometime later, Yūkai’s
commentaries bring up the topic. In this section, I discuss both those later occurrences
because I would like to suggest that: Firstly, occurrences of the mondō format in
commentarial texts may sometimes be registrations of actual exchanges instead of
text-rhetorical devices. This means that the given passage requires a slightly different
treatment. And second, that what happens here is that a problem that is external to the
Shōjigi, a contradiction in Kūkai’s Hizōki, came to be a regular topic of discussion
during dangi on Shōjigi on Mt. Kōya.
In Dōhan’s commentary, the matter of the rihosshin is brought up by a
questioner in regards to the term nyorai that occurs in the very first sentence of the
Shōjigi. (KZ1, 521) The point of discussion becomes to which Buddha bodies the
term refers. Dōhan’s commentary tackles the question head-on, when a questioner
asks:
“Question: Which of the three bodies (sanjin 三身47) does “nyorai” here [in
Shōjigi] indicate? Or, does it refer to all three?
47
The three-body theory is one of the conventional schemes for Buddha bodies based on bodies in
different functions. Though variedly interpreted, the general outline is usualy similar. There is the
Dharma-body (hosshin, Sk. dharmakāya), an absolute entity generally considered to be beyond
language and thought, having no form or activity. The second body in the scheme is the hōshin 報真
(Sk. saṃbhogakāya), or ‘reward body’, that expounds the Dharma for very advanced sentient beings
such as Bodhisattvas. And lastly there is the hengeshin 変化身 (Sk. nirmāṇakāya) or transformation
body where the Buddha manifests in the form of a sentient being to expound the Dharma directly for
the benefit of other sentient beings
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Answer: All three bodies together have this [seppō activity].
(SZ 14, 10)
The term nyorai then refers to all three types of bodies available to the Buddha, which
is fully in accord with Kūkai’s idea that all bodies are Dainichi. He explains this later
in Shōjigi. (KZ1, 532-33) This could have been the end of the matter, had the author
merely wanted to clarify this. Or, if he had intended to make his point more
convincing, he could have supplied additional evidence to strengthen his position.
Instead, the interrogator retorts with a question that brings up a problem that
lays outside of the Shōjigi’s text, but that becomes interesting in light of the topic
addressed. Homing in on the Dharma body of the three, he suggests that nyorai seppō
cannot possibly include all three bodies because the Dharma body - here discussed as
rihosshin - does not expound the Dharma because it cannot have speech.
Rebuke: But among these three bodies, the rihosshin48 [i.e., the hosshin in its
absolute aspect] is not a teacher (kyōshu 教主) that expounds the Dharma.
Hence it says somewhere that ‘on the side of samādhi (teihen 定辺) there is no
verbal expression (gonsetsu 言説), but on the side of wisdom (ehen 恵辺)
there is verbal expression.’49 Additionally, in the state (i 位) of self-
The term rihosshin 理法身 is in Shingon at times also used in conjunction with chihosshin 智法身,
wisdom Dharma body, to distinguish the Dharma body’s absolute aspect from its wisdom aspect.
Kūkai treated these as two modes of description of the same a-dual entity. Here, however, the context
suggests that it is being used to refer to one of the three bodies, where it corresponds to the
Dharmakāya in the Mahayāna sense, i.e., an absolute and inactive entity beyond cognition. We shall
see below that Yūkai, in a way one Dōhan’s scholastic successors, explicitly identifies the rihosshin as
the jishōshin of Kūkai’s four-body scheme. In Yūkai’s interpretation, the chihosshin would then be
equivalent to the self-oriented ji juyū shin, one of the two aspects of the nirṃanakāya. He explains this
in his first commentary, dealing with the same passage as Dōhan here. (SZ 14, 208)
48
This sentence was already encountered earlier, when the discussion of the mondō sessions quoted
from the Shōji jissōgi mondō. I provided a translation of the Hizōki passage in footnote # 43.
49
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enlightenment (jishō 自證), [things] become totalized (sō 総) and one cuts off
linguistic expression and abolishes the [distinction between the] mind and its
objects. Hence the commentary on the Dainichikyō says: ‘at this point (sho 処),
language (gongo 言語) is completely exhausted and the [distinction between
the] mind and its objects (gyō 行) has also perished.’ Moreover, it also says:
‘The speaker (sessha 説者) is without speech and the observer (kansha 観者)
is without looking.’ Now how can one then say that all three bodies each
expound the Dharma?
Answer: That there is no verbal expression in the sate of self-enlightenment,
means that the “talent” with which one has been endowed (hiki 被機) [i.e., the
presence of the absolute itself within the human body] has no verbal
expression. It does not mean that there is no verbal explanation of the truth of
inner realization (naishō 内證). What we call the teaching of Shingon is the
true linguistic expression that is [precisely] in accordance with the true
meaning [of things] (nyogi shinjitsu no gonsetsu 如義真実言説). It is used
only between Buddha’s. Moreover, as for your statement that the rihosshin
does not preach is concerned, that is not the true meaning of the present
teaching [of Shingon mikkyō]. It is the meaning established by the scholars
that cling to the web of the exoteric [teachings]. When it says somewhere that
there is no linguistic expression in the state of samādhi, it only looks at
speech’s aspect (sō 相) of teaching others (keta 化他).”
(SZ 14, 10)
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What the questioner brings up is, in essence, what the Shingon discourse considers to
be the exoteric view of the Dharma body - as is suggested by the reply to the question.
Kūkai held the opposite position that the hosshin expounds the teaching actively and
in all sorts of ways. However, the interrogator produces evidence from the
Dainichikyō and one of Kūkai’s own writings, that this hosshin does not expound the
Dharma. This points to a problem that lies in the Hizōki and the Dainichikyō: though
Kūkai’s explicit position is that the hosshin engages actively in seppō, there are two
passages of scripture that contradict this. One of which is found in his own writings.
The occasion of commenting on the Shōjigi here becomes an opportunity to attempt to
address a problem that actually lies in two other texts.
The magnitude of the problem that this contradiction presents can be glanced
from a passage in the somewhat older Shōjigi mondō commentary we already
discussed. The passage was already discussed in section one of this study, but I will
return to it briefly. In the Mondō, Dōhan himself steps forward and brings up the same
passage from the Hizōki to argue that the rihosshin does not preach. In response to
this, the interrogators made a clever rhetorical move as defense:
“In this connection the following question was raised: ‘[But] are the Dharma
body of subsumed principle and the teihen [mentioned in the Hizōki quote] the
same thing, or different things?” (SZ 14, 46a)
This is a clear question: Who is to say that Kūkai actually talks about in the passage is
the same as the rihosshin? Unfortunately for the interrogating party “all those present,
in short, agreed that they are the same [thing].” (SZ 14, 46a) In this instance then,
Dōhan’s observation was accepted as a valid point, a real problem of contradiction in
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one of Kūkai’s works. The importance of solving such an inconsistency can be
glanced from the effort and time subsequently invested in order to come to an
explanation. “[At that time] a superior interpretation (shōgi 勝義) was not yet
accepted nor rejected (seibai 成敗)” and discussion over the matter continued without
a solution, so “the next day, following that Shōhen, Hosshō, Dōhan, and so on, had
come in, refined debate (seidan 清談) was held again on the teachings (hōmon 法門)
of the previous day.” (SZ 14, 46a) A clear solution to Kūkai’s self-contradiction is, in
the end, not established in the Mondō because the debate leads away from Dōhan’s
initial point.
As we have already seen, Dōhan’s later commentary on the Shōjigi does
present a solution to the matter. The statement does not mean that there is no
linguistic expression at all, but only that there is no linguistic expression for the
benefit of other beings. The Shingon language, which is fully in accord with reality, is
spoken in that domain, but only between the Buddhas. After this question has been
resolved, the commentary moves on to discuss another question on the same sentence.
But why does such a collateral matter appear during an explication of Shōjigi?
A reading of the commentary as a scholastic text may suggest that Dōhan does
this as a rhetorical move to support his point that nyorai refers to the three bodies, but
as I already suggest, there are more convincing methods available to do that. Or
perhaps the author decided to take advantage of an opportunity to connect a point in
the Shōjigi to another problem he is aware of, in order to present his solution to it.
This is a plausible explanation, but in light of Raiyu’s kaji-theory exposition, the
explanation here leaves much to be wanted in detail and evidence. However, in light
of what we now know about the production of commentarial literature during
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scholastic lecture cycles, I would suggest that there may be a more compelling
explanation.
Dōhan had raised the matter earlier, in the Mondō commentary, and it may
very well be so that the mondō in his commentary is a registration of an actual
question-answer exchange as well. In that case, the problem comes up in Dōhan’s
commentary because the issue was raised during the lecture session, or because it was
selected as point of discussion beforehand. Against this scholastic background of
lecture and debate, the occasion gave more advanced students an opportunity to
demonstrate their skill by solving the problem, while for the less advanced students in
the audience it was a chance to be educated in how to formulate the correct solution
and the establish of the traditional hosshin seppō position of Shingon.
Yūkai, one of Dōhan’s successors on Mt. Kōya and likely familiar with his
scholarship, raises the Hizōki problem in both of his commentaries as well. Saliently,
he does so in the mondō format. The question is posed in a slightly different form
from Dōhan’s. In both it is asked to which of the fourfold Dharma body’s proposed
by Kūkai “nyorai” refers. The answer is, of course, all four. Here too, the Hizōki
passage is brought up to counter the answer. Yūkai’s second commentary proposes a
solution that is different from Dōhan’s:
“Kongōchōgyō kaidai 金剛頂経開題 says: “All four types of Dharma body
expound this path (dō 道)”. Only, with regards to what was just brought up for
questioning [from the Hizōki], that is only that for one moment, temporarily,
(ichiō 一往) samādhi (jō 定) and wisdom (e 恵) “look each other in the eye”
(sōmō 相望) [in a relative division]. In reality, there can be seppō there. <As
usual (tsune no gotoshi 如常)>” (ZSZ 17, 428-29)
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In order to solidify his claim, the defender first refers to a text where Kūkai says
explicitly that all four bodies expound the Dharma - a solution that is perhaps only
possible because the question is now rephrased in terms of the fourfold Buddha body.
Yūkai’s other commentary brings in more explicit evidence from Kūkai’s writings,
that contains exactly the right terms: it is said that the ryōbu-sutras are preached by
the jishō juyū richi ni hosshin 自性受用理智二法身, or the “two Dharma bodies of ri
and chi that are the jishō body and the juyū body of Kūkai’s four bodies respectively”.
(SZ 14, 208b) The matter is thus resolved.
But what is more salient in the quote from Yūkai’s second commentary is the
little note at the end of the discussion concerning the Hizōki quote: “As usual. (tsune
no gotoshi 如常)” I read this as an reference to the proceedings of the mondō session
as it took place. That is, it reports that the discussion progresses as usual. We have
already seen that Toganoo has argued that the format of discussion and the topics of
debate become increasingly ritualistic and determined as the Kamakura period
progressed toward Yūkai’s time (Toganoo 1982b, 394) In light of this, “as usual” can
be read to suggest that the debate progressed according to the usual routine and that
the correct interpretation was eventually established. Because the routine is
supposedly familiar to the reader, there is no need to write it down at full length though we are, regrettably, not aware of what the full routine may have entailed.
Based on these observations I wonder whether it perhaps be so that this
external matter of the Hizōki-contradiction became an integral part of the Shōjigi
commentarial tradition on Mt. Kōya. Such development would resonate well with the
earlier observation that older commentaries began to be used as haibun-textbooks for
lectures around this time. Moreover, it may not be the only instance. Yūkai’s mention
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of Zen in his second commentary, though slightly different in form, addresses
basically the same Zen/language related issue as Dōhan did. I think this matter
deserves further exploration, but it will have to be postponed until a future
opportunity.
I would like to propose that in light of the passages just treated, there is
enough evidential basis to suggest that it may be so that not all mondō section in
commentaries are textual devices, but that a number of them - perhaps even a
substantial amount - might be records of actual mondō exchanges. Such an
observation has potential ramifications for how academic scholars read a commentary,
because it may suggest that the opinions presented during the mondō are not
necessarily in alignment with those of the commentary’s author. I find that this
exposes an important characteristic of the commentarial text that needs to be taken
into consideration when reading passages in Shōjigi commentaries.
Now that the circumstances and motivations of Shōjigi explications have
become somewhat cleared and a slightly different approach to the texts has been
suggested on the basis thereof, the next chapter can take a brief dip into the
commentarial discussion and assess exactly how commentators have framed their
discussion of the Shōjigio. Or how they have made it relevant to their audiences.
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6. The “Spirit” of the Shōjigi
As I suggested above, scholastic literature provided Shingon’s knowledge
communities a means to articulate their differences and construct interpretational
boundaries. Against such a background, it is hardly a surprise that each commentary
on the Shōjigi presents a different vision on the text, an interpretation informed by the
commentator and his audience - be it the audience of a writer or of a lecturer.
The study of the respective differences in conceptual interpretation of the
Shōjigi, such as how the understanding of monji differs from Dōhan’s commentaries
to those of Yūkai’s, would involve a detailed investigation into very subtle doctrinal
differences. Ironically, these can easily be conveyed by means of the interlinear style
of the commentaries themselves, but turns into a logical nightmare when one attempts
to force it into the format of an academic argument. A responsible enquiry into such
matters would go far beyond the confines of the present study.
However, I think that the debate revolving around one specific point of the
Shōjigi in particular may still be manageable and uniquely suitable to illustrate the
interpretive differences between the different commentaries. This is the matter of
Kūkai’s intention, or i 意, with the text; a topic touched upon by every commentator.
There is perhaps is no point in the Shōjigi were the discord among the interpreters is
so pronounced as on this matter. Besides, how they frame the text reveals something
of how they made the text relevant to their respective audience and may also hint at
how they understand the text in the large scheme. Let us briefly take note of a
selection of commentarial opinions.
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Shōjigi and Sokushingi: Setting Up the Esoteric Method
Dōhan’s commentary treats Kūkai’s intentions with the Shōjigi the relationship with
what is considerd to be the earlier Sokushingi. It tells us that Kūkai composed Shōjigi
after the Sokushingi in order to develop and clarify the order of the two divisions of
the Shingon tradition into which practices are systematized, the ryōbu 両部.
The ryōbu are the kongōkai 金剛界 and the taizō 胎蔵, two different ritualdoctrinal approaches - and also different initiation lineages - that are complimentary
in Kūkai’s system: they are funi 不二 (“not different”) because they represent two
different views of the same absolute dharmakāya that is beyond duality. In both views
the hosshin is different in function, but the same in substance. These two views are
based on the Kongōchōgyō 金剛頂経 (kongōkai; T865 18) and Dainichikyō (taizō)
and can be schematized in the dual mandara (ryōbu mandara 両部曼荼羅). In their
pictorial form, the mandara are hung on both sides of the altar during ritual
performances, but their schematic is also used to structure the visualizations of the
practitioner.50
Dōhan’s commentary explains that Sokushingi, though it in fact discusses both
divisions, is oriented on the kongōkai. Its focus is on shigaku 始覚, the first step of
enlightened insight actualized in this lifetime that is also immediately already the
complete result. This, Dōhan tells us, is jōbutsu 成仏, which in this context must be
translated as “becoming a Buddha” because his discussion of the kongōkai
50
The mandara is a topic of some debate. They are usually commonly considered to be pictorial
representation, but in Shingon the concept is much more expansive. Henny van der Veere explains that
mandara are at the theoretical level fields that organize objects on the basis of a certain shared quality.
(Van der Veere 1998, 150) The so-called hō-mandara 法曼荼羅, for instance, organizes a field on the
basis of the various Siddham syllables that objects in that field. Pictorial mandara can be seen as
instance of theoretical notion, but when mandara are mentioned in the present study, it usually denotes
non-pictorial forms.
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presupposes a process leading the process from the root to the result (i.e.,
enlightenment). By explaining the complex of six elements, four mandalas and the
kaji of three mysteries, Sokushingi - like its title already suggests - makes this jōbutsu
the main focus of its discussion.51
Shōjigi by contrast does not discuss jōbutsu but takes the taizō. There, the
focus lies on the constant and unchanging presence of a “subsumed principle”(ri 理)
in all things, the immanent presence of the absolute that makes everything in the
universal equal. This is an approach that is according to Dōhan predicated on inherent
enlightenment (hongaku 本覚52). He explains that when the world is viewed from the
point of inherent enlightenment, there can be no jōbutsu. (SZ 14, 9)
Dōhan suggests that Kūkai wrote the two texts in this succession in order to
clarify that taizō should come after kongōkai. This order can also be glanced in the
buildup of Shingon’s ritual curriculum, the shido kegyō 四度加行. There one first
studies the jūhachidō 十八道, then the kongōkai 金剛界 rituals, then the goma 護摩
fire-ritual, and after that the taizō 胎蔵 rituals - although the moment at which one
studies the goma can vary depending on the ritual lineage.53 According to Dōhan’s
In Sokushingi Kūkai proposes a view of the absolute that draw on the discursive approaches
Daijōkishinron 大乗起信論 and Shakumakaenron. (T1666 32; T1668 32) Kūkai identifies the absolute
discussed in these texts as the hosshin Dainichi and discusses it on the basis of four properties: 1) its
substance (taidai 体大) as consisting of six qualities (rokudai 六大), 2) its differentiated perceptible
aspects (sōdai 相大) as consisting of four mandara, 3) its functions (yūdai 用大) as consisting of the
three mysteries, and 4) its condition of existence as unobstructed interpenetration (muge 無碍). Kūkai
calls this complex sokushin jōbutsu. (KZ 1, 506-520)
51
52
The idea of hongaku became a topic of immense speculation in Tendai scholarship between the
twelfth and the fourteenth century in particular. (Stone 1995) Though it is quite possible that Dōhan
was aware of the early stages of such developments - his work on Amida nenbutsu shows a marked
interest in Tendai ideas - it is difficult to determine conclusively whether his mention of the term
hongaku should be seen in light of that debate. (E.g., DBZ 43, 54c) The terms hongaku and shigaku
occur as a set in the Shakumakenron that is an important to Shingon scholasticism, so it is plausible
that he merely took the set from there.
The denbōinryū 伝法院流 studies goma in between kongōkai and taizōkai, where as the chūinryū
studies goma after the other two. In Tendai training it is the other way around and taizō comes before
kongōkai. For more on ritual practice and shido kegyō training, see: Toganoo 1982a; Payne 1991.
53
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commentary the clarification of this sequence was Kūkai intention with the Shōjigi.
(SZ 14, 9b)
The 835 Kanpu Documents: Shōjigi and the Training of the Nenbundosha
A much later Shōjigi commentary by the priest Donjaku - in this chapter of some
interest - rather finds Kūkai’s intention with the Shōjigi in a place seemingly at odds
with Dōhan’s. (SZ 14, 259-345) He brings to attention a document issued to Kūkai by
the Great Council of State in 835, the year of his death.54 The document, or kanpu 官
符, presented the Shingon school with three annual ordinands (nenbundosha 年分度
者) that were each to dedicate themselves to one of three academic disciplines (sangō
三業) in a program of study likely devised by Kūkai himself.55 This program was
briefly implemented on Mt. Kōya after Kūkai’s death, but was discontinued when the
mountain became abandoned in the tenth century. One of these students was to
dedicate his time to the study of ritual of the kongōkai orientation. Another would
study practices of the taizō orientation. The third student would apply himself to
mastering the discipline of shōmyō 声明, which included the study of Shōjigi. It is
worth quoting the document’s passage on shōmyō in some detail. The three
disciplines, with the third described briefly, are:
“•The discipline (gō 業) of the Kongōchōyugakyō 金剛頂瑜伽経, one person.
[...]
Yūkai first commentary discusses this document as well, though I think he only brings it up to
demonstrate the importance of Shōjigi. (SZ 14, 205)
54
55
There are two versions of this kanpu or two kanpu on this topic from subsequent days (some editions
give them the same date, some date them to subsequent days). The fact that there are two was remarked
upon by Gōhō, who in chapter eight of his Tōbōki 東宝記 compares the two. The one found in KZ does
mention Shōjigi as part of the shōmyō curriculum, while the other version, also found in Ruiju sandai
kyaku 類聚三代格, does not. Cf. ZZGR 12, 150-52; KZ 446-47; KT 12, 419-20.
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• The discipline of the Daibirushanajōbutsukyō 大毘盧遮那成仏神変加持経,
one person. [...]
• The discipline of shōmyō, one person
Shall dedicate his studies to memorizing, writing, and chanting Bonji shittan
shō 梵字悉曇章56 in one section and two fascicles. Additionally, he must read
the Daikujaku myōōkyō 大孔雀明王経57 in one section and three fascicles.
Moreover, he also ought to study the Shōji jissō gi.
(KZ 5, 446)
Though this passage provides little to go on regarding the actual practices to be
studied as part of shōmyō, it can at least be deduced that Siddham was to be studied,
that certain scriptures were to be memorized, and that the Shōjigi was to be read.58
The study of Siddham likely only involved reading and writing the characters, since
Sanskrit studied in Japan showed little concern for Sanskrit grammar until the
Shingon priest Ji-un 慈雲 (1718-1805). (Van Gulik 1980, 119, 133) The chanting was
perhaps also an important part of the practice, seeing as shōmyō later developed into a
musical-like tradition for singing scripture (sutras, shingon, darani) with its own
It is not entirely clear which text this is. Kūkai mentions a text with this exact title in the catalogue of
texts and ritual implements he brought back from China, but the text in the catalogue is only one
fascicle, whereas that mentioned in the kanpu is in two fascicles. (Shōrai mokuroku 請来目録, KZ 1,
90) And Edo-period text by this title also exists, but does not speak to the present discussion.
56
57
T982 19.
The second version of the kanpu reads: ’• The discipline (gyō 業) of shōmyō, one person. Shall
dedicate himself to writing and reciting shingon in Sanskrit and darani 陀羅尼 such as the daibucchō
大仏頂 [darani] and the zuigu 随求陀羅尼 [darani]. The one person on the right [who will study
shōmyō] shall also dedicate himself to studying the Daikujaku myōōkyō 大孔雀明王経.’ (ZZGR 12,
152-53) For the two darani: Cf. MDJ, 1534-44; MDJ, 1313 & 1960, respectively.
58
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lineages and systems for musical notation.59 Judging from how the other disciplines in
the kanpu are described, it is quite possible that Shōjigi was put on the curriculum as a
form of doctrinal justification, to explain why shōmyō “works”.60 If anything, Shōjigi
can provide the rationale to explain why chanting - and more importantly chanting
correctly - can be an effective practice. (KZ 5, 446) Along the same line, Kushida has
also claimed that Shōjigi provided the shōmyō discipline with a doctrinal backbone,
placing it on equal par with those of the taizō and kongōkai as practical methods of
realizing the absolute through ritual praxis. (Kushida 1964, 410)
It may very well be that this is what Donjaku meant when he wrote about this
passage from the kanpu that “when our Daishi 大師 [i.e., Kūkai] wrote this text it was
in order to set up the three disciplines and to let students after his death have a field
(chi 地) to which to dedicate (oku 置く) their minds.” (SZ 14, 259)
Genbō’s discussion of the same kanpu passage proceeds in a slightly different
direction. After quoting from the kanpu, he proceeds to provide a “personal
interpretation” quoted here in full. Given that such personal interpretations are a
trademark of his master Gōhō’s scholarship as well, one might wonder whether what
is presented here is Genbō’s view or that of his teacher.
“I myself say that the three disciplines (sangō 三業) are none other than the
three mysteries. The discipline of the kongōchō 金剛頂 is the mystery of mind,
the discipline of the taizō is the mystery of the body, and the discipline of
Kushida discusses the history of Shingon shōmyō in some detail, but focuses on the development of
its lineages at a number of monastic centers. The concrete practices of shōmyō and how these
developed receive only brief attention. Cf. Kushida 1964, 409-479.
59
The subsequent passage in the kanpu is in fact a description of why shōmyō is important. Though the
justification of shōmyō is based on a number of ideas clearly drawn from Shōjigi, the passage provides
no hints with regards to concrete details of the practice and what its study entailed.
60
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shōmyō is the mystery of speech. Moreover, because the three mysteries
interpenetrate, are complete and are unlimited, the three divisions (sanbu 三
部) also appear within the discipline of shōmyō. These also take the form of
the three mysteries. When the bonji-shittan mentioned [in the kanpu] are in the
form of characters (ji 字), they are the body mystery. When the Kujaku
myōōkyō is treated as sound, it is the mystery of speech. And when shōji jissō
is viewed for its true meaning (gi 義), it is the mystery of mind.”
(SZ 14, 115)
In the course of this passage, Genbō’s commentary engages in an interesting feat of
word play based on the term sangō 三業. In the kanpu the term is used to refer to the
three disciplines, but in the same orthography it can also be used with a very different
connotation. Namely to refer to the three types of karmic activities engaged in by the
living beings: the activities of the body (shingō 身業), those of speech (kugō 口業),
and those of the mind (igō 意業). (BDJ, 581; MDJ, 788) These three activities
correspond to the categories of the three mysteries. It is this correspondence that
provides the basis for Genbō’s identification of each of the disciplines with one of the
three mysteries. One might of course wonder whether Kūkai intended this or not, but
what Genbō does make clear is that he considers the shōjigi as the mystery of mind,
of visualization. This may seem rather surprising in light of Shōjigi’s emphasis on
voice, but when Genbō later discusses Kūkai’s intention with the Shōjigi directly,
what he may have meant becomes somewhat clearer.
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Genbō: Visualizing shōji jissō
When Genbō’s commentary discusses the meaning of Shōjigi’s title, it is asked why
Kūkai wrote the text. The reply speaks, mostly, for itself. I here render the whole
exchange in translation:
“Question: What was Kūkai’s intention in establishing the three types of shō,
ji, and jissō?
Answer: It was in order to further advance the visualization practices (shukan
修観) of Shingon practitioners. [This was necessary] because the ritual
procedures (hōsoku) for the Shingon practices are clarified in various places in
the sutras and tantras, and these [clarifitcations] are not the same. Generally
speaking, there are no more than two types: ceremonial [rituals] (kuyō 供養)
and recitation [rituals] (nenju 念誦). Among these two, nenju is the most
essential. So when it says “nenju” in the titles of the various tantras, this is
what is meant.
As for these nenju rituals, it means to let the mind become quiet, and
turn it to both jō 定 and e 恵, and then to visualize the shō 声 of the Shingon
that one is reciting. After that one visualizes the shape of its letters (ji 字), and
after that one visualizes its meaning(s?) (giri 義理).
This ritual procedure is to focus the mind on one object and not let it
stray any further. Derived out of this [shared basis], the various types of
mindsets applied to visualization, such as those of that have form (usō 有相)
and those that do not (musō 無相), are just as explained in the various sutras
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and tantras. Because this is so, when the three visualizations of shō, ji, and
jissō are brought in accord, one can attain supreme wisdom (daishijji 大悉地).
And because that is the larger meaning of the visualization practices of our
school, [Kūkai] wrote this text and truly explained this truth (gi 義).
(SZ14, 120)
According to this passage, Kūkai wrote the Shōjigi from a ritual interest. He meant to
provide a single framework within which to systematize the many different forms of
visualization found in the scriptures, such as the ajikan 阿字観 and the gosōjōjinkan
五相成身観 visualization practices. (Cf. Takagami 1989, 251-52; Toganoo 1982a,
222-29) This would fit nicely with what we saw Genbō do for the kanpu document.
There he equated Shōjigi to the mind mystery, which in light of the passage here may
suggest that he considered Shōjigi to provide the basis for the visualizations made
during shōmyō practice.
Theoretical Shōjigi?: Kakuban’s Denbōe Lecture
At this point it may be interesting to turn our gaze to one of Kakuban’s denbōe
lectures, because he also discussed Shōjigi.
Kakuban organized denbōe lectures twice yearly, dedicating the first session
to theoretical matters and the second mostly to implementation in ritual practices. The
secrecy of the second session in particular was of such importance that he had a sign
put up saying that priests without proper credentials were not to be admitted. It seems
that Kakuban was not present for every session, but he delivered lectures regularly
between 1130 and 1143 at different venues on Mt. Kōya and Mt. Negoro. (van der
Veere 2007; Shinpo 1992)
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Most of what is known about the content of Kakuban’s lectures is owed to the
survival of a collection of notes written down by one of Kakuban’s less prominent
disciples, Chōganbō Shōō 長厳房聖応 (dates unkown), about whom practically
nothing is known. The notes have been bundled in a work called Uchigikishū 打聞集
that, though not written by Kakuban himself, is considered a valuable aid in the study
of his thought.61 It is difficult to ascertain to what extent Shōō’s notes convey reliably
what perspired during these lectures and what remains of Kakuban’s original words
and intentions. Despite being a record of oral transmission similar to that of which
Shōjigi commentaries testify, it is possible that Shōō’s notes did not receive the same
approval of the master as Genbō’s did. Genbō’s commentary mentions explicitly that
his master annotated the text, which likely means that it was approved. In the case of
Shōō, however, it is not at all clear whether this is the case Kakuban sanctioned the
text. Van der Veere mentions that a manuscript of the Uchigikishū copied by Raiyu
contains a note suggesting that Kakuban may have seen the text and approved its
contents, but the veracity of this statement is difficult to determine. (Veere 2007, 605)
It is also plausible that Shōō may have written these notes for his personal use and
consequently left out many of the matters that were already familiar to him.
Notwithstanding, I think a brief look at Shōō’s notes on the lecture about Shōjigi may
still be informative.
The lecture on Shōjigi is the very last one that Kakuban delivered before his
death, the autumn session of Kōji 2 康治 (1143). (KDZ, 585-587) Closer inspection
of the brief entry reveals that the notes only explain the first few sentences of the
61
There are in fact two different texts entitled Uchigikishu. One comprises the collection of notes
discussed here and which full title is Kakuban shōnin denbōe dangi uchigikishū 覚鑁聖人伝法会打聞
集, the other is an early Heian-period collection of twenty-seven setsuwa 説話 tales only extant in a
manuscript copied by the monk Eigen 栄源 dated Chōshō 3 長承 (1134). (van der Veere 2007)
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Shōjigi’s introduction. The text’s title is discussed, as well as the important concepts
that occur in first few sentences. Interpretations are also offered for ambiguous terms
in the early passages of the Shōjigi. Because this is an autumn session one would
expect that the discussion of the text is directly concerned with ritual praxis, but
saliently this is not clearly so.
Shōō’s commence with a forthright though somewhat obscure statement of
what shōji jissō gi is. Shōō writes:
“Shōji jissō gi62 is the basic principle (sadame 定)63 for the kaidai 開題 of all
the other scriptures. The kaidai is comprehensive (sō 總), while the [regular]
sentences (mon 文) and so on in the text are only partial (betsu 別).”
(KDZ 585)
But what does this mean? The term kaidai can be used to refer to a number of things.
It is for instance used to refer to the act of “opening the title” - the literal meaning of
the term - which means that one explains the title of a scripture in order to retrieve the
gist of the text. This operation is predicated on the idea that the entire content of a
sutra is already contained in its title. This has spawned a genre of kaidai texts, a type
of commentarial text of which Kūkai wrote a considerable number. These generally
have “kaidai” in the title.64 Alternatively, the term can be used as an abbreviation for
It is grammatically ambiguous whether the “shōji jissō gi” here ought to be read as the title of the
Shōjigi or as “the ‘gi’ of shōji jissō”, but this difference would have only minor impact on the general
meaning of the sentence.
62
63
This is not the most conventional meaning of the term, but it is found in dictionaries of premodern
Japanese. In Buddhist contexts it usually often means “meditation.” Such a translation would, however,
not fit the present context. Cf. Second meaning of “定め”, KGJ, 506.
64
Katsumata has collected and annotated twenty-five of them. He also mentions the titles of four that
are likely lost. Cf. KCZ 2, 183-443, 452-53.
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kaidai kuyō 開題供養, a type of ceremony where scriptures are copied and their titles
explained before making an offering of them. (MDJ 205-206)
Perhaps what Shōō’s notes refer to is a passage in one of Kūkai’s kaidai texts,
the Kongōchōgyō kaidai. There, Kūkai provides the title of the Kongōchōgyō in its
Sanskrit form, cuts it into small segments consisting of words and individual
syllables, and proceeds to explain the meanings of these. This is an exegetical strategy
highly reminiscent of the interlinear style of Shōjigi commentaries. Right after the
cut-up of the title, Kūkai refers to his Shōjigi for explanation of what he just did and
how each segment of the title can have many meanings. He writes:
“In this way, one character (ji 字) and two characters, or even three characters
and four characters, come together and express the name/meaning myō 名 of a
single thing. Words (myō 名65) come together and form phrases (ku 句), and
phrases come together to form verses (ju 頌). Single words (myō 名) and
single phrases all express the name/meanings of people and Dharma’s. The
meanings (gi 義) of words consisting of one character and words consisting of
one or two characters are immensely broad and boundless (jinkō musai 甚広無
際). This is like I explained it in Shōjigi, so I will omit it here.”
(KCZ 2, 264)
Note that the character myō 名 is used here in two distinct senses. It is on the one hand the
name/meaning expressed by an utterance, but at the same time used to refer to a linguistic unit used to
construct utterances.
65
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The different linguistic elements that Kūkai uses in this passage - characters, words,
phrases - all correspond closely to the linguistic elements that he described in Shōjigi.
There, however, these elements are those that make up the shingon language.
This fits in well with Kūkai’s views of humans language as a corruption of
Dainichi’s shingon. Degraded forms of language carry the same properties as the
shingon language because they arise from it. Hence their linguistic elements are the
same. In the same way as shingon, then, the words of the defiled languages contain
limitless meanings, though their use by ignorant beings is usually intended to convey
only a very limited number or even single meaning. Once one has recognized this,
one can theoretically speaking begin to analyze the correct meanings (gi 義) of any
linguistic utterance.
And this happens to be exactly what Kūkai does next in Kongōchōgyō kaidai,
as well as other kaidai texts. He discusses how the title can be divided into phrases,
words, and single characters, and even how this division can be different for the
Chinese and Sanskrit versions of the title. Then he correlates all these elements, in
grouped in sets of different numbers, to the components of the esoteric teachings - the
sanmitsu, the five wisdoms, the six elements, and so on. In a sense, he extracts the
esoteric teaching in its entirety out of a sutra title. Such a cut-up of the title and the
subsequent identification of its elements as the esoteric teaching is predicated on
linguistic theories as articulated in Shōjigi.
I would suggest that this might be Shōō meant when he wrote down that the
meaning of shōji jissō is the basic principle for kaidai. Not necessarily directly for the
genre of literature or the offering of scripture to the Buddha’s, but for the act of
“opening the title” itself. Shōji jissō is the principle that explains that all possible
linguistic utterances contain the truth, which is the esoteric teaching. Taking this
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literally, one can then locate all elements of the esoteric teaching in any linguistic
utterance, especially sutra’s titles.
This connects very well to the next sentence in the passage, where the socalled sō-betsu 總別 exegetical tool is deployed to explain why shōji jissō is the basis
for kaidai. The esoteric teaching, as the whole truth, is in its entirety contained within
the title of a sutra, be it esoteric or exoteric, which makes the title comprehensive (sō
總). The sentences that make up the rest of the sutra try to explain this same truth as
well, but by means of language at the conventional level. In such use, language is not
recognized as having boundless meanings, but rather works in a restricting sense to
convey single meanings. It can then only discuss parts (betsu 別) of the whole truth
that cannot be contained in human language. Once one knows that the title if
comprehensive, one can proceed to extract the full teaching from the title. Shōji jissō
is what makes this operation of extraction possible.
Shōō’s notes thus suggest that, at least on this occasion, Kakuban may have
treated Shōjigi from a theoretical approach, describing it as providing the basic
principles for a particular type of exegesis aimed at sutra titles. This seems to be
somewhat dissonant with the practical focus one would expect from Kakuban’s ritualoriented autumn lectures. It is possible to speculate, however, that the reason for
“opening” the title of a sutra is in order to explain its efficacy from the esoteric
viewpoint and make it practically applicable. In short, to turn it into a method, or
hōmon 法門. This will have to be postponed until future elaboration based on
substantial evidence.
This chapter briefly assessed some of the different ways in which authors have framed
the Shōjigi when treating the matter of authorial intent. According to Dōhan, Kūkai
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wrote it in order to set up his ryobu-system of the taizō and the kongōkai. Donjaku
suggested that the intention was rather to furnish shōmyō with a doctrinal foundation.
And Genbō suggested that the text was written in order to set up a method to
systematize the many different visualization practices found in the tantras. In contrast
to this ritual turn, we see Kakuban described as taking a much more theoretical
approach the text, where he suggests that it forms the basis for a certain type of
exegetical scholarship.
Though this probably does not expose the definitive positions of these authors
on what the text was for and could be used for, I think it provides a valuable glance at
the strategies by which commentators - be it is writer or as lecturer - made the text
meaningful to their audience. It also exposes the extent to which there was room for
debate and disagreement in the various commentarial transmissions. Additionally, the
variety of methods taken signifies how differently Shōjigi can be understood and
underlines that there can be no single, normative Shingon interpretation of the Shōjigi
and that to correctly assess its place in the Shingon tradition it is essential to recognize
that different interpretations are considered to be “correct”.
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7. Conclusions
In the foregoing, I have attempted to trace the Shingon tradition of commentarial
debate on the text Shōjigi by Kūkai between the early thirteenth and the early fifteenth
century. By embedding the tradition in its historical context, I have suggested that
commentarial texts do much more than merely interpret the Shōjigi. They function, at
the same time, to justify doctrinal interpretations and address new matters brought
about by the changing times. By doing so, they wove Shōjigi tightly into the doctrinal
debates of their time. Additionally, a close inspection of the commentarial texts
themselves revealed they were written and used as part of dangi lectures that served
as an important part of the educational system for scholar priests. Question-andanswer sessions during these lectures raised problems about it and also connected the
text to contemporary concerns that lay outside of the original text. Answers to these
problems were developed over time and there is some evidence to suggest that it is
possible that such matters became part of the tradition of transmitting Shōjigi
transmission. In the last chapter, I have tried to sketch a number of different ways in
which commentators tried to make the text meaningful to their audiences. In short, I
have proposed that commentarial texts interpret the Shōjigi, address (contemporary)
doctrinal problems, are closely linked to verbal knowledge transmission, and propose
a variety of different approaches to the text.
A number of additional observations can be made on the basis of the
conclusions drawn here that plausibly resonate with Shingon masshaku and perhaps
even to some extent East-Asian commentarial literature at large.
Most importantly, the observation that commentaries were produced in close
connection to the oral transmission of Dharma seminars may have methodological
consequences. As suggested, mondō-passages may be registrations of actual verbal
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B. Winkelman, 0918474
exchanges and this requires a different reading strategy than if they had been textrhetorical devices. Consequently, it is possible that commentaries contain quite a few
statements that do not necessarily represent the views of the author. The academic
student is then presented with the additional task of determining whether this is the
case or not, regardless of the kind of approach and interest with which commentaries
are approached. This implies that some adjustment to the presently prevalent
approaches in the study of Shingon commentarial literature may be necessary.
Moreover, when regarded from this historical perspective, there are new ways
to answer the “why” questions regarding commentarial texts and their production.
Why write them at all? Why produce so many? Why does one author write multiple
commentaries? Why do scholars write commentaries on commentaries? And why is
there such meticulous attention for the minutiae of nearly every word? Previous
scholars have provided explanations by suggesting that this is because of reverence
and respect for the main that is being explicated, as well as due to the high esteem in
which commentaries were held. (Gardner 1998, 401) These concerns no doubt factor
in when it comes to Shōjigi commentaries as well, but alternative answers can also be
formulated based on the didactic purposes of exegetical texts, the driving force of
“tradition”, and the contest for the superior interpretation.
In light of my observations a small contribution to the debate on Shingon
hermeneutics and knowledge theory can also be proposed. Thus far Shingon
hermeneutics have been described as being a method of ritual practice (Kuroki 1979,
33-34), a means of philosophical speculation on the absolute (“interpretation for the
sake of interpretation, Ibid.), or a method aimed at “salvation” (?) (Rambelli 2013).
These are intriguing suggestions, but they do not yet seem to take into account the
type of textual exegesis carried out in commentarial traditions. However, as I have
78
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B. Winkelman, 0918474
hoped to demonstrate here, such methods of exegesis exist and play an important role
in the Shingon tradition at large: exegesis becomes a didactic method.
Within the confines of this study it was possibly to treat only a small fraction
of the commentarial literature available, even in view of that available on Shōjigi
alone. Further research could focus on a different period of Shōjigi commentary, flesh
out the period treated here based on commentaries I did not have access to, explore
the suggestion made here in other corpora of Shingon commentarial literature, or even
explore similar question in other Buddhist traditions of commentary, such as in Tibet.
I have also made use of the opportunity granted by this study to emphasize
two other points I find important. On the one hand to put the Shingon commentary on
the map as a text-form deserving of more reflection and serious attention in the
Anglophone field in particular. There is no normative interpretation of the Shōjigi. In
order to better understand the history of the Shingon tradition, it is necessary to trace
the different interpretations constructed instead of attempting to reconstruct the text’s
original intention. From the approach I have proposed here, commentarial literature
makes it possible to study this reception history and come to a more a nuanced
understanding of Shōjigi’s place in Shingon’s historical development.
Furthermore, by unlocking a body of hitherto untreated - that is, in English texts and unveiling how their interpretations vary, I have attempted to illustrate the
great wealth of ideas and interpretations available for study. There is no monolithic
Shingon school, but a highly varied tradition of contested approaches and
interpretations. Through my efforts here, I hope to have exposed some of the
engaging variety that is there for all to see.
In conclusion I present my personal interpretation of Kūkai’s words, fully
attuned to the circumstances and my audience. Kūkai wrote in Shōjigi: “I can only
79
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B. Winkelman, 0918474
hope that later students shall dwell on this “spirit” (i 意) with the utmost incisive
mind.” (KZ 1: 521) This means that more research is required.
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B. Winkelman, 0918474
References
Abbreviations
BD
Kōsetsu bukkyōgo daijiten shukusatsuhan 広説仏教語大辞典 縮刷版.
Nakamura Hajime 中村元, ed. Tōkyō: Tōkyō Shoseki, 2010.
CZ
Chizan zensho 智山全書. Kyōto: Chizan zensho kankōkai, 1964-1971.
DBZ Dainihon bukkyō zensho 大日本仏教全書. Suzuki gakujutsu zaidan 鈴木学
術財団, ed. Tōkyō: Bussho Kankōkai, 1911-1922.
JZ
Jōdoshū zensho 浄土宗全書, 22 vols. Tōkyō: Shūten kankō kai 浄土宗宗典
刊行会, 1911-1972. (Also accessible through Google books Library Project)
KCZ Kōbō Daishi Chosaku Zenshū 弘法大師著作全集 (revised edition).
Katsumata Shunkyō 勝又俊教, ed. Tōkyō: Sankibō busshorin, 1979.
KDKZ Kōbō Daishi Kūkai Zenshū 弘法大師空海全集. Kōbō Daishi Kūkai Zenshū
Henshū Iinkai 弘法大師空海全集編輯委員会, ed. Tōkyō: Chikuma shobō,
2000.
KDZ Kōgyō Daishi Zenshū 興教大師全集. Nakano Tatsue 中野達慧, ed. Tōkyō:
Sesōken, 1935.
KGJ
Shinmeikai kogojiten 新明解古語辞典, third edition. Kindaichi Haruhiko 金
田一春彦 & Sanseidō henshūsho 三省堂編修所, ed. Tōkyō: Sanseidō 2002.
KZ
Kōbō Daishi Zenshshū 弘法大師全集. Mikkyō Bunka Kenkyūjo 密教文化研
究所. Kyōto: Domeisha, 1977.
MDJ Mikkyō Daijiten • shukusatsuhan 密教大辞典 • 縮刷版. Mikkyō jiten hensan
kai 密教辞典編纂会, ed. Kyōto: Hōzōkan, 1983.
MJ
Mikkyō Jiten 密教辞典. Sawa Ryūken 佐和隆研, ed. Kyōto: Hōzōkan ,1975.
T
Taishō Shinshū Daizōkyō 大正新脩大蔵経. Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 et
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SZ
Shingonshū Zenshō 真言宗全書. Takaoka Ryūshin 高岡隆心, ed. Tōkyō:
Shingonshū zenshō kankōkai, 1922-1939.
ZSZ
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kankōkai, 2008.
ZZGR Zoku zoku gunshō ruiju 続々群書類従. Ichishima Kenkichi 市島謙吉, ed.
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Daibirushana jōbutsu kyō sho 大毘盧遮那成仏経疏, T1796 39.
Dainichikyōsho shishinshō 大日経疏指心鈔, T2217 59.
Daijōkishinron 大乗起信論, T1666 32.
Himitsu shū nenbutsu shō 秘密宗念仏鈔, DBZ 43, 54-65.
Hizōhōyaku 秘蔵宝鑰, KZ I, 417-473.
Hōkyōshō 宝鏡鈔, T2456 77.
Kanpu tōhen nen zasshu 官符等編年年集. KZ 5: 444-47.
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Kongochō issai nyorai shinjitsu shō daijō genshō daikyō’ō kyō 金剛頂一切如来真実
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Nehankyō 涅槃経, T374 12.
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Ryōgakyō 楞伽経, T671 16.
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Unji gi 吽字義, KZ 1, 535-553.
Yuimakyō 維摩経 T474 14;T475 14; T476 14.
Yuga shiji ron 瑜伽師地論, T1579 30.
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Yoshida Hiroaki 吉田宏晢
1988 Kyōka no shiten kara mita shingon kyōgaku ni tsuite 教化の視点から見た
真言教学について, Gendai mikkyō 現代密教 1, 27-38.
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