2020 Volume 69 Pages 203-222
For this workshop, I have prepared a recension and reading in the Japanese style of the Shido kudenshō [“Digest of the Oral Teachings on the Four Crossings”], which is a record of the received teachings on the Four Crossings transmitted to the monk Kenshin in the Kōchō era (mid-thirteenth century) by the monk Kyōjun, who was a learned priest at Daigo-ji temple. In this discussion, I introduce a recension and commentary on the nyorai shin-e (with great wisdom sword, great law conch, and lotus throne), which is part of the third volume of the “Taizō-kai kudenshō” [Digest of the Oral Teachings on the Womb-Realm] (hereinafter, “the Digest”), a record of the oral transmission of teachings about the womb-realm. To begin, I addressed the lack of correspondence between the Genzu Mandala and the Kōshidai and then prepared a recension, reading, and commentary of a part of the third volume of the Digest. When preparing my commentary, I made references to Ryūyo’s Denju yōi [Teaching Essentials]. The nyorai shin-e is supposed to be mastered prior to the views of fixed settlement (bodily esoterism), right remembrance (oral esoterism), or the wheel of words (mental esoterism). In the Kōshidai, to facilitate the introduction of these views, students are required to first master the nyorai shin-e to purify their own “three activities” (i.e., of action, speech, and thought), to fully equip themselves with the Buddha’s “three mysteries” (i.e., the Buddha’s body, speech, and mind) and to become one with the Buddha through the practice of recitation.
