On the Kōshōji 興聖寺 Manuscripts of the Miaofa lianhuajing youbotishe 妙法蓮華経憂波提舎

Abstract

Among the Kōshōji manuscripts are a total of two manuscripts, an old manuscript and an old edition, of the Miaofa lianhuajing youbotishe translated by Bodhiruci 菩提流支. Although this document had only been known in the past as part of the inventory, the author fortunately had the opportunity to examine valuable reproductions. In this paper, the content of these two volumes is introduced, along with an investigation and evaluation with reference to relevant philological research.

As a result of the investigation and evaluation, structural similarities were found between the old manuscript and the old edition at Kōshōji and the first and second text referenced in the Fahua lunshu 法華論疏 written by Jizang 吉蔵 based on Bodhiruci’s translation.

The title Zhaoxuan shamendu 照玄沙門都 for Bodhiruci written in the old manuscript at Kōshōji is not seen in any of the other existing texts of the Miaofa lianhuajing youbo­tishe, as far as the author knows. This suggests that the old manuscript at Kōshōji is a text with a unique lineage.

These manuscripts at Kōshōji, which contain different expressions from various other books in existence, are valuable and rare books. In particular, the old manuscript is a transcription from the cloistered government during the Heian period, with a high likelihood that it was copied from a sūtra from the Nara period. Therefore, it could be a text belonging to the official Dazangjing lineage from the Tang era.