Abstract
The transmission of the Dafoding tuoluoni _??__??__??__??__??__??_ in Shingon Buddhism dates back to Vajrabodhi (671-741). Vajrabodhi learned this dharani in India and brought it to China, where he wrote the Xinyi fanhan dafoding tuoluoni _??__??__??__??__??__??__??__??__??__??_ Amoghavajra (705-774) met Huiguo _??__??_ (746-806), and was deeply impressed by his promising talent. Amoghavajra orally taught Huiguo the Dafoding tuoluoni and the Dasuiqiu tuoluoni _??__??__??__??__??__??_ in Sanskrit. Huiguo displayed marvelous results upon reciting these, surprising all. Kukai _??__??_ (774-835) received from Huiguo the Sanskrit texts and Chinese transliteration of these, and returned with them to Japan. Among the three courses for yearly ordinands _??__??__??__??_, he included the Dafoding tuoluoni and Dasuiqiu tuoluoni in the shomyo-go _??__??__??_, thus establishing them within Shingon-shu. Subsequently, Engyo _??__??_ (79 9-852), Eun _??__??_ (798-869), Jogyo _??__??_ (?-866), and Shuei _??__??_ (809-884) all brought buddhosnisa-related texts to Japan. These were carefully transmitted by Shinzei _??__??_ (800-860), Shunnyu _??__??_ (890-953), GOho _??__??_ (1306-1362), Kakudo _??__??_ (1500-1527), Jogon _??__??_ (1639-1702), Renta _??__??_ (1663-1726), Jiun _??__??_ (1718-1804), Shozen _??__??_ (1676-1763), Yuten _??__??_ (?-1915), and others. The Dafoding tuoluoni was recited daily in Shingon-shu probably until about the middle of the twentieth century.
The Zhu dafoding zhenyan _??__??__??__??__??__??_ has been described as the composition of Nanchu _??__??_, (?-847) of Tendai. This paper will demonstrate that it was imported to Japan by Engyo but not including in his catalogue, and will also introduce commentary that places the Dafoding tuoluoni among the five *buddhosnisa. Based on that classification, the author will discuss the content of the Dafoding tuoluoni, and as a result describe its nature as strongly of the abhicaraka type.
