This study is intended to clarify the character of Zonkaku 存覚 (1290–1373) as a dharma preacher (shōdōsō 唱導僧) by focusing on his use of the origin story of the Śākyamuni statue at the Shōryōji 清涼寺 in his Hōonki 報恩記.

This origin story was already widely popular in medieval Japan. It was well-known by the followers of the Nichiren school since Nichiren himself cited the story in his writings. Zonkaku wrote the Hōonki for the Shin Buddhist community led by Myōkō 明光, which was in competition with Nichiren’s followers. Zonkaku adopted this popular story as a common ground that would allow Shin followers to compete squarely with Nichiren followers, and also to help popularize their missionary work among ordinary people.

Unlike Shinran, Zonkaku often explained Shin Buddhist doctrine by appealing to popular Buddhist stories, which probably reflects the social and cultural environment surrounding him and the Shin community.

It is said that the Kechiengyō (結縁経) was performed at the time of the Gyakushu ceremony, because the Gyakushu (逆修) was understood as a ceremony that serves to connect oneself with the Tathāgata. However, there is no cases in which the Kechiengyō was conducted at the time of the Gyakushu ceremony during the Heian Period. Therefore, I suppose that the purpose of the Gyakushu was not to connect oneself with the Tathāgata.

The Gyakushu means to pray that one’s soul may rest in peace after death while one is still alive, and to conduct a prayer ceremony prior to one’s death, which is similar to the ceremony conducted posthumously every 7 days during the 49 days after death. It can be understood that the Gyakushu’s rituals are conducted in the same manner as the Chūin’s (中陰, intermediate state) rituals with oneself as the person being commemorated.

In this paper, I discuss why the Kechiengyō was not performed at the time of the Gyakushu ceremony by considering the changes to the Gyakushu’s rituals in the Heian Period and comparing them with the Chūin’s rituals.

Zhisheng 智昇 (8th c.) considered the Sumatidārikā-paripṛcchā 須摩提経 translated by Bodhiruci as a separately circulating text (別生経) of Chapter XXX of the Mahāratnakūṭasūtra, and therefore excluded it from the canonical scriptures recorded in his famous catalogue Kaiyuan shijiao lu 開元釈教録 (730). The Sumatidārikā-paripṛcchā was, however, included in traditional Tripiṭaka editions belonging to the Zhongyuan 中原lineage, starting with the Kaibao 開宝 canon, and it is included in the Nanatsudera七寺manuscript collection as well. In order to identify the archetype of the Nanatsudera collection, I conjecture the existence of an older manuscript, most likely going back to the scriptural collection which Genbō 玄昉 (?–746) brought from China. A collation of the Nanatsudera text with the Jin金 canon and the Second Edition of the Korean 高麗 canon (both belonging to the Kaibao lineage) reveals that although there are some textual similarities, we can also see differences in formatting. This makes it difficult to conclude that the Nanatsudera text was based on a manuscript belonging to the same lineage as the Kaibao canon. Further research into the Ishiyamadera石山寺manuscript collection, which also contains the text, will shed light on the possibility of identifying a unique old manuscript lineage.

本稿では，竺法護訳『普超三昧経』における異読の共有状況にもとづいて，日本古写一切経諸本の相互関係を探ることを試みた．本稿で主たる検討対象としたのは，聖語蔵経巻（唐経），中尊寺経，石山寺一切経，興聖寺一切経，七寺一切経の五種の日本古写一切経である．加えて，比較のために，参照可能な版本大蔵経諸本も用いた（略号一覧参照）．

まず，異読の共有状況から，上記の五種の日本古写一切経がひとつのグループを形成していることが確かめられた．さらに，それらの間での近接関係については，異読の共有状況からは，中尊寺経と七寺一切経との間に近接関係があったと見ることができる．ただし，七寺本については，後世の手によって，別本を参照して修正された痕跡が確かめられた．一方，石山寺本については，版本大蔵経を参照した痕跡が見られ，同本が書写された年代も考慮し，また，その異読から類推すると，当時参照可能であったと考えられる開宝蔵を参照したものと推測できる．

以上の検討結果をもとに，『普超三昧経』に関して，日本古写一切経諸本に焦点を当てた大蔵経諸本の系統図についても掲げた．

This paper considers how the quintessential term dhāraṇī was received in Pure Land Buddhism in Japan.

In Pure Land Buddhism, a doctrine which promotes the wish to be reborn in the Pure Land of Amitābha Buddha, dhāraṇī are not included in the original vow of the bodhisattva who became Amitābha. From where, then, did the dhāraṇī now used in Pure Land temples come from?

Many of the Jōdo tenets currently used have their origin in Tendai Esoteric Buddhism （Taimitsu）, as is evident from the Genji Monogatari, and a number of Buddhist texts.

From the middle of the Heian period onwards, there was a cross-over between the popular penetration of Pure Land Buddhism among common people and the acceptance of dhāraṇī by Hōnen.

A plaque preserved in the Byōdōin has written on it in a clockwise manner two dhāraṇī of Amida Buddha in Sanskrit script, and the associated ritual is connected to the rituals of visualization drawn from the tradition of Enchin.