Miyake Tetsujō 三宅徹誠
(International College for Postgraduate Buddhist Studies)
The Transmission of the Wuliangshou jing Youpotishe yuansheng ji zhu in Japan:
A Philological Analysis on the Basis of the Kongō-ji Manuscript
Copied in Year 4 of the Hōen Era (1138 C.E.)
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The manuscript of Scroll II of the Wuliangshou jing Youpotishe yuansheng
ji zhu 無量寿経優婆提舎願生偈註 in the collection of the Kongō-ji 金剛寺 Temple (Kawachi
Nagano City 河内長野市, Mt Amano 天野山) contains a colophon dated ‘12th month
of Year 4 of the Hōen era’ 保延四年十二月 (1138 C.E.). This makes the manuscript
the oldest surviving version of the text in Japan.
The manuscript is also important for its kunten 訓點, i.e. notations and
graphic devices offering a sui generis guide for rendering the Chinese
original into Japanese. Almost the entire text contains kunten notations
written in red ink. The only wo-koto ten ヲコト點 mark used in the manuscript
is a slash-like stroke ＼ placed at upper right side of the Chinese character
and read nari ナリ, i.e. the classical Japanese copula. Previous research
reveals the fact this mark is mainly used in the so-called lineage of ni-to-ha-ka
ten 仁都波迦點 manuscripts belonging to the Tendai 天台 tradition. The kaeriten
返り點 employed in our manuscript are either star-like dots 星點 placed at the
bottom left side of the character or Chinese numerals from ‘one’ 一, ‘two’
二 up to ‘five’ 五, which are written at the centre left of the character.
The shapes of such kana 假名 letters as ヲ, ツ and シテ employed in the manuscript
display paleographic features typical of the mid-Heian period. All these
details appear to suggest that the kunten notations must have been written
not long after the copying of the manuscript itself.
Let us now have a look at the impact of the Wuliangshou jing Youpotishe
yuansheng ji zhu on the work of the Japanese Buddhist thinkers of the epoch.
The text appears quoted in the Ketsujō ōjō shū 決定往生集 by Chinkai 珍海 (1091-1152),
a scholar-monk who studied the Sanron 三論 and Tantric 密教 systems at Tōdai-ji
東大寺 and Daigo-ji 醍醐寺. Naka no Kawa Jippan 仲ノ川實範 (?-1144), who received
his training in the Hossō 法相 and Tantric traditions at Kōfuku-ji 興福寺 and
Daigo-ji, also cites the work in his Nenbutsu shiki 念佛式 (or Ōjō ron go
nenmon gyōshiki 往生論五念門行式). Jippan resided for a while and actually ended
his life at Kōmyō senji 光明山寺, a monastery believed to have been situated
in present-day Kizukawa City 木津川市 (Kyoto Prefecture 京都府). The monastery
was a branch of the Sanron lineage transmitted at Tōdai-ji. These details
may offer a clue as to the provenance of the Wuliangshou jing Youpotishe
yuansheng ji zhu manuscript copied in 1138. The fact that the manuscript
survived in the Kongō-ji collection could suggest that this temple may
have been related in one way or another to the scholarly activities and
trends in Minami Yamashiro 南山城 (the southern part of the modern Kyoto Prefecture)
and Nara 奈良.
It is important to mention here that a manuscript of Jippan’s Nenbutsu
shiki dated ‘year 4 of the Chōshō era’ 長承四年 (1135) is found in the Ryūkoku
University Library (designated as Important Cultural Property). This text,
which cites the Wuliangshou jing Youpotishe yuansheng ji zhu, was copied
only three years before our Kongō-ji manuscript. Furthermore, the above
Nenbutsu shiki manuscript similarly contains wo-koto ten marks in red ink.
Another relevant textual witness is the woodblock print of the Wuliangshou
jing Youpotishe yuansheng jiz hu containing Shinran’s 親鸞 own kunten notations
to the text. The print belongs to the Nishi Hongan-ji 西本願寺 collection,
and Shinran’s notations appear to date back to year 8 of the Kenchō period
建長八年 (1256). |
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