Title: Dà Lè Jīngāng Bù Kōng Zhēnshí Sān Móyé Jīng Bōrě Bōluómì Duō Lǐ Qù Pǐn (The Great Blissful Vajra Unempty Truth Samaya Sutra, the Chapter on the Perfection of Wisdom and Principles), Circa 1185-1333. An Extraordinarily Rare Printed Handscroll of the Rishu-kyō Sutra, With Sixteen Massive Sanskrit Seed Syllable Characters
Author: Translation of Amoghavajra
Condition: Good
An extraordinarily rare Kamakura Period, late 12th to mid 14th century printed edition of the Dà lè jīngāng bù kōng zhēnshí sān móyé jīng bōrě bōluómì duō lǐ qù pǐn, also known as The Great Blissful Vajra Unempty Truth Samaya Sutra, the Chapter on the Perfection of Wisdom and Principles. In Japanese, it is known as the Rishu-kyō Sutra, a Buddhist esoteric scripture, and abridge version of the of the Rishu Kogyo, the sixth assembly of the eighteen assemblies within the Vajrasekhara Sutra. This is the Shingon Buddhist edition following the translation by the ancient monk Amoghavajra (705-774), now acknowledged as one of the Patriarchs of Chinese Esoteric Buddhism and Shingon Buddhism.
The sutra is broken down into 17 chapter, excluding the intro and concluding chapter, followed as such:
The Way of Supreme Joy (Vajrasattva), The Way of Enlightenment (Vairocana), The Way of Conquest (Sakyamuni), The Way of Seeing the Self-nature (Avalokiteśvara), The Way of Discovering the Jewel (Akasagarbha), The Way of Karma (Vajramusti), The Way of Turning the Wheel of a Letter (Akṣara-cakra) (Manjusri), The Way of Entering the Great Wheel (Cakra) (Sahacittotpādadharmacakrapravartin), The Way of Worship (Gaganaganja), The Way of Wrath (Sarvamarabalapramardin), The Way of Assembling the Vow (Samaya) (Samantabhadra), The Way of Empowerment (Vajra‑guhya‑vajra‑mandala), The Way of the Seven Heavenly Mothers, The Way of the Three Brothers, The Way of the Four Sisters, The Way of Perfection, The Way of the Mysteries
There are sixteen massive sixteen Sanskrit seed syllable characters, the first fifteen serve to close specific stages of the teachings, and a final, tremendous seed syllable character closes the teachings of the text
There is a much a later inscribed date for Koji 3 in May, or 1557, with mention of a female monk as well, likely penned by one of the early owners of this scroll.
Checking holdings on Worldcat and Kokusho, no earlier copy than one from the Muromachi Period (Bibliographic ID 100385980 on Kokusho) exists. The present handscroll bears unmistakable similarities, but appears to date earlier, with slightly different character formation, and a few printed corrections. This would tentatively make it the oldest known extant printed copy of any editions on Worldcat or Kokusho.
The sutra is printed in a single column format, with up to 17 characters per column.
The handscroll has been printed and bound in handscroll format, though lacking much of the original protective cover. A wooden roller has been tipped to the centre as a core.
One printed handscroll on fibrous, delicate paper, 25 x 553 cm
This handscroll is in good shape, with heavy soiling and wear to the covers. There are three tears at the beginning, affecting several characters, and several worm tracks throughout, with minor character loss. The worm tracks at the last 50 cm does not affect text. There is some edge wear and staining throughout, though it should be noted that the other, digitized surviving handscroll edition from the Muromachi Period suffers from similar worm and stain damage.