A collection
of iconographical line drawings *
hakubyou
白描 in handscroll form depicting the deities of the *
Kongoukai
mandara金剛界曼荼羅; strictly speaking, the six
mandara
explained in Chap. 1 of the
KONGOUCHOUKYOU 金剛頂経 (Sk: Sarvatathag
atatattvasam graha); together with their mudras *
in
印 and mantras (Singon 真言: True Words). Its full title is
ritasougyara
gobu shinkan 哩多僧蘖五部心観. It was brought to Japan from China by Enchin
円珍 (814-91), as were the *
Taizou
zuzou 胎蔵図像 and *
Taizou
kyuuzuyou 胎蔵旧図様, but, whereas the originals of the latter two works
have been lost and only copies exist, the original version of the
gobu
shinkan has been preserved at Onjouji 園城寺 in Shiga preference, a temple
that was restored by Enchin. In content, the
gobu shinkan is considered
to reflect the traditions of the lineage of Shanwuwei (Jp: Zenmui 善無畏, Sk: Subhakarasimha;
637-735), who first introduced to China the Esoteric Buddhism
mikkyou 密教 of the
DAINICHIKYOU
大日経 (Sk:Vairocanabhisambodhi sutra / or Mahavairocana sutra); and it represents
an early form of the
Kongoukai mandara predating the *
Kue
mandara 九会曼荼羅. There are two manuscripts of this work preserved
at Onjouji, one of them a complete manuscript and the other incomplete,
with part of the first half missing. Previously it had been thought that
the latter incomplete version represented the original manuscript brought
to Japan by Enchin, but following an examination of the sanskrit script
bonji 梵字 used in the two manuscripts Takada Osamu 高田修 concluded that
it was the complete manuscript that represented the original version , and
this view is still generally accepted today. The complete manuscript is
a rare example of an iconographical collection of simple line drawings dating
from the late Tang dynasty, while the incomplete manuscript is a fine
example of similar drawings from the Heian period, and both have been designated
national treasures. Because the
gobu shinkan was carefully preserved
as a rare work brought to Japan by Enchin and was not generally made public,
it did not exert much influence on the Buddhist iconography of Japan, although
there does exist a commentary called
ROKUSHU MANDARA RYAKUSHAKU
六種曼荼羅略釈 (A Brief Commentary on the Six Mandala), and in recent years it
has been confirmed that a number of its illustrations were copied in other
works.