Heresy and Heresiology in Shingon Buddhism 137

© École française d’Extrême-Orient, Paris, 2011 Do not circulate without permission of the editor / Ne pas diffuser sans autorisation de l’éditeur

Heresy and Heresiology in Shingon Buddhism: Reading the Catalogues of “ Perverse Texts”

Gaétan Rappo* Catalogues or indexes occupy an important place in the Buddhist canon. One volume of the Taishō (55) and the first two of the well-known collection of Japanese Buddhist texts Dai Nihon bukkyō zensho 大 日 本 仏 教 全 書 (DNBZ) are in fact dedicated exclusively to them. Buddhist catalogues contain texts listing either works from one specific school, or major titles from every one of them. In Japan, the Edo period saw the production of quite a large number of such catalogues. A good example of the latter can be found in the revised edition of Shoshū shōshoroku 諸 宗 章 疏 録

(Catalog of the Texts and Commentaries of Each School), which was compiled by the Shingon monk Kenjun 謙 順 (1740– 1820) in 1789.1 It essentially lists the most important works— and especially earlier catalogues— of each school, starting with Kegon. The structure is always roughly the same: first the works are divided by schools or by large subjects, like inmyō 因 明 (logic). Then, lists of texts written by major monks of the school are also provided. In the third volume of the Shoshū shōshoroku, we find an extremely large section dedicated to Shingon. For example, the part describing Kūkai 空 海 (774– 835) not only records his main works, but also a series of catalogues said to have been compiled by the master. The aim of these works was, of course, to define the canon of each school— a process that became even more crucial during the Edo period, when a much stronger emphasis was put on sectarian differences than in the Middle Ages. However, this is not the only function of these texts. In fact, upon closer inspection, one finds commentaries by the author below some of the titles. This is the case with the Sokushin jōbutsugi 即 身 成 仏 義 (Meaning of the Realization of Buddhahood in One’s Own Body), a text written by Kūkai. 2

Kenjun mentions the many versions of the text that had circulated at least since the Middle Ages. Other examples go beyond discussing the various versions of a given work. A few pages later, in the section dedicated to the Daigoji 醍 醐 寺 monk Shōkaku 勝 覚 (1058– 1129), Kenjun clearly examines the authenticity of one of the items in the list. 3 He says that the Sangenshō 三 肝 鈔 (Essence of the Teachings of the Three Masters) 4 is listed as an apocryphon in another work. This is probably the Gishoron 偽 書 論 (Treatise on Apocrypha) by the Shingon monk Kyōi 恭 畏