Rishukyou mandara　理趣経曼荼羅

KEY WORD :　art history / iconography

A mandala *mandara 曼荼羅 symbolizing the doctrines of the RISHUKYOU 理趣経 (Sk: Prajnaparamitanaya-sutra: Sutra of the Principle of the Perfection of Wisdom). The RISHUKYOU consists of seventeen sections juushichidan 十七段, and the seventeen mandara symbolizing the doctrines of each of these seventeen sections are collectively known as the Juushichidan mandara 十七段曼荼羅; there is also an eighteen-assembly mandala Rishukyou juuhachi-e mandara 理趣経十八会曼荼羅 in which a setsu-e mandara 説会曼荼羅, depicting the scene when the RISHUKYOU was expounded, has been added. Among the 18 mandara comprising this assembly, the second Tairaku mandara 大楽曼荼羅 (Mandala of Great Bliss) is the most important, and it was modified to conform with the principles of the *Kongoukai mandara 金剛界曼荼羅 and incorporated into the *Kue mandara 九会曼荼羅 as the Rishu-e 理趣会. If Kongousatta 金剛薩, the central deity of the Rishu-e, is changed to *Aizen Myouou 愛染明王, this same mandara becomes the *Aizen mandara 愛染曼荼羅. In addition, the ninth mandara Nyuudairin mandara 入大輪曼荼羅 (Mandala for Entering the Great Circle) was used separately as the mandara of Dairin Myouou 大輪明王, while the eighteenth Jinpi mandara 深秘曼荼羅 (Mandala of Profound Secrets) was used as the Gohimitsu mandara 五秘密曼荼羅 (Mandala of the Five Secrets), but there are few independent examples of any of the other eighteen mandara, and they were not widely used. The Rishukyou juuhachi-e mandara was introduced from China to Japan by Ennin 円仁 (794-864) and Shuuei 宗叡 (809-884). Later Genkaku 厳覚 (also known as Gonkaku, 1056-1121), Kouzen 興然 (also known as Kounen, 1120-1203), Douhou 道宝 (1214-81) and others produced variant forms of the Rishukyou mandara by incorporating the doctrines of the RISHUSHAKUKYOU 理趣釈経 (a commentary on the RISHU-KYOU) and KONGOUCHOUKYOU 金剛頂経 (Diamond Peak Sutra; Sk:Sarvatathagatatattvasamgraha). There is also a xylograph version of the Juushichidan mandara at Fudaraku-in 補陀洛院, Mt. Kouya 高野, Wakayama prefecture.

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