Miraculous Stories from the Japanese Buddhist Tradition

The Nihon Ryoiki of the Monk Kyokai

Kyoko Motomuchi Nakamura

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780415759885
• eBook ISBN: 9781136792601
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Ethnic Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

This is the first collection of Buddhist legends in Japan, and these stories form the repertoire of miraculous events and moral examples that later Buddhist priests used for preaching to the people. As Kyokai describes his own intentions, "By editing these stories of miraculous events I want to pull the people forward by the ears, offer my hand to lead them to good, and show them how to cleanse their feet of evil" (p.222).
Nakamura's book is actually two works in one: first an introduction to the Nihon ryoiki, and then an annotated translation. The introduction analyzes the life of the author and the influence of earlier writings, and provides a valuable synthesis of the world view reflected in the work.
The annotated translation renders the more than one hundred stories into English narrative, with copious notes. Difficult terms are identified in the text with the original Chinese characters, while historical matters and Buddhist technical terms are explained in the footnotes.

Part One

Introduction to the Nihon ryōiki

Abbreviations

DBZ	Dainihon Bukkyō zensho 大日本佛敎全書
ERE	Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics
HJAS	Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies
IBK	lndogaku Bukkyōgaku kenkyū 印度學佛敎學研究
JAOS	Journal of the American Oriental Society
JRAS	Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
NKBT	Nihon koten bungaku taikei 日本古典文学大系
SBE	Sacred Books of the East
SGR	Shinkō gunsho ruijū 新校群書類從
SPTK	Ssu-pu ts’ung-k’an 四部叢刊
SZKT	Shintei zōho kokushi taikei 新訂增補國史大系
Taishō	Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經
TASJ	Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan
TPJS	Transactions and Proceedings of the Japan Society
ZGR	Zoku gunsho ruijū 續群書類從
Ch.	Chinese
Ja.	Japanese
Skt.	Sanskrit
Chap. I(1)a	A cross-reference to Part One, referring to chapter, section, and subsection.
I.1	A cross-reference to Part Two, referring to volume and tale.

Chapter I

Background

(1) kyōkai, the author

a. His Life and His Motive

The Nihon ryōiki compiled by Kyōkai, a monk of Yakushi-ji, is the earliest collection of Buddhist legends in Japan. Nothing is known of his life except what is revealed in this single work. Although his biography is found in the Honchō kōsō-den 本朝高僧傳（Biographies of Eminent Monks in Japan) compiled by Shiban 師蠻 in 1702，all that is said about him is:

The birthplace of the monk, Kyōkai, is not known. He lived at Yakushi-ji, and espoused the teaching of the Yuishiki 唯識 School as his doctrinal base. In addition to Buddhist studies he compiled the Ryōiki, in the preface of which he says…¹

As the passage which follows consists of a quotation from the Nihon ryōiki, it will be seen that this “biography” fails to reveal even the birth and death dates or the birthplace of the subject. Some scholars assume that he came from Kii 紀伊 province, because that is the location of several legends recorded in his work, those which can be dated approximately within his lifetime and which offer precise local names of the area.² Probably we would be safe in surmising that he was from a province in or near Kinai 畿內，where most of the legends originated.³ His signature, “Kyōkai，a monk⁴ of Yakushi-ji on the West Side of Nara，” is found at the beginning of each volume and at the end of the third volume. Only the last of these signatures specifies his clerical rank, Dentō jū-i 傳燈住位, next to the lowest of the five clerical ranks.⁵

Shiban must have assumed that because Kyōkai lived at Yakushi-ji, he studied the Yuishiki teachings since Yakushi-ji had been the center of the Yuishiki School.⁶ By Kyōkai’s lifetime, however, the sectarian administrative structure was still rudimentary. Temples were not yet affiliated with particular sects but were, rather, Buddhist institutes for the study of several different doctrines. On the other hand, Kyōkai might well have witnessed a sectarian consciousness growing among scholar monks at Yakushi-ji in response to the challenge of the new Buddhist teachings introduced by Saichō 最澄(767–822)⁷ and Kukai 空海(744–835),⁸ who were favored by the court. Kyōkai seems to have been interested in the new teachings as offering a more comprehensive way to happiness (III.38). In any event, he chose not to identify himself with the eminent monks at Nara, who attempted to maintain their leadership by revitalizing the traditional doctrinal learning in the face of these two new schools.

Kyōkai’s autobiographical passages, which are found in the latter section of Tale 38 in Volume III, were unavailable to Shiban because the Kōyasan manuscript of the Nihon ryōiki, which Shiban used, lacked Tale 38 and eleven other stories. Shiban’s knowledge of Kyōkai was limited, therefore, to the few lines quoted above. We may conclude that the only dependable information on Kyōkai’s life is to be found in the Nihon ryōiki, primarily the autobiographical sections, the three prefaces at the beginning of each volume, and the postscript at the end of Volume III. What do these passages tell us about his life? In the second half of Tale 38，the following dated events are mentioned:

Year	Era	Event
787	Enryaku 6:9:4^9	He was stricken with remorse in the evening and dreamed at night of a novice monk^10 name Kyōnichi
787	Enryaku 7:3:17	He dreamed of his own death.
795	Enryaku 14:12:30	He was awarded Junior Rank of Transmission of Light.
797	Enryaku	16:12:17
800	Enryaku 19:1:12, 25	His horses died.

One autumn evening in 787 Kyōkai reflected on his poverty-stricken life filled with cravings and burning desires, and lamented his past karma.¹¹ He sighed with remorse, dozed off, and dreamed what he took to be a revelation from the Buddha. In the dream he was called on by a mendicant named Kyōnichi. The mendicant showed him a huge flat board on which were marked the heights of several men, their stature being indicative of their relative merits. According to Kyōkai’s interpretation, the mendicant was none other than an embodiment of Kannon 觀音,¹² who had come to teach him that man possesses the Buddha-nature, and that, by adding to it wisdom and practice, he can erase past karma and thereby gain happiness. The mendicant, whose begging was an expression of the great mercy of Kannon, gave him an anthology of Buddhist scriptures in order that he might cultivate wisdom, and then disappeared.

In the following year Kyōkai had a second mysterious dream in which he died and was cremated while his spirit observed the whole procedure as an onlooker. Kyōkai did not interpret this dream, but simply remarked that it might be an omen indicating the attainment of long life or a particular rank since dreams sometimes depict the opposite of what is to follow. We do not know whether he lived a long life, but eventually, in 795，he was honored with the second lowest clerical rank.

From these accounts Kyōkai must have entered the priesthood sometime between 787 and 795，perhaps near the time of his second dream in 788, since several years must have passed in the priesthood before he received even the second lowest rank. That Kyōkai did not give any specific information as to when and how he entered the priesthood is in strange contrast with the exact dates and detailed description given for his dreams and for the death of his son and of the horses. However, since Tale 38 of Volume III was given the heading “On the Appearance of Evil and Good Omens Which Were Later Followed by Their Results,” and as it is likely that this section was written not as autobiography but to illustrate the interrelationship between Heaven and human beings, he may have deliberately omitted details irrelevant to the theme.

Since our sources are limited, these two dreams must serve as the primary clues to Kyōkai’s decision to pursue the spiritual life. The first dream seems to have roused him from the “web of delusion” by widening his vision from a self-centered love to a universal love for all sentient beings. As a result of what Kannon revealed to him, he came to understand the working of the principle of karma. It is possible that he remained silent about the second dream, refraining from interpreting it in Buddhist terms, because it expressed symbols not uniquely Buddhist but universal in character. In many religious traditions the reduction of the body to bones symbolizes the death and rebirth of man, that is, the total transformation and mystical rebirth of a new man. By being reduced to bones, man can be liberated from the human condition. In the Buddhist tradition, the symbol of death, rebirth, and initiation are prominent: “Buddha taught the way and the means of dying to the human condition, to bondage and suffering, in order to be reborn to the freedom, the bliss, and the unconditionality of nirvāṇa.”¹³

In 787，the year of his first dream, Kyōkai was still a layman, but he must have been familiar with the Shokyō yōshū 諸經要集 (Essentials of All Sūtras),¹⁴ which was given to him in his dream by the mendicant Kyōnichi. This means that his spiritual pilgrimage must have begun earlier.¹⁵ We have assumed that he entered the priesthood in the following year, soon after the second dream, and it seems that entering the priesthood represented a way for him to seek a happier life by gaining knowledge of the law of causation.

“Aspire to wisdom, and guide all sentient beings” is an important Mahayana Buddhist maxim which Kyōkai espoused. It was believed that enlightenment could be attained by devotion to Buddha and mercy for all fellow beings. Thus, he brought together the tales of the Nihon ryōiki as a step toward such enlightenment:

By editing these stories of miraculous events I want to pull people forward by the ears, offer my hand to lead them to good, and show them how to cleanse their feet of evil. My sincere hope is that we may all be reborn in the western land of bliss, leaving no one on the earth, and live together in the jeweled palace in heaven, abandoning our earthly residence [III.Preface].

Although Kyōkai belonged to Yakushi-ji, one of the greatest centers of Buddhist studies, and was honored with clerical rank, he was conscious of a gap between scholarly monks and common devotees with whom he often identified himself. He showed great sympathy for lay devotees whose simple, direct faith he admired, and he was determined to “guide all sentient beings” to the western land of bliss¹⁶ in spite of his own limitations.

By the time Kyōkai came to live at Yakushi-ji, state control of the Buddhist saṃgha¹⁷ had gradually been strengthened. Emperor Kōnin (r. 770–781) exiled Dōkyō 道鏡, who had been appointed Dharma King 法王¹⁸ by Empress Shōtoku¹⁹ in 766 and who almost usurped the thron...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Translator’s Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Table of Contents
• Part One: Introduction to the Nihon ryōiki
• Part Two: Annotated Translation of the Nihon ryōiki
• Appendix A. Chronology
• Appendix B. Imperial Family Lineage
• Appendix C. Translated Ranks and Titles
• Appendix D. Buddhist Scriptures Quoted or Referred to in the Nikon ryōiki
• Appendix E. Chronological List of Major Japanese Works of Legendary Literature during the Heian-Kamakura Periods
• Selected Bibliography
• Index