Works by Torei Enji

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Tōrei Enji 東嶺圓慈・東嶺円慈・東嶺延慈 (1721–1792) received the posthumous imperial title of Butsugo–shinshō Zenji 佛護神照禪師・仏護神照禅師. After having followed Kogetsu Zenzai 古月禪材・古月禅材 (1667–1751), Tōrei became the disciple of Hakuin Ekaku 白隱慧鶴・白隠慧鶴 (1686-1769), one of the major figures in the Rinzai revival of the eighteenth century. Many of Tōrei's works remain unpublished, even in Japan. His scholarly interests and the breadth of his knowledge, including Shinto, was unprecedented.

For further information about Tōrei, see:

  • Mohr, Michel. 2006. Imagining Indian Zen: Tōrei’s Commentary on the Ta-Mo-to-Lo Ch'an Ching and the Rediscovery of Early Meditation Techniques During the Tokugawa Era. In Zen Classics: Formative Texts in the History of Zen Buddhism, edited by Steven Heine, and Dale S. Wright. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 215–246.
  • Mohr, Michel. 2009. Beyond Awareness: Tōrei Enji’s Understanding of Realization in the Treatise on the Inexhaustible Lamp of Zen, Chapter 6. In Buddhist Philosophy: Essential Readings, edited by William Edelglass, and Jay L. Garfield. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 159–170.

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    Dokugo chū shingyō 毒語注心經 (Poison Words as Comments on the Heart Sutra).
    (Yano Heibee 矢野平兵衞, 1891) Tōrei Enji 東嶺圓慈, Hakuin Ekaku 白隱慧鶴
    This copy was published in 1891 (Meiji 24) by Yano Heibei 矢野平兵衞. It reproduces the book published in 1753 with an afterword by Tōrei. As in other works by Hakuin, it has Kitō henshū 饑凍編集 Kanga kōsei 寒餓校正, meaning literally "edited by the starving and freezing [one], proof-read by the cold and starving [one]," a pseudonym for Tōrei and Hakuin, or both. This works is a commentary of the Mahā-prajñā-pāramitā-hṛdaya-sūtra (The Sūtra of the Heart of the Great Perfection of Insight), using the Chinese version attributed to Xuánzàng 玄奘 (602–664) and its common rendition in the Japanese Taishō Tripitaka edition 般若波羅蜜多心經 (T. 8 No. 251).
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    Maishin Kaju Hotsuganmon 毎晨課誦發願文
    (None, 1751) Tōrei Enji, 東嶺圓慈
    Archival material from the Reisenji 齡仙寺. Provides insight into the daily recitation performed in a Japanese Zen temple of the Rinzai tradition.
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    Darumatara zenkyō settsū kōsho 達磨多羅禪經説通考疏・達磨多羅禅経説通考疏
    (2014-11-11) Tōrei Enji 東嶺圓慈
    The meticulous commentary of the Dámóduōluó chánjīng 達摩多羅禪經 (T 15 no. 618) by Tōrei Enji constitutes one of the few resources for the study of this early meditation treatise in seventeen fascicles. It goes further than the work of Fórì Qìsōng 佛日契嵩 (1007–1072) in its scrutiny of textual sources but tends to agree with Fórì regarding the confusing attribution of this text to Bodhidharma.
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    Shinjubutsu sanbō kōkyō kuge 神儒佛三法孝經口解
    (2014-02-26) Tōrei Enji 東嶺圓慈
    Discusses various expressions of filial piety Tōrei found in Shinto, Buddhism, and Confucianism.
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    Kaibaben 快馬鞭 (woodblock edition)
    (Zenke shorin 禪家書林 Ryūshiken 柳枝軒 Ogawa Tazaemon 小川多左衞門刊, 1800-12) Tōrei Enji 東嶺圓慈・東嶺円慈・東嶺延慈 (1721–1792)
    Woodblock edition of Tōrei's text, published posthumously by his disciples. It includes letters Tōrei wrote to lay correspondents and followers. This edition begins with two forewords, the first one by his disciple Tairei Shōkan 太靈紹鑑・太霊紹鑑 (1724–1807), and the second one by Shōdō Ryōe 照道了慧 (d. 1820) and Muin Gennyo 霧隠玄如・霧隱玄如 (n.d.). The whole work is made of three fascicles, plus an appendix including twenty-one poems in cursive Hiragana script (Dōka nijūisshu 道歌二十一首).
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    Hekigan hyakusoku ben 碧巖百則辧
    (2013-10-06) Tōrei Enji 東嶺圓慈
    Concise commentary of the Bìyánlù 碧巖録・碧巌録 (Emerald Cliff Record) by Tōrei Enji 東嶺圓慈. This work was completed in 1788 (天明8) according to Tōrei's biography (Tōrei oshō nenpu 東嶺和尚年譜). This edition was published by Mugaku Bun’eki 無學文奕・無学文奕 (1818–1898) in 1891 (明治24) and the colophon indicates that the woodblocks were made at Shōun Zenji in Ikeda, Sesshū (North of the present Ōsaka Municipality) 攝州池田の松雲禪寺藏板 and that these were based on and older edition made by the publisher Yano Heibee 矢野平兵衞.
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    Bumo onnanpōkyō chūge 佛説父母恩難報經 註解
    (Masuda Genpei 増田源兵衞, 1788-02) Tōrei Enji 東嶺圓慈
    Woodblock edition of the work written by Tōrei. Both the original manuscript and this woodblock edition are kept at Hōrinji 法輪寺, a temple in Kyoto also popularly known as Daruma-dera 達磨寺. For a description of this work in modern Japanese see http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/29113. The manuscript was completed in 1770 (Meiwa 明和 7) and the woodblock edition was printed in 1788 (Tenmei 天明 8). A copy of this text was made in 1936 by Kōhō Zennō 江峰禪能 (1909–1959), the 15th abbot of Reisenji 齡仙寺. An English article on this sutra can be found at http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/27405
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    Bumo onnanpōkyō chūge 佛説父母恩難報經 註解 manuscript
    (2013-05-26) Tōrei Enji 東嶺圓慈
    Manuscript written by Tōrei. The original is kept at Hōrinji 法輪寺, a temple in Kyoto also popularly known as Daruma-dera 達磨寺. For a description of this manuscript in modern Japanese see http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/29113. An English article on this sutra can be found at http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/27405
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    Monjushiri bosatsu ichi bonjikyō chūge 文殊師利菩薩一梵持經 註解
    (2013-05-26) Tōrei Enji 東嶺圓慈
    Manuscript written by Tōrei. The original is kept at Hōrinji 法輪寺, a temple in Kyoto also popularly known as Daruma-dera 達磨寺. For a description of this manuscript in modern Japanese see http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/29113 The apocryphal sutra commented by Tōrei is a Shugendō scripture whose "reception" is attributed to En no Gyōja. The same root text is also known as Bussetsu sanjin juryō muhen kyō 佛説三身壽量無邊經 (The Sutra on the Unlimited Life of the Threefold Body as Taught by the Buddha) and has been translated twice. See Swanson, Paul L. 1993. “Tapping the Source Directly: A Japanese Shugendō Apocryphal Text.” Japanese Religions 18: 95–112, and Swanson, Paul L. 1999. A Shugendō Apocryphal Text. In Religions of Japan in Practice, edited by George J. Tanabe. Princeton University Press, pp. 246–253.
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    Shijūnishōkyō chūge 四十二章經 註解
    (2013-05-26) Tōrei Enji 東嶺圓慈
    Manuscript written by Tōrei. The original is kept at Hōrinji 法輪寺, a temple in Kyoto also popularly known as Daruma-dera 達磨寺. For the sutra itself, see T. 17 no. 784. This was probably the first Buddhist scripture translated into a Western language. For a description of this manuscript in modern Japanese see http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/29113
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    Shūmon mujintō ron 宗門無盡燈論
    (2013-04-09) Tōrei Enji 東嶺圓慈
    This treatise by Tōrei Enji (1721–92) was published in 1800. It is written in classical Chinese but was read according to the Japanese Kanbun syntax. Tōrei was a teacher in the Rinzai denomination of Japanese Zen. This constitutes his major work, which describes the entire curriculum of Zen practice, and was entitled the Treatise on the Inexhaustible Lamp of Zen (Shūmon mujintō ron).