. taimitsu 761
(1276–1350) Yugikyō kuketsu nukigaki is also thought to record
Chōgō’s oral transmission to his disciple (ZTZ mikkyō 2: 217–256).^20
Also noteworthy are two commentaries by Enni Ben’en
(1202–1280), the Yugikyō kenmon and the lengthy Taimitsu keigushō,
which are said to follow the interpretative lines of the Sanmai lineage
(ZTZ mikkyō 2: 205–217; Mizukami 2008c, 595–670).^21 This
material, which remains by and large unexamined, provides evidence
of the expansion of Taimitsu transmission to newly established centers
of Buddhist knowledge, such as Tōfukuji, and at the same time of new
interactions with Tōmitsu lineages.
In this context it is also compelling to reassess the sectarian signifi-
cance of the tripartite system versus Kūkai’s twofold system. Not only
are transmissions based on the Suxidi jing attested also in Tōmitsu lin-
eages, in particular the Ono branch (Misaki 1988, 606–33), but in the
medieval period the threefold paradigm was also effectively employed
by Tōmitsu scholiasts as a hermeneutical tool to articulate nonduality.
Such is the case of the Sanbōin lineages that developed the
so-called “combination of the three venerables” (sanzon gōgyō
). In the discursive, ritual, and iconographical renditions of this lit-
tle-known practice, which had far-reaching ramifications, the dichoto-
mic oppositions crystalized in the two mandalas were resolved in a
third, polyvalent element (Dolce 2010). This suggests that the Taimitsu
reconfiguration of the esoteric and the formulation of a threefold pat-
tern had historical and philosophical significance beyond mere sectar-
ian rhetoric. Insofar as the threefold paradigm offered an alternative,
not necessarily competing, type of tantrism, it appealed to different
lineages interested in reinterpreting the esoteric system.
Ritual Dimensions
The ritual self-definition operated by the Taimitsu lineages is evidence
of the same paradigms that constructed Taimitsu as a discrete tantric
tradition. The initiatory practices mentioned above, which constituted
the training curriculum that qualified a cleric as a tantric master,
(^20) Kōshū was the author of the encyclopedia of Tendai knowledge, the Keiranshūyōshū
(see below). He co-founded the Kurodani lineage, which takes its name from an area
of the Western Pagoda, and transmitted Chōgō’s teachings to another important cen-
tre in the capital, Hosshōji 21.
On Enni’s Taimitsu, see Mizukami 2008a, 2008b. Enni is better known as the
founder of Tōfukuji.