642 henrik h. sørensen
teaching said to have been given by Śākyamuni Buddha to his senior
disciple Mahākaśyapa, an event that has traditionally been considered
the origin of “the transmission of the mind,” the very foundation of
Sŏn/Chan orthodoxy.^48 The ritual as set forth in the Unsŭ tan is in the
form of a more general ceremony of the suryuk type, including the
invocation of the three jewels, the buddhas and bodhisattvas of
the ten directions, and the Sŏn patriarchs; the offering of food; feed-
ing the pretas; and so on, as well as a section on repentance (ch’amhŭi
). The ritual of the Unsŭ tan was meant to be held as a recurring
ceremonial event for the monastic community, and each of its sec-
tions contains mantras to go along with the prayers. Common to both
rituals is the establishment of a special altar used as the focus of the
spiritual power invoked. The extent of Hyujŏng’s Esoteric Buddhist
practice even included the worship of the seven stars of the Great Dip-
per (see Sørensen 1995c, esp. 84–90), a practice normally carried out
as a means of attaining worldly blessings and the prolongation of one’s
lifespan.^49 The Unsŭ tan may in fact be seen as a suryuk ritual that has
been modified to fit the spiritual requirements of a more narrowly
defined Sŏn tradition.
Sŏn and Esoteric Buddhist Meditation according to the Chinŏn chip^50
In addition to Pou’s exposition in the Suwŏl toryang konghwa pulsa
yŏhwan binju mongchung mundap discussed above, one of the most
(^48) The earliest account of this incident is contained in the second chapter of the
Tiansheng guangdeng lu (Extensive Lamp Record from the Tiansheng
Period) from 1036 C.E., i.e., the early Northern Song. Cf. Yanagida 1983, 365b–66a.
See also Foulk 1999, 220–94.
(^49) Cf. Sørensen 1995c, 71–105. The worship of the seven stars of the Great Dipper
is based on the apocryphal scripture, the Beidou qixing yanming jing (Sūtra of the
Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper Extending Life), T. 1307, a scripture with roots
in Esoteric Buddhism of the late Tang. Hyŭjŏng’s text in question is the Ch’ilsŏng
chŏngmun (Text for Invoking the Seven Stars), which is appended to the
Unsŭ tan. Cf. HPC vol. 7, 751ac. At the end of the invocation it is stated that “[after]
the offerings and other meritorious activities, [such as] chanting of the scriptures, they
are followed by prayers, and [the recitation of] the Yanming jing [i.e., the Seven Stars
Sūtra]” (HPC vol. 7, 751c). The ceremonial scenario of Hyŭjŏng’s ritual text matches
closely the structure of the Puktu ch’ilsŏng chŏng ŭimun (Ritual Text
of Inviting the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper) as found in the Cheban mun
(Miscelleanous [Ritual] Texts). Cf. Sørensen 1991–1992a, 159–200, and 167–168,
entry no. 7. 50
This is a modified version of a section originally published in Sørensen 1993c,
539–43.