. godai’in annen 769
master Henjō (816–890). It is uncertain whether the sobriquet
Annen used for himself, Godai’in, comes from a hall on Mt. Hiei
where he is said to have resided.^1
Contrary to his illustrious predecessors, Annen never traveled to
China to study esoteric Buddhism.^2 Though traditionally considered
to be one of Ennin’s (794–864) disciples, it is unlikely that Ennin
directly bestowed any teaching on Annen. In his survey of Annen’s
biography, originally published in 1918 and the most authoritative
to date, Hashimoto Shinkichi identified four major esoteric masters:
Dōkai (n.d.), Chōi (836–906), Kōbu (n.d.), and Henjō
(Hashimoto 1972, 90–91). Of these, Henjō and Dōkai played a crucial
role in Annen’s education, since they transmitted to him the three
major Tendai esoteric initiations. In particular, Henjō, who had been a
disciple of both Ennin and Enchin (814–891), gave Annen access
to all significant Taimitsu doctrinal and ritual teachings.
Annen’s Major Works
Perhaps because he never rose to a preeminent institutional position,
Annen was a very prolific writer and left a voluminous corpus, most of
which deals with the ritual aspects of esoteric Buddhism (Sueki 1994,
71–73). Pre-modern Tendai bibliographic sources credited Annen
with more than one hundred works, but only forty are today extant,
several of which are of dubious attribution (Asai Endō 1973, 630). The
majority of Annen’s writings have been published in the two of the
volumes devoted to Taimitsu in the Nihon daizōkyō (Suzuki Gaku-
jutsu Zaidan, ed. 1973–1978, vols. 44–45), and in the Taishō canon,
mainly in vol. 75.^3
Annen’s two major works, the Shingonshū kyōjigi
(On the Meaning of Teachings and Times in Esoteric Buddhism; here-
after Kyōjigi) in four fascicles and the Taizōkongō bodaishingi ryaku
(^1) Groner 1987 includes an excellent reconstruction of Annen’s life. See also Sueki
1995, 42–49 and Kiuchi 1990, 345–59.
(^2) Later Tendai scholiasts concluded that Annen went to China, on the evidence of
a short biographical sketch at the beginning of the Taizōkai daihō taijuki, in which
Annen claimed that in 876 he was preparing for the journey (T. 2390.75:54a). How-
ever, the authenticity of this passage is doubtful, as Annen atypically refers to himself
by name. 3
Asai Endō 1973, 630–638, gives the full list of the extant works and discusses
questions of authenticity for each of them.