Bon-Kan dōmei shakugi. Un court texte du « shintō médiéval »

Résumé En

This article presents a translation of a short medieval Shinto text titled Bon-Kan Dōmei Shakugi or “Exegesis of an Identical Term in Sanskrit and Chinese.” The “identical term” in question is vajra, one of the most important objects both at the symbolic and ritual level in esoteric Buddhism. The author first tries to clarify the meaning of the somewhat ambiguous expression of the title “identical term in Sanskrit and Chinese.” A fully annotated translation follows, with the original text itself. Then the author situates the work in the historical development of texts of what is usually called “medieval Shinto.” This is a kind of derived text from the seventh chapter of the Reikiki, Shin no Mi-hashira Reikiki (Reikiki of the August Central Pillar), which can be dated to around the beginning of the fourteenth century. The vajra is associated with the Central Pillar of Ise Shrine dedicated to the supreme deity of Shinto, Amaterasu Ōmikami, or Tenshō Daijin. An analysis of this chapter of the Reikiki shows that it is closely related with a passage of another, earlier, text of the same religious trend, the Yamato Katsuragi Hōzan-ki (Book of the Treasure Mountain of Katsuragi in Yamato), and both of them are a medieval reinterpretation of the crucial episode of the classical mythology, that of the descent of the Divine Grandson on the earth and the conferment of the Three Imperial Regalia to him by Amaterasu. The Bon-Kan Dōmei Shakugi was a supplementary exegesis and ritual explanation of the Shin no Mi-hashira Reikiki. The symbolism of the main focus of the text, the vajra, is extensively explored, as well as that of the principal character of the Shin no Mi-hashira Reikiki, who has the strange name of “King Brahmā, Sovereign, Flying in the Air.” Thus, the religious context of this set of texts is explained as much as possible.