@article{oai:tobunken.repo.nii.ac.jp:00006899,
 author = {高田, 修 and Takata, Osamu},
 issue = {183},
 journal = {美術研究, The bijutsu kenkyu : the journal of art studies},
 month = {Feb},
 note = {The round wooden tablet, about 1 foot in diameter and 7/8 inches in thickness, horizontally put on the lotus pedestal, found in the cavity of Amitābha, the principal image of the Hōōdō, Byōdō-in Monastery, Kyoto, is identified with a so-called “Gachirin” (lit., moondisk) of the esoteric Buddhists (PI. II of the preceding issue). On its surface are Brāhmi inscriptions written in a fourfold circle in sumi (Fig. 1), which is apparently a dhâraṇî-ring, consisting of two dhâraṇî of Amitābha Buddha, long (mûla) and short (hṛdaya), the latter being in the centre and former around it in three circles.
     The text of the inscriptions is given here for the first time in Roman characters with the translation. There are various texts, either Chinese or Brāhmī, of the dhâraṇî of Amitābha in the Chinese and Japanese esoteric Buddhist documents as well as in some inscriptions too. The author, after comparing them with one another and also with the Hōōdō text, observed several facts; among others, that two copy-lineages can be discerned so far as those copied in Japan are concerned: the one the lineage of the Shingon sect and the other that of the Tendai esoterism, and that the Hōōdō text which belongs to the latter lineage is one of those which contain less errors and miswritings. It is to be noted that the inscripions are the oldest handwritten dhâraṇî of Amitābha now existing in this country.
     The inscriptions are written with the Chinese brush. A careful observation reveals that some letters obviously have traces of double writing and retouching, and that some others show the writer's negligence or ignorance in the writing method of the Brāhmi character. In short, as the author's conclusion, the actual writer of the inscriptions was a mere craftsman or painter, who had no knowledge of such foreign calligraphy, but only copied rather faithfully an original text which had been written fluently for him by an unidentified ācārya of the day.
     In this connection, the author referred to a Brāhmi dhâraṇî-ring of wood-printing (10th century A.D.) procured at Tun-Huang by Sir Aurel Stein (Serindia, IV, Pl. xcix, ch. 00152), and pointed out the correspondence of these dhâraṇî it contains to those which are found in the Chinese Buddhist Scriptures. They are seven in number: mûla-dhâraṇî of Amitābha, prabhâsa-mantra of Vairocana; pratisara-hṛdaya-dhâraṇî; sarvabuddhalocanâ-śîmûla-vidyârâ ja (buddhalocanâ-mantra); gâttâ of the “Chains of Causation” (pratîtyasamutpâda-gâthâ); hṛdayadhâraṇî of Ucchuşma-vidyārāja; and Vajrậyur-dhâraṇî.
     As the Tun-Huang example shows, such a dhâraṇî-ring cannot be a bîjâ-maṇḍala, though this appellation was applied to the Hōōdō tablet by some Japanese scholars. The tablet should rightly be called a “gachirin”, as this name can be found in some documents, and the two dhâraṇî on it are: hṛdaya(heart or gist)-dhâraṇî and mûla (fundamental)-dhâraṇî, both particular to Amitābha, ―― the latter, the longer one, also called daśa-amṛta (ten words of amṛta, immortal or nectar)-dhâranî.
     Finally the author goes on his study on the meaning of the gachirin and the intention of its deposition inside the image of Amitābha. In esoteric meditation, a “moon disk” was usually conceived by the worshipper in the course of getting in mind an image of each principal Buddha, Bodhisattva or deity to be worshipped by him. According to the “Gist of Esoteric Meditation” attributed to Śubhākarasiṃha (Taisho, No. 917), “Temporarily conceive in mind a circle, bright as if white moon, which should be four feet apart from the worshipper, just situated in front of him, at the position not too high nor too low. It is one hasta (two feet according to some Chinese translations) in diameter, perfectly round and pure as well as white, brightly shining inside and outside ......”
     It is presumed that the Hōōdō tablet, painted in white all over, was meant for such a gachirin, practically made of wood in the prescribed form but just half in diameter. By inscribing two important dhâraṇî of Amitābha on it, putting it on a beautifully coloured lotus pedestal, and depositing it in the cavity of the statue, the planner, the high priest (ācārya), undoubtedly intended to regard it as the heart-gachirin of the Buddha, and at the same time, to give expectation of being reborn in the Amitābha's Paradise to every worshipper who would recite these dhâraṇî, just facing to the statue, in response to those on the cavity gachirin, as they were believed very effective to all reciters.},
 pages = {16--34},
 title = {鳳凰堂本尊胎内納置の梵字阿弥陀大小呪月輪考},
 year = {1956}
}