There are two major theories concerning Kunōji-kyō 久能寺経,a common name for the Lotus Sūtra preserved at the Kunōji temple. It has been considered a kechiengyō 結縁経,a sūtra copied for the purpose of forming a karmic link, during the Gyakushu 逆修 or Pre-emptive Funeral ceremony for either Toba-in 鳥羽院 (1103–1156) or Taikemmon-in 待賢門院 (1101–1145). This is because it was understood that the kechiengyō was made for the Gyakushu ceremony, and the Gyakushu was considered as a ceremony that creates a karmic relationship with the Tathāgata.
However, because kechiengyō were not part of the Gyakushu ceremony during the Heian Period, the author cannot accept these conventional theories (Refer to the earlier paper, “Heian jidai no kechiengyō” 平安時代の結縁経 [Kechiengyō in the Heian Period]). Furthermore, neither the main purpose of making kechiengyō nor the purpose of the Gyakushu was to connect oneself with the Tathāgata (Refer to the earlier paper “Heian jidai no gyakshu no hensen” 平安時代の逆修の変遷 [The Transformation of the Gyakushu (Pre-emptive Funeral) in the Heian Period]).
In this paper, I discuss the meaning of kechiengyō, to whom it refers and with whom it produces a connection, and for what one accumulates virtue in the Gyakushu ceremony.
