The Hokke mondō shōgishō 法華問答正義抄, written by Nichizen 日全, a monk of Nichiren school in the 14th century, includes citations from a few Japanese Zen texts. The Kenshō jōbutsugi 見性成仏義, whose manuscript in imperfect form is preserved only in the Shōmyōji 称名寺, is thought to be the most important Zen text for Nichizen, because he lists it in a table of contents as a text representing the general Zen teaching and he cites six sections from it. A citation of two sections from the Kenshō jōbutsugi referring to Wuxing lun 悟性論 are not identified in the manuscript of Shōmyōji. I assume those cited sentences in the Hokke mondō shōgishō might cover a part of the lost pages of the manuscript of Shōmyōji.
For another citation the Myōshinshō 明心抄 writes its author’s name as “the venerable monk Shōichi oshō 聖一和尚.” As I compare the citation from the Myōshinshō with some sentences in a manuscript of the Shōmyōji called Myōshin 明心, which does not mention its author’s name, I find that the Myōshinshō and the Myōshin are almost identical in content. However, we cannot accept Shōichi as its author without a little doubt since his historical record and other texts referring to him do not mention either the Myōshinshō or the Myōshin. Further study on Shōichi’s Zen philosophy will be essential in confirming whether the Myōshinshō or the Myōshin is a work by Shōichi.
