esoteric buddhism at the crossroads 257
In the painting under discussion here,17 we see such a paradise scene includ-
ing all the structures and images, with Bhaiṣajyaguru flanked by the bodhisatt-
vas Sūryaprabha and Chandraprabha on either side surrounded by a large host
of secondary bodhisattvas and devas. The panel flanking the tableaux features
individual scenes from the Bhaiṣajyagurusūtra18 (T. 450.14, etc., fig. 7.1).19 It
goes without saying that we are essentially dealing with a typical, if not main-
stream, representation of this iconographical theme. What sets this painting
apart from similar renderings of Bhaiṣajyaguru’s paradise is the pair of second-
ary images at the top of the painting. One the right side (from the viewer) there
is an image of the Thousand-armed Mañjuśrī (fig. 7.2), and on the other side,
the image of the Thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara (fig. 7.3).
The primary scripture of the Thousand-armed form of Mañjuśrī is the
lengthy Royal Scripture of the Great Teaching on the Yogā of the Great Vehicle
Vajra Nature Ocean of Mañjuśrī with Thousand Arms and Thousand Bowls (Chin.
Dasheng yuqie jingang xinghai Manshuzhili qian bei qianbo dajiao wangjing
大乘瑜伽金剛性海曼殊室利千臂千缽大教王經),20 the translation of
which has been attributed to Amoghavajra, while that of the Thousand-armed
Avalokiteśvara, is the Nīlakaṇṭhakasūtra already encountered above. Both
forms of these bodhisattvas represent important Esoteric Buddhist divinities,
each with their own cults, as documented in the Dunhuang material and else-
where.21 Now, the integration of the cults of these two bodhisattvas with that of
the Medicine Buddha represents a new development to be widely seen in the
latter half of the Tang, namely the increasing ‘esoterification’ of mainstream
Buddhism–or, said differently, the growing ‘infiltration’ of Esoteric Buddhist
practices and beliefs into Chinese Buddhism across sectarian and cultic divi-
17 British Museum, nos. 1919, 0101, 0.361919, 0101, 0.36.
18 T. 450.14, etc.
19 For a published example of this painting with details, see Ma Wei 马炜, and Meng Zhong
蒙中, ed., Xicheng huihua 西城绘画 [Paintings from the Western Regions], vol. 7 ( jingbian
經變 [Scriptural Tableaux]) (Chongqing: Chongqing chubanshe, 2010), 10–15. The
Xicheng huihua series reproduces most of the images found in Whitfield, Roderick,
The Art of Central Asia: The Stein Collection in the British Museum, 3 vols. (Tokyo: Kodansha,
1982–85).
20 Cf. T. 1177A.20.
21 For examples of both bodhisattvas in the wall paintings at the Mogao Caves, see Peng,
Shenmi mijiao, 35, 63, 73, 95, 128–129.