268 sØrensen
around Shazhou. At this point it is important to distinguish between those
depictions of maṇḍalas which were means for display during rites, similar
to those we know from later Tibetan Buddhism, those sketches which were
meant as designs for copying, i.e. for the transmission of the correct forms and
iconography,46 and those which served as instructions for the construction of
altars with maṇḍalas, i.e. as templates for the ritual space.47
As far as iconography goes, the scheme of the Five Dhyani Buddhas, so
Central to mature Esoteric Buddhism, occurs in wall paintings as well as in
votive paintings and designs at Dunhuang, indicating the presence of either
or both the Mahāvairocanasūtra48 and the transmissions of the cycle usually
referred to as Vajraśekhara.49 Given that only one fragment of the former of
these scriptures has been found at Dunhuang, it would appear that the local
renditions of the Five Buddhas template were chiefly based on the latter or its
derivatives (cf. figs. 7.4 and 7.5).50
The absence of the full-blown tradition of the so-called Dual Maṇḍalas of
the *Garbhadhātu and Vajradhātu at Dunhuang is noteworthy of our atten-
tion at this point.51 Textually as well as iconographically, the tradition of the
46 For a good example of one such maṇḍala, see S. 4690.
47 For such a maṇḍala, see Peng, Shenmi mijiao, 23.
48 T. 848.18. See also Giebel, Rolf W., trans., Vairocanābhisaṃbodhi Sutra (Berkeley: Numata
Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2005).
49 T. 865.18. See Giebel, Rolf W., trans., Two Esoteric Sutras: The Admantine Pinnacle Sutra—
The Susiddhikara Sutra (Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research,
2001), 19–107. This scripture only consists of a fraction of the actual scripture, the various
parts of which can be found as separate texts scattered throughout the Esoteric Buddhist
Section of the Taishō Canon.
50 One maṇḍala representing the Mahāvairocanasūtra can be found on the Northern wall
of cave no. 20 at Yulin (榆林), a cave site near Dunhuang. However, it dates from the Five
Dynasties Period (907—960/979, 五代). Cf. Peng, Shenmi de mijiao, 29.
51 There has been an ongoing discussion of the issue of the Dual Maṇḍalas for quite some
time. Out of this discussion have emerged two major positions, one that holds that the
tradition including the rituals of which the two maṇḍalas are templates, and the related
iconography, developed in China prior to Kūkai’s arrival and study under Huiguo (惠果)
in 804. The other position rejects the Dual Maṇḍalas as a reality in Tang China, and sees
them as a purely Japanese invention. This argument has credence primarily because no
comparable examples of the standard Vajradhatu maṇḍala we know from the Shingon
tradition has ever been documented from the Tang period, neither textually nor as
cultural artifacts. For a summing up of these positions, see Bogel, Cynthea J., With a Single
Glance: Buddhist Icon and Early Mikkyō Vision (Seattle, London: University of Washington
Press, 2009), 71–78. Nevertheless, in my understanding there are indications that Huiguo,
as well as other adepts of Esoteric Buddhism in the post-Amoghavajra era, did indeed