esoteric buddhism at the crossroads 271
Dual Maṇḍalas represents the high point of mature Esoteric Buddhism of
the Tang, and it was in this form the maṇḍalas were transmitted to Japan by
Kūkai (774–835, 空海), Saichō (767–822, 最澄), Ennin (794–864, 圓仁), etc.
in the course of the first half of the 9th century. While it is possible that the
full ritual and doctrinal integration of the Dual Maṇḍalas took place in Heian
Japan, most, if not all the materials on which this development took place
were already present in Esoteric Buddhism of the Tang prior to the arrival of
the Japanese monks around 800.52 In this regard it is therefore interesting to
note that among the Dunhuang material, which otherwise contains a relatively
large number of maṇḍalas and maṇḍala designs, there are no, directly com-
parable examples of Garbhadhātu and Vajradhātu maṇḍalas similar to those
of mainstream Esoteric Buddhism as reflected in the material brought back
to Japan by Kūkai. Essentially all the evidence reflecting the presence of these
maṇḍalas and the primary scriptures describing them, are incomplete or in
any case partial.53
Provided that we reject the belief that the Dual Maṇḍalas were constructed
in Heian Japan, at the same time we need to provide a good reason for their
absence among the Dunhuang material. We already know that the lore and
ritual formulations surrounding their combined use were not formalised until
after Amoghavajra’s death in 774, as no such indication can be found in the
scriptural corpus he left behind. Therefore it is obvious that this new and
grandiose formulation of Esoteric Buddhist ritual and doctrine, including
try to combine the teachings of the Garbhadhātu and the Vajradhatu maṇḍalas, for
which reason I would be hesitant to attribute the Dual Maṇḍalas as an integrated unity
to Kūkai’s creative mind alone. In any case it is clear that the Vajradhatu maṇḍala as such
was transmitted widely in Tang China in more rudimentary and different forms than
the nine-fold type we see in the Shingon tradition of Heian Japan. For a perceptive and
lengthy discussion of the transmission of Esoteric Buddhist iconography from Tang to
Heian, see Bogel, With a Single Glance, 63–138.
52 If the Dual Maṇḍalas had indeed been created by Kūkai after he returned to Japan in 806,
there is no explanation to account for the fact that he mentions them several times in
his inventory list. Cf. Go shōrai mokuroku 御請來目錄[Catalogue Compiled on Imperial
Request], T. 2161.55, 1064b, 1064c, and 1065b. Moreover, the manner in which they are
described in this list indicates that they represented the layout of the standard types as
transmitted in the Shingon tradition. In addition to this, the earliest extant examples of
the Dual Maṇḍalas kept in Tōji in Kyoto, the so-called Ten Shingon-en mandara (伝真
言院曼茶羅) set, has been documented to be 9th century copies based on the Chinese
maṇḍalas in Kūkai’s list. For these paintings, see Eros + Cosmos in Mandala: The Mandalas
of the Two Worlds at the Kyōō Gokoku-ji, The Seibu Museum of Art, (Tokyo: Heibonsha,
1978).
53 For these examples, see Bogel, With a Single Glance, 78–106.