introduction 9
* * *The introduction of Buddhism into China during the rst centuries of
our era and the subsequent development of a more Buddhist form of
Daoism, and a more Chinese form of Buddhism, should not divert our
attention from the fact that, after this initial phase, Indian and Central
Asian texts and concepts continued to arrive in China. This was espe-
cially the case at the time of the Tang dynasty (618–906). As pointed
out by Martin Lehnert in his contribution on esoteric Buddhism’s way
from India to China, also in this later phase of Chinese Buddhism,
the Chinese context was not an isolated system on its own. Chinese
scholars depended on translated texts and, particularly in esoteric
Buddhism, often had to deal with different versions of the same text.
In this context, Martin Lehnert examines the question of religious
truth for a practitioner of “secret teaching”. What is religious truth
and why is it true?
The creation of tantric scriptures and ritual pragmatics proves to be
largely dependent on local conditions of socio-political order. In the
Indian context, tantric praxis helped to reconcile the Buddhist institu-
tional life with the demand of the ruling and military clans for ritual
protection and legitimation of the state and its rulers. It also paved the
way to a Buddhist cult of the state. Through ritual magic a functional
link between the mundane reality and the realisation of absolute truth
was established.
At the Chinese Tang court, Buddhist monks assumed administra-
tive and political responsibilities, and were often closely connected to
imperial power. It is in this context that tantric Buddhism was intro-
duced in China with its ritual magic, its sancti cation of social and
imperial order, and its practices that aimed at protecting the state. The
translation process, however, was considered to be partially insuf cient.
Consequently, in order to fully understand the teaching and the scrip-
tures, an instructed master was imperative. Only he could successfully
apprehend the absolute, and thus serve as an advisor to the ruler. In
fact, texts are not to be seen as explanations of the absolute truth.
Rather, they are the absolute truth, only to be grasped by specialised
and skilful masters.
At the end of the eighth century, Buddhism gradually lost support at
the court, and Buddhist translation activities were suspended. It is not
until the beginning of the Song dynasty (960–1279) that Buddhism, and
also tantric Buddhism, regained some privileges. Still, the translations