tantric threads between india and china 269tioned to halt the state supported translation work and argued that it
would be too much of an economic burden for the state, considering
the quantity of scriptures still waiting to be translated without any
substantial prospect to be studied and put into practice. Although there
was still imperial interest in further translations and ritual enactment of
Tantric scriptures, the increasingly hostile attitude among the Confucian
administration as well as a growing lack of quali ed translators and
shortage of funds intensi ed the Buddhists’ fear of appearing ostenta-
tious, which in turn made the consuming enactment of sumptuous
ritual practices appear inappropriate if not obsolete.^80
While the main part of Song-period Buddhist translation work was
accomplished during the reign of the rst four Song emperors and
ceased almost completely after the death of Dharmapla (Chin. Fahu
, ?–1058), Tantric ritual could not retrieve anymore its former
status as a liturgy of empowerment and state protection.^81 Because
the Song emperors started to implement the doctrines of the Confu-
cian classics to cut down the military element (Chin. wu ) that had
been sympathetic to Tantric ritual practice, the “secret teachings” lost
validity as a means for bestowing sanctity upon imperial authority.
The Confucian elite at the Song-court inaugurated new conceptions
of morality by which social order could be sancti ed also. The rise of
the “true way learning” (Chin. daoxue ) induced an actualisation
of Confucian governmental pragmatics and extensive state reforms,
strengthening the civil sphere (Chin. wen ).^82
The state-ritual was linked with the Confucius cult, and the civil
examination system was reformed to recruit Confucian scholar-of cials
responsible for the preservation of imperial and social order. The
emperor in turn was advised to “keep wise, learned, and straight-talking
Confucians as con dants and mentors.”^83 They constituted an elitist
administration, by which the emperor’s power should be in uenced and
channelled. Confucian scholars such as Shao Yong (1011–1077),
Cheng Yi (1033–1108) and Zhu Xi (1130–1200) discussed
functions and patterns (Chin. li ) of natural, cosmological and moral(^80) Bowring 1992, pp. 83–86; Eichhorn 1973, pp. 294–299; Sen 2003, p. 239.
(^81) Since the Yuan dynasty, the Tantric Buddhist ritualism was replaced at the court
by Lamaist liturgy, representing tight relations between the emperor and the Buddhist
command of social and imperial order. 82
Kuhn 2001, pp. 133–149.
(^83) De Bary 1991, p. 51.
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