TANTRIC BUDDHISM (INCLUDING CHINA AND JAPAN)indigenous rituals for honoring dead ancestors, and it now forms the mythical
basis for the Obon festival, in which dead souls are comforted and given merit
(see Smith 1974: 2ff.; Hori 1968: 200 ff.)
Additionally, China also has a popular religious tradition which, in spirit if
not historically, is closely related to the 'das-log phenomenon. Dore notes that
"under the later Han Dynasty... it happened that several cunning rascals
escaped from Hades, and remembering the facts of their former lives, divulged
the things that took place in the Land of Shades, and how the gods administered
the world ... " ( 1920: 300). Other traditions also seem similar to the 'das-log.
The same source also notes (p. 46 ff.) that Yama, who rules the fifth court of
hell, examines the dead. The souls of the dead promise to carry out unfinished
vows "such as to repair monasteries, schools, bridges, or roads, to clean wells, to
deepen rivers, to distribute good books, to release animals, to take care of aged
parents, or to bury them suitably ... Evil men are led to a tower where they may
see their native village ... "These can see their own families moving about, and
can hear their conversation. They realize how they disobeyed the teachings of
their elders, see that the earthly goods for which they have struggled are of no
value, and how they committed all sorts of sinful acts. "While they observe their
village they behold their erstwhile friends touch coffin and inwardly rejoice.
They hear themselves called selfish and insincere." These exact or very similar
scenes are, as we shall see, prominent in the 'das-log biographies.
Additionally, and perhaps of greater significance for our present purposes,
there is also the twelfth century legend of Miao-shan, popularly regarded as an
avatar of Kwan-yin, thus paralleling the relationship of 'das-log to Avalokites-
vara emphasized in the Tibetan literature. Miao-shan is a princess who, contrary
to her father's wishes, refuses to marry and prefers a life of religious seclusion.
This incurs her father's wrath, and he orders her execution. A god in the form of
a tiger carries her body off to a forest, where her soul is transported to a strange
and silent land. A resplendent youth tells her he has been ordered by Y ama
to take her on a tour of hell. Here the King of Hell tells her she is admired
because of the power of her prayers. Upon reciting the AmWibha-stotra all
the souls imprisoned in the infernal regions are freed, and hell itself is trans-
formed into a paradise. Yama then sends her back, her soul reenters her body,
and she is allowed by her father to follow her pious persuasions (Dorre, op. cit.:
134 ff.).
In Tibet, an episode similar to Maudgalyayana's descent to hell occurs in the
life of Guru Chos-dbang, in whom the traditions of the mm:zi-pa, 'das-/og and
prophet appear to coalesce. As in the Maudgalyayana story, Guru Chos-dbang's
father is a rich and pious man, the most powerful figure in the region of Lho-
brag. His mother is as evil as his father is good. They have no son, but by virtue
of the father's prayers and good deeds, Padmasambhava reincarnates as their
son. When Guru Chos-dbang is seven his father dies as the result of a pollution-
illness caused by his wife's hate and pride. The father urges Guru Chos-dbang to
convert his mother to goodness in his final testament. Coming to realize that he