98 henrik h. sørensen
Amoghapāśa is a martial form of Avalokiteśvara, usually represented
as a six-armed or sometimes eight-armed bodhisattva, with sword and
lasso (pāśa) as his principal weapons. This form of Avalokiteśvara evi-
dently developed from that of Ekādaśamukha.^19 His principal scripture
is the Amoghapāśa-kalparāja,^20 of which the thirty-chapter version
contains the most comprehensive ritual material on this aspect of
Avalokiteśvara.^21 Numerous votive paintings of Amoghapāśa, all of the
Zhenyan dispensation, have been recovered from the so-called “hid-
den library” in the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang.^22 The continued popu-
larity of the Amoghapāśa cult well into the Southern Song is testified
to in the Buddhist sculptures in Dazu, in which numerous images are
found.
Hayagrīva, the Horse-headed One, is the primary, wrathful aspect of
Avalokiteśvara in the form of a many-armed vidyārāja with the head
of a horse in his crown (color plate 2).^23 His cult developed during the
eighth century in connection with the introduction and establishment
of institutionalized Esoteric Buddhism under Amoghavajra. There are
no primary, canonical scriptures for his cult, only ritual texts,^24 which
might indicate that the entry of this form of Avalokiteśvara into the
Esoteric Buddhist pantheon took place in China. During the Song
period, Hayagrīva was incorporated into the expanded group of ten
vidyārājas that appear, among other places, at Baoding in Dazu.^25
Tārā is a female emanation of Avalokiteśvara whose presence in
Esoteric Buddhism can be traced back to the early sixth century.^26 In
later Tantric Buddhism she appears in a variety of forms. She was
worshipped in China during the Tang period, especially in her semi-
wrathful form of Bhṛkutī. Although number of central scriptures ̣
(^19) See Reis-Habito 1999.
(^20) An entire cycle of scriptures under this name exists in Chinese translation, the
earliest dating from the Sui dynasty. Cf. 21 T. 1092–1098.
T. 1092. While the translation of this greatly inflated scripture is attributed to
Bodhiruci, a sizeable portion of it was most probably produced in China. For more
on Bodhiruci and this scripture see Orzech, “Esoteric Buddhism in the Tang: From
Atikūta 22 ̣ to Amoghavajra (651–780),” in this volume.
For examples, see Tokyo National Museum 1996, 216–18. See also Sørensen
1991–1992b, 306–308. 23
For a classical study on this divinity, cf. van Gulik 1935.
(^24) Cf. T. 1072AB, 1074.
(^25) For a description of this group, see Howard 2001, 56–61.
(^26) See Shaw 2006, 306–356.