100 henrik h. sørensen
during the second half of the Tang.^28 The earliest scripture devoted to
her cult is the Cundīdevī dhāraṇī sūtra (
)^29 translated by Divākara (613–687).^30 The Cundī cult became
increasingly important during the Song period and many new ritual
texts were composed in the following centuries. Cundī also gained
considerable popularity in the neighboring Liao, Jin, and Koryŏ. In
particular, recitation of her nine-character spell appears to have been
widely practiced. In the post-Song period Cundī was widely seen as a
manifestation of Avalokiteśvara. In contrast to many of the primary
and secondary divinities in the Esoteric Buddhist pantheon, the Cundī
cult continued to thrive well into the Qing period (figure 5).^31
Originally a hero of the Avataṃsaka tradition, Samantabhadra,
together with Mañjuśrī, gradually rose to prominence within Esoteric
Buddhism. He appears among the group of Eight Great Bodhisatt-
vas in the Dharmadhātu Mandala. A many-armed manifestation
that may have derived from the Chinese Zhenyan tradition is known
from Heian sources as well. In the Esoteric Buddhist tradition asso-
ciated with Amoghavajra, Vajrasattva (see below) is sometimes seen
as a manifestation of Samantabhadra.^32 With the decline of orthodox
Zhenyan iconography after the Tang, the Esoteric Buddhist Samanta-
bhadra was again replaced by that of the Huayan tradition.
Vajrapāṇi is an important bodhisattva and polyform divinity that
first entered the Chinese Buddhist pantheon during the Nanbeizhao
period (420–589) as a minor guardian deity, or rather as a generic
group of protectors (jin’gang lishi ).^33 Vajrapāṇi’s status was
gradually elevated to that of a major bodhisattva and he eventually
became associated with Esoteric Buddhism. Vajrapāṇī’s rise to promi-
nence is underscored by the fact that he has a significant, if not pri-
mary role, in Esoteric Buddhist literature as one of the major personas,
serving as chief-interlocutor in many scriptures. Acala, the wrathful
(^28) One of the earliest occurrences of Cundī in the Chinese material is in the Zhong-
zhong zazhou jing (Scripture on Various Kinds of Spells) translated dur-
ing the Northern Zhou. Cf. 29 T. 1337.21: 639c. Later texts include T. 1075–1079.
T. 1077.20:185a–86b. This sūtra is known to have been translated in 686 C.E. Cf.
T. 1077.20:186b. See also the entry in 30 T. 2153.55:379c.
Given that Divākara’s stay in Tang China lasted less than seven years, from 680–
687 C.E., it is hard to imagine that he exerted extensive influence on the development
of Esoteric Buddhism. See FDC, vol. 3, p. 2310bc.
(^31) For a studies on the Cundī cult under the Ming, see Tada 1989 and 1990.
(^32) See T. 1121–1124.
(^33) For a discussion of the iconography of these protectors, see Soymié 1987.