136 richard k. payne and charles d. orzech
2003, 6–7). The seven elements of the saptavidhā-anuttarapūjā are
praise (vandanā), worship (pūjanā), confession (deśanā), rejoicing
(modanā), requesting the teaching (adhyesaṇ ̣ā), begging the buddhas
to remain (yācanā), and transfer of merit (nāmanā) (Crosby and Skil-
ton 1995, 10; cf. Yönten 1996).
Crosby and Skilton note that the anuttarapūjā “was flexible, even
to the extent of having less or possibly more than its classical seven
parts” (1995, 10). Bruce Williams’s examination of repentance rituals
reveals that
Within this overall ritual pattern there exists, however, a bewildering
diversity [of] composition, structure, and language. This diversity within
an overall pattern testifies not only to the popularity and geographic and
social dispersal of the basic ritual form but to its cohesion and tenacity
as well (Williams 2002, 185).For example, particularly important within the Tiantai tradition was
a “five-limbed” pūjā (Wuhui ) (Williams 2002, 156). The five
limbs—“repentance, requesting the Buddhas to teach, rejoicing in the
merits of others, transferring merit, and professing vows” (Williams
2002, 185)—provided the basis for repentance rites in medieval China.
Elizabeth English (2002, 124) has examined thirteen different ritual
texts, showing the overlaps and the existence of nine, and in one case
ten, ritual elements. As mentioned above, the study of ritual texts at
this level of detail offers the opportunity to uncover another kind of
history of Buddhism, a history of Buddhist practice, which can shed
important light on the history of Buddhist doctrine.
Homa as seen in Chinese Translations and Manuals
Our best access to the development of a distinctively Buddhist homa
is through Chinese translations.^4 Indeed, the amount of material avail-
able (excluding the many Japanese manuals) is extensive.
True votive homa to specific deities emerges in the sixth century.
Before that time Chinese translations reflect the ritual use of fire in
an apotropaic fashion, or as Michel Strickmann wryly observed, as
“pious fumigation” (Strickmann 1983, 412).^5 Votive homa first clearly
(^4) For studies, surveys, bibliography, and a more detailed coverage, the reader should
consult Strickmann 1983 and 1996. For a Japanese historical work, see Kamei 1967.
(^5) Strickmann 1983, 412. Saṅghabhara’s early sixth-century translation of the
Mahāmāyūrī sūtra (Kongquewang zhou jing T. 984) involves precisely
this sort of “fumigation” to expel demons. See T. 984.19:459a.