. homa 139
of an expanded taxonomy of homa. Thus, in another of Vajrabodhi’s
putative translations, the Jin’gang fenglouge yiqie yujia yuqi jing (
, T. 867) we see an expansion to four kinds of
homa: protection (xizai ), prosperity (zengyi ), gaining love
(aijing ), and subjugation (xiangfu ).^16 All five kinds of rites
(fa ) are mentioned late in the text, though they are not explicitly
identified as five kinds of homa.^17
The locus classicus for the fivefold taxonomy of homa is Amogha-
vajra’s Regulations for Homa for Vajra Pinnacle Yoga (Jin’gangding
yuqie humo yigui T. 908) In which he says
As for the five kinds of homa, each has many different variants. [There
are those for] protection and prosperity, the third is for subjugation,
captivation is the fourth, and the fifth is for gaining love.^18Given the likely date of this text to the second half of the eighth cen-
tury, we can infer that the fivefold taxonomy of homa was intimately
tied to the emergence of the STTS and its system of practice in the
latter part of the seventh century. Yet the five types of homa are not
always explicitly mentioned. For instance, Faquan’s Jianli mantuoluo
humo yigui ( , T. 912), dating to the mid-ninth
century, repeats the same four as Vajrabodhi’s text mentioned above
(T. 867), in a series: “protection and prosperity, gaining love, subjuga-
tion, etc.,” but also mentions captivation (gouzhao ), though in a
different passage, so perhaps the “etc.” indicated the fifth type.^19
The chaos marking the end of the Tang dynasty at the beginning of
the tenth century also signaled a dearth of translation and production
of esoteric (and other) texts. But the renewal of large-scale government-
supported translation activities in the early Northern Song dynasty
during the late tenth and early eleventh centuries saw the introduc-
tion of numerous esoteric texts—some new and some retranslations
or more complete translations of earlier efforts, such as Dānapāla’s full
(^16) T. 867.18:256a10–11. Captivation (gouzhao is mentioned separately at T.
867.18:254c01, and its relationship to homa is not made explicit.
(^17) T. 867.18:269b29–c6.
(^18) T. 908.18:916a17–19. Oddly, Amoghavajra’s Guhyatantra (Ruixingyeh jing
, T. 897) with its extensive discussion of homa techniques, uses the threefold
scheme of protection, prosperity, and subjugation. See T. 897.18:770b6. The text is
also known as the 19 Juxitandaluo jing.
T. 912.18:930b20–21. The mention of captivation is at 931b18. This text was
acquired by Ennin and was supposedly compiled by Faquan but, as with all such
texts, the provenance is not yet verified.