164 henrik h. sørensencontrol them. Examples of these are the extended translation of the
Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī by Saṅghabara (T. 984); the important spell
collection the Tuoluoni zaji (Collection of Miscellaneous
Dhāraṇīs; T. 1336); as well as the important Guanding jing
(Consecration Scripture; T. 1331), which, although it is an apocryphon
composed and compiled in late fifth-century China, does include a
substantial amount of authentic Indian material.^24 One may actually
speak of the development of a bona fide demonology in Mahāyāna
as having come about at this point in time. In connection with this
development, the cults of certain individual demon kings and spirit
generals, such as Vaiśravaṇa and Ātavaka, progenitors of the later ̣
vidyārājas and mahākrodhas, can be seen to have arisen.^25 We also
see how the increasing sophistication of the ritual arcana has produced
new methods and how they tend to converge in the notion of what
has now become a well-defined ritual space that includes the use of
specialized altars.
In the course of the sixth century this trend was obviously accentu-
ated, seen in the overall structure and formalization of ritual practices;
the formation of a standardized pantheon featuring a number of “new”
divinities, especially new forms of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara; an
elaborate vocabulary and integrated terminology revealing a high
degree of sophistication; and, most important, the notion that the
practitioners of this arcana represent a special form of Buddhism.
Whereas the ritual practices in the earlier material were the province
of what the Chinese referred to as “spell masters (zhoushi ),” usu-
ally defined as members of the Buddhist monastic community (and
who in the Chinese cultural context often were Indian monks), the
translations from the second half of the sixth century indicate the
appearance of a new type of ritual practitioner.^26 This practitioner was
not just a Buddhist ritual specialist or thaumaturge but an adept of
arcana, a seeker of siddhi (chengjiuzhe ), a term which covers
the acquisition of a motley mix of supernatural powers and divinely
bestowed abilities as well as spiritual enlightenment.^27
(^24) See Strickmann 1990, 75–118.
(^25) Both of them figure prominently in the Tuoluoni zaji.
(^26) For an excellent survey of the traditional image of thaumaturges and “spell mas-
ters,” see Kieschnick 1997, 67–111. 27
For further details, see Sørensen, “Esoteric Buddhism and Magic,” in this
volume.