184 henrik h. sørensen
tice and at the same time contains large segments that could only have
been written in the Chinese cultural context.
Apocryphal Dhāraṇī Literature
It is no exaggeration to say that the dhāraṇī class of Esoteric Bud-
dhist scriptures in China is where we find the highest concentration of
indigenously fabricated texts. The obvious reason for this is that spells
and magical incantations were immensely popular and widespread in
medieval China and demand for this type of Esoteric Buddhist text
superseded the availability and accessibility of original Indian works.^7
This is also the oldest type of Esoteric Buddhist literature to be trans-
lated into Chinese, whether in the form of a standard Mahāyāna sūtra,
such as is found in the dhāraṇī chapter of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka,^8
in the Mātaṅgī sūtra,^9 or in a more developed Esoteric Buddhist scrip-
ture, such as the peculiar Qifo bapusa suoshuo da tuoluoni shenzhou
jing ( Dhāraṇī Spirit-Spell Sūtra
preached by the Seven Buddhas and Eight Bodhisattvas).^10
Some of these scriptures would eventually lose their dubious auras
as forgeries and eventually be canonized in later periods. This develop-
ment is also reflected in the Esoteric Buddhist apocrypha. Among these
are the Guanding jing, the Fo shuo zhou shi qibing jing
(Buddha Speaks the Scripture on Using Spells When Qi [Causes]
Sickness),^11 a short scripture representative of a whole class of minor
spell texts of dubious provenance, which also includes the Foshuo
quewen huangshen zhou jing (Scripture Spoken
by the Buddha on the Divine Spell for Driving Away Yellow Fever),^12
and a more prominent work such as the Pseudo-Śūraṅgama Sūtra,
a later apocryphal scripture of considerable renown.^13 The first text
(^7) For a highly useful discussion of the Buddhist spell literature in China, see Strick-
mann 2002, 89–122.
(^8) T. 262.
(^9) T. 1300.
(^10) T. 1332.21:536b–61b. It was translated by an unknown person some time dur-
ing the Eastern Jin (317–420). The colophon of this sūtra is contained in the Kaiyuan
shijiao lu (Buddhist Catalogue of the Kaiyuan [Period]). Cf. T. 2154,
55:654c.
(^11) As contained in the Tuoluoni zaji (Miscellanous Collection of Dhāraṇīs).
T. 1336.21:632bc. A shorter version may also be found in T. 1326.21:491a.
(^12) ZZ. (1975–1989) 193,2:860c–61a.
(^13) T. 945.