. popular esoteric deities 217
1996), and translations of dhāraṇī sūtras associated with Amoghapāśa
(Meisezahl 1962), and Ekādaśamukha (Reis-Habito 1993; 1994).
Mañjuśrī (Wenshushili ), “the bodhisattva of wisdom,”
is usually remembered for his role in the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa sūtra
as the only one of Śākyamuni’s followers not afraid to visit the lay
bodhisattva Vimalakīrti; as Sudhana’s primary spiritual mentor in the
Gaṇḍavyūha portion of the Avataṃsaka sūtra; and, in that connection,
the bodhisattva who makes his home on Mount Wutai in Northern
China (Hibino and Ono 1995). As a result of new translations of ritual
texts and new iconographic forms that entered China in the eighth
and ninth centuries, however, the parameters of Mañjuśrī’s cult began
to expand to include that of a mountain god, the personal guardian
of the emperor and his family and the spiritual protector of the state,
and a cosmic overlord in the esoteric pantheon, where he is revered as
a buddha (Lamotte 1960; Mallmann 1964; Birnbaum 1983; 1984; 1986;
1989–1990; Gimello 1994).
The tantric manifestation of the mainstream Bodhisattva Samanta-
bhadra (Puxian ) is Vajrasattva (Jin’gangsaduo ). Samanta-
bhadra is the consummate bodhisattva, representative of practice in the
mainstream context. In the Mahāvairocana sūtra and Vajraśekhara
sūtra, Vajrasattva plays the role of the interested student who requests
the Dharma from Mahāvairocana. Vajrasattva’s interlocutions result in
the explanations of the procedures for performing esoteric rituals to help
aspirants actualize the Buddhadharma and achieve buddhahood quickly.
For this reason, veneration of Vajrasattva spread among monks inter-
ested in the tantric approach to practice, and depictions of Vajrasattva
multiplied in the areas where the tantric/esoteric teaching held sway.
The premier buddha of the esoteric pantheon is Mahāvairocana
(Dari rulai ), who typically presides over the center direc-
tion in mandalas. Although the Japanese esoteric Buddhist traditions
distinguish between the mainstream Mahāyāna Vairocana (Lushena
, Piluzhena , Guangming bianzhao , Dari
bianzhao ), the dharmakāya buddha who figures prominently
in the Avataṃsaka sūtra, and the tantric/esoteric Mahāvairocana of
the Mahāvairocana sūtra (T. 848), it is unclear whether the same dis-
tinction was made in medieval China (Watanabe 1965). The images of
Vairocana that appear in the caves at Dunhuang, Yungang, and Long-
men from the fifth century through the end of the seventh century,
such as the Fengxian Monastery at the Longmen caves between
655 and 675, depict the mainstream Mahāyāna Vairocana, as do many