. talismans in chinese esoteric buddhism 229
text included in the Taishō Buddhist canon (T. 2904), but many manu-
scripts are found among the Dunhuang collections.^4
Numerous extra-canonical Buddhist texts preserved in Dunhuang
collections contain talismans. There are too many texts to list in full
here, but in addition to the various extant versions of Seven Thousand
Buddhas Spirit Talismans just mentioned, we should also mention P.
3835, Fuzhou zhenyan ; P. 4825, Dabei jing baxing
; and P. 3835v, Foshuo dalun jin’gang zongchi tuoluoni fa
—all of which have a number of talismans with
Guanyin or the Buddha’s name on them—and a series of texts related
to the Bodhisattva Guanyin, including P. 3874, Guanshiyin ji shizun
fuyin shi’er tong ji shenzhou (a text
with a rich collection of talismans that includes one with Bukong’s
name as part of the imbricated graphs); P. 2153, Guanshiyin pusa ruyi-
lun tuoluoni bing biexing fa ; and
P. 2602v, Guanshiyin pusa fuyin , all of which con-
tain many talismans and seals that are to be carried—or worn—for
good fortune, attracting the love and respect of others, longevity, and
the expulsion of demons.
(^4) T. 2904. This text and its variants are found in a number of Dunhuang manuscripts
including Stein 2708, Pelliot 2723, Pelliot 3022r, and Pelliot 4667v. Other variants
include Pelliot 2558r (which in fact has a Daoist scripture on the reverse side) and
Stein 4524. Christine Mollier notes that a fragment of this text was also found at
Turfan (Ch 2190r). See Mollier 2004, 410. Masuo 1996, 78–104 also lists P. 2153,
which is presently in the Tōyō bunko , as a related text. The most detailed
study of this text is now Mollier, “Les talismans du Buddha et de Laozi,” which is
available in English as “Augmenting the Life Account” Mollier 2008, 100–133. See also
Robson 2008 for a slightly different view of the text.