234 henrik h. sørensen
The Asterisms Personified: The Role of Astral Divinities in Esoteric
Buddhism
At some point in the history of Buddhism, the heavenly bodies, includ-
ing the twenty-eight constellations and so on, became personified, i.e.,
deified. The exact process that led to this development is not clear, but
it may have been a case of direct borrowing from Hinduism, or simply
acceptance of a tradition already common to Indian culture. In any
case, in the course of Buddhism’s enculturation in China, the planets
and asterisms appear as astral divinities. We do not know precisely
when this happened, but it most probably occurred some time during
the latter half of the Nanbeichao (386–581).
Texts such as the Mātaṅgī sūtra mentioned above feature astral
deities, but no buddhas or bodhisattvas occur as astral deities at this
early stage. By the time of the Tang, this had changed, however. Sev-
eral bodhisattvas, many of them prominent in their own right, now
also appeared in the roles as astral deities. These include Mañjuśrī,
Cintāmanīcakra-Avalokiteśvara, and a strange new divinity, the
bodhisattva Maming.
The planets or luminaries of our solar system as recognized by the
medieval Chinese appear in groups of five, seven, and nine, depend-
ing on how they are counted. The basic group of five includes Mars,
Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mercury, which correspond to the five ele-
ments in classical Chinese thought. The largest group of nine includes
the sun, moon, and the two lunar nodes, Ketu and Rāhu, which are
purely Indian constructs, in addition to the five major planets. It is
not known exactly when the luminaries were elevated to the status of
divinities in China, but given the personification of the asterisms in
traditional Indian thought and belief, this may have taken place at an
early stage in the history of Buddhism. By the Tang dynasty, the Nine
Luminaries were conceived of as proper gods: Mars was depicted as a
many-armed, red demon; Venus as an empress holding a pipa; Jupi-
ter, the Year Planet, as a bearded dignitary; Saturn as an old Indian
man riding a bull; and Mercury as a female official dressed as a palace
attendant with the head of a monkey in the crown.
The sun and moon are variously envisaged as Chinese-style divinities,
either dressed in the garb of officials or in an Indian manner as proper
bodhisattvas, such as Sūryagarbha and Candragarbha. As bodhisattvas,
these deities were associated with the cult of Bhaisajyaguru together ̣