. mediums in esoteric buddhism 253
centuries, numerous esoteric Buddhists texts related to spirit-medi-
umship and possession—particularly regarding the role of children—
began to circulate. In those texts, which were translated by or affiliated
with esoteric Buddhist masters, the ritual use of mediums is found
in connection with possession rites that are referred to in Chinese as
aweishe. Aweishe is a transliteration of the Sanskrit term āveśa
(lit., “to take hold of ’ ” or “to possess”), and was used to “designate
possession rites in which a spirit was invoked into the living body of a
medium” (Strickmann 2002, 207–208). That we find this Sanskrit term
transliterated into Chinese and also find the presence of Indian deities,
such as Maheśvara, in these Buddhist texts has led scholars to posit
a connection back to practices already found in the Indian religious
context (Smith 2006).
Child mediums are also found in an account in Vajrabodhi’s biogra-
phy in the Gaoseng zhuan, in the context of a tantric master perform-
ing an exorcism for the Tang emperor Xuanzong’s daughter using two
female child mediums (Davis 2001, 123; Strickmann 1996, 213–14).
Summing up the Tang dynasty trajectory in the development of eso-
teric Buddhist spirit-mediumship, Edward Davis provides the follow-
ing cogent comments:
Basically, the tantric master recites various incantations to summon
one or more Buddhist deities, sometimes identified, sometimes not,
into either a luminous, reflective object (water, mirror, jewel, pearl), the
image or icon of the divinity, or the body of a child. In the case of chil-
dren, considerable attention is given to their number (anywhere from
two to ten boys or girls, in some cases) and to their age (between eight
and fourteen). The texts describe an elaborate process of purification
and the physical appearance of the children both before and during the
trance. It is said that when the divinity has descended into the children,
they will speak of “all matters past, present, and future,” of “things yet to
come,” or of “good or evil fortune,” or that they will be able to answer
any questions asked of the god (Davis 2001, 123–124).What seems to have distinguished esoteric Buddhist mediumship from
spirit-mediumship more generally, however, is the “fact that the spirit-
medium’s trance was officiated by a tantric master and resulted from
the power conferred on the master by his own identification with a
Buddhist deity,” such as is described in the Rites of Āveśa as Explained
by the Deva Maheśvara (T. 1277) (Davis 2001, 123–25).
Practices involving the use of spirit-mediums developed and
expanded noticeably through the Song dynasty, when they are also
found in Daoist practices, and continue to be practiced up to the