. the presence of esoteric buddhist elements 295
supplants devotion, the primary, spiritual force in Pure Land practice,
with magic in order for the practitioner to reach the cherished goal.
By the time of the early Tang, an assortment of Pure Land spells had
come in vogue, as seen in the Tuoluoni ji jing (Collected
Dhāraṇī Scriptures).^3 Also the encyclopedic Fayuan zhulin
(Pearly Trees in the Park of the Dharma),^4 by Daoshi (d. 681),
contains a section on Esoteric Buddhist practices relating to the cult
of Amitābha Buddha and his Pure Land.^5
After—or concurrent with—the rise of the Zhenyan tradition dur-
ing the Kaiyuan period, elements of Esoteric Buddhism began to
appear with increasing regularity in the normative Pure Land scrip-
tures, including the Sukhāvatīvyūha,^6 the Guan wuliang shoufo jing
(Amitāyus-dhyāna Sūtra)^7 and the Amituo jing
(Amitābha Sūtra).^8 While spells and mantras for rebirth in the Pure
Land can be found as appendices to these sūtras, Pure Land talismans
also occur in the Tang Buddhist material from Dunhuang.
Because the Pure Land tradition was not organized as a school simi-
lar to the Tiantai or Chan lineages of the mid-Tang dynasty, there was
evidently never any attempt by its practitioners to integrate traditional
Pure Land beliefs with Esoteric Buddhist doctrine. It would appear
that such attempts primarily took place within the context of the Zhe-
nyan tradition itself.^9
(^3) T. 901. For this material, cf. T. 901.18:800b, 801abc, 802c, 864c, etc.
(^4) T. 2122.53:269a–1030a.
(^5) T. 2122.53:735b–738b.
(^6) T. 360. See also Gómez 1996. Unfortunately Gómez completely ignores the spells
and the Esoteric Buddhist dimension in this otherwise highly competent study. 7
T. 365.
(^8) T. 366. The presence of Esoteric Buddhist elements in these canonical sciptures
is especially evident in the Pure Land material found among the manuscripts from
Dunhuang. Cf., e.g., S. 317, S. 2107, S. 4930, etc. P. 2226.2 features the dhāraṇī from
T. 369, i.e., the Amituo fo shuo zhou (Spell Spoken by Amitābha Bud-
dha). This underlines the fact that these spells were not originally part of the Pure
Land scriptures but were added at a later date.
(^9) Cf., e.g., Da foding guangji tuoluoni jing (Scripture on
the Great Budosṇ̣īsa Extensive Collection of Dhāraṇīs), T. 946.18:166a; Miao jixiang
pingdeng bimi zuishang guanmen dajiao wang jing
(Wonderful, Universal, Secret and Highest Method for Meditation, Great Teaching
King of Sūtras), T. 1192.20:922b; Wenshushili fa baozang tuoluoni jing
(Mañjuśrī Dharma Treasury Dhāran ̣ī Sūtra), T. 1185A.20:792a, etc.
Also see Orzech 2009.