37. ESOTERIC BUDDHIST ART UNDER THE TANG
Henrik H. SørensenIntroduction
The rise of the Tang dynasty heralded a new era for Esoteric Bud-
dhism. New scriptures were translated in which detailed iconographi-
cal information was contained, and this was to have a lasting effect
on the production of Esoteric Buddhist art. The seventh century was
a period in which Esoteric Buddhism and its art still was neither sys-
tematized nor represented a uniform, iconographical expression. This
was undoubtedly because the many new texts dealing with Esoteric
Buddhist iconography came from diverse sources (i.e., different iconic
traditions on the Indian Subcontinent) and because they were also
introduced to different parts of China in highly diverse contexts rang-
ing from small, expatriate communities to local Chinese monasteries
and the imperial palace. However, in the course of the seventh cen-
tury, especially after Xuanzang’s return to Chang’an, Esoteric Buddhist
art would appear to have entered a period of rapid development. By
the early eighth century the cults of a number of Esoteric Buddhist
divinities, in particular the esoteric forms of Avalokiteśvara, as well as
the widespread popularity of dhāraṇī-pillars, had become firmly estab-
lished in the central provinces of the Tang Empire.
One of the new ways of dealing with Buddhist images that was a
direct result of the growing influence of Esoteric Buddhism was the
practice of consecration. It would appear that the consecration of Bud-
dhist images already was incorporating Esoteric Buddhist elements by
the end of the sixth century; however, by the mid-Tang virtually all
forms of consecration took place within an Esoteric Buddhist context.
This is not only evident from the sanctified materials that were stored
inside a given image—essentially a new practice as regards Buddhist
images, which might include printed dhāraṇīs and other relics—but
the very ritual that was believed to make the image “come alive,” the
so-called “opening of the eyes” (kaiyan , kaiguang ) that was
formulated on the basis of Esoteric Buddhist lore. Of course images
carved in stone were normally not filled with relics, although they
underwent the ceremony of consecration.