Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia

404 henrik h. sØrensen

Incidentally, images of Ekādaśamukha, the eleven-headed Avalo-

kiteśvara, have survived in a fairly large number as compared to other

forms of the Esoteric Buddhist Avalokiteśvara, both as stone carvings

as well as bronze images. The earliest examples may date from the final

decades of seventh century while the later ones most probably belong

to the first quarter of the eighth century. The one in the niche from

Qibao Terrace of the Kuangzhai Temple in Chang’an^4

is among the earliest distinct Esoteric Buddhist sculptures in high relief

known today. The fact that there are several other free-standing images

of Ekādaśamukha from this period scattered in museums around the

world indicates that images of this kind were extremely popular dur-

ing the first half of the Tang (cf. Jin 1995, 311–322, pls. 291–302).

Esoteric Buddhist Art in the Twin Capitals during the Eighth Century

With the activities of the three ācāryas Śubhākarasiṃha, Vajrabodhi,
and Amoghavajra in Chang’an during the Kaiyuan period (713–741)
and the subsequent rise of mature Esoteric Buddhism in the area of
the “twin capitals,” a wealth of religious art and ritual paraphernalia
was being produced in connection with this development. Unfortu-
nately, very little of this rich material has survived in China, and were
it not for the Japanese pilgrim-monks who came to China during the
second half of the Tang to study Esoteric Buddhism and, upon return-
ing to Heian, brought with them many images, paintings, mandalas,
blueprints, manuals, and ritual objects, our knowledge of the mate-
rial culture of Esoteric Buddhism during the mid- to late Tang would
have been almost non-existent. In fact, aside from recent archaeologi-
cal findings, almost nothing remained of Esoteric Buddhist art in Xi’an
(Chang’an) beyond a handful of free-standing sculptures, steles, and
temple ruins.^5 The important Esoteric Buddhist temples in Chang’an
that still stand, including Da Xingshan Temple and the Qin-
glong Temple , have been entirely rebuilt or modified during

(^4) Now in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., access no. 2007060577. Cf.
Howard et al. 2006, 307, figure 3.
(^5) The Shanxi Provincial Museum (Peilin ) houses a number of these ste-
les including the important one, now slightly fragmented, raised to commemorate
Amoghavajra from 781 C.E. compiled by the military official and literatus Yan Ying
(fl. second half of the eighth century). See Orzech 1998, 201–202. For a discus-
sion of this stele, cf. Li Yuqing 1995, 187–188. For additional information, see Han
1990, Wang Bingrong 1990, and Chang 1990.