412 henrik h. sØrensen
strongly informed and influenced by those of India, Tibet, and the
Uighur kingdom in Turfan.
While the pictorial Esoteric Buddhist art from Dunhuang is both
abundant and variegated, almost no related sculptures have so far been
identified, with the exception of the important travel altar in the Nel-
son Art Gallery (see Tokyo National Museum 1996, 213, pl. 225) and
a few insignificant wood images depicting Ekādaśamukha (cf. Denès
1976, 28–33, 41–43, etc.). An octagonal stūpa-pagoda standing in front
of the Mogao Caves, a location that may have originally held a Bud-
dhist monastery, features an image of the seated Mārīcī, the goddess
of war.
Esoteric Buddhist Art in Sichuan during the Tang
Due to its geographically protected location in the southwestern cor-
ner of China, the province of Sichuan (Jiannan /Shannan )
was spared most of the conflicts that in certain periods ravaged the
central provinces of the Tang Empire. It therefore became a haven
for refugees from the Zhongguan , at times even the imperial
court, and as a consequence its Buddhist temples and their religious
art thrived.^21 Already during the Tang, Sichuan was considered one
of the main centers for Buddhist painting, as reflected in the written
records (see Huang 1963).
Qianfoyan in Guangyuan and Mt. Nan in
Bazhong in northern Sichuan and the site of Feixiange
in Pujiang to the southwest of Chengdu hold some of the earliest
Esoteric Buddhist sculptures in the province. Here we find crowned
and adorned images of Vairocana dating from the late seventh century
(figure 4).
The presence of these early images can undoubtedly be attributed to
the fact that both sites are on the direct road entering Sichuan from the
region of the twin capitals of the Tang. This type of image is especially
noteworthy, as it pre-dates the arrival of Śubhākarasiṃha in Chang’an
and the beginning of mature Esoteric Buddhism of the Tang. It also
(^21) Not even the depredations of the Mongols during the second half of the thir-
teenth century and the wanton vandalism of the Communists that swept China during
the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) have been able to obliterate the rich Buddhist
sculptural art of that province. For these reasons Sichuan boasts one of the richest
troves of Esoteric Buddhist art in China, in particular in the form of sculptures carved
in stone.