. esoteric buddhist art under the tang 417
and his immediate successors (see Goepper et al., 1988). Even so, for
those pieces that were lost, the existing copies allow us to have an idea
of what the original pieces may have looked like. In any case, the early
Shingon and esoteric Tendai art, especially that made during the ninth
to tenth centuries, does—to a considerable extent—reflect mainstream
Esoteric Buddhist art from eighth-century Tang China. Hence, the
repository of Esoteric Buddhist artifacts from Tang China and their
contemporary Japanese derivatives constitute a unique and extremely
important source of information and knowledge on Zhenyan-related
Buddhist art.^26
Conclusion
On the basis of what has been shown above, we may distinguish
between two stages of Esoteric Buddhist art under the Tang: an early
phase covering roughly the first century and a half, and a mature
phase evident during the rest of the dynasty. The early phase is rep-
resented by the sculptures at Longmen and the several free-standing
images of Ekādaśamukha. The mature phase starts with the arrival of
Śubhākarasiṃha and the subsequent development of Zhenyan Bud-
dhism. The second phase was clearly centered in the area of the twin
capitals of Chang’an and Luoyang, and its influence gradually spread
to the provinces during the second half of the eighth century.
Although the view that Esoteric Buddhism under the Tang, espe-
cially the Zhenyan tradition, was more or less destroyed during the
Huichang Suppression of Buddhism (845–846 C.E.) is based on mis-
understandings and a superficial reading of the historical records, it
cannot be denied that the large monastic centers were greatly and
negatively impacted at that time. Nevertheless, Esoteric Buddhism,
like most of the other denominations of Chinese Buddhism, survived
the setback caused by the Huichang Suppression. However, it would
appear that the period of real damage to institutionalized Esoteric
Buddhism in the central provinces actually took place between the end
of the ninth century and the middle of the tenth century. By the time
(^26) For a presentation of much of this material, see Tokyo National Museum 1983–
1984, 2003–2004, and 2006. The latter catalogue introduces a series of wooden images
of Ekādaśamukha from the Tang that rarely has been shown to the public; cf. Tokyo
National Museum 2006, pls. 1–3. Reproductions of the copies of the oldest extant
Dharmadhātu and Vajradhātu Mandalas said to have been brought back to Japan by
Kūkai can be found in Seibu Museum of Art 1978.