432 paul copp
range of cliff and cave sculptures as traces of the Song-era esoteric
tradition.^3 Among the Song-era images he includes are a relief of the
occult adept Baozhi (418–514) found at Beishan (Dazu); images
of the Peacock King (or Queen, Kongque mingwang ) fea-
tured at Beishan, Baodingshan, and Shimenshan; Hārītī (Heledi
, etc.) carvings located at Beishan and Shimenshan; an image of
Cundī (Zhunti ) at Anyue; images of Mārīcī (Molizhi )
at Beishan and Anyue; and six images of Buddha Vairocana (Pilu-
zhena ), in different configurations—two at Beishan, one at
Baodingshan, and four at Anyue. Perhaps most prominent are images
of various forms of Guanyin, including Cintāmaṇicakra (Ruyilun
) at Beishan, Mala (rosary)-counting Guanyin (Shuzhushou
) at Beishan, Amoghapāśa (Bukong juansuo ) in three
different niches at Beishan, and the Thousand-armed Thousand-eyed
Guanyin (Qianshou qianyan ) at Baodingshan.^4
The variety and spread of such images speaks to the importance
of “esoteric” styles of Buddhism in Song Dynasty Sichuan. However,
one must be cautious about statements claiming that sculptures of
multi-armed bodhisattvas and other deities described in dhāraṇī lit-
erature and in the scriptures and manuals of esoteric Buddhism are in
all cases examples of discrete esoteric traditions. Such claims are very
common, especially in art historical works and in Chinese scholarship
of all modes. In the great majority of cases, nothing is known of the
original social or religious contexts of these images. Thus, the nature
of the traditions in which they were produced—if it is even meaningful
to speak in these terms—is not always (at least at this time) knowable.
Indeed, as I will note below, what clues we do have point as often to
non-tantric frameworks, even to native frames of filial piety. Yet the
preponderance of these images does strongly suggest the popularity of
dhāraṇī and esoteric practices, or at least their remnant emblems, in
Song Sichuan.
Esoteric connections are suggested even more clearly when we turn
to the most famous and striking members of this family of images:
those featuring the local esoteric adept Liu Benzun (855–907)
and his self-appointed successor and promoter, Zhao Zhifeng
(^3) Ding 2003, 402–25.
(^4) Ding 2003, 417–18.