438 george a. keyworth
and in caves from Gansu near Dunhuang , both Mogao
and Yulin to Chongqing , Baodingshan ,
and Beishan , near Dazu , and Feilaifeng , next to
Lingyin Monastery in Hangzhou —to list only a few—one
can easily encounter tantric manifestations of Vajrapāṇi (Jin’gangshou
), Mahākāla (Daheitian ), and especially Avalokiteśvara
(Guan[shi]yin [ ] ) (Jin 1999). What we fail to see in a Chinese—
rather than a clearly Tibetan—context are examples of the increasingly
feminine wrathful Buddhist representations of the ḍakīnīs (tuzhini
) that figure prominently in the tantric literature.
The reception of the tantras in China cannot be separated from the
question of Sino-Tibetan, as well as the less prominent though still
significant Sino-Nepalese, cultural, religious, and political develop-
ments from the thirteenth century on. Weidner (2001) is an excel-
lent example of the much-needed recent trend toward looking at the
complex relationship between tantric Buddhist cultures (Nepal, Tibet,
Mongolia) and the Chinese cultural sphere, specifically from an art
historical perspective. The chapels constructed by Ming (1368–
1644) and Qing (1644–1911) emperors—especially Emperor
Yongle (r. 1402–4124), Emperor Kangxi (r. 1661–1722),
and Emperor Qianlong (r. 1736–1795)—to implement the ritu-
als taught by their Tibetan bla mas (lamas ), have only begun to
receive the attention they deserve, let alone the efforts of these teach-
ers in other areas of the Chinese cultural sphere. Whether Chinese
Buddhists viewed tantric literature primarily as Tibetan cultural arti-
facts, as has chiefly been suggested by Japanese scholars, or whether
these rituals became part and parcel of Chinese Mahāyāna Buddhist
liturgical rituals, tantra can be found in China and has profoundly
shaped Chinese repentance (kṣama, chanhui ) rites since at least
the eleventh century.