Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia

45. ESOTERIC BUDDHISM UNDER THE JIN 11151234

Henrik H. Sørensen

Introduction

When the Jurchen defeated the Liao and established the Jin empire in
Northern China between 1115–1234 C.E., they took over a realm in
which the Buddhist religion was a strong presence at all levels of soci-
ety.^1 Virtually all the Buddhist denominations that existed at the time
of the overthrow of the Khitan empire, including Chan , Huayan
, Pure Land , and Vinaya , continued unabated under the
new rulers. Although several attempts were made by various Jurchen
rulers to curtail the influence of Buddhism on the higher echelons of
Jin society, it would appear that Buddhism enjoyed widespread popu-
larity among the nobility and government officials, as had been the
case under the Liao. A similar situation prevailed under neighboring
Koryŏ (918–1392), where the nobility and officialdom had close
ties with the Buddhist schools and their leading representatives until
the final decades of the dynasty.^2 This stands in some contrast to the
Jin dynasty’s rival, the Southern Song empire (1125–1276), in which
Neo-Confucianism made rapid inroads into the higher levels of soci-
ety, at the expense of Buddhism, in the twelfth–thirteenth centuries.
The transition of power from the Liao to the Jin had evidently no
noticeable effects on the popularity of Esoteric Buddhist practice in
Jurchen society in general. Hence, the types of beliefs and practices
we encounter in the Jin material should be seen as reflecting a largely
unbroken continuation of the Esoteric Buddhist tradition that had
flourished under the Khitans.^3 There are also indications that Esoteric
Buddhism under the Jin was influenced by Koryŏ Buddhism.

(^1) For an overview of Jin Buddhism, see Yao 1995. Note that this brief article con-
tains virtually no information on Esoteric Buddhism, mentioning it only in passing as
“Tantric Buddhism,” which is of course incorrect. See also He Junzhe, Zhang Dachang
and Yu Guoshi 1992, 556–58. 2
Cf. Hŏ 1986, 2–104. See also Vermeersch 2004.
(^3) Cf. Lü 1995, 495–96.