. esoteric buddhism under the jin (–) 481and its practices, the large number of such texts committed to stone
in the course of Jurchen rule over North China is indeed noteworthy.
The majority of the stone slabs at Fangshan carved during the Jin fea-
ture full documentation in the form of donors’ colophons, so further
insight into the religious beliefs of the sponsors of Esoteric Buddhist
scriptures may be gleaned from these dedications. This data reveals
that mainly Buddhist monks and their disciples, including important
secular and military officials, were behind what is uniformly referred
to as meritorious work.^14
Here it is also interesting to observe that none of the monks men-
tioned in connection with the carving of the Fangshan scriptures,
some of whom were highly influential in their own time, are men-
tioned as being followers of Esoteric Buddhism per se, but appear
to have hailed from different sectarian backgrounds, including the
Chan, Huayan, Pure Land, and Vinaya schools. This information tal-
lies rather well with similar information we have from the Song, Liao,
and Koryŏ, where Esoteric Buddhist practices in broad terms formed
part of mainstream Buddhism. However, it is important to note that
not a single original work on Esoteric Buddhism composed under the
Jin is included among the engraved scriptures at Fangshan. This may
indicate that the forms of Esoteric Buddhism practiced by the Jurchen
followed previously established norms and teachings that were handed
down in the canonical scriptures from the Song and Liao.
A survey of the Esoteric Buddhist scriptures carved at Fangshan
reveals that the Jurchen based themselves on both the classical Zhe-
nyan tradition of the Tang, as formulated by Śubhākarasim ̣ha,
Vajrabodhi, and Amoghavajra, on the one hand; and on the early Song
dispensation of texts translated by Dharmapāla, Dānapāla, and Dhar-
madeva (Fatian ) on the other.^15 Importantly, a few works, which
have not been transmitted in the Song and Koryŏ canons, have survived
in Jin versions included among the stone scriptures at Fangshan. The
more significant of these are the important compendium of dhāraṇīs,
the Shijiao zuishang sheng bimi zang tuoluoni ji
(^14) Xuanying (fl. mid-twelfth century), the abbot of Baoning Temple ,
was one of the important Jin monks involved in the carving of the stone slabs at
Fangshan. His name occurs in the colophon of several Esoteric Buddhist scriptures.
Cf. Beijing tushuguan jinshi zu and Zhongguo fojiao tushu wenwuguan shijing zu,
eds. 1987, 568, 592–96, 598, 610, etc. 15
See Orzech “Translation of Tantras and other Esoteric Buddhist Scriptures,” in
this volume.