. the esotericization of chinese buddhist practices 519
A further minor, though noticeable, shift toward Mañjuśrī in Chi-
nese Buddhist ritual occurs that can be connected to expressly Tibetan-
language tantric Buddhist rites at court and among nobles in Ming
(1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) times. But we fail to
see extensive mention or implementation of rites involving Vajrapāṇi
(Jin’gangshou ), Vajrasattva (Jin’gang saduo ), or
other tantric deities across China on any comparable scale with those
involving Avalokiteśvara, Mañjuśrī, and Samantabhadra. It is pos-
sible that such texts as the [Avalokiteśvaraguṇa-]Kāraṇdavyūha sūtra
(Dasheng zhuangyan baowang jing , T. 1050) and
the [Ārya-]Mañjuśrūmūlakalpa (Dafangguang pusazang wenshush-
ili genben yiguijing , T. 1191),
both translated in Song times and representative of a later stage of
tantric Buddhist ritual manuals (kalpa, yigui ) in India, had some
affect upon the longstanding Chinese interest in Avalokiteśvara and
Mañjuśrī. Though this remains to be studied, this line of research may
provide a vital link between Chinese and esoteric (or tantric) rituals.
A final and intriguing development that may be connected with the
broader dissemination of esoteric Buddhism in China is the practice
of chanting Sanskrit texts ( fanbai ), usually in transliterated form,
which entered wide use in Chinese Buddhist liturgical rites from the
Song period (Yoritomi 1999b, Demiéville, 1929b). This development
is also mentioned in Japanese travel diaries and carried back to Japan,
and it signals a renewed, if concurrent, interest in Indic-language rit-
ual language that may have been sparked by the implementation of
esoteric Buddhist rites within a Chinese Buddhist context. It is clear,
however, that esoteric Buddhism did not disappear from China when
Amoghavajra’s efforts faded with the persecutions of the Huichang
(841–846) era, an event that has been seen as the “nail in the
coffin” of Chinese esoteric Buddhism for far too long.