. yuqie yankou in the ming-qing 565
Yankou eventually established its hegemony over all the other liturgies
and is the liturgy used at all performances of the Yankou to this day.
Since the Yankou is considered the main esoteric ritual in Chinese
Buddhism from the late imperial period on, this essay will conclude
with a few observations regarding the content and structure of the
Yankou, thus providing a window into what Ming-Qing Buddhists
saw as a paradigmatic esoteric ritual. As Zhuhong understands it, eso-
teric practice involves the practitioner’s physical, verbal, and mental
actions “mutually corresponding” in a specific way: the three actions
are engaging in mudrās, spells, and visualizations simultaneously.^17
When the “three actions” tridhākarma are mutually corre-
sponding in this manner, they turn into “three secrets” ( triguhya)
that ultimately transform into the “three bodies” (trikāya) of the
buddhas. Through the practice of the three secrets, all the perfections
(pāramitās) can be accomplished and buddhahood is attained in this
lifetime. Zhuhong calls this the “direct recompense” (zhengbao )
of esoteric practice.
Through the three secrets one can also achieve the “circumstantial
recompense” (yibao ), and Zhuhong explains this as when one’s
self-nature appears as the seed-syllable hrīḥ that transforms into “the
complete form of the great compassionate king” (i.e., Guanyin), per-
forming the enlightened activities of the buddhas (in this case, liberat-
ing hungry ghosts).^18 Thus, in all Yankou liturgies, the vajra master
(jing’gang shangshi ) first transforms himself into Guanyin
before summoning his ghostly guests to the ritual space (lit., man-
dala). Taking the divine identity of Guanyin (Guanyin man ,
lit., “pride of Guanyin” , the vajra master gains the power to ritually
expel the ghostly guests’ negative karma, cause them to repent and
promise to reform their ways, enable them to receive the refuge vows
and the samaya precepts, and finally nourish them with empowered
drink and food that frees them not only from their hunger and thirst
but ultimately from their woeful states of existence.
(^17) A strict adherence to this definition disqualifies other Chinese Buddhist food-
bestowal rituals from being considered as belonging to the esoteric rubric. For example,
neither the Mengshan shishi yi (Mengshan food-bestowal ritual) nor the food-bestowal
rituals discussed in the essay by Lye, “Song Tiantai Shishi Tradition,” in this volume,
include the use of any mudrās.
(^18) X. 1081.59:271c.