650 henrik h. sørensen
Although the worship of Cundī is known to have been fairly wide-
spread during the Koryŏ, it became very popular during the Chosŏn,
probably under sustained influence from Buddhism in Ming China.^71
The importance of Cundī outside the narrow confines of her cult can be
seen in the material connected with practices of empowerment such as
that we encounter in the Chosang kyŏng, mentioned previously, which
features Cundī’s mirror-wheel with the appropriate bīja, referred to
as “Cundī’s Nine-Letter Heavenly Circle Chart,” for inclusion in the
pokchang to be placed inside Buddhist images (figure 7). Cundī wor-
ship is also testified to in the Pulga iryŏng chakpŏp discussed above.^72
As part of the general worship of the planets and asterisms, the cult
of the Great Dipper (ch’ilsŭng paektu ) enjoyed widespread
popularity among the Buddhists of Chosŏn Korea as the place where
the fate and lifespan of human beings were decided. Originally a Dao-
ist cult, which the Chinese Buddhists took over and adapted to their
own uses, the gods of the seven stars making up the Great Dipper
underwent a transformation, or cultic restructuring, as emanations
of a group of seven buddhas under the Tathāgata Tejaprabha.^73 The
Chosŏn Buddhists were deeply engaged in longevity practices, among
which the worship of the Great Dipper was preeminent. The popular-
ity of this cult in the Buddhist context is evident in most temples from
the period where special ch’ilsŭng halls can be found.^74
Esoteric Buddhist Art under the Chosŏn
With the possible exception of the ch’ilsŭng hall for the worship of
the stellar divinities of the Great Dipper, specific halls for Esoteric
Buddhist practices are not known from the Chosŏn period. However,
the ceilings of many old halls feature the Siddham letters of the six-
character mantra, indicating that Esoteric Buddhist practices and ritu-
als were indeed common in Korean Buddhism. Several pagodas and
stūpas from the Chosŏn have survived, but with the exception of a rare
(^71) For detailed information on the Cundī cult in Ming China, cf. Tada 1989, 1990.
(^72) Haein Temple edition 1869, 21a–22b.
(^73) See Sørensen 1995c, 71–105. For astral divinities and the Great Dipper in the
context of Esoteric Buddhism in China, see Sørensen, “On the Worship of the Planets
and Asterisms in Esoteric Buddhism in Tang China,” elsewhere in this volume. 74
For a brief description of these halls and their role, see Sørensen 1995c, 71–105.