654 henrik h. sørensen
A very rare eighteenth-century t’aenghwa of the thousand-armed
Avalokiteśvara can still be found in the Kungnak Hall of Koun
Temple ( HPSS 51–52).
Other t’aenghwa associated with or reflecting on Esoteric Buddhist
concepts and practices include the samjang type (samjang posal t’o
) of painting and that illustrating the feeding of the hun-
gry ghosts, and the Kamno Wang type of paintings associated
with the water and land rituals.^77 The former type deals with the cult
of the three bodhisattvas, Ch’ŏnjang Posal (Heavenly Store
Bodhisattva), Chiji Posal (Earth Bodhisattva), and Chijang
(Earth Store Bodhisattva, i.e., Ks itigarbha). They are essen-̣
tially non-canonical figures who would seem to have developed from
the suryuk tradition, although the exact historical details are still not
clear.^78 In any case these three bodhisattvas are conceived of as heav-
enly bureaucrats similar to the sanyuan ( sanguan ) of Chi-
nese Daoism, controlling the heavenly realm, the earthly realm, and
the netherworld, respectively.^79 As far as we know, their cult can only
be documented through ritual manuals and votive paintings.
Another important category of Esoteric Buddhist paintings are
those depicting the “host of spirits” (sinjung ). There are a num-
ber of iconographic models for paintings of this kind, but the stan-
dard painting features an entire register of protective spirits, in effect
demon-generals, as well as various assimilated Hindu divinities includ-
ing Indra, Brahma, Skanda, and the many-armed king of asuras. These
protecting divinities are sometimes referred to as the “eightfold classes
of gods and dragons” (figure 9).
One of the central protectors in these paintings is the important god
Skanda, a youthful character dressed in a general’s armor, who is also
a well-known figure in Ming Buddhism.^80 The “host of spirits” were
(^77) For these iconographic topoi, see Sørensen 1989b, 16, pls. 26–28; and 17–18,
pls. 31–34. 78
Several Korean scholars have dealt with the iconographical theme of the samjang,
including Hŏng 1980, 121–41; Mun 1981, 92–95; and Kim 1986, 47–50. 79
For information on this important group of deities, see Hu 1995, 1449b.
(^80) In contrast to China where Skanda is common as a sculpture, no comparable
figures have so far been documented in the context of Chosŏn Buddhism. All the
depictions we have of Skanda are in the form of paintings or woodblock prints.