esoteric buddhism at the crossroads 267
example, in which talismanic seals for healing and protection can be found
in abundance, is the scripture Cintāmaṇicakrarāja Manibhadra’s Alternative
Practice with Seals (Chin. Ruyilun wang monizhu batuo biexing fa yin 如意輪
王摩尼拔陀別行法印)—hereafter referred to as The Alternative Practice.43
It belongs to the cult of Cintāmaṇicakra-Avalokiteśvara and gives evidence of
the sometimes close relationship that persisted between Esoteric Buddhism
and Daoism during the Tang.44
Another example of the interactions between Esoteric Buddhism and
Daoism can be seen in Nāgarjuna Bodhisattva’s Spells for the Mysterious Lady
of the Nine Heavens (Chin. Longshu pusa jiutian Xuannu zhou 龍樹菩薩九天
玄女咒),45 where Daoist alchemical practices have been incorporated into a
Buddhist ritual for healing tetanus or blood poisoning. This case is particularly
strange, as it is difficult to comprehend how the materials concocted during
the rite were supposed to affect a cure. In any case while the text of the spell
follows the norms for Daoist incantations and curses, the mantra parts are
clearly a reflection of Esoteric Buddhist concerns.
4 On the Five Buddhas-Template and Other Maṇḍalas from
Dunhuang
As the use of maṇḍalas is fundamental to mature Esoteric Buddhism as well
as to Tantric Buddhism, as represented by the Chinese and Tibetan traditions
of the 8th to 9th centuries respectively, their presence at Dunhuang provides
us with important information as to the rituals and ritual texts which were
current there. Numerous maṇḍalas, in the form of votive paintings, wall paint-
ings, designs and charts, have been found. Both their diversity as well as the
obvious lacunas they show tells us something about Esoteric Buddhism in and
43 This text, and some of its variants, have been studied by Paul Copp, “Manuscript Culture as
Ritual Culture in Late Medieval Dunhuang: Buddhist Talisman-Seals and their Manuals,”
Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie 20 (2011): 193–226.
44 For an example of an Esoteric Buddhist manual which integrates talismanic practices
into its rituals, see S. 2498. I discuss a relevant passage from this manual in Sørensen,
Henrik H., “The ‘Transferred Secret’: On Religious Exchanges between Daoism and Esoteric
Buddhism in China,” (forthcoming in Di Giacinto, Licia et al., ed. Space of Secrecy—Secret
in Contact: Perspectives from the East and the West).
45 P. 3835V° (4). For a modern edition of this spell-text with annotation, see Gao Guofan
高國藩, Dunhuang gusu yu minsu liubian: Zhongguo minsu tanwei 敦煌古俗與民俗流
變: 中國民俗探 [Ancient Customs in Dunhuang and the Transformation of Folk Customs:
Investigating Chinese Folk Customs] (Nanjing: Hehai daxue chubanshe, 1990), 158–173.