274 sØrensen
A Chinese example corresponding to P. tib. 389 is that found in P. 3937
(fig. 7.7). I would consider the identification of this maṇḍala fairly certain due
to the fact that the number of bodhisattvas it features corresponds exactly to
that seen in P. tib. 389 and related examples. Apart from the simpler structural
arrangement of the maṇḍala in question, it is also noteworthy that the Central
Buddha has no distinct Esoteric Buddhist attributes, such as the Five Buddha
crown, adornments, etc.
As a last, yet more complex example of conflation and intercultural blend-
ing, we have the elaborate and highly textual maṇḍala represented by P. 4519
(fig. 7.8). While the maṇḍala itself clearly represents the maṇḍala of the
Sarvadurgati-pariśodhana-tantra, its added textuality represents a hybrid con-
struction. The various excerpts and spells represent several distinct Esoteric
Buddhist scriptures and cults including those of Mahāpratisarā, Avalokiteśvara,
Sitatāpatrā, Tārā, Cundī, etc.57 As such this hybrid maṇḍala cum text antici-
pates structurally the composite, printed dhāraṇī-charts of the 10th century.58
6 Chan and Esoteric Buddhism at Dunhuang
One of the special features of Esoteric Buddhism at Dunhuang during the later
Tang period is its conflation with other forms of Buddhism, both Chinese as
well as foreign, and even with Daoism. While we still have too little evidence
to postulate that this trend was particular to Buddhism in Dunhuang, it is evi-
dent that this trend was fairly common there, especially during the second half
of the Tang. Cases of such inter-sectarian development can be documented
57 For a listing of the scriptures from which many of the excerpts have been lifted, see
Catalogue des manuscrits Chinois de Touen-Houang, Fonds Pelliot chinois de la Bibliothèque
Nationale, vol. 5 (Paris: École française d’Extrême-Orient, 1995), 158–159. The compilers of
this otherwise excellent catalogue have failed in identifying the maṇḍala itself, probably
due to the confusing context and array of scriptural sources it invokes.
58 I am here especially referring to the talismanic prints associated with the cult of
Mahāpratisarā. Cf. Whitfield, Roderick et al., ed. Caves of the Thousand Buddhas: Chinese
art from the Silk Route (New York: G.Braziller, 1990), 106–107. See also Su Bai 宿白, Tang
Song shi ji de diaoban yinshu 唐宋時期的雕版印刷 [Eng. subtitle: Studies on the Block
Printings and Woodcuts of the Tang and Song Dynasties] (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe,
1999), 140, 194. pl. 27. For examples of such talismanic spell charts in Korea of the Koryŏ
period, see Sørensen, Henrik H., “On the Empowerment of Buddhist Images and the Use
of Printed Maṇḍalas and Dhāraṇīs during the Koryŏ Dynasty (936–1392),” in Esoteric
Buddhist Tradition in East Asia: Text, Ritual and Image, ed. Youngsook Pak and Roderick
Whitfield (forthcoming).