Transfer of Buddhism Across Central Asian Networks (7th to 13th Centuries)

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dispensation, may have been classified as ‘Guhyavāda.’ However, to use the

term as a general classifier for Esoteric Buddhism is nothing less than absurd.

On the basis of these findings we are in the position to conclude that

Esoteric Buddhism at Dunhuang during the period in question was made up of

several strands of Esoteric and Tantric Buddhist transmissions of both Chinese

and Indo-Tibetan origins. Moreover, this form–or in some cases those forms–

of Esoteric Buddhism interacted with other Buddhist schools and traditions

as well as with Chinese Daoism to form a unique if not singular local tradition

lasting the better part of three centuries.