TANTRIC BUDDHISM (INCLUDING CHINA AND JAPAN)the heavens. In later centuries the earthly emperor was equated with this heav-
enly ruler. It was thought that the emperor, as the ruler of the nine courts, should
circulate from one court to another in imitation of the transformative process of
the universe. By adhering to the proper ritual activity, the color of garments,
etc., the emperor could bring himself into harmony with the transformations of
the cosmic order and in tum this virtuous behavior could influence these trans-
formative processes for the good of the empire. This notion found expression in
discussions of a Ming-T'ang or "Bright Hall," a cosmic palace modeled on the
T'ai-i numerology and in which the emperor "circulated," performing rituals
according to the season. Few were the emperors who actually built a Ming-
t 'ang, though the notion of such a cosmic palace was entertained in most
reigns.^70
Nonetheless, speculation led to the actual construction of such edifices down
through Chinese history, and a cult of T'ai-i was active during the time of
Hsiian-Tsung and Amoghavajra when nine thrones were set up and the various
stellar lords were "circulated" each year.^71 Moreover, it now appears that a key
Taoist initiation rite made extensive use of this nonary or ninefold
configuration.^72
It is not too difficult to imagine the Vajrayana masters putting these indigen-
ous and familiar structures to good use. I propose that the arrangement of the
Vajradhiitu mar:u!ala may have been a case of "ko-i." The lack of any obvious
precedent in the Vajrayana and the presence of the T'ai-i cult and its diagram are
evidence enough to make T'ai-i a primary suspect. The Vajradhiitu mar)(jala of
the Chenyen school cannot be accidentally related to the cult of T'ai-i, which
was an active concern of many people whom Amoghavajra and Hui-kuo knew.
It is only traditional biases which have rendered this structural similarity invis-
ible and beyond the realm of reasonable investigation.
Seeing the Vajrayana in China: closing remarksAs we look at the Vajrayana in China, several avenues for research are open.
Despite previous emphasis on the root texts, they are still in need of intensive
study. So too, the various contexts of "applied" Chen-yen need to be explored,
and these are social, political, symbolic, etc. To give but one example, let us
probe the connections surrounding the imagery of the fire in South and East
Asia. Initial work has been done here-for example, the articles contained in
Fritz Staal's Agni and in Richard Payne's dissertation on homa rites.^73 But what
of the imagery of the fire as recreating the cosmos/dharma? How is the feeding
of such fires symbolically related to ancestral complexes, to pretas (here, liter-
ally "flaming mouths"), and to the feeding of the monks? Is it not remarkable
that the chief and most visible aspect of Buddhism in China came to be associ-
ated with these rites and with the dual feeding of "wandering fires"-pretas and
ascetic monks?
A careful study remains to be done on the connection between the Buddhist