Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia

78 charles d. orzech and henrik h. sørensen

The success and ritual importance of the mudrās in esoteric Bud-

dhism had a major impact on Daoist ritualism. Following the ascent

of the Zhenyan tradition in the course of the eighth century, Daoist

practitioners began to take up the use of mudrās in their rituals.^9 It is

almost certain that Daoist priests had been using some form of hand-

gestures in their rituals prior to the influence from esoteric Buddhism,

but under the influence of Zhenyan they were inspired to develop

their own sets of mudrās. An exact date for these developments is not

easy to determine in the light of the current research. However it is

clear that by the time of the late Tang dynasty, Buddhist mudrās had

become adapted and modified by Daoist ritual experts to fit with their

own spiritual and doctrinal requirements.^10

Mantras, Dhāraṇīs and Spells

Mantras are ubiquitous in the practice of traditional South Asian reli-
gion and they were in use long before the rise of Buddhism.^11 But
there has been considerable confusion over their introduction and use
in Buddhism, over their definition, and over their relationship with
dhāraṇīs.
One school of interpretation considers mantras and dhāraṇīs as two
distinct types of incantations, another sees them as similar, although
not exactly the same, while others consider them more or less the
same. Scholars have tended to distinguish mantras and dhāraṇīs by
form and function—as the former tend to consist of relatively short
strings of syllables, normally not more than one or two lines long,
whereas the latter are often more lengthy, sometimes taking up several
pages in ritual texts. A long held position has been that dhāraṇīs are
found throughout the Mahāyāna and in esoteric Buddhism and that

of a text and not for initiation into a mandala. See Davidson, “Abhiseka,” in this ̣

volume. For a discussion of one example from this important scripture, where the

mudrā has become a seal, see Sørensen 2005, 49–84 (esp. 55–58). Strickmann 1993,

1–83 explores the fertile ambiguity between mudrā and seal and its connections with

Daoism, talismans, and printing.

(^9) For a discussion of Daoist mudrā, see Mitamura 2002, 235–55. For Zhenyan see
Orzech, “Esoteric Euddhism in the Tang: From Atikūta to Amoghavajra (651–780),” ̣
in this volume. 10
See Ren 2004.
(^11) There is a voluminous literature on mantra in South Asian religion. For a classic
treatment see Gonda, 1963. For a collection of recent articles see Alper 1989, especially
Padoux’s “Mantras—What Are They,” 295–318.