. the apocrypha and esoteric buddhism in china 193
uscripts of the Guanshiyin Ruyilun tuoluoni huaxiang fa bing biexing
wen, and other related texts, appear to date from the second half of
the Tang dynasty, and none would seem to predate the ninth century.^48
This might be taken as an indication that the use of talismans within
the Cintāmaṇicakra cult was a fairly late phenomena in Tang Bud-
dhism. In another of the scriptures relating to the worship of this form
of Avalokiteśvara, the Qixing Ruyilun bimi yao jing
(Scripture on the Secret Essentials of Cintāman ̣icakra and the
Great Dipper),^49 the translation of which is also attributed to Amogha-
vajra, we find the mention of three talismans. However, the text, as
we have it today, does not actually provide images of them. No mat-
ter the historical reality of the introduction of the talismanic material
into the cult of Cintāmaṇicakra Avalokiteśvara, it is obvious that the
later tradition tends to associate this development with the name of
Amoghavajra.^50 It is interesting to note here that there was also a ritual
tradition in medieval Japanese Shingon Buddhism in which
talismans were used in connection with Cintāmaṇicakra worship.^51
Esoteric Buddhist Apocrypha and the Japanese Question
To conclude this brief survey, let us take a quick look at the Esoteric
Buddhist apocrypha that have survived as manuscripts in Japan. Since
a rather large amount of the extant Esoteric Buddhist material writ-
ten in Chinese has been preserved only in the form of Japanese man-
uscripts, it is necessary to exercise a certain prudence in regard to
the authenticity of some of these texts. This warning concerns both
(^48) P. 2153 would appear to have been copied out sometime during the Tibetan
occupation of Shazhou. This manuscript has obviously not been written with a brush
but with a stylus, a common feature for texts dating between ca. 780–848 CE. See
Fujieda 1966, 1970.
(^49) T. 1091.
(^50) This text is based on a Japanese edition from 1801, and although attributed to
Amoghavajra, it is likely to be an apocryphal scripture of Japanese provenance. A
central part of the scripture consists of the Qixing Ruyi lun pusa ji
(Verses of the Seven Stars Cintāmaṇicakra Bodhisattva) T. 1091.20:224c–225a. In terms
of contents or structure it bears little resemblance to the other material related to the
Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper. The Great Dipper occurs also in connection with
a homa altar for a ritual. T. 1091.20:224b. The relationship between Cintāmaṇicakra
and the Great Dipper, in connection with which there is a rich talismanic tradition in
both Daoism and Buddhism, may give us a clue as to why we find so many talismans
associated with the cult of this form of Avalokiteśvara. 51
See Aptilon, “Goddess Genealogy: Nyoirin Kannon in the Ono Shingon Tradi-
tion,” in this volume.