200 henrik h. sørensen
While the idea that a given magical process would only be successful
if followed to the word may have existed as a parameter of orthodoxy
in certain canonical texts, in practice this was not so.
The increasing specialization in magic and ritual performance by
Chinese Buddhists may also be observed as a historical phenomena.
In the earliest accounts the practitioners are usually foreign monks
(i.e., monks of Indian or Central Asian extraction), such as Śrīmitra
(fl. first half of the fourth century), Fotudeng (fl. fourth cen-
tury), Kumārajīva (344–413), and the early Bodhiruci (fl. first half
of the sixth century), to mention a few of the most important ones.^10
However, gradually Chinese monks entered the ranks of the adepts of
Esoteric Buddhism, a development that gained pace from the middle
of the Nanbeizhao (386–581) onwards. By the mid-Tang (i.e., eighth
century), the leading proponents of Esoteric Buddhist magic were still
foreigners, but under them were numerous Chinese practitioners to
whom the ritual techniques and arcana had been transmitted.
The complexity of magical production in Esoteric Buddhism
required a virtual arsenal of ritual props and tools (faqi ). These
secondary accessories consisted of altars, altar-platforms, a defined
and sanctified ritual space, as well as ritual objects including the usual
incense, flowers and fruits, thunderbolts (vajra), bells (ghaṇtạ̄), vases,
banners, gates, braziers, religious images, votive paintings, etc. This
“ritual furniture” was deemed necessary, actually vital, in order for the
ritual process to achieve its desired result. With some modifications
this fact may be observed both in the execution of more primitive and
individual forms of Esoteric Buddhist magic in China as well as in the
later, highly elaborate and grand-scale rituals performed on behalf of
the Chinese empire during the Tang.
The attraction of supernatural powers, or siddhi, is a dominant theme
in Esoteric Buddhist literature. While the achievement of supernatural
power is indeed found in various forms in mainstream Mahāyāna lit-
erature, it is in most cases described as a by-product of the bodhisattva
path and not as an end in itself. In the Esoteric Buddhist tradition
spiritual awakening is expressed in the mastery of magic. Indeed, it
would seem that it was exactly the worries about so-called worldly
concerns, enunciated by Śākyamuni in early texts, that later became
(^10) For a discussion of spell masters and miracle-performing monks in China during
the Nanbeichao period, see Kieschnick 1997, 67–111.