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new esoteric developments in South Asia, and the political realities of
working for the court.^17
Atikūṭa
Atikūta, a native of central India, first arrived in the Tang capi-̣
tal Chang’an in 652, where he resided at Ci’en Monastery.
Shortly after he established an altar for esoteric practices at the Fotu
court of Huiri Monastery , which became a center for
esoteric teaching.^18 It was there, during the next year, that he trans-
lated the Tuoluoni ji jing or Collection of Coded Instruc-
tions (Dhāraṇīsaṃgraha sūtra, T. 901) with his disciple Xuankai
acting as scribe (bishou ).^19 Purportedly a portion of a larger
“Vajramahāmaṇḍa Scripture, a small portion of the great Dhāraṇī-
pitakạ ,” this voluminous work contains vidhis for worship of a variety
of deities.^20 The Tuoluoni ji jing had wide influence. Indeed, according
to reports by the Japanese pilgrim Shūei (809–884), a number of
its spells were being transmitted in the Zhejiang area during the late
eighth and early ninth centuries.^21
The Tuoluoni ji jing is divided into seventeen chapters in twelve
fascicles. The work appears to be a collection of South Asian parts
assembled in China. As a composite, it gives us a look at a range of
esoteric practices at the moment of the emergence of comprehensive
(^17) Manicintana and Bodhiruci both arrived in 693, and both spent time working on
projects at Da Fuxian Monastery , which Forte characterized as a part of the
propaganda apparatus of Empress Wu’s regime (Forte 2002, 89–90). Bodhiruci and
Yijing worked together on the translation of the Avataṃsaka sūtra (Da fangguang fo
huayan jing , T. 279) led by Śikṣānanda in 695–699. From 700, Yijing
headed the translation office at Da Fuxian Monastery, where he collaborated with
Manicintana in 700–701 and 703, and probably with Bodhiruci on the Mahāratnakūta-̣
sūtra (Da Bao Ji Jing , T. 310), but Forte concludes this last association was
erased in Zhisheng’s catalogue (Kaiyuan shijiao lu , T. 2154) of 730. See
Forte 1984, 311, 317–318. In his brief study of esoteric Buddhism under Empress Wu,
Osabe highlights the way these translators incorporated notions derived from Daoism
and other Chinese traditions. See Osabe 1982, 1–33. 18
Both the Song Gaoseng zhuan ( T. 2061.50:718b24–25) and the Xu
gujin yijing tu 19 ( T. 2152.55:368a23–24) report the event.
The Sanskrit title of the text is sometimes reconstructed as Dhāraṇīsammucaya.
(^20) T. 901,18:785b3:.
(^21) Shūei was in China from 862 through about 866. His catalogue is preserved in T.
2174A. See Lü 1995, 172. There are reports of a second translation of the Tuoluoni ji
jing by Shimanyue in the Song Gaoseng zhuan ( T. 2061.50:723a1), but no such
scripture is extant and the reports are likely spurious. See Lü Jianfu 1995, 171.