. the impact of translated esoteric buddhist scriptures 309
instance, the Samukhanāma-dhāraṇī (Huming famen shenzhou jing
), translated by Bodhiruci (fl. 693–727) in 693, provides
a list of twenty benefits and by-products of utilizing the dhāraṇī; twen-
tieth on the list is that one will attain complete enlightenment quickly
(T. 1139.20:585b25–26). The Ritual Procedures for the Practices and
Chants of the Five Esoterica of Vajrasattva of the Yoga of the Adaman-
tine Pinnacle (Jin’gangding yuqie Jin’gangsaduo wumimi xiuxing nian-
song yigui ), reportedly
translated by Amoghavajra and one of the Vajraśekhara/Vajra-usṇīsạ
(Jin’gangding jing ) family of scriptures, describes the ben-
efits of entering the mandala. A passage at the beginning of the manual
explains that those who practice according to the exoteric teaching
take three great immeasurable kalpas to evince unsurpassed bodhi. The
text also states, however, that
if you rely on the dharma of the sacred knowledge of self-awakening,
which was preached by the self-produced saṃbhogakāya of Vairocana
and the knowledge of the externally manifested saṃbhogakāya of the
Vajrasattva Mahāsamantabhadra, in this present life you will meet an
ācārya of a mandala and be able to enter the mandala... and by means
of the power of adhiṣṭhāna, in that very moment you will evince limit-
less samaya and limitless approaches to dhāraṇī (T. 1125.20:535b26–29,
c1–3).The Collected Documents Related to the Monk Amoghavajra of
Daizong’s Reign (Daizong chao zeng sikong dabian zhengguangzhi san-
zang heshang biaozhi ji ),
by contrast, contains a passage that more directly suggests that receiv-
ing abhisekạ into a consecrated altar engenders the speedy attainment
of buddhahood (T. 2120.52:860b1–3).
The passage quoted above from the Ritual Procedures for the Prac-
tices and Chants of the Five Esoterica of Vajrasattva illustrates how
some of the new tantric literature varied significantly from the devel-
oping exegetical consensus on the doctrine of buddha bodies. Instead
of the Buddha Vairocana (or Mahāvairocana) being representative of
the dharmakāya, reality as it is, thusness (tathatā), and so forth, he
is presented as an interiorly realized, self-produced, literally “self ”-
saṃbhogakāya (zi shouyongshen ); and Mahāsamantabhadra
is presented as externally manifested, literally “other”-saṃbhogakāya
(ta shouyongshen ) (T. 1125.20:535b26–28). Another work
by or attributed to Amoghavajra, the Lüeshu jin’gangding yuqie fenbie
shengwei xiuzheng famen , defines