312 richard d. mcbride ii
translations of ritual texts, such as Amoghavajra’s revised translation
of the Sūtra on Humane Kings, promoted a renewed relationship
between the Buddhist church and the state (Matsunaga Yūkei 1966;
Orzech 1995, 1998). Although Daizong (r. 762–779) sponsored
the retranslation of this ritual text, there is little conclusive evidence
that succeeding Tang rulers sponsored state-protection rituals (Wein-
stein 1987b, 79). Japanese monk-pilgrims report that monks performed
rituals on Mount Wutai in the late Tang period, but the extent to
which these rituals were sponsored by the state is unclear.
Innovations in ritual procedures were perhaps more pronounced
than the doctrinal innovations introduced in the translated literature.
Dhāraṇī, and the literature describing procedures for their efficacious
use, had been a popular and important part of mainstream Chinese
Buddhism for centuries (Stevenson 1986; Ujike 1987; Swanson 2000;
Strickmann 2002; McBride 2005; Davidson 2009). Of the many works
in the dhāraṇī genre that were translated, texts introducing feminine
forms of Avalokiteśvara and rituals for the invocation of this powerful
deity were probably the most influential. Although the “esoteric” sta-
tus attributed to these texts and forms of the bodhisattva is debatable,
female forms of Avalokiteśvara appear frequently in later art (see Stein
1986; Strickmann 1996, 127–163; Yoritomi 1999b, 19–23).^2 In the early
eighth century, although works in the dhāraṇī genre continued to be
translated, a new genre of siddhi (xidi , lit., “success” or, more
broadly, “accomplishment” or “attainment,” chengjiu ) litera-
ture appeared that described how to use powerful mantras in various
rites of accomplishment, including procedures for empowering dei-
ties, fire rituals (homa), cleansing articles, taking possession of things,
constructing and consecrating mandalas, and so forth (Misaki 1965,
1977; Osabe Kazuo 1966; Strickmann 1983). Some texts of the siddhi
genre translated later, during the late eighth or ninth centuries, but
ascribed to Śubhākarasiṃha or attributed to Amoghavajra, describe
detailed rituals for breaking open hell and saving hungry ghosts. Some
of these texts were probably composed in China for a Chinese audi-
ence because they combine Buddhist doctrines with native Chinese
beliefs and promote practices similar to Daoist ritual performances
(Matsunaga Yūken 1929; Orzech 1989, 1994; Rambelli 2000).
(^2) See Keyworth, “Avalokiteśvara,” and Sørensen, “Central Divinities in the Esoteric
Buddhist Pantheon in China,” in this volume.