428 charles d. orzech
red, while its primary body was black. On the top of its central face was
a transformation Buddha. There were two snakes, one coiled around his
forearm.^30This appears to be a description of Vajrapāṇi (Mahācakra Vajrapāṇi)
probably drawing on Devaśāntika’s translation of the Mañjuśrīmūla-
kalpa (Da fang guang pusazang Wenshushili genben yigui jing
T. 1191).^31 The likely source of the
second image is Dharmapāla’s 983 translation of the Mahābalasūtra
(Fo shuo chusheng yiqie rulai fayan bianzhao Dali mingwang jing
T. 1243). Jōjin’s account is
evidence that certain of the newly translated scriptures were instanti-
ated in practice, if only to a very elite audience.
A remarkable number of sculptures of deities of esoteric origin
survive from the Song period, the majority in the southwest. These
include a range of images from the one thousand-armed Guanyin, to
Mahāvairocana, to Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī, to groupings of the various
vidyārājas.^32 It appears that most have been drawn from scriptures
promulgated during the Tang. However, a few images testify to some
circulations of texts translated in the Song. One instructive example is
the figure of Mārīcī, goddess of the dawn and patroness of the military
arts found at Beishan , in Sichuan.
The carvings at Beishan were begun by the late ninth century mili-
tia commander Wei Junjing for his Yongchang fortress and
carving continued until 1162. The carvings now include depictions of
the Pure Land, images of Avalokiteśvara, Vaiśravaṇa, Mahāmāyūrī
vidyārājñī (Da kongque mingwang ), and Mārīcī (Moli-
zhi ). The Mārīcī image has been dated to the Northern Song
period. Texts concerning Mārīcī have a long history in China begin-
ning with the Sui or early Tang period Dhāraṇī Scripture of Mārīcīdevi
(Molizhitian tuoloni zhou jing T. 1256) and a treatment in Atikūta’s ̣
(^30) BZ vol. 15: 456–457.
(^31) The text was translated sometime between 983 and 1000. The deity is described
at T. 1191.20: 876b4-c01, and in several other places (juan 11, 12, 15, and 16) but
the iconography is inconclusive. Mention of a similar deity also occurs in T. 1169
and T. 890 translated by Dharmabhadra. T. 890 is Dharmabhadra’s translation of the
Māyājālamahātatra. T 32. 1243 is the Mahābalasūtra.
See Sørensen 1990b on Anyue and his “Esoteric Buddhist art 960–1279,” in this
volume. Also Howard, 1999, 2001, and the recent detailed treatment of Beishan by
Suchan 2003.