546 shen weirong
mahāsiddha Virūpa were translated and compiled,
though only two volumes survive to today. Three additional texts have
been discovered in the Chinese National Library; these texts are of
essential significance to the path and fruit teaching of the Sa skya pa,
and were translated into Chinese and continuously used until the Qing
period. They are Dombiheruka’s lHan cig skyes pa grub pa
, Indrabhūti’s Phyag rgya lam skor ,
and the Phyag rgya chen po yi ge med pa. These are
three of the eight instructional texts of the actual practice of the path
and fruit teaching.^18
All these texts give instruction on practices related to tantric sex,
and thus were considered books of the “Indian art of the bedchamber”
(Tianzhu fangzhong fang shu ) by the Chinese literati.^19
In sum, the secret teaching of supreme bliss seen in Chinese sources
may well reflect, in a distorted way, the popularity of the yogic prac-
tice of the path and fruit teaching of the Sa skya pa at the court of the
Mongol Khans.
The teaching and practice of Tibetan esoteric Buddhism dissemi-
nated in Yuan China were certainly not limited to the Mahākāla cult
and the secret teaching of supreme bliss. Both Khara Khoto Chinese
and Tangut texts of Tibetan Buddhism and other texts of the same
type from the Mongol Yuan period are mostly tantric in nature. They
include texts of various genres, such as commentaries on the root tan-
tra of Hevajra, Cakrasamvara and the Samputa Tantra, the Vajra verses
of the path and fruit teaching, sādhanas of various deities, upadeśa of
yogic practices of the six doctrines of Narōpa, and other ritual texts of
consecration, offering, prayer, purification, and praises.^20
Judging from these texts, it becomes clear that the path and fruit
teaching of the Sa skya pa, along with its various rituals and yogic
practices, was the most popular teaching of Tibetan tantric Buddhism
at the court of the Mongol Khans. The Mongol adoption of Tibetan
tantric Buddhism evidently has a deep Tangut background. Sa skya pa
lamas actively spread their specific teachings in the Tangut kingdom of
Xia before they gained the favor of the Mongol Khans. The Mahākāla
cult, as a part of the path and fruit teaching of the Sa skya pa, was
(^18) Davidson 2005.
(^19) Qian Zeng , Dushu minqiu ji.
(^20) Shen 2007a.