554 shen weirong
teaching” with Tibetan monks.^16 By the mid-Ming, it was even harder
to prevent the practice of the secret teaching from spreading among
ordinary people. The practice of tantric sex by ordinary husbands and
wives was not rare, as indicated by cases in both Longqing (r. 1567–
1572) and Wanli (r. 1573–1620) periods.
The literatus Tian Yiheng (c. 1491–1570) observed the situ-
ation during the late Ming:
There are licentious women and shrew wives who worship monks and
Taoists as masters and call themselves disciples. They are debauched day
and night. Some of their husbands and sons also believe in Buddha and
join the practice, and they do not take this as shameful. Although women
in noble families do not leave the house, they live as if in a monastery by
practicing vegetarianism, keeping prayer beads in their sleeves, chanting
Buddha’s name, making statues of gods and making offerings to them.
When a woman has no son, some will seduce her by saying that a certain
monk is capable and can provide a Buddha seed. This is done through
the method of passing qi by massaging belly button [mo qi guo qi zhi fa]
, which was the so called great offering in the Yuan, that
is, to make an offering with one’s own body. Nothing is more evil than
this! There are also [women] who seduce young nuns to have sex with
their husbands. That is indeed the so called Buddha of bliss.^17In addition to these reports of sexual practices, Tibetan-style Buddhist
ceremonies became fashionable for weddings and funerals of the rich
and powerful both inside and outside of Beijing. The classic of Chi-
nese erotic literature Plum in the Golden Vase (Jinping mei ),
said to have been written during the Wanli period, describes Ximen
Qing’s elaborate funeral arrangements for his concubine Li Pinger in
the sixty-fifth chapter. At her funeral, a Tibetan lama was to be invited
to chant a Tibetan sūtra:
[They] built an altar and danced, sprinkled colorful rice to offer incense,
and chanted mantra with their mouths. The food and offerings all used
cow milk, tea, and cheese, and the [paintings] that were hung up have
extremely ugly demonic images: draped with tassels, wearing necklaces
made of skulls, gnawing babies in their mouths, riding on devils, with
snakes wrapped around their waists. Some had four heads and eight
arms, some hold daggers and halberds in their hands. They had red hair
and blue faces and were extremely hideous.^18(^16) Shen 1959, juan 27, 681.
(^17) Tian 1992, juan 27, 511.
(^18) Cf. Wang 2000, 270–299.