Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia

600 henrik h. sørensen

dhāraṇīs in the Pŏmsŏ ch’ŏngji chip can also be found in other canoni-

cal scriptures.

Furthermore, we have material evidence to the effect that the

Buddhosṇ̣īṣa-dhāraṇī ( T. 944ab) was commonly

engraved on octagonal stone pillars for the protection of sanctuar-

ies (probably also in connection with Buddhist burials).^14 As we shall

see below, rituals centering on this dhāraṇī are recorded as having

taken place at the royal court with relative frequency throughout the

dynasty.^15

Esoteric Buddhist Schools

One of the major problems of the study of Esoteric Buddhism under

the Koryŏ concerns its history as institutionalized sects. The SGYS

claims that there were two schools of Esoteric Buddhism in Korea as

early as the Silla: the Ch’ŏngji school, which arose around the middle

of the dynasty, and the Sinin school, said to have been formally estab-

lished during the reign of King T’aejo (918–943), the founder of the

Koryŏ (HPC vol. 6, 357a). However, as the data found in the SGYS is

often untrustworthy, and as there are in fact no other primary source

materials to support these early dates, it is highly doubtful that these

two denominations can be placed so early in the history of Korean

Buddhism. Textual evidence of a more reliable nature actually indi-

cates that both the Ch’ŏngji and the Sinin rose later in the Koryŏ than

indicated by the SGYS.

The earliest historical evidence on the Sinin and Ch’ŏngji schools

is found in the KS in an entry dating from the twelfth century (Hŏ

1986, 305–312). Probably Hyegŭn, the monk who compiled the

Pŏmsŏ ch’ŏngji chip mentioned above, was somehow connected to the

T. 853, by Faquan (fl. eighth century); the Da Piluzhena jing guangda yigui
(T. 851), also by Śubhākarasiṃha; and the Jin’gangding lianhua
buxin niansong yigui (T. 873) by Amoghavajra (705–774),
which served as the basis of the Pŏmsŏ ch’ŏngji chip. However, in the light of the fact
that none of three first works were included in the first Koryŏ Tripiṭaka, I am some-
what reluctant to accept this. Probably some other work related to the Vajraśekhara
cycle of texts may have been used by Hyegŭn, the compiler of the ritual manual in
question.

(^14) Cf. CKS I, 540–550. The practice of erecting dhāraṇī–pillars was also common
in China, and can be traced back to the middle of the Nanbeichao period (386–589).
See also Ch’oe 1978–1979, 128–135. 15
All in all twenty-seven such rituals are recorded as having taken place from the
reign of Hyŏnjong (1084–1094) to that of Wŏnjong (1259–1274). See Sŏ 1977.