614 henrik h. sørensen
have been performed within the context of exoteric Buddhism and
possibly without the elaborate rituals that characterized traditional
Esoteric Buddhism as practiced under the Tang and the Heian. In
other words, it is not unlikely that the traditional Esoteric Buddhist
art, including its developed iconographical language as we know it
from Tang China, was actually never a reality under the Koryŏ. If this
holds true, it would indicate that an actual historical transmission of
Esoteric Buddhist lore, including ritual art, never took place, or at least
did so only in some limited form, and that the Koryŏ Buddhists in all
probability performed their Esoteric Buddhist rituals on the basis of
the scriptural sources only.
Conclusion
With the introduction of the printed Buddhist canon from China dur-
ing the early Northern Song, the Koreans became exposed to an exten-
sive collection of books relating to Esoteric Buddhism. This material
included some of the most recent and developed scriptures, including
tantric Buddhist texts. There can be little doubt that this massive influx
of Esoteric Buddhist scriptures from China greatly stimulated the
development of new Buddhist rituals and the rise of a local tradition
of Esoteric Buddhist practitioners. Nevertheless, we must acknowledge
that very few Esoteric Buddhist texts of purely Korean provenance have
survived. This is probably due to the fact that most of the current Eso-
teric Buddhist beliefs, practices, and rituals were based on canonical
scriptures that had originally been imported from China. The names
and types of the rituals that were performed at the royal court or in
the major temples would seem to support this hypothesis.
The question of the existence and historical reality of independent
Esoteric Buddhist schools under the Koryŏ is still rather blurred,
although we now have a much clearer picture of it. It can be estab-
lished that both the Ch’ŏngji and Sinin schools existed during the
middle and later half of the dynasty, but concrete historical informa-
tion is hard to come by. It is possible that the monks, who were affili-
ated with both of these denominations, were actually recruited from
the major schools of Koryŏ Buddhism and merely served as a kind of
ritual functionary.
Information on a great number of Esoteric Buddhist rituals is our
best source of knowledge regarding the role and importance of Eso-
teric Buddhism during the Koryŏ. The sources indicate that virtually