632 henrik h. sørensen
versions of apocryphal Chinese Buddhist works such as the Yuxiu shi-
wang shengqi zhai jing (Scripture on the Ten Kings;
ZZ 21.1), the Beidou qixing yanming jing (Scripture
on the Seven Stars of the Great Dipper Extending Life; T. 1307), and
the popular Foding xin Guanshiyin pusa tuoluoni jing
(Scripture on the Buddhosṇ̣īsa Heart Avalokiteśvara ̣
Bodhisattva Dhāraṇī; see KS 7). In addition, talismans are found in
ritual works such as the Pulga iryŏng chakbŏp (Meth-
ods for Daily Use by Buddhists),^30 which contains a talisman entitled
Wangsaeng chŏngt’o pu (Talisman for Going for Rebirth
in the Pure Land) (figure 3) (see Pulga iryŏng chakbŏp, 49b).
During the Chosŏn the Koreans modified and re-compiled many
Chinese Buddhist texts, including the important Ṣaḍakṣaravidyā
sūtra,^31 about which more shall be said below. This reformed version
of the sūtra features three graphic talismans of unusual types. The first
is the Jie yuanjia fu (Talisman for Removing Oppressive
Enemies), the second is the Hu shenming fu (Talisman for
Protecting the Body’s Span of Life), while the third is named Shijia
rulai huaya fu (Śākyamuni Tathāgata’s Flower Seal
Talisman) (Pulga iryŏng chakbŏp, 18b–19a). The shapes of the first two
of these talismans point to an affinity with Tibetan Buddhism whereas
the third bears a closer resemblance to the symbolic and scriptless type
of talismans, such as those representing the five holy mountains of
Chinese Daoism. A comparison with Tibetan mantric symbolism such
as the ornamental seed-syllables of the integrated-script type known
from the Kālacakra tantra (among other sources) reveals that the Tal-
isman for Removing Oppressive Enemies and the Talisman for Pro-
tecting the Body’s Span of Life are structurally similar.^32 The perceived
stylistic discrepancies are undoubtedly due to the fact that the Korean
(^30) This manual was probably compiled during the seventeenth century. For addi-
tional biographical information, see Sørensen 1991–1992a, 177–78, n. 24. 31
Presently in the collection of Seoul National University in the special library for
rare printed books and manuscripts, no. 1739/16. Although masquerading as a Bud-
dhist sūtra, this scripture is in fact a ritual text devoted to the promotion of the mantra
Oṃ maṇi padme huṃ. I have been unable to trace this text in the standard East Asian
Buddhist canons, and I wonder if it might be a Chinese translation from Tibetan,
possibly done during the Yuan dynasty whence it was exported to Korea. The plates
for the present 1908 edition of the text have integrated Han’gul letters, which makes
it obvious that we are dealing with a Korean edition of the text. 32
Examples of this type of Tibetan script-symbolism can be found in Douglas 1978,
pls. 29–34.