712 ian astley
hundred pages in the modern Taishō edition^10 —which gives an idea of
the wealth of Buddhist material extant in China by the eighth century
and the close involvement of the state in accounting for it. Here, we
shall highlight a few passages in the Da Tang Zhenyuan xu Kaiyuan
shijiao lu in order to present some of the salient themes of relevance
to the esoteric tradition.
The initial items listed are replete with collections of dhāraṇī and
ritual manuals (incantations, nenjuhō ) as well as later, more
systematic works such as the Rishukyō (Liqu jing ) and its com-
mentary, the eighteen assemblies and the thirty-seven deity configu-
ration of the Vajradhātu; as well as Five Mysteries texts.^11 It includes
many sources that over time came to be counted as prominent parts
of Kūkai’s Shingon corpus: important, composite derivatives such as
the gobu shingan and the Rishukyō, its commentary, and
mandala.^12 In general, this catalogue attests to a remarkable number
of ritual manuals and supporting texts, as one might expect of a work
compiled after the activities of Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra.^13 In fact,
material associated with the activities of these two scholar-monks
figures prominently in the esoteric texts enumerated: Vajrabodhi is
described as having “received shingon” as a distinct initiation, his con-
secration standing out as a certain method of esoteric transmission,
rather than a rite meant to enhance the ability to influence the material
world through the technology of magical incantations.^14
There is also an extended section on the Renwang jing, which deals
with securing the temporal and spatial supremacy of the state through
both the superior career (dacheng, daijō ) and the zhenyan ( shin-
gon), i.e., it combines Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna approaches to enlight-
enment.^15 Indeed, much of the rhetoric takes the Renwang jing as its
(^10) T. 2155, 2156, 2157, respectively.
(^11) T. 2156.55:753b18–20.
(^12) For example, the passage at T. 2156.55:748c25–749c08. Not unexpectedly, most
of the texts are of the Vajradhātu type, though Mahāvairocana sūtra lineage texts fea-
ture too, albeit much less prominently, e.g., T. 2156.55:753c16–18. See the introduc-
tion in Astley 1991 for details on the textual basis of this strand of esoteric Buddhism
in China and Japan. 13
The terms used include ( yigui, giki), ( niansong yigui, nenju giki)
and ( niansong fa, nenju hō); ( yujia, yuga), ( gongyang fa, kuyō
ho); ( zhenyan, shingon) ( tuoluoni, darani) and ( tuoluoni shi,
darani shaku 14 ).
T. 2156.55:754a23, 28.
(^15) T. 2156.55:750a08–16.