. esoteric buddhism, material culture, and catalogues 717
the corpus of esoteric materials imported by 865, when Shūei returned,
comprised a complete system upon which the esoteric schools could
base their ritual, exegetic, and pastoral activities, we can safely say that
the mature foundations of Japanese Buddhism were well and truly
established by the late ninth century. This was particularly important
in view of the rise of the shōen from the early tenth century, which
would mark the gradual decline of the central power of the Heian
court.
The catalogues composed by the monks who followed Kūkai, along
with their narrative accounts, tell us what kinds of lineage they were
concerned to represent in their collections. This implies also that they
went with specific ideas about what was likely to be found in China
and what was needed to complement and expand the extant corpus in
Japan. A prominent example of this are Ennin’s catalogues, in which
he emulates to a significant degree the template begun by Kūkai, i.e.,
texts, two- and three-dimensional representations, ritual implements,
and keepsakes.^27 Shūei’s case is particularly instructive: he returned
with materials that represented traditions quite different from those
to which Kūkai and Saichō had gained access.^28
While there is no substitute for analyzing the materials themselves,
the catalogues give us important first clues about these pilgrims’ intent
and valuable information about the overarching presuppositions that
lay behind it. When we examine the catalogues from this crucial
period in a systematic array, they provide a distinctive survey of the
religious, political, and hermeneutic interests of key thinkers in this
crucial phase of East Asian culture.^29
Conclusion
At first glance, the notion of reading these catalogues appears soporific
at best. However, if we read them with an eye to their potential for giv-
ing clues about the causes and motives behind their composition, their
value becomes readily apparent. We can parse them for indications of
(^27) Ennin’s catalogues are T. 2165, 2166 & 2167; read in conjunction with his diary,
Nittō guhō junrei kōki (full text in the Dainippon Bukkyō zensho
; cf. Reischauer 1955a), they can give a vivid picture of how esoteric
forms of Buddhism were woven into the Chinese Buddhist world.
(^28) See the extensive analysis in Hunter 1995b of the lineages implicit in the materi-
als that Shūei acquired and catalogued.
(^29) Such an array has been provided in a table of correspondences between these
various sources in Ishida Hisatoyo 1988b, 197ff.