. the mandala as metropolis 737
Figure 11. Tang dynasty Chang’an (Steinhardt 1990, 97).- The Two World Mandalas and East Asian Political Structures
As we have seen, the Womb and Diamond World Mandalas can be
seen individually as blueprints for architectures of enlightenment that
show striking similarities to real and ideal plans for Chinese domestic
and palace-city spaces. However, at least according to Kūkai’s system-
atic doctrinal and visual synthesis, these twin mandalas should not be
considered separately but rather as a pair.
Kūkai claims that Huiguo initiated him into both mandalas, but
currently there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that any of the
Tang masters adopted the dyadic pairing of the mandalas that became
so typical of Kūkai’s mikkyō in Japan. Not even the crypt at Famensi
is conclusive, as it exhibits only slight (and therefore intriguing) indi-
cations of both proto-Womb and Diamond World imagery together.