. textual material relating to esoteric buddhism 55
Assembly of Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva of the Three Worlds’ Supreme
Heart King of Spells of the Great Majestic Ucchusma Vidyārāja),̣^100
translation attributed to the North Indian monk Ajitasena. A scripture
on the cult of Ucchusma, it is associated with ̣ T. 1227–1230.
Yiziding lunwang niansong yigui (Ritual Pro-
ceedings for the Invocation of the One-character Wheel King).^101 A
variant of T. 954AB, it also differs from T. 955.
Guanzizai ruyilun pusa niansong fa
(Method for the Invocation of Cintamāṇicakra-Avalokiteśvara
Bodhisattva).^102 A variant of T. 1085.
Vol. 68
Da Suiqiu tuoluoni (Mahāpratisarā-dhāran ̣ī).^103 A vari-
ant of the spell found in T. 1153.
Esoteric Buddhist Texts from the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang
The Esoteric Buddhist manuscripts from Dunhuang consist of a great
variety of different texts, including standard sūtras, commentarial lit-
erature, apocrypha, ritual works, spell manuals, miscellaneous prayers,
etc. In effect, the entire typological range of Esoteric Buddhist litera-
ture is represented among this hoard of manuscripts.
There are also many unique Esoteric Buddhist texts among the
Dunhuang material. Some of these are bona fide translations of Indian
and Tibetan works, some are locally produced works, and others are
noncanonical texts and/or apocrypha written elsewhere in the Chinese
empire.
Although one should not dismiss the voluminous Esoteric Buddhist
material from Dunhuang as simply a collection of provincial hybrid
texts or apocryphal works per se, it is obvious that many of the texts
are precisely that type of material. The very richness and diversity of
this textual corpus is due to its general lack of homogenuity and inher-
ently nonstandardized nature. Moreover, the fact that the Dunhuang
(^100) ZDJ 1389.65.
(^101) ZDJ 1449.65.
(^102) ZDJ 1449.65.
(^103) ZDJ 1612.68.