Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia

. the tji lecture hall statue mandala 957

Abhiṣeka, The Diamond Peak Sūtra, The Benevolent Kings Sūtra, and
Rites for the Protection of the Nation

In the 847 record, the Lecture Hall altar is called a karma mandala.
As I have proposed elsewhere, the statues excavated at the Chang’an
monastery, Anguosi (figure 11), are part of a karma mandala
and demonstrate a relationship to esoteric aspects of the Benevolent
Kings sūtra.^26
One may also note their simultaneous relationship to the divinities
featured in Vajrasekhara sūtra or Diamond Peak Sūtra (Kongōchōkyō
), for example, Ratnasambhava Buddha. Kūkai probably wit-
nessed karma mandala assemblies in Tang China. His request to the
Japanese court to enact protective rituals for the state in 810 at Takao-
sanji, in the wake of a coup attempt on the emperor, was surely one
way to establish a national protection site outside the capital by means
of abhiseka.̣ To quote from his petition:

Inside and outside the capital [Tang rulers and officials] built monas-

teries where mantras are recited to pacify the nation.... The imported

sūtras consist of the Renwang jing (Benevolent Kings Sūtra), Shouhu-

guojiezhu jing, Fomu mingwang jing, among others.^27

One month before construction on the Tōji Lecture Hall began in 825,
Kūkai requested the court’s permission to conduct new lectures at Tōji
on the Shugokokkaishu daranikyō ( , Nation-
Protecting Lord Dhāranī Sūtra) each year during the summer retreat
(ango) for the protection of the nation, the elimination of calamities,
and to benefit sentient beings who will prosper with the Dharma.^28 In
his petition, Kūkai noted that similar lectures to protect the nation

(^26) The iconography of several Anguosi statues can be linked to the Diamond
World mandala/Diamond Peak Sūtra, and at least two others to the Womb mandala/
Mahāvairocana Sūtra, but I believe that the unifying theme derives from the mandala
for the Benevolent Kings Sūtra. See Bogel 2009. At the same time, there are close
relationships between the Diamond Peak Sūtra and the ritual texts for the Benevolent
Kings Sūtra, so that the Diamond Peak Sūtra and related Diamond world mandala
iconography may be the most significant aspect of the group.
(^27) KZ 3: 435–36, dated 810.10.27. We do not know whether permission was granted
or the ritual was performed. The sūtras are T. 19, nos. 994, 997, and 982.
(^28) The sūtra is T. 97. Kūkai’s petition is dated Tenchō 2 (825).3.10, titled “Angokō
Kōdōgyō [shi],” as recorded in the Tōbōki 5, Hōbō-chū, ZZGR 12: 104 and quoted in
NCKSS-jys 1: 60 (shiryō 6). Kūkai’s request was granted early in the fourth month,
and construction of the Lecture Hall commenced on the twenty-fourth day of the
same month.