16. Popular Esoteric Deities and the Spread of Their Cults
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16. POPULAR ESOTERIC DEITIES AND THE SPREAD OF THEIR CULTS Richard D. McBride II Differentiating esoteric Buddhist deities from the mainstream Mahāyāna Buddhist pantheon is a difficult task. Scholars have clas- sified as “esoteric” many of the most popular Buddhist deities. This is the result of presuming that any figure (represented in an icon or image form) that was either held in high esteem by later self-styled esoteric Buddhists, or was the primary figure in prescriptive ritual texts presently classified as tantric or esoteric, or that appears in a mandala, is “esoteric.” The basis of classification should instead bethe direct link of a deity to a particular practice or set of practices that are distinctly and undisputedly esoteric in nature. In other words, all the popular buddhas and bodhisattvas, and many of the gods of the Mahāyāna pantheon, are potentially esoteric or possess esoteric attri- butes in some contexts, such as the buddhas of the four directions and the eight great bodhisattvas that appear in a variety of contexts and were later absorbed into the tantric or esoteric pantheon (Getty 1928; Banerjee 1994). The most popular and well attested of all so-called esoteric deities are several manifestations of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (Guanyin 觀音, Guanshiyin 觀世音): the eleven-headed form (Ekādaśa mukha, Shiy- imian 十一面), the white-clad or white-robed form (Pāṇḍaravāsinī, Baiyi 白衣), the lasso-wielding form (Amoghapāśa, Bukong jiansuo 不空羂索), the thousand-armed or thousand-handed form (Sahasrab- huja, Qianshou 千手), and the thousand-eyed and thousand-armed form (Qianyan qianbei 千眼千臂) (Wong 2007a; 2007b; 2008). Stated simply, most scriptures containing dhāraṇīs and procedures for their ritual use taught by Avalokiteśvara or one of the deity’s manifestations listed above, with the exception of the Heart Sūtra and its famous dhāraṇī, but including indigenous Chinese Buddhist scriptures (a.k.a. Chinese Buddhist apocrypha), such as King Gao’s Sūtra of Avalokiteśvara (Gaowang Guanshiyin jing 高王觀世音經, T. 2895), are believed to be representative of popular esoteric forms of Avalokiteśvara (Mallmann 216 richard d. mcbride ii 1948; Yü 2001). All are closely associated to the cultic practices of making images, sūtra-chanting, and dhāraṇīs. Many of these forms appear earliest in the art and texts of Dunhuang. Because Arthur Waley held the view that the dhāraṇī did not become associated with tantric or esoteric Buddhism until the eighth century, he preferred to categorize the imagery, texts, and cults associated with Avalokiteśvara and other bodhisattvas represented in the caves from the fifth to eighth centuries as “Dhāraṇī Buddhism” (1931, xiii–xiv). Waley’s view represents a minority opinion, however, and much fur- ther research is required on the topic. And while modern scholars classify these forms of Avalokiteśvara as “esoteric” or “tantric” Bud- dhist, Chinese Buddhists who invoked the bodhisattva in these forms prior to the late eighth or ninth centuries did not think of themselves as necessarily participating in a separate tradition of “esoteric” Bud- dhism, even when modern commentators classify them as such (Abé 1999, 157–163). Strickmann, following the Shingon sectarian Ōmura Seigai, considered the ritual procedures dealing with several forms of Avalokiteśvara as indicative of proto-tantra or esoteric Buddhism. More research needs to be done on such texts as the Dhāraṇī Collec- tion (Tuoluoni ji jing 陀羅尼集經, T. 901; Ōmura 1918, 2:212–255; Strickmann 1996, 73–87). While it provides an early Indian approach to forms of Avalokiteśvara, the work is only found in Chinese. Furthermore, the cult of Avalokiteśvara as it developed in China does not mirror the texts and is not at all clear in its development. Calling upon Avalokiteśvara, intoning or chanting his name, became one of the most powerful and widespread dhāraṇīs in medieval Sin- itic Buddhism. Avalokiteśvara, in the bodhisattva’s various forms, was propitiated and invoked for protection, wish-fulfillment, and abso- lution of sins in non-esoteric and nontantric Buddhism rituals long before putatively “orthodox” tantric Buddhism entered China dur- ing the eighth century (Fayuan zhulin 60, T. 2122.53:736c10–737c10; Rhi 1982; Kamata 1986; McBride 2005; Shioiri 2007). Regardless, the worship of Avalokiteśvara began to accelerate and blossom dur- ing the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, probably because these forms were linked to increasingly popular dhāraṇī ritual procedures that invoked the bodhisattva for protection and blessings (Stein 1986; von Glahn 2004, 130–179; McBride 2008, 62–85). The most relevant studies in Western languages on the individual cults of so-called esoteric forms of Avalokiteśvara include significant research on the horse-headed Hayagrīva (Matou 馬頭; van Gulik 1935, Strickmann .