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Spells, Images, and Mandalas - Tracing the Evolution of Esoteric Buddhist Rituals (Hardcover)
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Spells, Images, and Mandalas - Tracing the Evolution of Esoteric Buddhist Rituals (Hardcover)
Series: The Sheng Yen Series in Chinese Buddhist Studies
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Koichi Shinohara traces the evolution of Esoteric Buddhist rituals
from the simple recitation of spells in the fifth century to
complex systems involving image worship, mandala initiation, and
visualization practices in the ninth century. He presents an
important new reading of a seventh-century Chinese text called the
Collected Dharani Sutras, which shows how earlier rituals for
specific deities were synthesized into a general Esoteric
initiation ceremony and how, for the first time, the notion of an
Esoteric Buddhist pantheon emerged. In the Collected Dharani
Sutras, rituals for specific deities were typically performed
around images of the deities, yet Esoteric Buddhist rituals in
earlier sources involved the recitation of spells rather than the
use of images. The first part of this study explores how such
simpler rituals came to be associated with the images of specific
deities and ultimately gave rise to the general Esoteric initiation
ceremony described in the crucial example of the All-Gathering
mandala ritual in the Collected Dharani Sutras.The visualization
practices so important to later Esoteric Buddhist rituals were
absent from this ceremony, and their introduction would
fundamentally change Esoteric Buddhist practice. This study
examines the translations of dharani sutras made by Bodhiruci in
the early eighth century and later Esoteric texts, such as Yixing's
commentary on the Mahavairocana sutra and Amoghavajra's ritual
manuals, to show how incorporation of image worship greatly
enriched Esoteric rituals and helped develop elaborate
iconographies for the deities. Yet over time, the ritual function
of images became less certain, and the emphasis shifted further
toward visualization. This study clarifies the complex relationship
between images and ritual, changing how we perceive Esoteric
Buddhist art as well as ritual.
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