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.

This volume brings together thirteen essays by leading scholars of Chinese and Indian civilisation from Europe, North America and Asia. The essays cover a wide range of covering a wide range of topics in Indian and Chinese culture and religion and offer fresh insights into the study of the Asian traditions,

A Forest of Pearls from the Dharma Garden (Fayuan zhulin, Taisho 2122) is a large anthology of excerpts from Buddhist canonical sources and historical records, arranged by theme. The collection offers a comprehensive and distinctive reading of the Buddhist canon, with a focus on practice. An extraordinarily rich account of Buddhist practices is offered, though the rationale for the choice of the one hundred topics around which the discussion is organized is not always clear. Volume II is the second of nine planned volumes in the translation of the work, of which the first three have been translated by Koichi Shinohara. Volume II includes Fascicles 8-12, Chapter 5.

A Forest of Pearls from the Dharma Garden (Fayuan zhulin, Taisho 2122) is a large anthology of excerpts from Buddhist canonical sources and historical records, arranged by theme. The collection offers a comprehensive and distinctive reading of the Buddhist canon, with a focus on practice. An extraordinarily rich account of Buddhist practices is offered, though the rationale for the choice of the one hundred topics around which the discussion is organized is not always clear. Volume I is the first of nine planned volumes in the translation of the work, of which the first three have been translated by Koichi Shinohara. Volume I includes Fascicles 1–7, Chapters 1–4.

A Forest of Pearls from the Dharma Garden (Fayuan zhulin, Taisho 2122) is a large anthology of excerpts from Buddhist canonical sources and historical records, arranged by theme. The collection offers a comprehensive and distinctive reading of the Buddhist canon, with a focus on practice. An extraordinarily rich account of Buddhist practices is offered, though the rationale for the choice of the one hundred topics around which the discussion is organized is not always clear. Volume III is the third of nine planned volumes in the translation of the work, of which the first three have been translated by Koichi Shinohara. Volume III includes Fascicles 13-20, Chapters 6-9.

The two essays in this volume explore how monks in medieval India and China wrote about themselves with their fellow monks. The author translates and discusses biographies and autobiographies of two Jain monks, who lives in the 11th and 14th century CE. The book tells us how a community of Chinese Buddhists viewed the life of the founder of their group, and how his biography reflected the changes that the community underwent. The essays are the result of a joint research project on religious biographies in Asia, carried out with assistance from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.