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This book presents a study of Chinese sources on Esoteric Buddhist ritual manuals, texts on the correct performance of ritual. The introduction named a number of such texts describing a variety of rituals, which I grouped into distinctive scenarios. These ritual manuals not only specify the actions to be performed but also gloss the rituals as part of the Buddha's own teachings, often tracing their supposed origins to buddhas in the distant past. They list the benefits to be expected from each ritual and tell how the efficacy of the performance is miraculously confirmed.In part I below I offer a more detailed investigation of the three basic ritual scenarios. The first chapter examines the first scenario of dhāraṇī recitation and vision and the introduction of the second scenario of image worship. The second chapter reconstructs the evolution of this second scenario around one particular deity. The third and fourth chapter investigate how the third scenario of maṇḍala initiation emerged.

Publisher

Columbia University Press

Published

2014

Language

EN