Studies in Chinese Religions
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The Mañjuśrī cult in Khotan
Imre Hamar
To cite this article: Imre Hamar (2019) The Mañjuśrī cult in Khotan, Studies in Chinese Religions,
5:3-4, 343-352, DOI: 10.1080/23729988.2019.1686871
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/23729988.2019.1686871
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STUDIES IN CHINESE RELIGIONS
2019, VOL. 5, NOS. 3–4, 343–352
https://doi.org/10.1080/23729988.2019.1686871
ARTICLE
The Mañjuśrī cult in Khotan
Imre Hamar
ELTE-SZTE-MTA Silk Road Research Group, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
ABSTRACT
KEYWORDS
The so-called new representation of Mañjuśrī that is found in
Dunhuang and became quite popular in Wutaishan region and
East Asian Buddhism includes a foreign looking person who
became identified as the Khotanese king. This representation
shows the close association of Khotan with Mañjuśrī and the Cult
of Mañjuśrī on Wutaishan. The possible Khotanese compilation of
the Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra, which is the main proof text for
Mañjuśrī’s presence on Wutaishan and the Khotanese pilgrims to
Wutaishan recorded by Dunhuang manuscripts also seem to substantiate the claim that Khotan was very important in terms of
Mañjuśrī cult, and could have an important role in identifying
Wutaishan as the abode of Mañjuśrī. In this article I will show
these and other proofs in Khotanese literature for the importance
of Mañjuśrī in Khotanese Buddhism.
Wutai; Khotan; Mañjuśrī;
Dunhuang;
Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra
The Silk Road is primarily regarded as the principal route along which precious Chinese
goods were transported to the West. However, foreign ideas also came to China along the
Silk Road, and the arrival of these alien concepts changed the philosophical and religious
orientation of this great empire. The greatest challenge, undoubtedly, was the appearance
of Buddhism within the boundaries of China in the first century CE. The arrival of this
new religion in China started a long process of mutual adaptation of Buddhist and
Chinese cultures. It has been emphasized with relation of Buddhism, that this Indian
religion took a different shape from its original one. This aspect of the adaptation, which
is usually called Sinification, resulted in the formation of special Chinese schools of
Buddhism (Huayan, Tiantai, Chan, Pure Land) that later spread in East Asia. However,
the other side of the influence, the influence of Buddhism on Chinese culture, was also
very significant. Buddhist concepts and religious practices that had previously been
unknown became deeply rooted in Chinese soil, and exercised an enormous influence
on the development of Chinese thought and society.
Discussions on the introduction of Buddhism into China focus on the difficult process
of adapting several new concepts (karma, rebirth, etc.) of Indian Buddhism and the
translation of Indian Buddhist scriptures. However, we should bear in mind that in the
early period most of the translators of Buddhist texts came from Central Asia. The Silk
Road in that region served as a bridge between India and China, making it possible for
China to interact with this foreign religion and thought. The original language of
CONTACT Imre Hamar
hamar.imre@elte.btk.hu
Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.
344
I. HAMAR
Buddhist scriptures could be used for religious purposes in Central Asia because the
language of the people inhabiting the region was closely related to it.1 Yet these cultures
must have adopted and interpreted the original teachings of Buddhism, or simply –
whether intentionally or not – must have had a certain predilection for some of the
teachings of Buddhism. In terms of the transmission of Indian Buddhism by Central
Asian monks, the background of the monks themselves should also be taken into
consideration while reconstructing the process of the spread of Buddhism into China.
Chinese Buddhism is a special and unique form that cannot be understood only by
reference to the earlier development of the religion in India. To understand the innovations of Chinese Buddhism in the field of Buddhist doctrine it is necessary to study the
indigenous Chinese thought and religions that predated the arrival of Buddhism. In
terms of the development of Chinese Buddhism these two aspects are usually emphasised, but the third aspect, the role of the Central Asian scholar monks who acted
transmitters, is often neglected.
It is well-known that most of the Mahāyāna sūtras, such as the Avataṃsaka-sūtra,
Lotus sūtra, Vimalakīrti sūtra, etc., were very influential in East Asian Buddhism, but less
important in the history of Indian Buddhism.2 What is the reason for this? Should we
seek the explanation for the popularity of these scriptures in the Chinese predilection for
certain questions that these works address, or rather in the deliberate propagation of
these sūtras by the monks who took them from their homeland and translated them into
Chinese with the help of Chinese assistants. In order to answer this question, the
characteristic features of Central Asian Buddhism and the interaction between Central
Asian and Chinese Buddhism should be studied. In reconstructing the history and
doctrines of Central Asian Buddhism we can rely on the scriptures that were translated
into Central Asian languages, the Buddhist works that were originally composed in these
languages, the various images that have been preserved on the walls of caves or as
paintings, and finally on the activities of the Central Asian monks in China, which are
well documented in the Buddhist histories.
In my ‘Khotan and Wutaishan’ I investigated the importance of Khotan, the oasisstate on the southern route of the Silk Road in terms of spreading the teachings of
Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra to China. As I showed, although it cannot be proved that the
sūtra was compiled in Khotan, even if some chapters existed and were circulated as
independent scriptures in India, the Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra played an important role in
Khotanese Buddhism. We might even suspect that it was in Khotan that Mañjuśrī’s name
was interpolated in the text as the ruling bodhisattva of the mountain Clear-and-Cool
(Qingliang 清涼) in the north-eastern direction, in order to attract the attention of the
Chinese audience. This passage was often cited later as scriptural evidence for Mañjuśrī’s
cult on Wutaishan. The discovery of a new iconographic representation of Mañjuśrī in
1975, in a wall painting in cave 220 of Dunhuang, was an interesting development in the
study of Mañjuśrī’s cult. In the painting Mañjuśrī is flanked by a young boy and
a bearded Central Asian man who is actually leading the bodhisattva’s lion. This man
is identified as a Khotanese king, probably Li Shengtian 李聖天 (912–966), who married
the daughter of Cao Yijin 曹議金 (?-935), the ruler of Dunhuang.3 This is attested by the
Guang Qingliang zhuan 廣清涼傳, which tells a story about the manifestation of
Mañjuśrī as a pregnant woman who goes to a Buddhist feast with her two children and
a dog. She asks for too much food for herself and her company and in the end, she is
STUDIES IN CHINESE RELIGIONS
345
scolded and chased away by a monk. When Mañjuśrī resumes his bodhisattva appearance
it turns out that the dog was his lion while the children were Sudhana and the Khotanese
king.4 This new representation of Mañjuśrī along with the Wutaishan mountain is found
together with a painting of Samantabhadra on the Niutou shan in cave 32 of Yulin 榆林.
In my previous paper I argued that the new representation of Mañjuśrī and the identification of Niutoushan 牛頭山 as Samantabhadra’s abode might reflect some Khotanese
Buddhist ideas, as these paintings were probably commissioned by the Khotanese royal
court. The Niutoshan located at Khotan has been believed to be a sacred place of
Buddhism, since Buddha is said to have preached the doctrine on the mountain. It is
listed as one of the abodes of bodhisattvas in the Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra, although the
80-fascicle version of the sūtra locates it at the state of Shule 疏勒國, which is situated at
near Kashgar, and is one of the 36 countries in the Western Region in Chinese historiography. In addition, this abode is not related to Samantabhadra, thus this idea must
have been of Khotanese origin.
The inclusion of a Khotanese king in the Mañjuśrī iconography, and this new
representation along with Samantabhadra, show that Khotan must have been an important place in the development of the Mañjuśrī cult. Although the Khotanese Buddhist
culture was destroyed 1,000 years ago, and has long been buried beneath the sands,
thanks to archaeological discoveries and the study of Tibetan and Chinese sources we are
able to reconstruct some of the main features of Khotanese Buddhism. In this paper
I attempt to find some clues for the existence of the Mañjuśrī cult in Khotan and to show
what contribution it might have made to the development of the Mañjuśrī cult in East
Asia.
It would seem sensible to look at the archaeological discoveries Auriel Stein made
during his expeditions, as he found many images of different buddhas and bodhisattvas.
However, the result is surprising – while there are images of Cosmic Vairocana, Maitreya,
Avalokiteśvara, Ksitigarbha, Vaiśravaṇa, Sañjaya, Maheśvara, Gaṇeśa, Silk legend, and
_
the rider with bowl and bird from the Sudhana jātaka, there are no images of Mañjuśrī.5
The Khotanese collection in the Hermitage also includes only images of Maireya and
Avalokiteśvara.6 It is important to note that the Cosmic Vairocana is the most common
iconographic type in Khotanese art.7 This seems to substantiate the claim that
Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra was highly appreciated in Khotan, as this scripture is the main
source for the veneration of Cosmic Vairocana. The frequent occurrence of Cosmic
Vairocana also underlines the royal support of Buddhism in Khotan. The Cosmic
Vairocana served as a symbol for the universal legitimisation of royal power, and this
model had a great impact on East Asian Buddhism since the Huayan/Kegon school was
often closely associated with the imperial courts in China and Japan. The royal family’s
active participation in religious rituals is depicted by Faxian when he describes the
procession of the Buddha.
When [the car] was a hundred paces from the gate, the king took off his crown of state,
changed his dress for fresh garments, and with bare feet carrying in his hands flowers and
incense, and with two rows of attending followers, went out at the gate to meet the image;
and with his head and face [bowed to the ground], he did homage at its feet, and then
scattered the flowers and burnt the incense. When the image was entering the gate, the
queen and brilliant ladies with her in the gallery above scattered far and wide all kinds of
flowers, which floated about and fell promiscuously to the ground. In this way everything
346
I. HAMAR
was done to promote the dignity of the occasion. The carriages of the monasteries were all
different, and each one had its own day for the procession. [The ceremony] began on the
first day of the fourth month, and ended on the fourteenth, after which the king and queen
returned to the palace. 去門百步° 王脫天冠易著新衣° 徒跣持花香翼從出城° 迎像頭面禮
足散花燒香° 像入城時° 門樓上夫人婇女遙散眾花紛紛而下° 如是莊嚴供具車車各異°
一僧伽藍則一日行像° 自月一日° 為始至十四日行像乃訖° 行像訖王及夫人乃還宮耳° 8
The king’s generosity is further emphasized when the breath-taking wealth of a great
monastery is described:
Seven or eight li to the west of the city there is what is called the King’s New Monastery, the
building of which took eighty years, and extended over three reigns. It may be 250 cubits in
height, rich in elegant carving and inlaid work, covered above with gold and silver, and it is
finished throughout with a combination of all the precious substances. Behind the tope there
has been built a Hall of Buddha, of the utmost magnificence and beauty, the beams, pillars,
shuttered doors, and windows being all overlaid with gold leaf. Besides this, the apartments
for the monks are imposingly and elegantly decorated, beyond the power of words to
express. Of whatever things of highest value and preciousness the kings in the six countries
on the east of the [Ts’ung] range of mountains are possessed, they contribute the greater
portion [to the monastery], using but a small portion of them themselves. 其城西七八里有
僧伽藍° 名王新寺° 作來八十年經三王方成° 可高二十五丈° 雕文刻鏤金銀覆上眾寶合
成° 塔後作佛堂莊嚴妙好° 梁柱戶扇窓牖皆以金薄° 別作僧房亦嚴麗整飾° 非言可盡° 嶺
東六國諸王所有上價寶物多作供養° 人用者少° 9
Faxian paints an idealised picture of the status of the Buddhist faith: the royal family bows
before the image of Buddha and offers the most precious valuables to the monasteries,
which seem to resemble baroque edifices covered with gold and silver. The reader has the
impression that the sangha enjoys full autonomy from the secular authorities. However,
we have to bear in mind that it was precisely in Faxian’s time that there were fierce
disputes about the autonomy of the sangha in China. The first dispute occurred in 340,
when Yu Bing 庾氷 (296–344) and Yu Yi 庾翼 (died 345) seized political power. The
question of whether the monk should bow before the ruler came to the fore, but He
Chong 何充 (292–346), a great supporter of Buddhism, was able to defend Buddhists and
struck back at Yu Bing.10 The next conflict arose in 403/404 after Huan Xuan’s 桓玄
(369–404) coup d’état, for the same reason, and once again the Buddhist community was
able to win the battle.11 On the occasion of this controversy Huiyuan 慧遠 (334–416), the
eminent monk of the early period, wrote his essay The śramaṇa does not bow before the
king (Shamen bu jing wangzhe lun 沙門不敬王者論), which argues that the autonomy of
the sangha should be guaranteed and the ruler should support monks’ activities as they
have a mission for the benefit of all mankind.12 Faxian left China in 399, and returned to
China in 413, a few years after the second debate.13 It is highly likely that his description
of the very favourable status of the sangha in Khotan was meant to substantiate the claims
to autonomy made by the Chinese sangha and to encourage the ruler to support
monasteries. In this case his reports of such lavish support for the Buddhist community
seem to be exaggerated. Nonetheless, Xuanzang also reports the existence of about 100
monasteries with about 5,000 monks, who all followed the Mahāyāna.
Despite the lack of iconographic evidence for the existence of the Mañjuśrī cult in
Khotan, we cannot rule out its possibility. First of all, due to the paucity of the objects that
have survived we cannot be sure that images of Mañjuśrī never existed. Secondly, we have
literary sources that confirm the importance of Mañjuśrī in Khotanese Buddhism.
STUDIES IN CHINESE RELIGIONS
347
To reconstruct the history of Khotan, scholars can rely on Chinese sources that
record the history of the 36 countries of the western regions, especially in the periods
when China exerted influence over this area. The Tibetan sources are much more
legend-like and the rulers’ names are difficult to match in the Tibetan and Chinese
sources. One of the important Tibetan documents, The Prophecy of Khotan (Li yul
lung bstan pa) records the legend that Buddha used to come to Khotan, which was
a great lake at that time.14 Sitting on a lotus in the lake Buddha prophesied that there
would be a country in the place of the lake. Buddha stayed on Niutoushan for seven
days. His disciples Śāriputra and Vaiśravaṇa made the water disappear, and Buddha
asked eight bodhisattvas, Mañjuśrī, Avalokiteśvara, Maitreya, Samantabhadra,
Ākāśagarbha, Ksitigarbha, Mahāsthāma and Bhaisajyarāja, to protect this land.15
_
_
Here we find Mañjuśrī as one of the eight bodhisattvas who were asked to protect
Khotan. This book also records that it was Mañjuśrī who assumed the form of Vairocana
and taught the Li language to the Khotanese people.
As for the common language of Li, originally the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī assumed the form of
a disciple’s monk, and under the name of Vairocana introduced the Li language in the
district called Tsar-ma to children such as the cattleherd-boys ‘Jos and Mu-le-‘ji.16
li’i ‘phral-skad ni thog-ma byang-chub sems-dpa’ ‘jam-dpal nyan-thos-kyi dge-slong-gi
tshul-du sprul-te/mtshan bairotsana zhes bgyis-pa phyugs-rdzi khye’u ‘jos dang/mu-le-‘ji
zhes bgyi-ba gnyis-la sogs-pa-la yul tsar-ma zhes bgyi-bar li skad phyung-ste/17
It is well-known that the Dalai Lama is regarded as the incarnation of Avalokiteśvara,
which is a unique feature of Tibetan Buddhism. The Blue Annals recorded that the first
king of Tibet who introduced Buddhism, Srong-btsan Sgam-po (605–649), was considered
as Avalokiteśvara, and the fifth Dalai Lama (1617–1682) claimed that he too was the
manifestation of Avalokiteśvara, in order to reinforce his authority.18 It is interesting to
note that some of the Khotanese kings were also identified as manifestations of
Avalokiteśvara. The Khotanese language belongs to the Iranian family and the
Khotanese must have had some connections with the Iranians, thus it seems natural that
Khotanese kings were related to Avalokiteśvara as he is closely associated with the Iranian
sun god, Mithra.19 The importance of Mañjuśrī in Khotan is attested by the fact that King
Vijaya Kīrti was assisted by the manifestation of Mañjuśrī, an arhat called Spyi-pri.20
Afterwards King Vijaya Kīrti, for whom a manifestation of the Ārya Mañjuśrī, the Arhat
called Spyi-pri who was propagating the religion [dharma] in Kam-sheng was acting as
pious friend, built the vihāra of Sru-nyo because he was inspired with faith.
de-nas de’i ‘og-tu rgyal-po bijaya kīrtis ‘phags-pa ‘jam-dpal-gyi sprul-pa kam-seng-du chos
spel-ba’i dgra-bcom-pa spyi-pri zhes bgyi-bas dge-ba’i bshes – gnyen bgyis-nas dad-pa skespa’i slad-du sru-nyo’i gtsug-lag-khang brtsigs-te/
With regard to the Mañjuśrī cult we also can survey those texts that have survived in
Khotanese translation. The Mañjuśrīnairātmyāvatāra-sūtra (Sūtra for Mañjuśrī on the
realisation of [the doctrine of] selflessness) is a late original Khotanese composition in
verse that consists 445 manuscript lines. The colophon states that it was copied by
Devendraśūrasiṃha during the reign of the Khotanese king Vīśa’ Śura (967–78). This
scripture, which draws on many earlier Khotanese sources, elaborates on the Buddhist
teaching of the non-existence of inherent self.21
348
I. HAMAR
The scripture includes a short introduction to the four infinitudes (apamāṇa): love
(maitrī/maitrā), compassion (karuṇā), joy (muditā) and equanimity (upekśā). It says that
all beings by their inherent nature should be known as non-being, and these four
infinitudes should be practiced accordingly.22 Based on the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-sūtra,
the sūtra gives similes for non-existence, like things conjured by a magician, the moon
reflected in water, an arhat with kleśa, birds’ footprints in space, the horns of a hare, etc.
In the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-sūtra Mañjuśrī poses the questions of how living beings should
be seen and how the four infinitudes should be practiced, and Vimalakīrti answers these
questions.23
The scripture has a quite unique description of the three defilements (kleśa), attachment (rāga), aversion (dvesa) and delusion (moha) as the three kings of Rāksasas, the
_
_
three doctrinal monsters. Emmerick briefly summarises the text as follows:
The first king is Moha, fierce and dark, with ten heads and twenty eyes. His ten mouths
devour beings. He has neck, belly, eight arms and eight hands, and two feet. He has
garments, equipment, and 20,000 followers. The second king is Rāga. He has head, ears,
eyes, and feet, clothing and equipment, and likewise 20,000 followers. The third king is
Dvesa. He has head eyes, mouth hands, feet, belly, equipment, and clothing. Harsh words
_
come out of his mouth continually just as a flame of fire comes out. He has 20,000 followers.
One of the three remains awake while the others sleep. All three are full of poison.24
If we read the text, we see that the physical appearance of the three monsters symbolises
various erroneous views or bad deeds according to Buddhist doctrines. The belief in
annihilation and permanence, for example, are the two feet of the King Folly.
‘Folly’ by name is first, chief of all, a great king. He is very fierce [and] dark as when one goes
at night to count [the leaves in the forest]. With the ten falsehoods his heads are large, very
terrifying. Monstrous are his twenty eyes equipped with the [twenty] false beliefs in
personality. He has next ten mouths, all with the ten sins. He devours many masses of
beings. In his neck they go among the gatis. In the snake-dwelling which is his belly are his
sixteen attendant groups in order, where they experience many harsh woes. Evil-doing are
also his eight arms [and] hands, endowed with the eight akśaṇas. [Belief in] annihilation and
permanence [are his two] feet, by which he goes everywhere here. Evil teaching is so much as
his garments. His equipment is all due to the [four deceptions]. His numerous great
attendant group is twenty thousand, all similar, following.25
This text must be classified as a visualisation scripture as it gives a very imaginative
description of the personification of the three defilements.26 Emmerick even suspects that
a painting of these three monsters must exist.
These kings are vividly described as doctrinal monsters. They and their settings are in fact so
vividly and precisely described that it is difficult to believe that the description was not
inspired by or did not inspire a painting. Yet despite an extensive search no such painting
has come to my knowledge. Nevertheless, somewhere among the treasures of Central Asia
there is likely to be a painting depicting a group of three monster kings with their numerous
attendants.27
Another scripture, the Samantamukhaparivarta that is cited in the original Khotanese
composition, Book of Zambasta, can be regarded as a meditation text.28 Two Chinese
versions of this sūtra have survived: the Foshuo pumen pin jing 佛説普門品經 (T no.
315), translated by Dharmaraksa in 287 CE, and the Wenshushili pumen hui 文殊師利普
_
門會 (T no 310.10), rendered by Bodhiruci (d. 527 CE) and contained in the Da baoji jing
STUDIES IN CHINESE RELIGIONS
349
大寶積經 (Skt. Mahāratnakūt a) collection. At the request of Mañjuśrī, Buddha shows
_
the non-existence of all mind-fabricated phenomena through meditation practice based
on visualisation. With one exception all the Sanskrit manuscripts were found near
Khotan, thus we might suspect that this collection was actually compiled in Khotan or
at least played an important role in Khotanese Buddhism.29
Another chapter of the Mahāratnakūta, the prediction of Mañjuśrī’s attainment of
_
Buddhahood (Wenshushili shouji hui 文殊師利授記會, T no. 315.15) was translated by
the Khotanese monk, Śiksānanda, who also translated the Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra in 80
_
fascicles. This scripture was also translated as an independent sūtra, first by Dharmaraksa
_
under the title of Wenshushili fotu yanjing jing 文殊師利佛土嚴淨經 (T no. 318) and
later by Amoghavajra as Dasheng Wenshushili pusa fosha gongde zhuangyan jing 大聖文
殊師利菩薩佛剎功德莊嚴經 (T no. 319).
In this sūtra the Buddha is asked by the Bodhisattva Lion of Thundering Voice about the
time when Mañjuśrī will attain supreme enlightenment. However, at first Buddha does not
answer but tells the bodhisattva to ask Mañjuśrī himself, who is also in the huge crowd
around the Buddha. Mañjuśrī’s answer is quite surprising as he says he does not even
progress toward enlightenment, so how could he attain it? He gives the following reason:
Because sentient beings are inapprehensible. If there were sentient beings, I would progress
toward enlightenment for their benefit. Since neither a sentient being, nor a life, nor
a personal identity exists, I do not progress toward enlightenment, nor do I regress from
it. 眾生不可得故° 若眾生是有可為利益趣向菩提° 而眾生壽命及福伽羅皆無所有° 是故
我今不趣菩提° 亦不退轉° 30
Mañjuśrī continues his dialogue in this manner, which closely resembles the teaching of
the non-existence of living being as we saw above in the Mañjuśrīnairātmyāvatāra-sūtra
and Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-sūtra. The Bodhisattva Lion of Thundering Voice is certainly
perplexed by Mañjuśrī’s answer, and finally asks him how long ago he engendered
bodhicitta. However, Mañjuśrī again gives a very sharp answer:
Stop! Good man, do not entertain any delusive thought! In regard to the Dharma, which
does not arise, if a person says, ‘I engender bodhicitta. I perform the deeds of enlightenment,’
he holds a very wrong view. Good man, I do not see any mind which is engendered to seek
enlightenment. Because I see neither mind nor enlightenment, I engender nothing. 止善男
子° 莫生妄念° 若有於無生法中° 說如是言° 我發菩提心° 我行菩提行° 為大邪見° 善男
子° 我都不見有心發向菩提° 以不見心及菩提故° 是故無發° 31
The Bodhisattva Lion of Thundering Voice seems to be dissatisfied with Mañjuśrī’s answer,
and once again asks the Buddha when Mañjuśrī engendered bodhicitta. Buddha finally tells
him that a long time ago Mañjuśrī was a universal monarch named Universal Enfolding,
who engendered the bodhicitta. In the next section Mañjuśrī goes on to explain emptiness
and equality, which mean that all phenomena come from nowhere and go nowhere. The
Bodhisattva Lion of Thundering Voice asks the name of Mañjuśrī’s Buddha-land, but
Mañjuśrī says enlightenment is unattainable, therefore he does not seek it, and cannot have
Buddha-land. However, Buddha says that Mañjuśrī’s name will be Universal Sight (Pujian
普見) when he becomes Buddha, and his Buddha-land situated in the southern direction
will be named Wish-Fulfilling Accumulation of Perfect Purity (suiyuan jiji qingjing yuanman 隨願積集清淨圓滿). The difference between the merit and magnificence of
Mañjuśrī’s and Amitābha’s Buddha lands is explained:
350
I. HAMAR
Suppose a person splits a hair into one hundred parts and, with one part, takes a droplet of
water from a vast ocean. If he compares the droplet of water to the magnificence of
Amitābha’s Buddha-land, and the remaining water of the vast ocean to the magnificence
of Universal Sight Tathāgata’s land, the contrast will still not suffice. Why? Because the
magnificence of Universal Sight Tathāgata’s land is inconceivable. 譬如有人析一毛為百分°
以一分毛於大海中取一滴水° 此一滴水喻阿彌陀佛剎莊嚴° 彼大海水喻普見如來佛剎
莊嚴° 復過於此° 何以故° 普見如來佛剎莊嚴不思議故° 32
This sūtra must have influenced the Mañjuśrī cult on Wutaishan as this last passage is
cited in the Guang Qingliang zhuan.33
The following passage about the meaning of the name of Universal Sight Tathāgata is
also cited in the Guang Qingliang zhuan.34
When Mañjuśrī becomes a Buddha, he will be named Universal Sight. Why? Because that
Tathāgata will make himself visible to all sentient beings in innumerable hundreds of
thousands of billions of myriads of Buddha-lands in the ten directions. The sentient beings
who see that Buddha will certainly attain supreme enlightenment. Although the [the future]
Universal Sight Tathāgata has not yet become a Buddha, all those who hear his name
mentioned, either when I still live in the world or after or after I enter parinirvāṇa, will
also attain supreme enlightenment. 此文殊師利成佛之時名為普見° 以何義故而名普見°
以彼如來於十方無量百千億那由他諸佛剎中普皆令見° 若諸眾生見彼佛者° 必定當得
阿耨多羅三藐三菩提° 普見如來雖未成佛° 若我現在及滅度後有聞其名° 亦皆必定當
得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提° 35
As we have seen, even if from the ninth century a new iconography of Mañjuśrī with
the Khotanese king appeared in Dunhuang, early archaeological sources do not support
the existence of the Mañjuśrī cult in Khotan in the early period. However, Mañjuśrī is
mentioned several times in the Prophecy of Khotan in relation to the protection of
Khotan, the writing of Khotan and the activity of Khotanese kings. The
Mañjuśrīnairātmyāvatāra-sūtra and the Mahāratnakūta are both important meditation
_
texts that must have been closely associated with Khotan. The chapter of the
Mahāratnakūta on the prediction of Mañjuśrī’s attainment of Buddhahood, which was
_
translated by the Khotanese monk Śikśānanda, had a direct influence on the Mañjuśrī
cult on Wutaishan, as attested by the Guang Qingliang zhuan.
Notes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Nattier, “Church Language.”
Nattier, A Few Good Men.
Ning, Art, Religion, and Politics in Medieval China, 77–81.
Guang Qingliang zhuan 廣清涼傳, T no. 2099, 51: 2.1109 b26–c12.
Williams, “The Iconography of Khotanese Painting.”
Elikhina, “Buddhist monuments from Khotan in the collection of the Hermitage.”
Williams, “The Iconography of Khotanese Painting,” 120.
Gaoseng Faxian zhuan 高僧法顯傳. T no. 51, 2085: 857, b20–25; Legge, Fâ-Hien, 19.
T no. 51, 2085: 857, b25–c2;trans. Legge, Fâ-Hien, 20.
Zürcher, Buddhist Conquest, 104–106.
Zürcher, Buddhist Conquest, 156–157.
Zürcher, Buddhist Conquest, 232–239.
Mayer, “Faxian,” 282–283.
For an English translation, see Emmerick, Tibetan Texts Concerning Khotan, 1–77.
Emmerick, Tibetan Texts Concerning Khotan, 3–13.
STUDIES IN CHINESE RELIGIONS
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
351
Emmerick, Tibetan Texts Concerning Khotan, 21.
Emmerick, Tibetan Texts Concerning Khotan, 20.
Walter, “Kingship and Buddhism in Central Asia,” 124.
Walter, “Kingship and Buddhism in Central Asia,” 125.
Hill, “Notes on dating of Khotanese history.”
Maggi, “Khotanese literature,” 357.
Degener, “The Four Infinitudes (apramāṇas) in Khotanese.”
Luk, Ordinary Enlightenment, 70–72.
Emmerick, “Three Monsters in Khotan,” 68.
Emmerick, “Three Monsters in Khotan,” 69.
Martini, “Mahāmaitrī in a Mahāyāna Sūtra in Khotanese,” 127.
Emmerick, “Three Monsters in Khotan,” 66.
Dhammadinnā, “‘Mahāratnakūta’ Scriptures in Khotan.”
_
Martini, “A Large Question in a Small Place,” 138.
T no. 11, 310: 344, b24–26; Chang (trans.), A Treasury of Mahāyāna Sūtras, 170.
T no. 11, 310: 345, a20–23; Chang (trans.), A Treasury of Mahāyāna Sūtras, 172.
T no. 11, no. 310: 348, b14–18; Chang (trans.), A Treasury of Mahāyāna Sūtras, 182–183.
T no. 51, 2099: 1101, c22–26.
T no. 51, 2099: 1101, c10–14.
T no. 11, 310: 347, b27–c3; Chang (trans.), A Treasury of Mahāyāna Sūtras, 180.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
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