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The corridor-enclosed cloister characterized Buddhist monasteries during the Sui and Tang periods. This architectural form was first introduced by Emperor Liang Wudi from the palace and continued to prevail until the eleventh century, when a gradual transformation occurred, resulting in the corridor evolving into a long, narrow image hall. This paper examines the ritual and pictorial programs of the Sui-Tang Buddhist corridor to gain insight into this transformation and its ceremonial significance. Specifically, it explores how the corridor was empowered by the state-sponsored maigre feast as a place of worship and how the monastic community of a particular school appropriated the space to celebrate an unbroken dharma-transmission lineage from the Buddha to a specific group of Chinese patriarchs. Lastly, the paper aims to comprehend the adaptation of the corridor into an image hall, which was influenced by political and religious shifts in the eleventh century when Buddhist monasteries were no longer designated as the ritual arena for the state-sponsored maigre feast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The religious worldview of the mantranaya (esoteric Mahāyāna or Vajrayāna) can arguably be seen as rooted in the perspective that reality (tattva) is to be self-experienced (svasamvedya) through contemplative practices, serving as both their means (upāya) and expression (caryā). The tantric path-model of Padmavajra's Guhyasiddhi, an exegetical text in the Guhyasamāja tradition, supposedly enables individuals to rapidly realize reality, a state also referred to as mahāmudrā or other, within a single lifetime. This path-model describes a transformation leading to the revelation of ultimate realization leaving behind conventional means. These two levels correspond to two stages, the stage of arising (utpattikrama), serving as the foundation for the stage of the arisen (utpannakrama). While the first stage is like a supporting framework giving rise to the correct view, in the second stage, the practitioner cultivates the view that has arisen. The practices of the latter stage eventually become inseparable from the view itself, meaning they are practical expressions of the view exemplified in doctrines like unmattavrata and other forms of observances integral to the mahāmudrā doctrine. Thus, contemplative practices and the established worldview mutually inform each other in a reciprocal relationship. Simultaneously, this system of practice and view continues to influence and shape religious practices and rituals as they are transmitted, e.g., through teacher–disciple lineages (guruparaṃparā). In this paper, I will explore this relationship through the critical edition and annotated translation of Guhyasiddhi's first chapter by Padmavajra (ca. late 8th and early 9th century), in which a clear exposition of the relationship in question is presented. My analysis of it, thus connecting the work to more general Buddhist concepts, follows a two-level framework, that is, the well-known two-fold system of conventional/implicit (a) and definitive/explicit (b), which can be seen as equivalent to utpatti- (a) and utpannakrama (b). The efficiency of promoted practices accords with the practitioner's correct assessment of tattva which, following Padmavajra, is the basis for engagement in tantric practices per se. The first part provides the analysis, given in 1.1–1.5, of Padmavajra's system and is based on the second part, the annotated translation (2.1) and critical edition (2.2) of Padma-vajra's Guhyasiddhi chapter one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the utilization of the mantra of light and its associated maṇḍala practices by Wang Hongyuan 王弘願 (1876–1937), a Chinese Buddhist during the Republican Period, and his adherents, which has not yet been noticed by previous scholars. With the import of esoteric Buddhist doctrines and practices from Japan, the mantra of light, which was a rarely used mantra in pre-modern China, gained renewed significance. This led to the widespread adoption of the ritual practices of this mantra by Wang Hongyuan and his surrounding Buddhist groups in early modern China. The rituals of this mantra were used as a supplement or substitute for near-death Pure Land practices. This paper presents Pure Land Buddhist practices intertwined with esoteric Buddhist elements or "esoteric" approaches to Pure Land rebirth in modern Chinese Buddhism which have been overlooked by previous scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inscriptions of Buddhist mantras and dhāraṇīs were interred in Chinese tombs on behalf of the deceased from the Tang dynasty onward as the fear of postmortem judgment and punishment in the ten courts of hell became firmly rooted. This notion of the afterlife and the practice of enclosing dhāraṇī inscriptions in tombs seem to have been received by Korean Buddhists by the beginning of the Koryŏ (918–1392). This paper, through a close examination of a wooden inner coffin excavated in 2014 from a tomb in Nongso-myŏn, Ullim-ri, Sunch'ang-gun, North Chŏlla Province of Korea, sheds new light on the use of dhāraṇī on funerary objects and structures during the Koryŏ. The coffin bears, on its lacquered exterior walls, inscriptions of the Mantra of the Six-Syllable King of Great Clarities (Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ) and the Mantra for Shattering Hell (Oṃ karadeya svāhā). While defining the dhāraṇī coffin from Nongso Tomb as one form of funerary dhāraṇī, this paper situates it in the historical trajectory of such practice by comparing it with Liao (916–1125) precedents. The dhāraṇī coffins from Koryŏ and Liao tombs attest that the Buddhists made use of mantras and dhāraṇīs promising salvation of the deceased from hell during their lifetime and beyond. This study shows that two different kinds of dhāraṇīs, which are similarly named and believed to have the power of shattering hell, were practiced by Chinese and Korean Buddhists. It also proposes that the Mantra for Shattering Hell (Oṃ karadeya svāhā) may have been transmitted to the Korean peninsula as part of the food bestowal ritual before its incorporation into the funerary context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite numerous research findings related to medieval Chinese Buddhism, the witchcraft role of bird totems in Buddhist history has not received sufficient attention. In order to fill this gap, this paper analyzes how Buddhist monks in medieval China developed a close relationship with bird-totem worship. This relationship has been documented in Buddhist scriptures, rituals, oral traditions, biographies, and mural art. Although bird-totem worship was practiced in many regions of medieval China, this paper specifically examines the visual culture of bird totems in Tibetan and Chinese Buddhism. Furthermore, some details of this culture were recorded in Buddhist texts and images. According to these works, various bird-totem patterns and symbols are believed to be effective ritual arts used by Tibetan and Chinese Buddhist monks to influence nature and the supernatural through ritual and magic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several sites in East Asia have been identified as Potalaka, originally thought to be located near the southern seas of India. The basis of this phenomenon is built upon the nature of Avalokiteśvara as a mediator between sentient beings and buddhas, the nature of Potalaka as a boundary between their worlds, and Buddhist philosophy. The belief in the abode of Avalokiteśvara bodhisattva on Earth incorporates various places into a Buddhist world transcending borders. This paper examines Korean beliefs about Potalaka and Avalokiteśvara through legends about Naksan Temple, with special emphasis on their relationship with mountain and sea worship. At the same time, the study attempts to connect the beliefs with the philosophical background of Hwaŏm tradition, which is in close relation with this ritual site. The aim of this approach is to point out the unique and universal, as well as the local and translocal elements in Korean narratives about Potalaka. In other words, the paper searches for patterns that are to be found in the wider Buddhist world and characteristics that are created by the specific religious environment of Korean culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three Japanese Buddhist scriptural manuscripts related to the practice of calling back the soul are kept in Nanatsudera, Hōbodaiin in Toji, and Kōshōji, respectively. They show complex lineage connections that have been discussed little. This paper discusses the relations between the two sutras contained in the three manuscripts, traces their respective origins, and analyzes how Japanese authors transformed the apocryphal sutras into a liturgical text. Both the Nanatsudera and the Hōbodaiin manuscripts consist of the Sutra on Calling Back the Soul, while the Kōshōji manuscript comprises the Duxing Sutra. All of them were classified as Buddhist apocrypha written by Chinese authors. While the two sutras share similar text structures and the use of words, their contents reveal remarkable differences. The Sutra on Calling Back the Soul focuses mainly on how to release the souls of the dead and how to prevent fulian (reconnection with the dead), while the Duxing Sutra focuses on the healing of diseases and the alleviation of disasters through the restitution of the souls of the living. The Sutra on Calling Back the Soul has exerted a long-lasting effect in Japan where it was paraphrased into a liturgical text for the removal of disasters and the prolongation of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]