The Making of a Savior Bodhisattva: Dizang in Medieval China (Kuroda Studies in East Asian Buddhism, 21)

In modern Chinese Buddhism, Dizang is especially popular as the sovereign of the underworld. Often represented as a monk wearing a royal crown, Dizang helps the deceased faithful navigate the complex underworld bureaucracy, avert the punitive terrors of hell, and arrive at the happy realm of rebirth. The author is concerned with the formative period of this important Buddhist deity, before his underworldly aspect eclipses his connections to other religious expressions and at a time when the art, mythology, practices, and texts of his cult were still replete with possibilities. She begins by problematizing the reigning model of Dizang, one that proposes an evolution of gradual sinicization and increasing vulgarization of a relatively unknown Indian bodhisattva, Ksitigarbha, into a Chinese deity of the underworld. Such a model, the author argues, obscures the many-faceted personality and iconography of Dizang. Rejecting it, she deploys a broad array of materials (art, epigraphy, ritual texts, scripture, and narrative literature) to recomplexify Dizang and restore (as much as possible from the fragmented historical sources) what this figure meant to Chinese Buddhists from the sixth to tenth centuries. Rather than privilege any one genre of evidence, the author treats both material artifacts and literary works, canonical and noncanonical sources. Adopting an archaeological approach, she excavates motifs from and finds resonances across disparate genres to paint a vibrant, detailed picture of the medieval Dizang cult. Through her analysis, the cult, far from being an isolated phenomenon, is revealed as integrally woven into the entire fabric of Chinese Buddhism, functioning as a kaleidoscopic lens encompassing a multivalent religio-cultural assimilation that resists the usual bifurcation of doctrine and practice or "elite" and "popular" religion. The Making of a Savior Bodhisattva presents a fascinating wealth of material on the personality, iconography, and lore associated with the medieval Dizang. It elucidates the complex cultural, religious, and social forces shaping the florescence of this savior cult in Tang China while simultaneously addressing several broader theoretical issues that have preoccupied the field. Zhiru not only questions the use of sinicization as a lens through which to view Chinese Buddhist history, she also brings both canonical and noncanonical literature into dialogue with a body of archaeological remains that has been ignored in the study of East Asian Buddhism Contents ......Page 8 Figures......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 12 Abbreviations......Page 14 Introduction: Problems and Perspectives......Page 16 Part 1: Early Images: The Bodhisattva of This Defiled World......Page 42 The Scripture on the Ten Wheels......Page 44 The Section on the Sumeru Treasury......Page 51 The Intellectual and Socio-Political Climate......Page 56 2. Cultic Beginnings Reconsidered......Page 65 Buddhist Records of Dizang Worship......Page 67 The Sanjit Jiao Connection......Page 70 The Work of the Translator and Exegete Sinbang......Page 76 Icons of Dizng and the Six Paths in Shaanxi Art......Page 83 Rethinking the Early Dissemination of Dizang Worship......Page 90 Part 2: Multiple Images: This World, Hell, and Pure Land......Page 94 3. Indigenous and Accretionary Scriptures......Page 96 The Scripture on Divination: From Karmic Divination to Philosophical Mediation......Page 99 The Exorcism Method: A Buddho-Daoist Formula for Demonology......Page 104 A Ritual Manual on the Bodhisattva Dizang: Dizang in Esoteric Rites......Page 112 The Scripture on the Bodhisattva Dizang: From Hell to Pure Land......Page 116 The Scripture on the Past Vows: A Canonization of Filial Piety and Afterlife Practices......Page 122 New Scriptures, New Images of Dizang......Page 130 4. Art and Epigraphy......Page 133 A Princely Householder or Monk Bodhisattva?......Page 135 Dizang and Guanyin as Saviors of This World......Page 140 From Amitabha Triads to Rebirth in the Pure Land......Page 150 Glimpses of a Bhaisajyaguru Connection?......Page 157 A Ray of Light in the Ten Kings' Dark Courts......Page 165 Guiding the Way in the Afterlife: The Bodhisattva Yinlu......Page 173 Images of Dizang in Esoteric Buddhist Practices......Page 175 Forgotten Images in Religious Artifacts......Page 180 5. Narative Literature......Page 182 The Earliest Dizang Miracle Tale......Page 184 Non-Buddhist Records......Page 187 A Buddhist Compilation of Dizang Miracle Tales......Page 192 The Canonization of a Buddhist Cult......Page 209 Conclusion......Page 212 Appendix 1: The Scripture on the Ten Wheels: Reevaluating the Traditional Dating......Page 240 Appendix 2: Antecedents of Dizang? Ksitigarbha in India and Central Asia......Page 244 The Exocism Method of Dizang's Aspiration Toward Great Awakening......Page 256 A Ritual Manual on the Bodhisattva Dizang......Page 268 Scripture on th Bodhisattva Dizang......Page 273 Works Cited......Page 274 Index......Page 310 "In modern Chinese Buddhism, Dizang is especially popular as the sovereign of the underworld. Often represented as a monk wearing a royal crown, Dizang helps the deceased faithful navigate the complex underworld bureaucracy, avert the punitive terrors of hell, and arrive at the happy realm of rebirth. The author is concerned with the formative period of this important Buddhist deity, before his underworldly aspect eclipses his connections to other religious expressions and at a time when the art, mythology, practices, and texts of his cult were still replete with possibilities. She begins by problematizing the reigning model of Dizang, one that proposes an evolution of gradual sinicization and increasing vulgarization of a relatively unknown Indian bodhisattva, Ksitigarbha, into a Chinese deity of the underworld. Such a model, the author argues, obscures the many-faceted personality and iconography of Dizang. Rejecting it, she deploys a broad array of materials (art, epigraphy, ritual texts, scripture, and narrative literature) to recomplexity Dizang and restore (as much as possible from the fragmented historical sources) what this figure meant to Chinese Buddhists from the sixth to tenth centuries."--BOOK JACKET. In modern Chinese Buddhism, Dizang is especially popular as the sovereign of the underworld. This book examines this important Buddhist deity during his formative period - before he settled into his modern role as beneficent ruler of the underworld, when his iconography and hagiography were still rife with possibilities.