Chinese Esoteric Buddhism

Chinese Esoteric Buddhism refers to traditions of Tantra and Esoteric Buddhism that have flourished among the Chinese people. The Tantric masters Śubhakarasiṃha, Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra, established the Esoteric Buddhist Zhenyan (, "true word", "mantra") tradition from 716 to 720 during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. It employed mandalas, mantras, mudras, abhiṣekas, and deity yoga. The Zhenyan tradition was transported to Japan as Shingon Buddhism by Kūkai as well as influencing Korean Buddhism. The Song dynasty (960–1279) saw a second diffusion of Esoteric texts. Esoteric Buddhist practices continued to have an influence into the late imperial period and Tibetan Buddhism was also influential during the Yuan dynasty period and beyond. In the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) through to the modern period, esoteric practices and teachings became absorbed and merged with the other Chinese Buddhist traditions to a large extent. In Chinese these traditions are also termed Mìjiao (Chinese: 密教; Esoteric Teaching), Mìzōng (密宗; "Esoteric Tradition") or Tángmì (唐密; "Tang (Dynasty) Esoterica"). In China and countries with large Chinese populations such as Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore, Chinese Esoteric Buddhism is commonly referred to as Tángmì (唐密 – "Tang Dynasty Esoterica"), or Hànchuán Mìzōng (漢傳密宗 – "Han Chinese Transmission of the Esoteric Tradition"), sometimes abbreviated as Hànmì (漢密 – "Han Mysteries"). Its manifestation through subsequent Japanese transmission is sometimes referred as Dōngmì (東密) "Eastern Esotericism", meaning the succession of Tang Esoterica in Japan (east of China) transmitted by the Japanese monk Kūkai. During the Tang dynasty the actual term widely used to refer to these teachings by Tantric masters was "mantra teaching" (zhenyan jiao 真言教) and "path of mantras" (Zhenyan sheng 真言乘, Mantrayana). Chinese tantric masters like Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra also used the term Vajrayana (Jin'gangsheng 金剛乘). In a more general sense, the Chinese term Mìzōng (密宗) "Esoteric Tradition" and Mìjiào (密教, "Esoteric Teaching") are popular Chinese terms used when referring to any form of Esoteric Buddhism.