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Chinese Buddhism of the eighth through tenth centuries was marked by internal debates over the orthodox interpretation of buddha nature theory—and the concomitant development of advanced ritual methods for attaining the buddha-mind, or mind-ground as it was also known. By the mid eighth century, the methods used to access and transmit the mind-ground, like the mind-ground itself, were being framed in increasingly esoteric terms. This talk traces the formation of a number of late-medieval Chinese Buddhist initiation lineages to these esoteric developments. Drawing primarily on excavated manuscript sources dating to the ninth and tenth centuries, it shows how the bodhisattva precepts conferral ceremony, the rite of dharma transmission, and tantric consecration were being combined to create competing Chinese Buddhist lineages of esoteric initiation in a variety of regional and institutional settings.

Amanda Goodman is Assistant Professor in the Department for the Study of Religion and the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Toronto. She specializes in the history of medieval Chinese Buddhism, particularly the transmission and transformation of tantric Buddhism in China during the formative Tang-Song transition period. She is currently preparing a book-length study titled "The Vajra Peak Scripture: A Chinese Buddhist Book of Esoteric Initiation and Empowerment Rites from Late Medieval Dunhuang" that reflects on regional and trans-regional esoteric Buddhist ritual developments during China’s middle period.