How to Grow a Buddha Body?—A Case Study of the “Bodhisattva Holding Up the True Body” (Peng zhenshen pusa 捧真身菩薩) Statue at the Famen Temple

Abstract

This paper is a case study of the Tang-dynasty Gilded Silver “Bodhisattva Holding up the True Body” (peng zhenshen pusa 捧真身菩薩) Statue (dated 871) excavated from the relic crypt of the Famen Temple pagoda in Fufeng 扶風 County, Shanxi 陝西. Commissioned to commemorate Emperor Yizong 懿宗’s 39th birthday, the statue was designed both to support the Buddha’s relic and to express a wish for the emperor’s longevity. Most strikingly, the Bodhisattva is seated on a three-layered pedestal richly adorned with esoteric Buddhist images and Siddhaṃ scripts. Departing from previous Buddhalogical approaches, this paper suggests that the Famen Temple statue did not serve to illustrate a specific maṇḍala, theological doctrine, or scripture. Instead, together with the five miniature garments interred underneath it, the statue draws upon esoteric ritual technology—particularly the Three Siddhi mantras—as well as cosmological, botanical, and embryological imagery to create a soteriological matrix of bodily transformation for the intended beneficiaries. By situating the object within the historical circumstances and religious practices of the late Tang imperial court, this study illuminates the statue’s conceptual design, symbolic significance, and intended function—namely, to address the patrons’ concerns with spiritual salvation and the renewal of life after death.

1. Introduction

On the fourteenth day of the eleventh month in 871, Emperor Yizong 懿宗 (833–873) of the Tang dynasty celebrated his 39th birthday. The emperor’s birthday this year marked an especially auspicious occasion, as the Buddha’s relic (Ch. sheli 舍利, S. śarīra) that vanished during the Huichang 會昌 persecution of Buddhism from 842 to 846 had miraculously been rediscovered three months earlier in the old tunnel of the Famen Temple (Famensi 法門寺) pagoda crypt.1 The Famensi śarīra held special prestige due to imperial patronage during the Tang and was periodically tansported to the imperial palace at Chang’an 長安 for worship in spectacular public processions.2 Thus, both to celebrate the emperor’s birthday and to prepare for the transportation of the relic, the Buddhist monk Chengyi 澄依 commissioned a sumptuous gilded silver Bodhisattva statue, designed to hold up the sacred relic (Figure 1).3 In an ironic twist of fate, the relic did not arrive at the imperial palace until two years later in 873 due to strong opposition from court officials—the then dying Yizong was said to have prostrated himself in tears in front of the śarīra.4 Despite the relic’s healing powers, the emperor soon died one month later.

This paper offers a systematic explanation of the iconographic program, religious significance, and function of the “Bodhisattva Holding up the True Body” (peng zhenshen pusa 捧真身菩薩) statue—a complex religious object that has mystified scholars since its excavation from the Famensi underground crypt in 1987. First, this paper carefully considers the Bodhisattva statue’s tripartite pedestal in connection to the Three Siddhi (sanzhong xidi 三種悉地) mantras, to illuminate how the pedestal visualizes both a macrocosmic world and a microcosmic body. The second part of the paper explains the mortuary undertone and religious meaning of the five miniature garments (Figure 2) found underneath the statue, which—despite their physical proximity—have largely been overlooked in previous studies. I suggest that the Bodhisattva statue and the miniature clothing form a coherent soteriological program that envisions the attainment of Buddhahood as a gestational cycle of conceiving, growing, and birthing a new body.5 Thus, drawing from esoteric Buddhist ritual technology—synthesized with Chinese wuxing 五行 (Five Phases) cosmology and Indic embryology—the statue functions not to illustrate any singular maṇḍala as previous scholars have suggested, but to address the pressing concerns of the imperial family members about life, death, and postmortem salvation.

2. The “Bodhisattva Holding up the True Body” (Peng zhenshen pusa 捧真身菩薩) Statue

The gilded silver statue in question features a Bodhisattva figure reverently kneeling on one knee and holding up a lotus-leaf petal to the level of his face. The Bodhisattva wears a high coiffure and a bejeweled diadem that bears the image of a seated, lotus-borne Buddha in the center; two flowing sashes hang from the sides of the crown and hover above the Bodhisattva’s shoulders, adding a sense of dynamism to the sculpture.6 The Bodhisattva’s upper body is covered with a one-shouldered monk’s robe (kāṣāya, Ch. jiasha 袈裟), and a ceremonial skirt painted entirely in gold drapes over the lower body, creating a pool of glistening cloth on the ground. Over the monastic ritual attire, the Bodhisattva wears an elaborate full-bodied necklace (yingluo 瓔珞) strewn with luminous pearls. Moreover, the figural statue is supported by a tripartite pedestal consisting of an inverted bowl-shaped bottom with eight lotus-leaf petals, a spherical middle joinery, and a lotus-flower crown that hugs a seedpod. The entire sculptural base is decorated with the images and bīja (Ch. zhongzi zi 種子字, seed mantra) of Buddhist deities. An exquisite piece of Tang metalwork, the Bodhisattva statue creates a bedazzling spectacle with its material resplendency and enchanting exoticism. Furthermore, the meticulous craftsmanship is displayed through the vivid treatment of figurative details, such as the slightly upturned petals of the lotus flower that envelop a circle of stamens on the statue’s base, the curled-up rim of the lotus-leaf, the veristic leaf veins, and the naturalistic drapery folds of the Bodhisattva’s skirt.

The lotus-leaf tray bears a golden dish, on which a piece of golden plaque with the inlaid design of a vajra (Ch. jingangchu 金剛杵, thunderbolt) and floral scrolls is fastened (Figure 3), likely intended to secure the relic. The dish bears an important inscription that illuminates the occasion for commissioning the statue:

奉為睿文英武明德至仁大聖廣孝皇帝，敬造捧真身菩薩，永為供養。伏願聖壽萬春，聖枝萬葉，八荒來服，四海無波。

鹹通十二年辛卯歲十一月十四日皇帝延慶日記

I [Chengyi] respectfully make the “Bodhisattva holding up the True Body” for the “Civilized Martial Bright Virtue Utmost Compassion Great Sage Filial Emperor” in perpetual veneration [to the śarira]. I hope that the emperor’s longevity lasts ten thousand springs, the imperial branches propagate ten thousand leaves, the barbarians from the eight corners come to show their obeisance, and in the four seas there is not a single wave.

—14th day of the 11th month, 871, on the emperor’s birthday7

The inscription highlights the dual function of the object: to hold the recovered Famensi relic and to commemorate the emperor Yizong’s birthday in hope of extending his longevity. Moreover, the inscription notably uses botanical and cosmological metaphors such as “the imperial branch sprouting ten thousand leaves,” “the four seas,” and “the eight corners” to convey prayers for the emperor’s health, the flourishing of the imperial line, and the prosperity of the realm. As this paper will proceed to demonstrate, these literary imageries in the inscription echo the visual design of the statue’s base.

The miniature Bodhisattva statue was securely deposited in two nesting silver-lined sandalwood containers, in the same fashion as reliquaries. Underneath the statue were five pieces of miniature clothing: all made from the same red fabric and embroidered with golden threads (cujinxiu 蹙金绣, gold couching embroidery).8 Curiously, the silver boxes that contain the statue and the garments were not placed in the rear chamber of the Famensi pagoda crypt, where most of the donations made and the Buddha’s relics were deposited in 874 before the crypt was sealed for the last time. Rather, the Bodhisattva statue was placed outside the door to the rear chamber, in the northern end of the middle chamber (Figure 4). The location of the statue points to it playing a slightly different role than the carefully curated assembly of objects in the rear chamber, suggesting how the object’s original functions were more intimately connected to the historical circumstances of 871.

2.1. Previous Scholarship

Although the occasion for commissioning the Bodhisattva statue is clear from the dedicatory inscription, the esoteric Buddhist images and Sanskrit Siddhaṃ (Ch. xitan 悉曇) scripts on the statue’s base have incited much scholarly debate surrounding the iconography and meaning of the object. While scholars generally agree that the lotus crown—the top part of the pedestal—constitutes a Vajradhātu (Diamond Realm) Maṇḍala, there is much debate surrounding what the eight bīja (Ch. zhongzi zi 種子字, seed mantra) on the lotus-leaf petals at the bottom represent (Figure 5). The first camp of the argument is represented by the leading Chinese Famensi scholars Wu Limin and Han Jinke, who proposes that the eight bīja are the Eight-Petaled Court (baye yuan 八葉院) in the center of the Garbhadhātu (Womb Realm) Maṇḍala (Wu and Han 1998, pp. 270–332). Following this identification, Wu and Han suggest that the statue’s pedestal is a fusion between the Garbhadhātu and the Vajradhātu Maṇḍala (jintai heman 金胎合曼), illustrating the non-duality between the two realms (ibid.).

Wu Limin and Han Jinke’s thesis has since been rejected by various scholars, starting from the Japanese scholar Yoritomi Motohiro (Yoritomi 2000, pp. 305–28), followed by the Chinese esoteric Buddhism specialist Lü Jianfu (Lü 2008, pp. 104–34) and the art historian Lai I-mann (Lai 2006, pp. 181–217).9 Yoritomi alternatively identifies the eight bīja as belonging to the Eight Bodhisattvas (Ch. bada pusa 八大菩薩), although with a few notable variations from their standard seed mantras and positionality (Yoritomi 2000, pp. 325–26). Based on Yoritomi’s new identification, Lai I-mann argues in her dissertation that the Bodhisattva’s pedestal is a material representation of the Buddhalocanī (Ch. foyan 佛眼, or the omniscient eye of the Buddha) Maṇḍala based on the Jingangfeng louge yiqie yujia yuqi jing 金剛峯樓閣一切瑜伽瑜祇經 [Pavilion of Vajra Peak and All Its Yogas and Yogins Sutra] (T. 867) with the śarīra-as-Buddhalocanī, the Buddhoṣṇīṣa Cakravartin, Vajrasattva, the Seven Luminaries, the Eight Bodhisattvas, and the Eight Vidyarājas (Wisdom King or Luminous King, Ch. mingwang 明王) (Lai 2006, p. 204).10

In summary, scholars have so far attempted to map the design of the Bodhisattva statue’s base onto specific Buddhist maṇḍalas. As a result, the notable variations in the iconography and Siddhaṃ scripts on the pedestal have puzzled previous scholars, who could not reach an agreement on what the statue “represents.” Moving away from this Buddhalogical methodology, this paper synthesizes the previous hypotheses by focusing on the conceptual design, symbolic significance, and intended function of the object in light of the historical circumstances and religious practice of the late Tang imperial court.11 I suggest that the Bodhisattva statue—especially its pedestal—uses esoteric Buddhist rituals to create a soteriological matrix that generates new, enlightened Buddha bodies. Rather than illustrating any specific maṇḍala, theological doctrine, or scripture, the statue served to fulfill the wishes of the intended beneficiaries: namely spiritual salvation, bodily transformation, and the renewal of life.

2.2. Overview of the Bodhisattva Statue’s Tripartite Pedestal

Before diving into the significance and function of the statue, this section provides a detailed overview of the multi-layered iconographic and epigraphic program on the tripartite base from the bottom to the top (Figure 6). First, the ungilded part of the lower base is decorated with concentric, curvilinear wave patterns, transforming the space into an aquatic realm. The aqueous nature of the space is echoed in the underside of the bottom bowl, which shows a gilded design of two dragons chasing a karma-vajra (Ch. jiemo jingang 羯磨金剛, double tridents forming a cross), creating a sacred ritual enclosure (Figure 7).12 On the exterior of the base, eight parcel-gilt multi-armed wrathful deities emerge from the turbulent ocean. Each deity is depicted holding distinctive ritual implements and weapons, seated on a lotus or rock platform, and enveloped by a flaming mandorla. These are the Eight Wisdom Kings: Trailokyavijaya (Jiangsanshi 降三世), Yamântaka (Daweide 大威德), Padanakṣipa (Buzhi 步擲), Aparajitah (Wunengsheng 無能勝), Hayagrīva (Matou 馬頭), Ucchuṣma (Wushushamo 烏樞沙摩), Kuṇḍalī (Juntuli 軍荼利), and Mahācakra (Dalun 大輪) (Figure 8) (Lai 2006, pp. 195–204).13

Above the eight blazing Wisdom Kings, eight lotus-leaf petals float on the water. Each petal bears a seed mantra that appears in a moon-disk, indicating a ritual mode of visualization. These eight bīja stand for the Eight Bodhisattvas: hūṃ for Vajrapani (Jingangshou 金剛手), va for Mañjuśrī (Wenshu 文殊), ā for Ākāśagarbha (Xukongzang 虛空藏), saṃ for Kṣitigarbha (Dizang 地藏), sa for Avalokitêśvara (Guanyin 觀音), mai for Maitreya (Cishi 慈氏), a for Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhin (Chugaizhang 除蓋障), and pa for Samantabhadra (Puxian 普賢). In the 824 sūtra, Damiao jingang da ganlu junnali yanman chisheng foding jing 大妙金剛大甘露軍拏利焔鬘熾盛佛頂經 [Wonderful Vajra Ambrosia Kundali, Yamantaka Blazing Buddha Crown Sutra] (T. 965), the Eight Vidyarājas appear as wrathful manifestations of the Eight Bodhisattvas—a correspondence that seems to explain the juxtaposition of the eight petal-borne bīja and the Wisdom Kings on the bottom layer (Yoritomi 2000, p. 325).14

However, several problems should be noted. First, the relative positions and iconography of the Eight Vidyarājas on the Bodhisattva statue do not fit neatly with the sūtra (T. 965) or with extant iconographic drawings (fenben 粉本) brought to Japan as mentioned above. Notably, Ucchuṣma appears to have replaced Ācala (Budong 不動) in the original cast of the Eight Wisdom Kings described in the scripture. Similarly, the bīja for the Eight Bodhisattvas do not align with the positions of their corresponding Wisdom Kings below.15 Moreover, the Siddhaṃ scripts also exhibit deviations from the standard seed mantras and sequence of the Eight Bodhisattvas. These incongruences have posed great difficulty for scholars attempting to identify each image and seed mantra—an issue for which there is still no consensus—and have even been ascribed to “insufficient knowledge on the part of the craftsman” (Lai 2006, p. 204). However, such variations could also have resulted from the absence of a standardized set of iconographies or a fixed pantheon at the time, considering the dynamic nature of Tang esoteric Buddhist practices. Moreover, the designer of the statue displays a lack of interest in strictly matching image with text. In other words, the efficacy of the object does not seem to stem from iconographic correctness or fidelity to any single scriptural source.

Second, the middle part of the pedestal that joins together the dome-shaped bottom and lotus crown on top is spherical. The four Heavenly Kings—cosmic guardians of the four cardinal directions—manifest in roundels on the four facades of the joint: Dhṛtarāṣṭra (Chiguo tian 持國天) in the east, Virūḍhaka (Zengzhang tian 增長天) in the south, Virūpākṣa (Guangmu tian 廣目天) in the west, and Vaiśravaṇa (Pishamen tian 毘沙門天) in the north (Figure 9). All four Heavenly Kings are depicted in full armor, each bearing their respective weapons. Special artistic attention is given to the Northern Heavenly King Vaiśravaṇa, who wears a tripartite diadem, holds a stūpa in his hand, and—instead of a halo—has crescent-moon-shaped flames emanating from his shoulders. This iconography of Vaiśravaṇa as a regal, militant guardian reinforces the state-protecting function of the statue, as elucidated in the dedicatory inscription.16

Finally, the top part of the base (Figure 10) features thirty-two floral petals arranged in four layers: they stand for the thirty-two Bodhisattvas of the Diamond Realm Maṇḍala—namely the four pāramitā bodhisattvas, the sixteen great bodhisattvas, the eight offering bodhisattvas, and the four bodhisattvas of attraction.17 The invisible underside of the lotus throne bears five engraved bīja scripts arranged in a cross shape—vam (center), hūm (right), traḥ (bottom), hrīḥ (left), and aḥ (top) (Figure 11). These are the seed mantras for the five central Buddhas in the Diamond Realm, with Mahāvairocana in the center. In this way, the lotus throne constitutes a Vajradhātu Maṇḍala.

More strikingly, a set of three dhāraṇī (Ch. tuoluoni 陀羅尼, incantation), each comprising five Siddhaṃ letters, is inscribed clockwise along the rim of the lotus seedpod at the top of the lotus throne (Figure 12): a vaṃ raṃ haṃ khaṃ, a vi ra hūṃ khaṃ, and a ra pa ca na. These are the Three Siddhi (sanzhong xidi 三種悉地) mantras. The Japanese pilgrim monk Enchin 円珍 (814–891) recorded them in his treatise Ketsuji sanshu shijjihō 決示三種悉地法 [An Explanation of the Three Siddhi Methods] (BZ. 27):

Upper Siddhi 上品悉地: Ā vaṃ raṃ haṃ khaṃ 阿鍐覽唅欠

Middle Siddhi 中品悉地: Ā vi ra hūṃ khaṃ 阿尾羅吽欠

Lower Siddhi 下品悉地: Ā ra pa ca na 阿羅波遮那

The three mantras were drawn from various sources. According to Enchin, the Upper Siddhi mantra and the Middle Siddhi mantra are, respectively, from the “Chuxian xidi pin 出現悉地品” [Chapter on the Manifestation of Attainment (Siddhi)] and the “Chisong faze pin 持誦法則品” [Chapter on the Regulations for Upholding Recitation] chapters of the Mahāvairocana sūtra (Dari jing 大日經, T. 848), while the Lower Siddhi mantra is the five-word dhāraṇī of the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī (Wenshu 文殊) popular in Tang esoteric Buddhism.18 Enchin saw the Three Siddhi mantras on a pillar at the gate of Tiangong Monastery (Tiangong si 天宮寺), an important Tang esoteric Buddhist temple in the capital Luoyang 洛陽—where they were indicated by the inscription as the mantras of dharmakāya (Ch. fashen 法身, Dharma Body), saṃbhogakāya (Ch. baoshen 報身, Reward Body), and nirmāṇakāya (Ch. huashen 化身, Response Body)—the trikāya (Ch. sanshen 三身, Three Bodies) of Mahāvairocana.19 Siddhi (Ch. xidi 悉地, attainment) refers to a level of religious attainment through esoteric practice, and Enchin’s account illuminates that by the mid-Tang, the siddhi dhāraṇī essentially mapped three spiritual stages onto the three bodies of Mahāvairocana, as each siddhi is promised with the reward of a more perfected Buddha body.

Located at the most elevated point of the base, the siddhi-trikāya mantras—and the ritual system they encompass—play a quintessential role in informing the design and soteriological function of the Bodhisattva statue, which was greatly overlooked in previous scholarship (Lai 2006, p. 192). One reason for this omission is that the canonical sūtras which directly reference the Three Siddhi dhāraṇī (T. 905, T. 906, T. 907) were argued by the Buddhist scholar Chen Jinhua to be later Japanese Tendai apocryphal compositions (Chen 1998b, pp. 65–73).20 Although it is not within the scope of this paper to refute Chen’s thesis, this paper highlights the plethora of connections between the Three Siddhi ritual manuals (T. 905, T. 906, T. 907) and the Famensi Bodhisattva statue.21

I suggest that the tripartite pedestal of the statue essentially materializes three progressive stages of transformation—cosmological, bodily, and soteriological—embodied by the Three Siddhi mantras. The next two sections of this paper explore the pedestal’s cosmological and gestational symbolism. I argue that through its form, decorative program, and the siddhi mantra inscriptions, the statue’s base performs a double virtual visualization that both generates a microcosm and grows a new body.

2.3. Base—Visualizing Cosmology

First, the pedestal conjures up a vision of the Buddhist cosmology most prominently through its hourglass shape, which evokes Mount Sumeru—the axis mundi of the Buddhist cosmos (Figure 13). Furthermore, the incised wavy patterns on the bottom layer evoke the eight scented oceans that surround the sacred mountain (Figure 8). Finally, the dragons chasing the karma-vajra motif on the underside of the bottom base (Figure 7) likely stand for the “vajra-earth (jingangdi 金剛地)”: the indestructible diamond ground that serves as the foundation of the universe (Lai 2006, p. 214).22 In this miniaturized cosmological model, the Four Heavenly Kings guard over the four directional corners on the mid-slope of Mount Sumeru, 4000 yojanas above the ground, corresponding to the position of the guardian deities on the middle joint of the pedestal.

The visualization of the phenomenal world was likely an essential part of the Three Siddhi rituals, as the mantra was believed to have the generative power of world-making. In the Foding zunshengxin podiyu zhuanyezhang chusanjie mimisanshenfoguo sanzhong xidi zhenyan yigui 佛頂尊勝心破地獄轉業障出三界祕密三身佛果三種悉地真言儀軌 [Manual of the Uṣṇīṣa Vijaya Mantras for the Destruction of Hells, Transformation of Karmic Hindrances, and Exiting the Three Realms: The Secret Results of the Three Bodies and Three Attainments] (T. 906), the practitioner is instructed to visualize the five letters of the Upper Siddhi mantra as the bīja of five elemental cakras (Ch. lun 輪, wheel) that, one upon another, build up the foundation of the universe, which then continuously transform themselves to constitute the entire macrocosm:

地水火風空五輪之種子。阿鑁覽唅欠五字。有地輪。地輪之上有水輪。水輪之上有火輪。火輪之上有風輪。風輪之上有空輪…即變成妙高山王。以四寶所成…虛空中想毘盧遮那佛身毛孔。流出香乳。雨澍七金山間。以成八功德香水乳海。

The five syllables—a-vaṃ-raṃ-haṃ-khaṃ—are the seed syllables of the Five Wheels (cakra): Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Space. Below lies the Earth Wheel, above it rests the Water Wheel, above Water is the Fire Wheel; above Fire is the Wind Wheel, and atop Wind is the Space Wheel…Then, these transform into Mount Sumeru, the sovereign of mountains, composed of the Four Treasures…Within the vast void, one should visualize the body of Mahāvairocana Buddha, from whose pores flows fragrant nectar, raining down between the seven golden mountains and forming the eight fragrant milky oceans.

(T. 906_.18.0912c22-913a02)

In the ritual manual, the cosmological imageries then turn into metamorphosizing visions of esoteric deities and mandalic realms, which correspond rather well with the iconographic program on the statue’s base, including: the thirty-seven deities of the Diamond Realm, the Five Buddhas of Wisdom in the Vajradhātu, the Central Eight-Petal Assembly, and the Five Wisdom Kings (T. 906_.18.0913b20-b24). In this way, the form and iconography of the pedestal perform a virtual visualization that generates the entire Buddhist cosmos and the various realms of divinities from the five elemental letters of the Upper Siddhi mantra.

This progenitive nature of the Upper Siddhi mantra is similarly explained by Enchin in his treatise:

阿鑁覽唅欠…即是東西南北中方佛種字也, 山海大地，江河萬流，日月星辰，金玉珍寶，火珠光明，五果五榖…皆是阿鑁覽唅欠所管也。

A-vaṃ-raṃ-haṃ-khaṃ are the seed syllables (bīja) of the Buddhas of the five directions: east, west, south, north, and center. Mountains and oceans, the great earth, rivers and myriad streams, the sun, the moon, stars and constellations, gold and jade, and all precious treasures, the flaming jewel (mani) of radiant light, the five fruits and five grains—all are governed by a-vaṃ-raṃ-haṃ-khaṃ.

23

As Enchin explains, the Upper Siddhi mantra is also the bīja of the Five Directional Buddhas and thus serves as the elemental forces of creation from which the entire world and its myriad phenomena come into being. In the Three Siddhi sūtras, these five syllables—embodying the five Vajradhātu Buddhas—become fully integrated into the traditional Chinese wuxing 五行 (Five Phases) cosmological system. As the five bīja come to stand for the five basic elements—corresponding to the five directions, five viscera, five colors, and five planets—the dynamic interactions between them encompass, generate, and govern time, space, life, and everything in the universe (T. 906_.18.0912b15-b23).

While the pedestal could be seen as materializing the visualization of the Buddhist universe and the process of genesis, this cosmological structure also spatializes spiritual progression. Even in the early scriptural discussion of the Three Siddhi practice in the Yizi foding lunwang jing 一字佛頂輪王經 [Sutra of the One-Syllable Buddha-Crown Wheel King] (T. 951), the three accomplishments have been mapped onto the different levels of the cosmos. While the Middle Siddhi occupies the level of the xukong 虛空 (ākāśa, or sky), the Upper and Lower Siddhi, respectively, correspond to Heaven and Earth (T. 951_.19.0263a13-15).24 The level of the sky, or ākāśa—nestled between heaven and earth in Buddhist cosmology—is exactly where the Heavenly Kings dwell along with the sun, moon, and celestial bodies (Figure 13), as pictured on the pedestal’s middle joint.

In this way, the Famensi Bodhisattva statue’s base performs the virtual visualization of the Buddhist cosmos, activated by the power of the progenitive siddhi seed syllables. The microcosm of the pedestal serves as a perfect symbol for the political realm ruled over by Emperor Yizong, and the esoteric deities—especially the militant Heavenly Kings led by Vaiśravaṇa and the wrathful Wisdom Kings—protect and maintain the peace of the world so that “the barbarians from the eight corners come to show their obeisance, and in the four seas there is not a single wave” (Shanxi sheng kaogu yanjiusuo 2007, p. 143). Furthermore, the three topographic levels of this microcosm also stand for three stages of increasing spiritual attainment—the Lower, Middle, and Upper Siddhi—visualizing cosmological as well as spiritual transformations.

2.4. Base—Growth of Life

Following the last section, this part of the paper proceeds to elaborate on the bodily significance of the pedestal—an important aspect of the statue’s meaning and soteriological function that has gone unnoticed in previous scholarship. As the Three Siddhi rituals exemplify, the esoteric Buddhist system became increasingly integrated with the traditional Chinese worldview by the late Tang, as the Five Buddhas of the Diamond Realm—doubling as the five syllables of the Upper Siddhi mantra—came to be identified with the five elements of the wuxing 五行 (Five Phases) system. In this correlative cosmology, the miniaturized macrocosm embodied by the Bodhisattva statue’s pedestal doubles as a microcosmic body, as the five letters of the siddhi mantra can simultaneously transform into the five viscera that constitute the body. Building on the cosmos-body correlation, I argue that parallel to the cosmological model, the formal design of the base visualizes a gestational process of growing a new body through botanical imageries and embryological metaphors. In other words, the statue’s base is not only world-making, but also life-giving.

While the hourglass silhouette, the oceanic motifs, and the Heavenly Kings on the pedestal conjure up Mount Sumeru and the Buddhist universe, the pedestal’s sculpted figurative design unmistakably represents a lotus flower blossoming from the watery realm. This is no coincidence: the Three Siddhi ritual manual T. 905 instructs the practitioner to visualize their mind as a lotus bud growing inside one’s body, from which emerges the five syllables of a, vaṃ, raṃ, haṃ, and khaṃ:

凡人汗栗馱心(此云真實心)形猶如蓮花合而未敷之像…觀此蓮花令其開敷為八葉白蓮花…從此出生阿、 鑁、囕、唅、欠五輪字…從臍至心為金剛臺(海中立莖)臍為大海。從臍已下此地居諸尊位。在海岸邊也。

The hṛdaya heart (true mind) of an ordinary person is shaped like a closed lotus bud, yet to bloom … One is to visualize this lotus bud opening into an eight-petaled white lotus flower … from which generates the five letters: a, vaṃ, raṃ, haṃ, khaṃ … The vajra platform extends from the navel to the heart (like a lotus stem rising from the ocean) while the navel itself represents the great sea. Below the navel is the domain where the various deities reside, positioned along the ocean’s shore.

(T. 905_.18.0911b06-b20)

Similarly to the visualization image, the pedestal evokes eight lotus leaves floating in the fragrant ocean, from which a stem rises. The bulbous stem supports a fully bloomed thirty-two petaled flower that births a seedpod. In other words, the statue’s base envisions the germination, flowering, and fruition—the life cycle—of a lotus.

In this conceptual schema, the eight bīja seed syllables, each encircled by a moon disk on a lotus leaf, play important symbolic roles as the carriers of consciousness and the origin of life. In the Abhidharmakośa, the bīja—literally translated as “seed” (zhongzi 種子)—embodies a “psycho-physical organism” that contains the potentiality of mental and physical dharmas and can produce fruit in a future moment (Park 2007, p. 230). In other words, the seed is used as a metaphor to explain the carryover of karma and mental–physical aspects in the discrete, moment-to-moment flow of consciousness.

In Yogâcāra Buddhism, the seed metaphor is further developed into the “all-seed consciousness” (sarvabījaka-citta, Ch. yiqie zhonggzi shi 一切種子識), constituting the ālayavijñāna (Ch. alaiyeshi 阿賴耶識)—the store consciousness that carries over the dharmas, hence explaining the continuity of mental life from existence to existence. In this way, the seed consciousness animates one’s personhood and is an integral component in the inception of sentient life. As the Yogâcārabhūmi-śāstra (Yujia shidi lun 瑜伽師地論 [Discourse on the Stages of Concentration Practice], T. 1579) describes, at the moment of conception, the essence-blood of the father and mother congeal together into a lump, to which the store consciousness, containing all mature seeds, attaches itself. Due to the functional power of the “all-seed-consciousness,” the subtle roots are born and fuse together with the essence-blood to become the embryo in the first fetal stage kalala (T. 1579_.30.0283a02-a10).25 Interestingly, this generative potency of the bīja is visualized on the pedestal, as young budding leaves are seen sprouting from the four corners of the encircled seed syllables (Figure 14).

If the bīja serve as the seed of consciousness and the origin of life, the eight lotus leaves that bear the bīja could be read as the Eight Positions of the Womb (Gharba) (Bawei Taizang 八位胎藏), also discussed in the Yogâcārabhūmi-śāstra. Corresponding to the eight leaves, the Eight Positions refer to eight stages of fetal development inside the mother’s womb: the kalala (Ch. jieluolan 羯羅藍), the arbuda (Ch. ebutan 額部曇), peśī (Ch. bishi 閉尸), ghana (Ch. jiannan 健南), praśākhā (Ch. buluosheqie 鉢羅奢佉), the growth of limbs, hair, nails and teeth, the development of the sense organs, and finally, complete formation of the fetus (T. 1579_.30.0284c26-285a06). In other words, the eight lotus leaves that bear the seed syllables visualize the eight-staged gestation period, from the moment of conception to the full formation of the fetus inside the mother’s womb. In fact, early Buddhist sūtras such as the Garbhâvakrānti-nirdeśa sūtra (Foshuo baotai jing 佛說胞胎經 [Sutra on the Womb and Embryo], T. 317) that introduced Indic embryological theories on conception and fetal development into China already compared the maturation of the fetus inside the womb to the growth process of a lotus flower.26

More significantly, the Three Siddhi also correlate with the tripartite growth structure of the lotus, the three parts of the human body, and the three bodies of the Buddha as discussed in T. 906:

出悉地 (根莖 從足至腰 化身)

Siddhi of Exiting (the roots and stems; from feet to waist; the Response Body)

入悉地 (枝葉 從臍至心 報身)

Siddhi of Entering (the branches and leaves; from navel to heart; the Reward Body)

成就悉地 (從心至頂 法身 佛果)

Siddhi of Accomplishment (from heart to crown; the Dharma Body; the fruit of Buddhahood).

(T. 906_.18.0914a01-02)27

As illuminated by the text, the seedpod—corresponding to the Upper Siddhi mantra inscribed on its inner rim on the pedestal—represents the fruition of the Buddha’s Dharma Body, generated from the fetal seed that gradually develops into a fully developed divine body. In this way, the Bodhisattva statue’s pedestal envisions a complete process of conception, gestation, and birth through the growth cycle of a lotus flower—the bīja seeds that carry the storehouse of consciousness germinate and grow into a new, enlightened Buddha body. Hence, I suggest that the design of the eight lotus leaves on the base is formally and conceptually connected to the Central Eight Petal Mansion (bayeyuan 八葉院) of the Garbhadhātu Maṇḍala: not to represent the eight deities per se, but to invoke the procreative matrix of the Garbhadhātu, the ultimate womb of Buddhahood.28 This symbolic life-giving role of the base further explains the connection between the base’s iconographic program and the Buddhalocani Maṇḍala, as scholars such as Lai I-mann have correctly pointed to (Lai 2006, pp. 181–217). The central deity of the Buddhalocani Maṇḍala is Buddhalocanā 佛眼佛母, described as the Mother of all Buddhas in the Jingangfeng louge yiqie yujia yuqi jing 金剛峯樓閣一切瑜伽瑜祇經 [Pavilion of Vajra Peak and All Its Yogas and Yogins Sutra] (T. 867). In this way, the evocation of Buddhalocanā stands for the progenitive mother figure, in whose womb the seed matures.

In summary, as Section 2.3 and Section 2.4 explain, the Famensi Bodhisattva statue’s pedestal performs a double virtual visualization that simultaneously creates a microcosm and grows a new, enlightened body. Moreover, the pedestal materializes three stages of spiritual, cosmological, and bodily progression—represented by the Three Siddhi—that culminates in the genesis of the entire cosmos and most importantly, the attainment of the ultimate Dharma body, or the True Body of Mahāvairocana.

3. Dresses—A Substitute Body

While the microcosm clearly stood for the ideal realm under Emperor Yizong’s rule, who was the newborn body for? On the surface, the answer appears to be Yizong himself, who was already in frail health when the statue was made. In this light, the Bodhisatttva statue served as an appropriate birthday offering to extend the longevity or fashion a new, indestructible True Body for the emperor. Yet, the interment of the female-style clothing underneath the statue complicates this question. This part of the paper attempts to address the purpose of the ritually generated body and unveil the mystery of the miniature garments. I argue that the sartorial assemblage forms a coherent soteriological program along with the Bodhisattva statue, further affirming the transformative and life-giving efficacy of the pedestal.

The five pieces of clothing in question were discovered by archaeologists under the Bodhisattva statue in the same sandalwood containers—they consist of a banbi 半臂 (half-sleeved top), a lan 襴 (hemmed) gown, a pleated skirt (qun 裙), a monastic robe, and a meditation mat (Figure 2) (Shanxi Sheng kaogu yanjiusuo 2007, pp. 260–65). All five pieces of clothing are made from the same red fabric with the cujin 蹙金 embroidery technique, where the artisan wraps thinly cut gold foil onto silk threads—as many as 1080 twists of gold foil per meter—to create golden threads. These extremely thin threads are then coiled into various patterns and affixed onto the textile.

Moreover, the Famensi garments are strikingly miniature in size: for example, the half-sleeve is 6.5 cm in length and 14.1 cm in width, and monk’s robe is 16 cm long and 7.8 cm wide. The tailoring is also extremely simplified and only suggests the general silhouettes of the garments. This conspicuous lack of utilitarian function points to the symbolic role of the garments, which were likely specially made to be deposited with the Bodhisattva statue. Several mysteries shroud these five pieces of clothing: Why are they miniature in size? What functions did they intend to serve? How were the clothing connected to the statue? And why was a court lady’s attire paired together with the monastic robe? This paper offers some tentative answers to these questions.

First, the half-sleeve top with the V-neck opening and the skirt distinctively exemplify Tang dynasty women’s fashion. The artisan even embroidered the skirt with vertical and diagonal stripes to mimic the optical effect of pleats—sewn with individual strips of fabric. Fashionable Tang women wearing half-sleeve jackets over long skirts often appear in funerary art, such as the dancer in the Astana silk painting (Figure 15) and the court ladies in Princess Yongtai’s 永泰 tomb. In this way, the first category of the miniature clothing unmistakably evokes a female subject—likely a high-ranking imperial family member, considering the luxurious material, highly specialized technique, and impeccable craftsmanship of the garments.

Indeed, as recorded in the Famensi Inventory of Offerings (Yiwu zhang 衣物帳), many of the sartorial offerings deposited in the underground crypt in 874 were personal items under the names of imperial female patrons. Among the numerous garments listed in the Inventory are the “embroidered dress of Empress Wu Zetian (wuhou xiuqun 武后繡裙)” taken from the storage of the Famen Monastery, three gold brocade kāṣāya (Ch. jinlan jiasha 金襴袈裟), and various dresses from the Empress Dowager Hui’an (Huian Huangtaihou 惠安皇太后), the deceased mother of the young emperor Xizong.29 These offerings are notably merit‐making gestures of dana (Ch. she 捨, giving, or relinquishment) towards the relic.

Although clothing items make up a significant component of the inventory, most of the textiles excavated from the underground crypt were found in poor condition and hence went undocumented in the archaeological report. Thus, the miniature clothing under the Bodhisattva statue serve as the sole representatives of the rich sartorial repertoire listed on the Inventory. In particular, the half-sleeved top and pleated skirt were singled out and commonly misidentified as the very dress of Empress Wu recorded in the Inventory. However, it should be noted that both the quantity and typology of the miniature garments do not neatly match any item listed in the Inventory. Moreover, the clothing’s particular burial context—placed underneath the Bodhisattva statue and sealed inside two nesting containers—testifies to their special status. I suggest that the five pieces of clothing were likely conceived as a set to be deposited along with the Bodhisattva statue and not listed in the Inventory.

As Tang historical records attests, personal clothing could serve as a substitute body in imperial mortuary rituals, especially when the physical body is absent. In a famous case in the Jiu tangshu 舊唐書 [Book of the Old Tang], Empress Zhao, who was the first wife of Emperor Zhongzong 中宗 when he was still a prince, was persecuted by Empress Wu and died in imprisonment. When Zhongzong died, court officials opposed the joint burial of Zhongzong and his second wife, the infamous Empress Wei (Weihou 韋後) who sought to seize power for herself. Thus, it was decided that Zhongzong would be buried together with Empress Zhao. Since the location of the empress’s body is unknown, her official dress was used in a soul-summoning (zhaohun 招魂) ceremony and then placed in a spirit carriage to receive a sacrificial ritual. Finally, Empress Zhao’s dress was moved to the resting palace of the mausoleum, laid down to the right of Zhongzong’s body, and covered in a funerary shroud for the joint burial.30 This anecdote highlights that during the Tang, it was believed that sartorial items were powerful mediums of presence, to which a spirit could potentially attach itself, hence standing in for the physical body.31

This intimate association between clothing, spirit, and body may also be reflected in the miniature female dresses buried beneath the Bodhisattva statue. In particular, these garments’ miniature scale, simplified form, and lack of functionality distinctively resemble burial objects (minqi 冥器), or spirit articles (mingqi 明器) for the deceased (Lin 2010, p. 17).32 Their funerary significance is further underscored by their emplacement within two nesting containers—in the form of reliquaries or sarcophagi. In this way, I suggest that the female miniature garments likely functioned not just as merit-making offerings to the Buddha’s relic, but also as a substitute body—making their deposition in the sandalwood containers a kind of symbolic burial.

The dual nature of such of bodily offerings to the relic is not without precedent: in 702, the Emperor Zhongzong, Empress Wei, the crown prince, two princesses, and the empress’s two sisters each cut off a lock of hair and buried it under the pagoda to venerate the relic (Shanxi Sheng kaogu yanjiusuo 2007, pp. 44–45). As Eugene Wang has argued, these locks of hair were not only bodily relinquishments, but also corporeal substitutes for the imperial members to be buried and enshrined together with the True Body (relic) of the Buddha (Wang 2005, pp. 91–92). In a similar way, the miniature half-sleeve, the lan gown, and the pleated skirt seem to represent a simulacrum body for a female patron, who was symbolically interred within the nesting “sarcophagi” along with the Bodhisattva statue.

More importantly, the deposition was by no means a simple burial, but for the purpose of bodily transformation by virtue of the powerful ritual function of the Bodhisattva statue. In placing one’s old mortal body—symbolized by the miniature female garments—inside the regenerative soteriological matrix of the statue’s pedestal, the patron wished to obtain a new perfected True Body. As the following section will explain, the birth of this enlightened body is signified by the presence of the miniature kāṣāya placed in the same container.

3.1. Kāṣāya—The Embryonic Robe

While the juxtaposition between the female clothing and the monk’s robe seems odd at first glance, an avadāna (Ch. abotuona 阿波陀那, parable) story recorded in the Fayuan Zhulin 法苑珠林 [Grove of Jewels in the Garden of the Dharma] might explain this curious combination. According to the story, in the country of Paranada, a beautiful girl named Kāśīundarī was born wearing a kāṣāya; as she grew older, the robe also grew with her. One day, Kāśīundarī heard the Buddha’s teaching at the Deer Park, and she sought to leave the household and take ordination—her hair naturally fell out, and her kāṣāya turned into a Dharma Robe (fafu 法服). The bhikkhuni eventually attained arhathood. When the monks inquired the karmic condition for this miraculous event, the Buddha told them that in her past life, Kāśīundarī was a princess who offered exquisite clothes to the Buddha and the Sangha (the Buddhist community) (T. 2122_.53.0558a07-a21).

The avadāna is significant in two ways. First, the miraculous kāṣāya that Kāśīundarī wears is conceptualized as somatic: something that she was born in and that grew according to her physical and spiritual conditions, much like a layer of skin. Moreover, the avadāna suggests a model of exchange in the karmic economy of sartorial donation. By giving away worldly garments such as the miniature female garments underneath the statue, one could gain the bodily kāṣāya—which is essentially a self-transforming, divine body—in return.

Furthermore, the magical kāṣāya in the avadāna could be traced back to the legendary Śāṇa’s robe (Shangna yi 商那衣): a miraculous contact relic of the arhat Śāṇavāsa, one of the Buddha’s eminent disciples. As Xuanzang recorded in Datang xiyu Ji 大唐西域記 [Record of Travels to Western Lands]:

承茲福力於五百身中陰生陰恒服此衣。以最後身從胎倶出。身既漸長。衣亦隨廣。及阿難之度出家也。其衣變爲法服。及受具戒。更變爲九條僧伽胝。將證寂滅入邊際定。

By virtue of the auspicious merit of Śāṇavāsa’s offering to the Sangha, he constantly wore this robe in the intermediate states of five hundred existences. And his final rebirth, he emerged from the womb already clothed in the robe. As his body grew, the garment expanded accordingly. When he was ordained by Ananda, the robe transformed into a monastic robe. Upon receiving full precepts, it further changed into a nine-columned kāṣāya, preparing him for attaining Nirvana and entering the boundless concentration.

(T. 2087_.51.0873b28-c08)

Thus, both the avadāna and Xuanzang’s account on Śāṇa’s robe highlight that the newborn baby comes out of the mother’s womb dressed in the kāṣāya, which organically expands and transforms with the growth of one’s body, spiritual cultivation, and religious training. Moreover, a similar idea could be found in the Abhidharmakośa (Apidamo jushe lun 阿毘達磨倶舍論) [Abhidharma Storehouse Treatise], which states that unlike other nude intermediate beings, the Bodhisattva is fully clothed in their intermediate existence—namely the period between one’s death and next rebirth—when entering and coming out of the womb and remains dressed until cremation and Nirvana (La Vallée Poussin 1988, p. 391).

This gestational nature of Śāṇa’s robe is highlighted by its alternative name in Chinese Buddhist translations—the “embryonic coat” (taiyi 胎衣), a medical term that literally refers to the placenta and fetal membrane.33 Also called bao 胞, the human afterbirth was conceived of as a piece of fleshy clothing that envelops and protects the fetus inside the mother’s womb, hence termed the “embryonic coat.”34 The concepts of the bao 胞 and the tai 胎 (fetus)—together constituting the embryo (baotai 胞胎)—could be traced back to traditional Chinese thought on the human fetus and gestation. For example, Wang Chong’s Lunheng 論衡 [Discussive Weighing] explains the bao as a universal, natural phenomenon:

人之有胞，猶木實之有扶也。包裏兒身，因與俱出，若鳥卵之有殼。

Humans have the embryonic coat exactly like how the tree’s fruit has a supportive membrane: it wraps around the fetus’s body and comes out of the womb with it, just like how bird eggs have shells.

35

Thus, I propose that the miniature kāṣāya found beneath the Bodhisattva statue was conceptually prototyped on Śāṇavāsa’s miraculous robe—intended to clothe the patron both throughout their intermediate existences and when they enter and exit the sacred womb of Buddhahood. In other words, the miniature monastic robe is the embryonic coat (bao 胞) that envelops the divine fetus (tai 胎), birthed from the ritual matrix of the Bodhisattva statue’s pedestal.36

In this way, the double-layered sandalwood containers that house the statue and garments served not only as symbolic sarcophagi, but also importantly as the incubators of Buddhahood for the intended beneficiary. An old mortal body—symbolized by the female garments—is given away in exchange for the newborn Buddha body—sartorially signaled by the miraculous embryonic kāṣāya. By extension, the miniature “meditation mat” embroidered with a blooming lotus flower is the platform on which the new, enlightened body is born.37 In this way, the Bodhisattva statue and the miniature garments participate in a single soteriological program that envisions the path to Buddhahood as a somatic process of conception, gestation, and birth—of generating life itself.

3.2. Whose Body?

However, one issue remains. The inscription on the Bodhisattva statue explicitly states that the object was commissioned to celebrate the emperor’s birthday and extend his longevity. It therefore makes good sense that the pedestal was intended to generate a new, perfected body for the ailing emperor—perhaps even in anticipation of his imminent death and the need for spiritual salvation.38 Nonetheless, the commemorative occasion appears incongruent with the presence of the female garments and the strong mortuary overtones of the miniature clothing. So, whose body is being symbolically buried?

I suggest that a possible candidate might be Emperor Yizong’s favorite daughter: Princess Tongchang (Tongchang Gongzhu 同昌公主), who died in 870—only one year before the Bodhisattva statue was made. The emperor was blinded with grief by the princess’s premature death and subsequently had all her physicians cruelly executed and over three hundred of their family members imprisoned. Protests against these harsh punishments only further infuriated the emperor, and the princess’s widow Wei Baoheng 韋保衡 (?–873)—a favored courtier in the inner circle of Yizong—infamously took advantage of the situation to carry out a ruthless purge of his political opponents (Twitchett and Fairbank 1978, pp. 708–10).

The princess’s funeral was held one year later in 871. According to historical accounts, the bereaved Yizong exhausted the imperial treasury for the extravagant funeral of the princess. The court musician Li Keji 李可及 composed the music, “Elegy of the Century” (Tan Bainian 歎百年), lamenting the transience of life. Hundreds of court performers—each lavishly adorned with lustrous pearls and jades—danced on a ground covered in five-hundred bolts of ornate silk and painted with patterns of waves and fish-dragons (yulong 魚龍, or makara). As the music and dance concluded, all the pearls and gemstones fell to cover every inch of the ground, and the entire audience was brought to tears.39

The poignant imagery of a dancer bedecked in luminescent pearls and emerging from an oceanic realm of dragons and waves evokes the figuration of the Famensi Bodhisattva statue, made in the same year as the princess’s funeral—when the sorrowful memories had yet to fade.40 The historical context points to the intriguing possibility that the miniature female garments might have served as the substitute body of the recently deceased, beloved Princess Tongchang. Thus, I propose that the princess was likely the second beneficiary of the Bodhisattva statue’s soteriological function, in addition to Emperor Yizong.

4. Conclusions

In conclusion, this paper argues that the Famensi Gilded Silver Bodhisattva statue was not meant to illustrate a specific esoteric Buddhist doctrine, scripture, or maṇḍala. Rather, drawing on esoteric ritual technologies, cosmological and botanical imagery, and embryological theory, the statue’s pedestal performs a dual virtual visualization: the creation of a macrocosmic world and the gestation of a microcosmic body in perpetuity. Beyond just enshrining or displaying the relic, the statue functions as a soteriological matrix—a procreative womb of Buddhahood—capable of incubating and generating Buddha bodies. In doing so, it transforms the frail, impermanent mortal bodies of the beneficiaries into the enlightened, indestructible True Body.

Moreover, I suggest that the ostensible life-renewing purpose of the Bodhisattva statue—commissioned for Emperor Yizong’s birthday—conceals an underlying mortuary function, evidenced by the miniature garments buried underneath the statue inside the same sandalwood containers. The ultimate goal was to grow a new Buddha body, not only for the emperor, but also for a significant female patron: possibly the emperor’s beloved daughter Princess Tongchang, who tragically died young. Thus, grounded in the medieval Buddhist world and religious imagination, the Famensi Bodhisattva statue exemplifies biocentric art—not in its capacity to imitate life, but in its power to engineer it.