Koichi Shinohara: "Fotudeng's 'Magic': Dhāraṇī Practice and the Narrative of Omniscience"

Abstract:

In the sixth century biography of the monk Fotudeng (232–348), his extraordinary dhāraṇī practice is presented as a missionary strategy, and it is distinguished explicitly from “profound doctrines.” Fotudeng’s biography is accordingly placed in the section on miracle workers in the Biographies of Eminent Monks collection. Fotudeng is described as being skilled in the use of “divine spells” (shenzhou). A Chinese collection of dhāraṇī practices, “The Scripture of the Great Divine Spell Dhāraṇīs of the Seven Buddhas and Eight Bodhisattvas” (T. 1332), dated fifth to sixth century, presents a large number of “divine spells.” These spells are identified as dhāraṇīs and attributed to the past Buddhas and a number of bodhisattvas. The explanations for these spells and their uses enable us to reconstruct how these spells were meant to work.

In this presentation I first examine Fotudeng’s use of spells in the light of the discussion of divine spells in this collection. The second part of the discussion will focus on the narrative that frames Fotudeng’s practice. I argue that this frame story should be read as a narrative about omniscience rather than as an effort to present the use of spells as something secondary and inferior. As a story of omniscience it has well known parallels. I discuss the story of Śrīgupta’s invitation to the Buddha as a popular example of an account of Omniscience, clearly a notion that troubled Buddhists of the time.

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