1 Daniels, Christian, ‘Nanzhao as a Southeast Asian kingdom, c.738–902’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 52, 2 (2021): 188–213CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 Song Lian 宋濂 et al., Yuan shi 元史 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1981), chap. 4, p. 59.

3 NY, p. 786. According to Fang Guoyu 方國瑜, the multiple versions contain many old texts from the Nanzhao/Dali periods supplemented with divine and miraculous accounts (shenqi zhi shuo 神奇之說) by religionists (zongjiaotu 宗教徒) and embellished by lyricists (cizhangjia 詞章家): Fang Guoyu, Yunnan shiliao mulu gaishuo 雲南史料目錄概說 [An annotated catalogue of historical sources concerning Yunnan] (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1984), p. 383. Hou Chong 侯沖argues that NY incorporates numerous legends created after the Ming: Hou Chong, Baizu xinshi: Bai gu tong ji yanjiu 白族心史, 白古通記研究 [History of Bai nationality mentalities: Studies on the Baigu Tongji] (Kunming: Yunnan minzu chubanshe, 2002), pp. 439, 443. Yet historians often rely on NY due to the shortage of contemporaneous sources. Names of 12th century monarchs and ministers of state roughly accord with stelae data, stūpa bricks, FXJ religious texts, and archaeological evidence.

4 YSC, vol. 4, p. 787. Duan Zhengchun 段正淳 (1096–?) reportedly ‘assigned governance to the Gao clan 以國柄付高氏’, and appointed Gao leaders as ministers of state, thereby creating a precedent for Gao ‘monopolisation of political affairs 專政’ (YSC vol. 4, p. 786). The NY's format from Duan Zhengchun onwards confirms Gao ascendancy. It lists the names of Gao ministers of state and major events under the reigns of each Duan emperor, dubbing them ‘masters of the realm’. This text format underscores Gao prominence in 12th century administration.

5 Stupa bricks mould-stamped ‘Emperor of Dabao reign period 大寶皇帝’ refer to Duan Zhengxing 段正興 (r. 1148–72), DCJP, vol. 8, p. 56.

6 Fang Guoyu, ‘Gao shi shixi shiji 高氏世襲事迹 [Achievements of the Gao clan's hereditary succession]’, in Fang Guoyu wenji, ed. Fang Guoyu and Lin Chaomin 林超民 (Kunming: Yunnan jiaoyu chubanshe, 2003), vol. 2, p. 470; Duan Yuming 段玉明, Dali Guo shi 大理國史 [A history of the Dali Kingdom] (Kunming: Yunnan minzu chubanshe, 2003), p. 47.

7 ‘Images of humane kings: Rulers in the Dali-kingdom painting of Buddhist images’, in Buddhist statecraft in East Asia, ed. Stephanie Balkwill and James Benn (Leiden: Brill, 2022), p. 114.

8 FXJ, p. 79 frame six.

9 NY, p. 786; Mu Qin 木芹 et al., Nanzhao yeshi huizheng 南詔野史會證 [Collected evidence on the Nanzhao yeshi] (Kunming: Yunnan renmin chubanshe, 1990), pp. 299–300; YSC, vol. 4, pp. 786–7. Evidence discussed in Fang, ‘Gao shi shixi shiji’, pp. 480–82.

10 Bryson, Megan, ‘The Great Kingdom of Eternal Peace: Buddhist kingship in tenth-century Dali’, Asia Major 32, 1 (2019): 101–2Google Scholar.

11 DCJP, vol. 10, p. 11; Megan Bryson, ‘Southwestern Chan: Lineage in texts and art of the Dali Kingdom (937–1253)’, Pacific World, 3rd ser., 18 (2016): 85.

12 Bryson, Megan, ‘Tsenpo Chung, Yunnan Wang, Mahārāja: Royal titles in narratives of Nanzhao kingship between Tibet and Tang China’, Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie 24, (2015): 59–76CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13 Hou Chong 侯沖, ed., Huguo sinan chao 護國司南抄, in Zangwai fojiao wenxian 藏外佛教文獻 vol. 7, ed. Fang Guangchang 方廣錩 (Beijing: Zongjiao wenhua chubanshe, 2000), pp. 68–113; Hou Chong, ‘Dali guo xiejing Huguo sinan chao jiqi xueshu jiazhi’ 大理國寫經 ‘護國司南抄’ 及其學術價值 [Writing the sūtra Huguo sinan chao in the Dali Kingdom and its academic value], Yunnan shehui kexue 4 (1999): 103–10; Hou Chong, ‘Dali guo xiejing yanjiu’ 大理國寫經研究 [Studies of writing sūtras in the Dali Kingdom], Minzu xuebao 民族學報 4 (2006): 11–60; Bryson, ‘Great kingdom’.

14 Bryson, ‘Great kingdom’, pp. 110–11; Bryson, ‘Images’, pp. 99–110.

15 Howard, Angela F., ‘The Dhāraṇī Pillar of Kunming, Yunnan: A legacy of esoteric Buddhism and burial rites of the Bai People in the Kingdom of Dali (937–1253)’, Artibus Asiae 57, 1–2 (1997): 36CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Liebenthal, Walter, ‘Sanskrit inscriptions from Yünnan I (and the dates of foundation of the main pagodas in that province)’, Monumenta Serica 12, (1947): 36–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

16 Hou ‘Dali guo xiejing yanjiu’; Chong, Hou, ‘The Chinese origins of Dali esoteric Buddhism’, in Chinese and Tibetan esoteric Buddhism, ed. Bentor, Yael and Shahar, Meir (Leiden: Brill, 2017), pp. 389–401Google Scholar.

17 Tambiah, Stanley, World conqueror and world renouncer: A study of Buddhism and polity in Thailand against a historical background (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976), pp. 102–31CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Christie, Jan Wisseman, ‘Negara: Mandala and despotic state: Images of early Java’, in Southeast Asia in the ninth to fourteenth centuries, ed. Marr, David G. and Milner, A.C. (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1986), pp. 65–93Google Scholar; Hall, Kenneth R., A history of Southeast Asia: Maritime trade and societal development, 100–1500 (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2011), pp. 17–18Google Scholar.

18 Anderson, James A., ‘Man and Mongols, the Dali and Đại Việt kingdoms in the face of the northern invasions’, in China's encounters on the South and Southwest: Reforging the fiery frontier over two millennia, ed. Anderson, James A. and Whitmore, John K. (Leiden: Brill, 2015), pp. 109–10CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

19 Duan shi yu sanshiqi bu huimeng bei 段氏與三十七部會盟 碑 [Stele on the Alliance of the Duan Clan with the Thirty-Seven Tribes, 971]; see DCJP, vol. 10, p. 6.

20 Moritaka Matsumoto 松本守隆, ‘Chang Sheng-wen's Long roll of Buddhist images: A reconstruction and iconology’ (PhD diss., Princeton University, 1976); Li Yü-min 李玉珉, ‘Zhang Shengwen Fanxiang Juan zhi Guanyin yanjiu’ 張勝溫梵像卷之觀音研究 [Research on Guanyin in the Fanxiang juan of Zhang Shengwen], Dongwu daxue Zhongguo yishushi jikan 15: 227–64; Li Yü-min, ‘Fanxiang juan shijia fohui luohan ji zushi xiang zhi yanjiu 梵像卷釋迦佛會、 羅漢及祖師像之研究 [A study of the Long Roll of Buddhist Images: Śākyamuni, arhats, and patriarchs]’, Zhonghua Minguo jianguo bashi nian yishu wenwu taolunhui (Taipei: Guoli gugong bowuyuan, 1992), pp. 195–219.

21 Hou, ‘Nanzhao Dali hanchuan fojiao huihua yishu: Zhang Shengwen hui “Fanxiang juan” yanjiu 南詔大理漢傳佛教繪畫藝術—-張勝溫 繪《梵像卷》研究 [Painting arts of the Nanzhao/Dali hanchuan Buddhism: Studies on the Fanxiang Juan painted by Zhang Shengwen]’, Minzu yishu yanjiu (Feb. 1995): 64–7.

22 Both Chapin and De Mallmann viewed Dali-Kingdom Acuoye Guanyin iconography as originating in India and postulated the arrival of Indian images in Yunnan via Southeast Asia. Chapin traced its origin to the northeastern Pala dynasty and De Mallmann to the central-western region of Mahārāṣṭra or the southern port region of Mahabalipuram. Helen Chapin, ‘Yünnanese images of Avalokitesvara’, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 8, 2 (1944): 182; Marie Thérèse De Mallmann, ‘Notes sur les bronzes du Yunnan representant Avalokiteśvara’, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 14, 3–4 (1951): 572. Chapin postulated transmission through Śrīvijaya, while Angela Howard has attributed the origin of Acuoye Guanyin to eighth or ninth-century Champa; Angela F. Howard, ‘Buddhist monuments of Yunnan: Eclectic art of a frontier kingdom’, in Arts of the Sung and Yüan, ed. Maxwell K. Hearn and Judith G. Smith (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996), p. 233.

23 Bryson, ‘Between China and Tibet: Mahākāla worship and esoteric Buddhism in the Dali Kingdom’, in Bentor and Meir, Chinese and Tibetan esoteric Buddhism, p. 403.

24 Megan Bryson, ‘Nation founder and universal saviour: Guanyin and Buddhist networks in the Nanzhao and Dali Kingdoms’, in Buddhist encounters and identities across East Asia, ed. Ann Heirman, Carmen Meinert and Christoph Anderl (Leiden: Brill, 2018), pp. 106–7.

25 Howard, ‘Buddhist monuments’, pp. 233–4.

26 863 Yunnan zhi 雲南志 (Yunnan Gazetteer), YSC, vol. 2, pp. 78–80.

27 NZTZ, p. 142: ‘興宗王蒙邏盛 時，有一梵僧來自南開郡西瀾滄江外獸賧窮石村中，…’ 南開 is a mistake for 開南. Bryson, ‘Tsenpo’, p. 72, describes the Indian monk travelling ‘to tribal areas west of Dali’, but NZTZ states that it is the Lancang (Upper Mekong) River, which lies west of Kainan prefecture.

28 NZTZ, pp. 143–7, 133–5.

29 Yunnan Zhi, YSC, vol. 2, p. 57; Daniels, ‘Nanzhao’, pp. 202–11.

30 DCJP, pp. 4–5.

31 Daniels, ‘Nanzhao’, pp. 207–11.

32 Michael Aung-Thwin, Pagan: The origins of modern Burma (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1985), pp. 47–68; Michael Aung-Thwin and Matrii Aung-Thwin, A history of Myanmar since ancient times: Traditions and transformations (London: Reakton, 2012), pp. 82–3.

33 David P. Chandler, A history of Cambodia (Chiang Mai: Silkworm, 1994), pp. 34–49; George Cœdès, The Indianized states of Southeast Asia, ed. Walter F. Vella, trans. Susan Brown Cowing (Canberra: Australian National University, 1975), p. 175. Devarāja dates to ‘Indianisation’ in pre-Angkor Cambodia and Michael Vickery discusses the validity of equating raja with rule over a unified polity. Michael Vickery, Society, economics, and politics in pre-Angkor Cambodia: The 7th–8th centuries (Tokyo: Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies for UNESCO, Toyo Bunko, 1998), pp. 177–80.

34 According to Ku, Dvāravatī kings ruled as reincarnations of Bodhisattva Maitreya 彌勒菩薩 following Hindu/Buddhist beliefs, ‘Gudai Xianluo Zhuiheluo Wangguo de Dacheng Fojiao Jianguo Xinyang 古代暹羅墜和羅王國的大乘佛教建國信仰 [Dvāravatī 's Mahāyāna Buddhist conception of royalty]’, Rao Zongyi Guoxueyuan Yuankan 3 (2016): 245. Ku's term the Buddhist conception of royalty (fojiao diwang jianguo xinyang 佛教帝王建國信仰) rewords George Cœdès’ ‘the Indian conception of royalty’.

35 Cœdès, Indianized states, pp. 15–16, 175.

36 Bryson, ‘Tsenpo’, p. 74. Bryson notes the ‘king-buddha identification’ in Dali-era scriptures. Megan Bryson, Goddess on the frontier: Religion, ethnicity and gender in southwest China (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2017), pp. 46–7.

37 April D. Hughes, Worldly saviors and imperial authority in medieval Chinese Buddhism (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2021), p. 10.

38 Brahmajāla-sūtra 梵網經 mentions the requirement for undergoing this rite. See Kathy Cheng-mei Ku, ‘The Buddharāja image of Emperor Wu of Liang’, in Philosophy and religion in early medieval China, ed. Alan K.L. Chan and Yuet-Keung Lo (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2010), p. 274.

39 Bryson, ‘Images’, pp. 87–95. Ku claims that scenes of Mañjuśrī visiting Vimalakīrti in FXJ frames 59–62 represent Duan Zhixing receiving the Bodhisattva Pratimokṣa 菩薩戒 (bodhisattva-śīla) rite, but she provides no evidence to identify Duan Zhixing and does not explain the monastic figure bowing on the mat before Vimalakīrti. See NZTZ, pp. 96–8; Ku, Zhang, pp. 106–13.

40 Caitya also referred to a ‘pyramidal column containing the ashes of a deceased person, a sacred tree (especially a religious fig-tree) growing on a hall, temple, or place of worship’, Monier-Williams, A Sanskrit–English dictionary (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass; Oxford: Clarendon, 1963), p. 402; Tracy Miller, ‘Of palaces and pagodas: Palatial symbolism in the Buddhist architecture of early Medieval China’, Frontiers of History in China 10, 2 (2015): 242.

41 Mahasangha-vinaya 摩訶僧祗律 translated by Buddhabhadra and Faxian 法顯 (317–420) explains: ‘Those that have relics are named stupas. Those without relics are named caityas 有舍利者名塔，無舍利者名枝提.’ Another passage reads: ‘These various caityas can store Buddhas, canopies and objects for making offerings 此諸枝提得安佛, 、華蓋 、供養之具’, see Ku, Zhang, pp. 21–2, 46.

42 Caitya worship is not mentioned in Helen B. Chapin and Alexander C. Soper, A long roll of Buddhist images (Ascona: Artibus Asiae, 1972).

43 Ku, Zhang, pp. 1–33. According to Ku, Nāgārjuna's version of caitya worship emerged with the 3rd century Gaṇḍavyūha 入法界品 (The Excellent Manifestation Sūtra), and gained popularity from Eastern Wei (534–50) to Northern Qi (550–77). Cakravartins were reincarnations of Maitreya and Vairocana Buddhas transported to earth by caitya, and Ku cites Tang emperor Gaozong 唐高宗 (r. 649–83) constructing the Buddha Vairocana image at Fengxian Temple 奉先寺 and the Maitreya Buddha-king image at Huijian Cave 惠簡洞 near Luoyang as evidence for Chinese monarchs simultaneously constructing images of multiple Buddhas.

44 Qiu Xuanchong 邱宣充, ‘Nanzhao Dali de ta cang wenwu 南詔大理的塔藏文物 [Cultural artefacts stored in Nanzhao and Dali pagodas]’, in Nanzhao Dali wenwu 南詔大理文物 [Cultural artefacts from the Nanzhao and Dali kingdoms], ed. Yunnan sheng wenwu guanli weiyuanhui (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1992), pp. 123, 130; and Jiang Huaixiang 姜懷襄 and Qiu Xuanchong 邱宣充, Dali Chongsheng si santa 大理崇聖寺三塔 [The Three Pagodas at the Chongsheng Temple, Dali] (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1998), pp. 69–70.

45 Jiang and Qiu, Dali, pp. 23, 70.

46 According to Tracy Miller, they perform overlapping functions as repositories/relics (‘Palaces’, pp. 225–7); see also Tracy Miller, ‘Translating the ta: Pagoda, tumulus and ritualized Mahāyāna in seventh-century China’, Tang Studies 36, 1 (2018): 82–120.

47 Ronald Davidson, Indian esoteric Buddhism: A social history of the tantric movement (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002), pp. 123–31.

48 Ibid., pp. 126–7; Ku, Zhang, pp. 96–8.

49 Charles D. Orzech, ‘On the subject of abhiṣeka’, Pacific World: Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies, 3rd ser., 13 (2011): 113.

50 Bryson, ‘Southwestern’, pp. 75–6.

51 Translated by the Indian scholar Bodhiruci 菩提留支 at Luoyang in 508: ‘轉輪王者，有一種轉輪王，謂灌頂剎利統四邊畔，獨尊最勝護法法王，彼轉輪王七寶具足。’, in Taishō Shinshū daizōkyō 大正新修大藏經 [The Tripitaka in Chinese], ed. Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭, 100 vols. (Tokyo: Taishō Issaikyō Kankōkai, 1922–34), T9 (272) 330a 23–b10. Cited in Ku, Zhang, p. 97.

52 The label identified Longshun 隆順 as ‘mahārāja’, but the wording 土輪王 擔畀謙[慊]賤，四方請為一家 is enigmatic. Ku cites Jiang Yibin 蔣義斌 who surmises that the hitherto unknown term tu lunwang 土輪王 refers to a cakravartin and interprets 擔畀謙賤 to mean ‘takes responsibility for protecting the common people’, and 四方請為一家 to mean ‘advocates that all countries are equal and maintain brotherly relationships’ (NZTZ, pp. 54, 137, 152; and Ku, Zhang, pp. 96–7). Bryson (‘Tsenpo’, p. 74), suggests that it was a transliteration of Bstan pa'i rgyal mtshan, a Tibetan Buddhist term meaning ‘victory banner of the teachings’. A more literal translation would be: ‘the mahārāja, the local cakravartin (tu lunwang 土輪王) accepts responsibility for the good and the mean, and requests all four quarters come together as one family 擔畀謙[慊]賤，四方請為一家’. According to Alexander Soper (Long roll, p. 32), both titles ‘seem to have been intended to ascribe to the Nan Chao rulers several of the attributes of a Universal Monarch, cakravartin’, indicating that Longshun turned himself into a cakravartin. Ku (Zhang, pp. 96–7) argues that it shows first, that Longshun underwent the abhiṣeka rite before investiture, and second, cakravartins had various appellations.

53 Li Lincan, Nanzhao, p. 40; Matsumoto ‘Chang Sheng-wen’, pp. 194–8; Li Yü-min, ‘Fanxiang’, pp. 195–219; Bryson, ‘Southwestern’, pp. 67–96.

54 FXJ frame 55, p. 96; Ku, Zhang, pp. 92, 112–13.

55 FXJ, pp. 91, 96; identification as mahārāja is based on the portrayal of both figures half-naked in frames 41 and 55. See Ku, Zhang, pp. 92, 98.

56 I am grateful to Sanskrit scholar Dr Bill Mak 麥文彪 (pers. comm., 14 May 2022) for deciphering the three bīja characters (from left to right ABC) at the top of the brick in fig. 1. Mak reading from left to right suggests _īṃ (possibly sthrīṃ) for A on the left, āṃḥ for B in the centre and iḥ for C on the right. An anonymous reviewer suggests ṣlīṃ for A and ṣliḥ for C. Mak explains_īṃ for A as follows: ‘based on comparison with other similar bījas forwarded to me by Christian Daniels in 2021, the character appears to be ’sthrīṃ’. It may be related to a similar bīja letter transcribed as sideli 斯得利 in the Chinese Yujiayankou 瑜伽焰口. The anonymous reviewer justified his/her suggested reading of A saying, ‘there also appears to be a subscribed l in the center, but the marking above it is unclear’. In response, Mak commented ‘the character formation is imperfect. What appears to be ‘l’ is in fact the lower part of a conjunct consonant: ‘thr’, with the ‘r’ represented by an upward slant at the bottom like in many older varieties of pre-nāgarī scripts.’ Therefore ‘ṣlīṃ’ seems an unlikely reading. Regarding the central character B, Mak stated, ‘though also unclear, [it] appears to be ‘āṃḥ’. This is an impossible Sanskrit character with doctrinal significance in Esoteric Buddhism and is sometimes referred to as goten gusoku a ji 五點具足阿字 (‘a’ possessing five points/dots) in the Japanese Siddham tradition, as one of the five manifestations of the basic letter ’a’, representing Vairocana 大日如来 in the Vajradhātu 金剛界 (Diamond Realm), one of the two Maṇḍala systems. See Ōno Shunran 大野俊覧 ‘Ajikan no kenkyū 阿字観の研究 [Research on Ajikan]’, Mikkyō bunka 密教文化 85 (1968): 19; Fabio Rambelli, A Buddhist theory of semiotics: Signs, ontology, and salvation in Japanese esoteric Buddhism (London: Bloomsbury, 2013), p. 147; Lucia Dolce, ‘The embryonic generation of the perfect body: Ritual embryology from Japanese Tantric sources’, in Transforming the void: Embryological discourse and reproductive imagery in East Asian religions, ed. Anna Andreeva and Dominic Steavu (Leiden: Brill, 2016), p. 257. Esoteric Chinese Buddhists knew of this Sanskrit character by the 8th century CE. Amoghavajra described āṃḥ as 惡字(引聲) in his Chinese translation of the Bodhicitta Śāstra, Jingang Ding Yujia Zhong Fa Anouduoluo Sanmiao Sanputi Xin Lun 金剛頂瑜伽中發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心論, Taishō (1665), 32.574a. Gudrun Bühnemann has pointed out that the letter aṃḥ is used to represent Gaṇeśa in some Hindu tantric material. Although the combination of ṃ and ḥ is not possible according to Pāṇini, all kinds of unusual combinations of letters are found in tantra, including the kūṭākṣara combinations of syllables (lit. piled-up letter), which are impossible to pronounce (pers. comm., Bill Mak, 14 May 2022). Also, for bīja characters on a brick from the Sheli ta 舍利塔see Liebenthal, ‘Sanskrit inscriptions’, p. 33, plate VI.

57 DCJP, vol. 8, p. 56; Yang Ren 楊韌, ‘Dali guo Huoyanshan ta 大理國火焰山塔 [The Huoyanshan Pagoda of the Dali Kingdom]’, Maoqinxuan sanyi guzhi zhanggu 懋勤軒三迤故紙掌故 2 (2016): 2. Hulushan Pagoda is also known as Huoyanshan Pagoda.

58 Ku, Zhang, p. 103.

59 Li Chaozhen 李朝真, ‘Nanzhao Dali de guta 南詔大理的古塔 [Ancient pagodas in the Nanzhao and Dali periods]’, in Nanzhao Dali Wenwu, p. 125.

60 Duan Zhixing ascended the throne c.1172 and reigned for 28 years until 1200; Mu, Nanzhao, pp. 300–301.

61 Ku, Zhang, pp. 81–9.

62 According to Ku, this set of three deities derive from the Zhuanlun jingcang caves 轉輪經藏窟 at Dazu, Sichuan, and represent Yang Qi faction beliefs; Ku, Zhang, pp. 135–8.

63 Avalokiteśvara is the most popular figure in FXJ; a total of 21 frames are connected to this deity. See Li Yü-min, ‘Zhang Shengwen’, p. 228.

64 FXJ frame 135, p. 123. Miaoguang's short essay, dated 8 Feb. 1180, begins by explaining the origin of the universe according to Daoist doctrine, then describes Duan Zhixing descending to earth to save all sentient beings as a Buddha-king:

65 The Sui/Tang Buddha-kings Yang Jian 楊堅 (r. 581–604), and Wu Zhao 武曌 (r. 690–702), associated themselves with worldly saviours such as Maitreya Buddhas and Prince Moonlight 月光童子 to support their claims to rule as incarnations of buddhas/bodhisattvas. Hughes, Worldly saviors, pp. 25–60.

66 Ibid., pp. 61–79, 112.

67 Ku, Zhang, pp. 140, 148–51.

68 Daowu was a Chan monk adept of the Avalokiteśvara school. Identifying him as Faguang heshang 法光和尚 in FXJ frame 55, Ku (Zhang, pp. 145–8) surmises his deep involvement with Buddha-kingship worship of the Gaṇḍavyūha tradition.

69 The stele is named ‘Dali guo shi shi jiejing jianhui Gao Xing lanre zhuanzhu bei bing zu 大理國釋氏戒凈建繪高興蘭若篆燭碑並序 [Seal Script Candle-shaped Stele with Preface to the Construction and Painting of Gao Xing's Monastery by the Dali Kingdom Monk Jiejing]’; DCJP, vol. 10, p. 9: ‘奉福天王信，冢宰國公 。禪師釋玄凝, 慮欲德高天險， 威挫地平，帝里則恒顯飛龍之勢，….’. I follow the interpretation in Ku, Zhang, pp. 147–8.

70 The character has two readings, piào and miào. Read bjiawʰ in the reconstructed pronunciation of early middle Chinese in Edwin G. Pulleyblank, Lexicon of reconstructed pronunciation in early middle Chinese, late middle Chinese, and early Mandarin (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1991), p. 239. Therefore, it is interchangeable with the piào 驃 in ‘piaoxin Menglonghao 驃信蒙隆昊’, NZTZ, p. 137. Yet according to the Guang yun 廣韻 (Expanded Rhymes) of 1008, piào is also read as miào and means ‘white’; see Ding Du 丁度et al., compilers, Guangyun (Siku Quanshu: Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1987), vol. 8, 15a, pp. 236–688: 卷八，去聲下，笑三十五 曰：’妙 弥笑切…. 白色。’

71 Bryson, ‘Southwestern’, p. 85 n45. Bryson notes that Gao Miaoyin Hu 高妙音護 was Duan Zhixing's brother-in-law, being married to Duan Zhixing's sister, Duan Yizhang Shun 段易長順. See Dali guo gu Gao Ji muming bing xu 大理圀故高姬墓銘並序 in DCJP, vol. 10, p. 11.

72 Ku, Zhang, pp. 135–50.

73 This account is based on ‘Dali guo yuangong ta zhi bei ming bing xu 大理國淵公塔之碑銘並序 [Stele inscription with preface to the pagoda of Duke (Jiao) yuan of the Dali kingdom]’, written by Zhao You 趙佑 from Chuzhou 楚州 and dated 13 Sept. 1220, DCJP, vol. 10, pp. 10–11. It records Gao Guanyin Zheng 高觀音政 sending ‘a memorial [about Jiaoyuan's deeds] to the king for consideration’, which resulted in ‘the dressing of a stone and its erection as a memorial. [The king] ordered his minister [Zhao] You to write a general account [of Jiaoyuan's life and contributions for carving on the stone]’: ‘孫高太明，姪高善祐，雖妙年而義誘其衷，謂開國以來一人而已，可以將示來者。故俾公弟高觀音政檢校措意，如公弟扶危撫弱，防巢之義深者， 因申奏上聞，琢石立碑，命臣佑輒書其大略也。’. Bryson, ‘Southwestern’, pp. 67–8, 87–8.

74 Ku, Zhang, pp. 138, 145, 159.

75 This causation verse appears on the stūpa image's upper half, and the dedication runs along the brick's base; DCJP, vol. 8, p. 64. (I read ru 汝 in the third line as gu 故 following the Taishō Shinshū daizōkyō 大正新修大藏經 T. 699, 16: 801b 10–11.) The text records Jiaoyuan as the dedicatee, so the brick must date from after his demise in 1214, earlier than the attribution to the Yuan period in ibid. According to the ‘Dali guo Yuangong ta’ stele, ‘the disciples who succeeded him in the dharma erected a stūpa on the mountain treating him as a Tathāgata. The Emperor commanded that for worship the stūpa be known as “the region of reality”’, DCJP, vol. 10, p. 11: ‘其嗣法弟子起塔與山，辦事如法已。帝命禮號塔曰實際。

76 For more on the dependent-origination formula, see Dorothy C. Wong, Buddhist pilgrim-monks as agents of cultural and artistic transmission: The international Buddhist art style in East Asia, ca. 645–770 (Singapore: NUS Press, 2018), pp. 36, 46.

77 Ku identifies two other Yunnanese Chan masters who played a vital role in this temple between the 9th and 12th centuries in the undated stele, ‘Shuimu shan zhu zuyuanqi beiji 水目山諸祖緣起碑記 [A Record of the History of Various Patriarchs of Shuimu Mountain]’, DCJP, vol. 10, p. 141. The first is the Chan Master Puji Qingguang 普濟慶光禪師 from Yao'an 姚安 who ‘requested the opening of this mountain for all the ministers 為諸大臣請開此山’ in 813 (Yuanhe 8). Later, after the Area Command 都督府 at Yao prefecture 姚郡 invited him to open up the Xingbao 興寶 and Miaoguang 妙光 temples, he died shortly after returning to Shuimu Mountain. The second is Chan Master Jingmiaocheng 凈妙澄禪師 (née Gao 高). He was the father of Empress Dowager Renyi 仁懿 太后 and served in governance for over ten years. He entered the monkhood and resided at Shuimu Mountain until his death on 30 Aug. 1211. Judging from its wording and anachronistic information this stele dates from the post-Dali period. It cites a record compiled by Hanlin academician Su Da 翰林學士蘇達 to date the death of Jingmiaocheng. This ‘record’ was reputedly composed at the command of Duan Zhengchun 段正淳 (r. 1096–1108 文安皇帝), therefore it predates Jingmiaocheng's death in 1211 by over a century.

78 ‘Daliguo yuangong ta’, DCJP, vol. 10, pp. 10–11: ‘如此觀之，則文殊初心， 普賢行， 彌勒極果矣。其家譜宗系者，自觀音傳於施氏，施氏傳於道悟國師，道悟國師傳於玄凝，玄凝傳於公。’. Another undated and less reliable account appears in ‘Shuimu shan zhu zu yuanqi beiji’, DCJP, vol. 10, p. 141.

79 Mu, Nanzhao, p. 301. Fang Guoyu, ‘Dali Zhang Shengwen fan hua chang juan 大理張勝溫梵畫長卷 [Scroll of Buddhist images by Zhang Shengwen of Dali]’, in Fang Guoyu Wenji, vol. 2, p. 623.

80 ‘Chongjian Yangpai Xingbao si xuzhi changzhu ji 重建陽派興寶寺續置常住記 [Record of the reconstruction of the Xingbao Temple at Yangpai and additional establishment of endowment property]’, 8 May 1376: ‘雲南自蒙氏十三世，歷鄭趙楊三姓，未幾而復至段思平，有國以來好神武王，以高氏為大有功，而府郡州縣皆封高氏子孫，而名山大剎皆其所創也’, DCJP, vol. 10, p. 8.

81 ‘Hufa Minggong deyun bei moya 護法明公德運碑摩崖 [Cliff-stele of the Destiny of the Moral Virtue of the Dharma-Protecting Bright Duke]’, DCJP, vol. 10, p. 7, Top section lines 8–16.

82 Two passages in NY record these events:

1. 1.

   1. ‘In 1147 (dingmao year), the ministers of the state established the son of Pingguo 平國 [=Gao Shengtai 高升泰 son Gao Liangcheng 高量成] who possessed moral virtue [as Master of the State]. He yielded his position to Gao Shouzhen 高壽貞 who called himself the China Duke 中國公, and resided at Chuxiong 楚雄. When old, there were internal struggles among his sons and external rebellions, and he stepped down [as Master of the State] and went into the monkhood. He served as [Master of the State] for 40 years before his demise.’ 丁卯 [1147] 年….郡臣以平國 [高升泰] 子[高量成]有德，立之。又讓高壽貞，自號中國公，居楚雄。年老，諸子內爭外叛，禪位為僧，在位四十年薨’。, YSC, vol. 4, p. 786.

2. 2.

   2. ‘[Zhengkang emperor正康皇帝 (r. 1147–71)] ascended the throne in 1147 …. When Gao Liangcheng succeeded as [Master of the State], the reign year was changed to Taibao. In Taibao 2 Teng/Yong [Tengchong and Yongchang] rebelled, and Gao Mingqing quelled it. In [Taibao] 6, [Gao Liangcheng] suppressed the rebellious barbarians of the Thirty-Seven Tribes. On the 17th day, the Master of the State [=Gao Liangcheng] yielded his position to his nephew Shouzhen and retired to live at Chuxiong. After succession, Shouzhen was called the Chinese Buxie 中國布燮…宋紹興十七 [1147] 年即位， 改元永貞。高量成繼立，改元太寶。二年，騰永叛，高明清平之。六年討三十七部叛夷。十七日，國主讓位與姪壽貞，退居楚雄。壽貞立，號中國布燮。十五年，改龍興，又改聖明，建德。’ YSC, vol. 4, p. 787.

83 Fang, Yunnan shiliao, pp. 993–4.

84 Yang Shen 楊慎, ed. Hu Weixian 胡蔚羨, Zengding Nanzhao yeshi 增訂南詔野史 [Enlarged edition of the Unofficial History of Nanzhao], no date of publication, postscript by Yuan Jiagu 袁嘉穀 dated 1916, Shang juan 42a; YSC, vol. 4, p. 787.

85 Xingbao si dehua ming bing xu 興寶寺德化銘 並序 [Inscription of the transformation (of the populace) through moral power at the Xingbao Temple with a preface]. Xingbao Temple 興寶寺 was located at Dacun 大村, Guantun xiang 官屯 鄉in Yao'an county 姚安縣. The lyrics/song-word poem（ci辭）reads: ‘This temple is magnificent. Starting from Yang Zhen who losing his heart to the Dharma 法 completed it exhausting his wholehearted loyalty. This foundation of moral power has been constructed but has unexpectedly become severely dilapidated’: ‘偉哉此寺，肇自楊公。心亡於法，事竭於忠（其七）。創此德基，忽遭煽燬。’ DCJS vol. 10, p. 8 lines 30–31.

86 Yang Caizhao's full title was: ‘皇都崇聖寺粉團侍郎賞米黃繡手披釋儒才照僧錄闍梨楊才照奉命撰’. The Yang family were associated with esoteric ritual. Bryson (‘Images’, p. 102, n 49), points out that in 1136 the court monk Shi Zhaoming 釋照明 (d.u.), née Yang Yilong 楊義隆, copied a text on the rituals for inviting buddhas, bodhisattvas, vajra beings and others found only in Dali.

87 DCJS, vol. 10, p. 8, lines 14–16: ‘緝理之暇，澡德玄源。恨不手布黃金，幸齊肩於善施；日用留心白馬，庶接武於漢明。傷德本之未滋，痛斯藍之煽燬。遂乃 (二十五行)俟子來之眾，鳩心竟之工。妙啓新模，式仍舊貫。喜得上棟下宇，盡合大壯之宜；矢棘翬飛，崛起 斯干之勢。窮山水之幽致，溢煙霞之（二十六行） 佳趣。’.

88 Zaode 澡德 refers to the phrase zao shen er yu de 澡身而浴德 (lit. ‘Washing the body and bathing in moral virtue’), meaning to cultivate the mind and body to cleanse and purify the person. It appears in the Ruxing 儒行 [Conduct of the Scholar] chapter of the Liji 禮記. See James Legge, trans., Li Chi, Book of rites: An encyclopedia of ancient ceremonial usages, religious creeds, and social institutions (New York: University Books, 1967), vol. 2, p. 407.

89 Jing 竟 interchangeable with jing 鏡 in the Buddhist term xinjing 心鏡 (heart mirror, or heart of the mind).

90 Dazhuang 大壯 (Great Strength), the 34th hexagram in the Yijing [Book of Changes], is composed of thunder and rain above and a heaven-like round canopy for protection against rain. The phrase ‘putting a ridgepole at the top and rafters below the beams’ (shang dong xia yu 上棟下宇) refers to the edifice's basic structure. The commentary on appended phrases in the Yijing explains: ‘In remote antiquity, caves were dwellings, and the open country was a place to stay. The sages of later ages had these exchanged for proper houses, putting a ridgepole at the top and rafters below the beams in order to protect against the wind and rain. They probably got the idea for this from the hexagram Dazhuang [Great Strength].’ Translation from Richard John Lynn, The classic of changes: A new translation of the I Ching as interpreted by Wang Bi (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994), p. 346.

91 DCJS, vol. 10, p. 8, line 34–5.

92 An allusion to the Lunyu 論語: ‘Some parties in [the State of] Lu were going to take down and rebuild the Chang treasury. Min Ziqian said, ‘Suppose it were to be repaired after its old style; —why must it be altered and made anew?’ The Master said, ‘This man seldom speaks; when he does, he is sure to hit the point.’ Translation slightly modified from CC, vol. 1, p. 241.

93 Shici huifei 矢棘翬飛 comes from an ode titled Sigan 斯干 probably composed to celebrate the completion of a Western Zhou dynasty palace recorded in Shijing 詩經 [Book of Poetry], CC, vol. 4, p. 305. Huifei 翬飛 (a big bird flying displaying the magnificence of its feathers) refers to the ‘flying eaves and circle angle’ (feiyan yi jiao 飛檐翼角) of traditional Chinese architecture, emphasising the monastery's majestic appearance.

94 NY, pp. 786–7.

95 Xingbao si dehua ming bing xu DCJP, vol. 10, p. 7, bottom section，lines 22–3: ‘有公子高踰城光者，曾祖相圀明公高泰明，祖定遠將軍高明清，已備圀史。考牧公高踰城生者，定遠將軍之長子也。積剛柔 之粹德，鍾岳瀆之休靈。’

96 Xingbao si dehua min bing xu, DCJP, vol. 10, p. 8, lines 9–13. This stele describes the monarch as ‘selecting and entrusting [Gao Yucheng Guang] with the fiefdom's administration 百成之命’, alluding to Lunyu. ‘Line 22/ 居謙。鬱其千里之才，擢以百成之命。奉旨則仁聲已洽，下車則清風載興。簞食壺漿，歌來甦而滿路；逸民慠吏，輟考盤以登朝。乃煦（二十三行）/ 以秋陽，威以夏日。坐甘棠而聽訟，設庭燎以思賢。振平惠而字小人，弘義讓以勗君子。’ For the English translation, see CC, vol. 1, p. 210.

97 ‘Reputation for benevolence 仁聲’ appears in Mengzi 孟子, CC, vol. 2, p. 455. It implies that Yucheng Guang was well-known for exercising benevolent moral power 仁德, and that he transformed the customs of the people through instruction 教化.

98 Dan shi hu jiang 簞食壺漿 alludes to local people welcoming a conquering king's army, see Mengzi, CC, vol. 2, pp. 169–70.

99 This alludes to the good governance of the Duke of Shao, Lord of Yan 燕召公, who ‘decided lawsuits and administrative affairs’ sitting underneath a sweet pear-tree (甘棠 Pyrus betulaefolia). See Sima Qian司馬遷 Shiji 史記 (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2014), p. 1876; English translation in William H. Nienhauser, Jr. The Grand Scribe's Records, vol. 1 The hereditary houses of pre-Han China, part I (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006), p. 171.

100 ‘Men of worth’ 思賢 refers to the Lunyu Li Ren 里仁 chapter: 子曰：見賢思齊焉，見不賢而內自省也。‘The Master said, “When we see men of worth, we should think of equalling them; when we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves”.’ Translation from CC, vol. 1, p. 170.

101 From Shen Yue 沈約 (441–513 CE), Qi Gu Anlu Zhao Wang Bei 齊故安陸昭王碑, Xiao Tong 蕭統 (501–31), Wenxuan 文選 (Anthology of literature) (Hong Kong: Xianggang shangwu yinshuguan, 1960), p. 1282.

102 DCJP, vol. 10, p. 8, lines 6–8: ‘然狐猶首丘，葵（二十一行）能衛足，不忘本也，姑可忽諸！乃與中圀行成，獨興廟計。 自此散從釋衡，縮甲抑戰，公兄弟之力也。’

103 Reference to the Li Ji 禮記: ‘Dagong 大公 was invested with his state, [and had his capital] in Yingqiu 營丘; but for five generations [his descendants] were all taken back and buried in Zhou. A superior man has said, ‘For music, we use that of him from whom we sprang; in ceremonies, we do not forget the one to whom we trace our root’. The ancients had a saying, that a fox, when dying, adjusts its head in the direction of the mound [where it was whelped]; manifesting thereby [how it shares in the feeling of] humanity.’ Legge, Li Chi: Book of Rites, vol. 1, p. 131.

104 Kui neng wei zu 葵能衛足 alludes to the Zuozhuan 左傳: ‘Zhongni said, ‘The wisdom of Bao Zhuangzi was not equal to that of a sunflower. Though but a flower, it can protect its roots!’ Translation modified from CC, vol. 5, p. 404.

105 Bryson, ‘Tsenpo’, p. 71.

106 Hughes, Worldly saviors, pp. 6–9.

107 Ibid., pp. 25–60.

108 Tateishi Kenji 立石謙次, ‘Nanshōkoku kōhanki no ōken sisō no kenkyū: “Nanshō zuden” no saikaishaku’ 南詔國後半期の王権思想の研究−『南詔圖傳』の再解釋 [The ideology of royal power in the latter half of the Nanzhao period: A re-interpretation of the Nanzhao Tuzhuan], Tōyō gakuhō 85, 2 (2003): 51–85.

109 James C. Scott, The art of not being governed: An anarchist history of upland Southeast Asia (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009), pp. 1–63.

110 The Ming army eradicated nearly 200 years of resistance by these ‘bandits’ 賊 in 1574. Christian Daniels, ‘Upland leaders of the internal frontier and Ming governance of western Yunnan, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries’, in The transformation of Yunnan in Ming China: From the Dali Kingdom to imperial province, ed. Christian Daniels and Ma Jianxiong (London: Routledge, 2020), pp. 137–77.

111 DCJP, vol. 10, p. 7.

112 Tao Jing-shen, ‘The move to the south and the reign of Kao-Tsung (1127–1162)’, in The Cambridge history of China, vol. 5, part 1: The Sung dynasty and its precursors, 907–1279, ed. Denis Twitchett and Paul Jakov Smith (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), p. 704.

113 DCJP, vol. 10, p. 7, middle section: line 8.

114 ‘Hufa Minggong deyun bei moya’, DCJP, vol.10, p. 7, top section, lines 3–28: ‘俄然，四夷八蠻叛逆中國，途路如蝟毛，百姓離散，天不早命公，斯民墜矣。公於時領義兵，鄉 勇，掃除烽燧，開拓乾坤（二行），安州府於亂離之後，收遺民於虎口之殘，四海清肅，路不拾遺，…公（七行）以禮儀為衣服，以忠信為甲冑，以智勇為心肝，遠之來者，割地而封之，不歸化者興兵而討之，自是天下大化。…公爵地威楚府牟州石桑弄，地處威楚府西隅，去府五十里，地名徽溪。山林茂盛，是賊巢穴，採樵刈草，皆為賊所殘。公 歸創居處，建（十一行）宮室，賊散去不知其幾千里也。泉甘而山茂，公之居處。仲尼有云，仁智者也 。四夷八蠻，累會於此。八方群牧 ，累於此。雖（十二行）夷狄之深仇， 部曲之怨恨，到此善歸方寸， 惡竟冰釋 。’[Q]

115 Refers to Lunyu: ‘The Master said: ‘The wise find pleasure in water; the virtuous find pleasure in hills. The wise are active; the virtuous are tranquil. The wise are joyful, the virtuous are long-lived.’ English translation from CC, vol. 1, p. 192.

116 By the 3rd century, the original meaning of buqu as ‘military divisions and regiments’ had shifted to denote guest households 客戶 and other dependents who commended themselves to elite landowning families to evade taxation. See Rafe de Crespigny, ‘Wei’, in The Cambridge History of China, vol. 2: The six dynasties 220–589, ed. Albert E. Dien and Keith N. Knapp (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019), pp. 41–2; and Charles Holcombe, ‘Eastern Jin’, ibid., p. 107.

117 ‘All the herdsmen (qunmu 群牧)’ alludes to the Shujing 書經 [Book of history], translation from CC, vol. 3, pp. 34–5.

118 Dehua Stele, back: ‘忙凑軍將群牧大使小銀告身賞紫袍金帶楊瑳白奇’, YSC, vol. 2, p. 383. Dazong guan qunmun dashi 大惣管羣牧大使 (Superior Area Command Commissioner of the Herds) is included in: Ruan Fu 阮福, Diannan gu jinshi lu 滇南古金石錄 [Record of ancient metal-and-stone engravings in Yunnan] (Shanghai: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1936), p. 70.

119 Daniels, ‘Nanzhao’, pp. 198–203.

120 Lian Ruizhi 連瑞枝, ‘Tuqiu, daofei yu bianmin: yi Yunnan shanxiang yimin wei hexin de taolun 土酋, 盜匪與編民－以雲南山鄉夷民為核心的討論 [Ethnic leaders, bandits and registered populations: A discussion centred on the upland non-registered people of Yunnan]’, Lishi Renleixue Xuekan 13, 1 (2015): 46–51; and Daniels, ‘Upland leaders’, pp. 150–55.

121 Christian Daniels, ‘The Mongol-Yuan in Yunnan and protoTai/Tai’, Journal of the Siam Society 106 (2018): 204–43.

122 Anderson, ‘Man and Mongols’, pp. 111.

123 Anderson cites Duan shi yu shiqi bu huimeng bei of 971 as evidence; see ibid., pp. 110–11.