The Influence of Daoist Astrology on the Chinese Visual Representation of Tejaprabhā Buddha

Abstract

Tejaprabhā Buddha is the lord of the constellations and one of the most significant esoteric deities. Its image occurs in a number of Chinese visual presentations dating from the Tang Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty. The cult of Tejaprabhā was also disseminated to Korea and Japan and spawned related local visual creations. Tejaprabhā Buddha and his followers do not belong to the core group of Buddhist deities but are instead connected to the Daoist deities. This was most likely due to the fact that asterism held a greater significance to Daoists, for whom it was the most important of all the power sources derived from the cosmos. The focus of this study is on unearthing the Daoist astrological influences in the visual presentation and its adaptation of Tejaprabhā Buddha and the accompanied luminary deities in China. The cult of constellations and Tejaprabhā in the context of Chinese Esoteric Buddhism was constantly evolving under the influence of Daoism, gleaned by examining and comparing the quantity and visual variations of luminaries in the artworks of Tejaprabhā of different periods.