Buddhist kingship and governance in the Dali Kingdom, 1140s to 1200

Abstract

Like coeval classical kingdoms of Southeast Asia, the Dali Kingdom (937–1253 CE) of Yunnan adopted politico-religious ideologies for Buddhist kingship. Understanding Buddhist kingship as a medium for bolstering both spiritual and temporal authority, this article investigates if relations between twelfth-century Duan monarchs and their Gao ministers of state were the same as those depicted in post-thirteenth-century sources and scrutinises the argument for the eighteenth monarch Duan Zhixing (r.1173–1200) promoting himself as a dharmarāja to assert superiority over his Gao ministers. I reframe Duan-Gao relations from one of tension and conflict to one of collaboration, and postulate twelfth-century Duan-Gao relations then changing before the 1250s, when thirteenth century sources mention Gao domination. I argue for a working hypothesis of the dissemination of Duan Zhixing's politico-religious ideology dovetailing with administration at the kingdom's core areas. Dissemination was implemented by Gao ministers of state and monks from the royal Chongsheng Temple, and the process reveals a collaborative rather than confrontational relationship between Duan monarchs and the Gao clan.

Historians assume that the administrative structure of the Dali Kingdom founded by Duan Siping 段思平 (r. 937–44 CE) resembled that of the expansive and vigorous Nanzhao Kingdom (c.738–902). Nanzhao governance combined Sinitic bureaucracy with Southeast Asian-style ties of allegiance to local leaders,¹ but the Duan monarchs’ roles in administration remain understudied due to the lack of indigenous sources and evidence from coeval Song dynasty records. Compared to the vitality of Nanzhao monarchs, twelfth-century Duan kings appeared reclusive, leaving matters more earthly than divine to the elite Gao family 高氏. Mongol-Yuan and Ming sources recorded Duan-Gao relations as antagonistic. The Yuan History (a compilation completed in 1370) emphasised the Duan monarchs’ political ineptitude: ‘two brothers, Gao Xiang 高祥 and Gao He 高和, decided all affairs of state’.² According to Nanzhao yeshi (hereafter NY), a post-fifteenth-century unofficial history, ‘the Duan only held nominal rank’ after the death of the usurper Gao Shengtai 高昇太 (reigned c.1094–96), insinuating that Duan monarchs were puppets of their Gao ministers.³ It labels the Gao ‘masters of the realm’ 國主, a cognomen referring to Gao hereditary succession to the top administrative position of ‘minister of state’ 相國.⁴ However, twelfth-century epigraphical sources record Duan monarchs as emperors 皇帝, confirming their status at the apex of political power.⁵ Certain historians uncritically accept the NY's account of them as titular rulers⁶ without investigating the nature of Duan kingship. The eighteenth monarch Duan Zhixing 段智興 (r.1172/73–1200) commissioned his court painter Zhang Shengwen 張勝溫to draw a handscroll depicting images of rulers, arhats, buddhas, bodhisattvas, and dharma guardians. Completed in c.1180, this handscroll known as the Fanxiang juan 梵像卷 (hereafter FXJ) is both a masterpiece of Dali-kingdom Buddhist art and an important contemporary historical source for Zhixing's reign period. Drawing on evidence from this handscroll, Megan Bryson argues that Duan Zhixing projected himself as a dharmarāja/cakravartin to ‘elevate his position above the Gao officials whose real political and military power exceeded his own’.⁷ This article investigates if twelfth century Duan-Gao relations were the same as those depicted in post-thirteenth-century sources and scrutinises the argument for Duan Zhixing promoting himself as a dharmarāja to assert superiority over his Gao ministers. Questions addressed include: Did the Gao truly arrogate political and military authority from the Duan for 150 years after 1096? Were Duan monarchs merely figureheads excluded from governance?

Contemporary epigraphical, Buddhist scriptural and visual sources mostly date from the tenth to twelfth centuries and concern royal and elite families. After the death of Duan Zhengxing 段正興, his son Duan Zhixing ascended the throne, later assuming the title ‘Lizhen emperor 利貞皇帝’.⁸ Behind the regnal change lies a hitherto little-studied aspect of royal governance. Zhixing's succession stands at the crossroads between two different kings and marks the appearance of firmer evidence for rulers as Buddhist monarchs and the dissemination of their politico-religious ideology. Bryson's argument for Zhixing projecting himself as a dharmarāja/cakravartin raises the issue of Buddhist kingship (discussed below), and I understand the deification of monarchs as a politico-religious ideology for governance, not as a philosophical or religious façade for insulating the monarch from the running of the polity. I investigate the reasons behind the promotion of Zhixing as a Buddhist monarch and analyse Duan-Gao relations within the context of the ‘internal struggles and external rebellions’ from the 1140s, and the succession wrangles among the Gao for the title Minister of State from c.1172.⁹ I begin by discussing the nature of Dali kingship within the framework of Southeast Asian historical experience. Next, I verify the typology of Buddhist monarchy promoted by Zhixing and elucidate the mechanism employed for spreading the court's politico-religious ideology. Finally, to connect ideological dissemination with governance in a turbulent age, I demonstrate how the Gao clan's temple-building projects were a stabilising influence on local society.

Dali Kingdom and Southeast Asia

Nanzhao court elite projected their kingdom's image as a small Sinitic state following classical Chinese tradition in the 766 Dehua Stele. However, by the ninth century it had grown into a major regional power no longer dependent on outside protection from the Tang and Tibetans. Nanzhao and Dali-kingdom monarchs embraced Confucian notions of governance, indicating its practice alongside Buddhist kingship.¹⁰ Dali-kingdom authors drew on Confucian texts to write scriptural and epigraphical texts demonstrating great familiarity with Sinitic ethics and values. Given the need to train bureaucrats it is hardly surprising that the Dali kingdom imported Sinitic texts from the Southern Song through the horse trade. The 1173 list of books ranged from Chinese classics, to works on history, rhyming, and medicine in addition to sūtras.¹¹ Little information concerning Confucianism in Dali Kingdom governance is available, but the continuation of a Nanzhao-style bureaucracy confirms its practice, suggesting ideological hybridity.

The self-representation of Nanzhao kingship changed with the eleventh monarch Shilong 世隆 (r. 859–77) declaring himself ‘emperor’ (huangdi 皇帝) and a new orientation towards Buddhism as a ruling ideology. Evidence for the Nanzhao kings’ adoption of Buddhism appears in 899 Nanzhao tuzhuan 南詔圖傳 (hereafter NZTZ), a visual and textual account of the bodhisattva Acuoye Guanyin 阿嵯耶觀音 (Ajaya Avalokiteśvara, ‘Invincible’ Avalokiteśvara) who reputedly helped found the kingdom.¹² The practice of esoteric Buddhist kingship adopted from Tang China during the late Nanzhao period continued at the Changhe 長和 (903–27), Tianxing 天興 (927–28), Yining 義寧 (928–37) and Dali 大理 courts. The evidence for esoteric Buddhism comes from a text found only in Yunnan, Xuanjian's 玄鑒 908 sub-commentary on Amoghavajra's (Ch. Bukong 不空; 705–74), a translation of the Renwang huguo boreboluomiduo jing 仁王護國般若波羅蜜多經 (Prajñāpāramitā Scripture for Humane Kings to Protect Their States) known as Huguo sinan chao 護國司南抄 (Compass to Protecting the State Sub-commentary, hereafter Sub-commentary).¹³ This scripture justified kings ruling as Buddhist monarchs; the Dali court promoted Buddhism as an ideology, and practised associated rituals represented in dhāraṇī ‘State-Protecting Precious Pillars 護國珤幢’.¹⁴ An early thirteenth-century dhāraṇī pillar erected at Kunming's Kṣitigarbha Temple 地藏寺 to honour the prominent Gao male, Mingsheng 高明生, corroborates the elite practice of esoteric Buddhism.¹⁵ Hou Chong's studies trace the scriptural origins of Nanzhao/Dali kingdom exoteric and esoteric Buddhism to medieval China.¹⁶

Yet Dali political organisation fits models of early Southeast Asian mandala states better than the centralised bureaucracy of the Tang-Song eras. A mandala is a sacred diagram of the cosmos geometrically constructed with encompassed circles and rectangles in the Hindu-Buddhist tradition. Models of mandala states encompassed a cosmological core at Mount Meru, the residence of gods and the buddhas, surrounded by continents on four sides. Therefore, kings established states by positioning subordinate populations around the court and invoked links with celestial power to justify their authority over subordinate peoples. The definition of political power through centres rather than peripheries inhibited the administrative integration of subordinate populations.¹⁷

The Duan kings incorporated leaders of important clans like the Gao, Yang and Dong into the mandala's centre by issuing Sinitic-style official appointments, while subordinating leaders of diverse ethnic groups at the peripheries through alliances. Clan leaders administered ‘semi-autonomous militarized administrative units’, only loosely allied with the centre.¹⁸ This twelfth-century system of political organisation experienced instability at both its centre and periphery. For instance, the Thirty-Seven Tribes in northeast Yunnan allied with Duan monarchs since 971¹⁹ revolted during the first half of the twelfth century and rebellions broke out in Yongchang 永昌 and Tengchong 騰衝 at the southwestern periphery in c.1150, followed by intra-Gao warfare at the centre in the 1170s. These disturbances demonstrate the limitations of royal authority and formed the backdrop to the promotion of Duan Zhixing as a Buddhist monarch.

Apart from commonalities of political organisation, the transmission of iconographic styles is another rationale for understanding Dali history within the framework of Southeast Asia. Art historians Moritaka Matsumoto and Li Yü-min argue that the Dali Kingdom's Buddhist sculpture and painting styles adhered to Tang-Song models,²⁰ while Hou Chong attributes Dali religious art's origins to Chinese rather than Indian and Southeast Asian sources.²¹ Yet, Buddhist images of the Dali era include iconography not found in China. Art historians hold divergent views concerning the ultimate source of the iconography of Acuoye Guanyin, proposing various places of origin from India to Southeast Asia, but concur on its introduction to Nanzhao from Southeast Asia.²² Bryson maintains that Dali monarchs adopted Mahākāla 大黑天神 as a tutelary deity from China, and represented it as ‘Indian to align themselves with Buddhism's source’.²³ Dali Buddhism relied on Chinese scriptures and visual materials to represent religious networks linking Yunnan to India, and perpetuated legends of Acuoye Guanyin arriving through ‘multiple channels’. Bryson explains this incongruence by arguing that Nanzhao-Dali elites adopted a politico-religious ideology attributing the ultimate authority of Buddhist emperors as coming ‘from the Buddha's birthplace’ and not from authorisation by China.²⁴

Angela Howard hypothesises the stylistic transmission of Acuoye Guanyin images from Champa to Yunnan during the eighth to ninth centuries based on similar traits, including slender waists, a frontal and rigid stance, and the arrangement of clothing and ornaments.²⁵ Nanzhao-Dali kingdom sources do not document communication with Southeast Asia, however, other than military campaigns against the Pyū in 832, and Minuo Guo 彌諾國, Michen Guo 彌臣國, Kunlun Guo 崑崙國, Water Zhenla Guo 水真臘國 and Land Zhenla Guo 陸真臘國.²⁶ Evidence for the possible transmission of Acuoye Guanyin worship from Southeast Asia appears in 899 in NZTZ. In this account, Acuoye Guanyin in the guise of a wonder-working, proselytising Indian monk 梵僧 makes seven transformations to convert the Nanzhao people to Buddhism. The fourth to sixth transformations recount proselytisation at the Nanzhao mandala's southern periphery administered from the walled-city of Kainan 開南城. In the fourth transformation, the Indian monk ‘came from beyond the Lancang [Upper Mekong] River, which lies west of Kainan prefecture 開南郡, arriving in Qiongshi village 窮石村 in Shou Dan 獸賧 [Wild Animal Area] when Luo Sheng 羅盛 reigned as King Xingzong 興宗王.’²⁷ At Qiongshi, and in the first village visited in the fifth transformation, local people lacked the good karmic roots necessary for embracing Buddhism, and even attempted to murder the Indian monk. The subjects of Song Linze宋林則, the Great Leader of the Heni 和埿大首領, had better karmic connections. In the sixth transformation, the Indian monk manifests himself as Acuoye Guanyin among the Mang Man 茫蠻 peoples in the ‘Circuit of the Mang [kings]’ 忙道) governed by the Great Leader Li Mangling 大首領李忙靈, and transforms himself into an old man who casts an Acuoye Guanyin statue by melting down the bronze drum beaten by Li Mangling to assemble his people. NZTZ illustrates the statue and the bronze drum separately placed on mountain ledges, with the statue of Acuoye Guanyin positioned higher than the drum, which is deliberately turned on its side to symbolise the triumph of Buddhism. Li Mangqiu 李忙求, a late-ninth-century Mang Man leader, memorialised Emperor Longshun 隆舜 (r. 877–97) in 897, reporting that the Acuoye Guanyin bronze image cast by the Indian monk and Li Mangling's drum roughly 200 years earlier still lay on the mountain.²⁸

Other sources do not corroborate Acuoye Guanyin worship as early as the second Nanzhao monarch Luosheng who established a walled-city at Yongchang c.712–28, but the 897 report which confirms the Acuoye Guanyin bronze image on a mountain in the southern periphery bears credibility because of its proximity to the 899 commissioning of the NZTZ. Kainan administered the Upper Mekong area through walled-cities at Liuzhuihe 柳追和, Weiyuan 威遠, Fengyi 奉逸 and Lirun 利潤. The last three governed ‘ten tribes of the Heichi [Black Teeth] and other stock 黑齒等類十部落’ whose distribution reputedly extended south to Mueang Sat, Chiang Rai and Luang Phrabang.²⁹ According to the text on the front of the Dehua Stele, Nanzhao established ‘a city (du 都) to block the strategic point at Yinsheng 銀生 in the territory of the Heizui [Black Mouths] 黑觜之鄉’, and the general-in-charge recorded on the back of the stele verifies administration of Kainan before c.766.³⁰ Nanzhao constructed walled-cities at Yinsheng and Kainan to defend the Lake Erhai centre against attacks from the Upper Mekong region. I have argued that peoples south of Kainan known as Heizui 黑觜, Heichi 黑齒 and Mang Man were northern Mon-Khmer speakers.³¹ Melting down a bronze drum to cast a statue of Acuoye Guanyin probably symbolises the Mang Man abandoning their former political and religious organisations to integrate with the centre through Acuoye Guanyin worship. Apart from the fourth, fifth and sixth, all other sections of the NZTZ text mention the Indian monk active at the Lake Erhai centre, suggesting Acuoye Guanyin worship entered from the Upper Mekong area. Given the wide distribution of Mon-Khmer speakers over mainland Southeast Asia and their political prominence in Laos and Thailand before thirteenth-century polity building by Tai speakers, the NZTZ account supports Howard's hypothesis for the transmission of Acuoye Guanyin iconography from Southeast Asia.

Another commonality with coeval Southeast Asian classical kingdoms was politico-religious ideologies for deifying monarchs as Buddha-kings (Buddharāja 佛王). Buddhist kingship in Dali, Angkor (802/889–c.1440) and Pagan (c.950–1300) originated from Indic concepts of monarchs ruling as cakravartins (universal rulers/wheel-turning kings), devarāja (God-kings) and dharmarājas 護法法王 / 法王 (righteous rulers). These concepts deified and legitimatised the Pagan kings, forming the politico-religious and moral ideology for royal succession and settlement of disputes. Michael Aung-Thwin emphasised the Buddha-kings’ role as charismatic min laung (immanent kings) emerging to save people by restoring order to society in times of disruption.³² The terms cakravartin and devarāja appeared in ninth-century Angkor inscriptions, and Buddha-king c.1190.³³ Art historian Ku Cheng-mei 古正美argues that Mahāyāna Buddhist kingship appeared earlier in Dvāravatī polity/ies (c.550–900),³⁴ showing that small dynasts practised Hindu-Buddhist kingship before the emergence of classical kingdoms. George Cœdès conceptualised the Indianisation of ancient Southeast Asia ‘as the expansion of an organised culture founded upon the Indian conception of royalty’, ‘characterised by Hinduist or Buddhist cults’, and he identified the Cambodian king Jayavarman VII (1181–1218) as ruling Angkor as both Buddha-king and cakravartin.³⁵ Despite differences in transmission routes to the Dali state via China and Pagan or Angkor from South Asia, all shared the concomitant politico-religious ideology of Buddhist kingship during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

Duan Zhixing's kingship

The Nanzhao-Dali practice of esoteric Buddhism including Renwang huguo bore boluomiduo jing-style state protection rites was confined to the court, but its application for governance remains unclear. Bryson identifies the Nanzhao monarch Longshun as ‘embodying an esoteric form of Buddhist kingship’, but she does not discuss administration.³⁶ To establish that Buddhist kingship functioned as an institution for governance it is necessary to prove dissemination of concomitant politico-religious ideology from the centre to the periphery. In examining Duan Zhixing's reign, I attempt to go beyond monastics and officials equating rulers with buddhas and bodhisattvas to investigate if bolstering the ruler as a Buddhist monarch dovetailed with the Gao-led administration. Clarifying the monarch's role in administration will deepen our understanding of Buddhist kingship as an institution for governance in both Sinitic and non-Sinitic classical Southeast Asian kingdoms. Below I investigate evidence for Duan Zhixing as a Buddhist monarch and examine his relationship with Gao ministers of state in the following section.

Buddhist kingship conceptualised monarchs as human reincarnations of buddhas and bodhisattvas descending from the Tus̙ita heavens to propagate the religion. One benchmark for identifying Buddha-kings was their dual role as cakravartins and dharmarājas, or protectors of the faith. Buddha-king was not merely a royal honorific; its concomitant ideology held monarchs as the fount of all moral conduct, and moral exemplars for their subjects by governing according to the Ten Wholesome Practices (shishan 十善).³⁷ Like lay Buddhists, Buddha-kings had to follow the rules of moral conduct (śīla) prescribed for bodhisattvas, and only qualified to rule as monarchs after undergoing the Bodhisattva pratimokṣa 菩薩戒 rite,³⁸ possibly included in the esoteric rites related to state protection performed at the Dali court from its foundation.³⁹

The second benchmark is the construction and worship of caitya. Although this term refers to funerary mounds or stūpas in India,⁴⁰ in Buddhist kingship caityas conveyed buddhas or bodhisattvas who have come down from the Tus̙ita heavens to rule as Buddha-kings and save people. For this reason, their adulation constituted an essential element of buddha-king worship. China knew these different functions of caitya (zhiti 支提/枝提) and stūpa (浮圖/浮屠/佛圖/塔) through Chinese translations.⁴¹ Past scholars have not investigated caitya worship in Yunnan,⁴² and Ku Cheng-mei is the first and only scholar to hypothesise its practice by Duan Zhixing. Because bricks mould-stamped with stupa images datable to the Dali and Ming eras have been discovered, I briefly discuss her hypothesis. Ku traces caitya construction to Nāgārjuna's doctrine of kings ruling as human incarnations of the Buddha in a cakravartin's body, thereby justifying adulation of their images as Buddha-kings.⁴³ Ku postulates the Chongsheng Temple functioning as the royal temple, therefore the temple's Three Pagodas represent caitya, not stūpas. She classifies the ninth-century 69-metre-tall Thousand League Pagoda (Qianxun ta 千尋塔) as a Mahācaitya, akin to Amarāvati in Andhra Pradesh, India, and Borobudur in Central Java, Indonesia. Archaeologists have recovered 153 Buddha images, sūtras and other artefacts from the Thousand League Pagoda,⁴⁴ but only one Buddha image from the two smaller 42-metre-tall northern and southern pagodas.⁴⁵ Ku cites FXJ frame 81 labelled ‘Precious pagoda with Buddha relics 舍利寶塔’ to prove caitya worship during Duan Zhixing's reign. She interprets the stūpa-shaped building elevated in the air as a caitya because it emits rays from both sides, even radiating a golden glow from its finial. The monarch, monks, military generals, female attendants, and laity assembled reverently in a circle beneath signify caitya worship by all people within the realm. In the Sinitic cultural sphere pagodas 塔 doubled as caitya and stūpa.⁴⁶ Though evidence for the Three Pagodas as caitya remains weak, late Nanzhao Buddhist kings undoubtedly sponsored large-scale architectural projects for building caityas, stūpas and temples.

The third benchmark is the ancient Indian coronation rite of abhiṣeka (guanding 灌頂), which identifies kings with Buddhas in the Indian esoteric Buddhist system.⁴⁷ This initiation rite consecrates individual disciples and transforms monarchs into mahārājas, ritually justifying their human incarnation as Buddha-kings, thereby authenticating their investiture as secular rulers.⁴⁸ The abhiṣeka constituted part of the state-protecting system of esoteric Buddhism promoted by the Indian monk Amoghavajra 不空 in Tang China,⁴⁹ and Dali monarchs modelled their esoteric Buddhist kingship on Amoghavajra's version.⁵⁰

Chinese Buddhists knew the need for cakravartins to undergo the abhiṣeka rite through the early-sixth-century translation of Dasazhe niganzi suo shuo jing 大薩遮尼乾子所說經 (Mahāsatya-nigrathaputra-vyākarana sūtra):⁵¹

One type of cakravartin known as a guanding chali 灌頂剎利 rules the four quarters, and [he] alone is the blessed one [referring to Buddha], the all-conquering dharmarāja. He is a cakravartin replete with the sapta ratna [seven precious jewels].

NZTZ and FXJ include three visual representations of guanding chali or ‘consecrated kṣatriya’ (chali partially transliterates kṣatriya). In two instances, texts accompanying abhiṣeka rite illustrations label the monarch mahārāja 摩訶羅嵯. Ku concludes that Nanzhao embraced Avalokiteśvara worship as its state religion because the first and earliest illustration portrays its twelfth monarch Longshun barefoot with his hair in a topknot about to receive purification water and be pronounced mahārāja before an Avalokiteśvara statue.⁵² Her identification of FXJ frame 55 Mahārāja as Duan Zhixing performing the abhiṣeka rite is novel. Moritaka Matsumoto, Li Lincan and Li Yü-min identify this figure as Longshun, whose name appears in frame 103.⁵³ Ku presents no evidence to support her claim for Duan Zhixing,⁵⁴ though this frame could be interpreted as invoking mahārāja models of kingship embodied in images of Longshun or Duan Zhixing as FXJ's sponsor. Ku identifies the third unlabelled instance (FXJ frames 39–41) as a ‘consecrated kṣatriya 灌頂剎利’.⁵⁵ More concrete evidence for royal association appears in the Buddhist talisman 符 drawn in gold ink on the chest of a Buddha and over all petals of the giant lotus flower surrounding him in frames 39–41. This talisman is also mould-stamped on stūpa bricks from the Hulushan Pagoda 葫蘆山塔 in Eryuan County 洱源縣 and bears three bīja characters (possibly including āṃḥ and sthrīṃ),⁵⁶ two lines in Chinese, and a dhāraṇī in Sanskrit (fig. 1).⁵⁷ The Chinese reads:

The fifteenth day, first month, seventh year of Dabao/

大寶七年歲次乙亥正月十五日/

The Dabao emperor and benefactors, sentient beings in the dharmadhātu.

大寶皇帝及施主法界有情

The date 18 February 1155 proves the brick's firing in Duan Zhengxing's reign, thereby refuting Ku's postulation of the talisman's invention during Duan Zhixing's reign for writing the word dharma (fofa 佛法 or fa法).⁵⁸ A similar dedication to sentient beings in the dharmadhātu appears in FXJ frame 78. The Hulushan brick's dating to the reign of Duan Zhixing's father verifies earlier usage, but its association with the abhiṣeka rite remains unclear. The shape of Hulushan Pagoda closely resembles that of Chongsheng Temple's two small pagodas,⁵⁹ so if this talisman concerns coronation rites, Hulushan Pagoda may have been related to Chongsheng Temple's Buddha-king worship.

No evidence exists to verify that a new version of Buddhist kingship centred on Maitreya and Vairocana replaced Avalokiteśvara worship after the reins of power passed from Duan Zhengxing to Duan Zhixing c.1172/73.⁶⁰ According to Ku, this new version derived from the Yangqi faction (Linji sect) 臨濟宗 楊岐派 around the reign of the first Southern Song emperor, Zhao Gou 趙構 (1127–62). Though FXJ frames 9, 78, 79 and 80 corroborate Ku's identification of the central figure in cave 4 Shibao shan 石寶山as a royal Maitreya,⁶¹ no scriptural evidence substantiates her assertion for the Yangqi faction grouping Maitreya, Mañjuśrī, and Samantabhadra as a set in cave 4.⁶² Nevertheless, the numerous Avalokiteśvara images in FXJ underline this deity's popularity during Duan Zhixing's reign.⁶³ There is insufficient evidence to prove that a shift from Avalokiteśvara toward Maitreya and Vairocana worship accompanied the transition from Duan Zhengxing to his son. The data shows Duan Zhixing reigning as a Buddha-king in the esoteric tradition, but it is unclear if the point d'appui of his politico-religious ideology differed radically from his forefathers. We can only conclude that Duan Zhixing invoked a diversity of deities, perhaps even emphasising Maitreya worship, but it was not the sole one.

Figure 1. Buddhist talisman on stupa brick from Hulushan Pagoda in Eryuan County, Dali. Author's rubbing of a brick in personal collection.

In 1180, the Dali monk Miaoguang 妙光 celebrated Duan Zhixing's reign as marking the emergence of a Buddha intent on ‘painstakingly saving’ sentient beings,⁶⁴ insinuating that by commissioning the FXJ Zhixing sponsored a large-scale project to bolster his identity as a Buddhist monarch. ‘Painstakingly saving’ sentient beings alludes to Zhixing as an incarnation of the saviour deity Maitreya in an age of declining dharma.⁶⁵ Miaoguang possibly refers to Zhixing as a saviour striving to restore stability because of intermittent unrest in the kingdom since the 1140s. Given the precedent of the first Sui emperor Yang Jian using his position as cakravartin to justify military action to reunite China and propagate Buddhism,⁶⁶ likewise Duan Zhixing's mobilisation of Gao ministers of state to quell disorder and propagate Maitreya worship accorded with Sinitic Buddha-kingship.

Dissemination of Buddhist kingship

If Duan Zhixing created a politico-religious ideology to restore stable governance, how did he disseminate it? The process was complex, requiring repackaging of the doctrine by Chan masters, training monks, and building temples to function as bases for proselytisation. Its success depended on coordination with Gao ministers of state and royal temple monks. Because the Chongsheng Temple served as the headquarters for Buddha-kingship Ku Cheng-mei postulates its renovation by successive post-ninth-century monarchs, even suggesting that Zhang Shengwen painted the FXJ there.⁶⁷ In this section, I draw on epigraphical sources to clarify this temple's function in disseminating Duan Zhixing's ideology and to investigate the role of Chan masters in proselytisation.

Headquarters of state Buddhism

Given its history of royal patronage, it is hard to believe that the Chongsheng Temple was not the headquarters for state-sponsored Buddhism, but it was a headquarters with a muted voice, and echoes of it remain elusive due to the loss of records. However, if the Three Pagodas in the Chongsheng functioned as caitya for transporting Buddha-kings, then this fact alone would verify royal benefaction. Table 1 assembles the epigraphical evidence for Chongsheng as the headquarters for state Buddhism and for housing monks who placed Buddhist politico-religious ideology at the service of governance.

Table 1 Inscriptions concerning Buddhism, 1000–c.1172

Notes and sources

^a Jiang and Qiu, Dali Chongsheng Temple Santa, p. 83, and photo no. 165 TD 上 ： 62.

^b Cyclical characters indicating the year of copying are difficult to date. The handwritten note 手記 records: ‘Copied in the summer months of Shengzhi 6, a jiayin year at the time of Anguo’ (時安國聖治六載甲寅歲朱夏之月抄). Anguo lasted from 903 until 909, but the closest jiayin year is 894; then, 954, 1014, 1064, 1124, 1194, 1254. The Shengzhi reign remains uncorroborated with other sources. See Yunnan Sheng Wenshi Yanjiuguan 雲南省文史研究館, ed., Yunnan Shufa Shi Tulu 雲南書法史圖錄 (Kunming: Yunnan meishu chubanshe, 2014), vol. 2, p. 95.

^c The superscription 題款 on the hand-copy of Huguo sinan chao. I read shao 少as a mistake for sha沙; ibid.

^d The original is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Text from Li Lincan, Nanzhao Daliguo de xinziliao zonghe yanjiu (Taibei: National Palace Museum, 1982), plate I (B) (p. 69), and pp. 19–21.

^e Yanbi 彥賁, literally ‘the worthy decorator’, is an official title. An inscription records Zhang Xingming 趙興明with the title Yanbi erecting a commemorative Vijaya Pillar for his deceased mother in 1195 (Yuanheng 元亨11); see DCJP, vol. 10, p. 9 middle section.

^f The archaeological report interprets Chengdu 成都 as a toponym; see Jiang and Qiu, Dali Chongsheng Temple Santa, p. 84. An alternative interpretation is to take du 都as meaning elegant or magnificent, ‘and personally prepare vessels for the ritual offerings (zuo zu 作俎) and make it magnificent’. It is used in this sense in the Odes of Zheng in the Shijing 詩經《詩經・ 鄭風》：‘有女同車, 顏如舜華。將翺將翔，佩玉瓊琚。彼美孟姜，洵美且都 ‘There is the lady in the carriage [with him], with a countenance like the flower of the ephemeral hedge-tree. As they move about, the beautiful qiong-gems of her girdle-pendant appear. That beautiful eldest Jiang is truly admirable and elegant.’ English trans. slightly revised from CC, vol. 4, pp. 136–7.

^g Jiang and Qiu, Dali Chongsheng Temple Santa, p. 83. and photo no. 166. TD 外 1.

^h Ibid., p. 84.

ⁱ Text from Li Lincan, Nanzhao, plate II (G) pp. 73, and p. 26.

Table 1 verifies state management c.908–1194. Records on paper (no. 2), silk (no. 3), bronze (nos. 1, 4 and 6) and iron (no. 5) demonstrate court issuance of official titles to monks and the deployment of craftsmen for repairs and restoration. In the earliest case, the monk Xuanjian (active 903–927), author of Sub-commentary, held the titles ‘Recipient of the Purple Robe, Master of Exegesis, Abbot of the Chongsheng Temple, and Monk of Inner Offerings’ (no. 1) manifesting close connections with royalty. Xuanjian's appointment as head of esoteric Buddhism probably indicates royal sponsorship of Avalokiteśvara worship. The second case dated 16 July 1000, involves Shi Zhen, and his title, ‘Erudite at the Chongsheng Temple’, and appellation tongtianren (a wise and far-sighted person) indicates association with the court (no. 2). The third case of two master craftsmen surnamed Li who played a role in the 1141 renovations bespeaks the court's mobilisation of artisans. Li Zhucai held the title of Metallurgical Master (jinshi 金師) and yanbi 彥賁 (literally ‘the worthy decorator’), while Li Shenglong oversaw construction of four new iron pillars and repair of a canopy; and was a departmental clerk (shengshi 省事) who superintended the repairs (no. 4). Given the capacity to mobilise artisans, I conjecture that the Bronze Avalokiteśvara image dedicated to princes of the blood by Duan Zhengxing 1147–72 now held by the San Diego Museum of Art (no. 6) must have been cast by artisans serving the state.

Table 1 also demonstrates Gao administration of state-sponsored twelfth-century Buddhism. First, Gao Shengtai's son Taiming 高泰明 (d.u.) presented a copy of the Vimalakirti Sūtra to Song envoys on 14 January 1119 ‘to wish them well on their return [journey] to court’. Yin Huifu, abbot of the Foding Temple, hand-copied this sutra demonstrating that monks aided diplomacy with the Song (no. 3). Second, Gao Taiming, in his capacity as Duke Pingguo, issued orders to the departmental clerk to commence renovations in 1141 (no. 4). Third, no. 5 indicates the association of Gao Liangcheng 高量成 (d.u.), the Dharma-Protecting Duke 護法公 and Minister of State c.1141–50, with this temple in 1154.

Role of monks in dissemination

The Chongsheng Temple monks Xuanning 玄凝 and Jiaoyuan 皎淵 played a leading role in repackaging and disseminating Buddhist doctrine. As a disciple of State Preceptor Daowu 道悟國師, Xuanning took charge of promoting Duan Zhixing as Buddha-king.⁶⁸ The stele dated 13 February 1198 provides evidence:⁶⁹

Blessings to the mahārāja-devas and piaoxin 信,⁷⁰ and to the Minister of State, Duke of the Country (zhongzai guogong 冢宰國公). The moral achievements of Chan master monk Xuanning rise as high as towering natural barriers, his overpowering majesty ensures peace throughout the land, and the imperial capital eternally manifests the power of a flying dragon ….

Piaoxin 信 denotes Duan Zhixing, and Bryson identifies ‘the Minister of State’ as Gao Miaoyin Hu 高妙音護.⁷¹ Ku claims this stele substantiates the Chongsheng Temple as the headquarters for Xuanning's promotion of Duan Zhixing's synthesised version of Chan and Huayan 華嚴 (Flower Garland school) Buddhism, and postulates reliance on Sichuanese Chan masters for training Yunnan monks in proselytisation, temple construction, caitya erection, and buddha image manufacture.⁷²

Chan Master Jiaoyuan (1149–1214; monastic name: Zhixuan 智玄, style: Jiaoyuan; hereafter Jiaoyuan) assisted Xuanning. According to the 1220 stele erected by royal order, Jiaoyuan, née Gao Chengzhong/zong 高成忠/高成宗, was the son of Gao Liangcheng. He was posthumously named the ‘Chan Master of Sudden Awakening’ 頓覺禪師. As a nephew of Duan Zhixing through his mother, a princess, Jiaoyuan possessed the social status and political connections to promote his ‘uncle the Lizhen emperor 利貞皇叔’ as a Buddhist monarch.⁷³ Having entered the monkhood at the age of 21 and residing at the Chongsheng Temple from c.1172 to 1200 throughout Duan Zhixing's entire reign, he devoted 27 prime years of his life to supporting the monarch's politico-religious ideology. The fact that Jiaoyuan parted company with Xuanning only to take up residence at Shuimu Mountain 水目山 in the year of Zhixing's demise insinuates an association between his relationship with this monarch and long service at the headquarters.⁷⁴

Strong ties with royalty suggest that Jiaoyuan's residence at the Shuimu Mountain Temple bolstered Zhixing's successor as a Buddhist monarch. After arriving at Shuimu Mountain during the winter of 1200, Jiaoyuan practised Chan-Huayan synthesised teachings until his death on 27 November 1214. A brick mould-stamped with a stūpa found on Shuimu Mountain refers to Jiaoyuan by his monastic name Zhixuan:⁷⁵

諸法因緣生， All dharmas arise from a cause

我說是因緣。I have explained their cause.

因緣盡故滅，The cause [of these dharmas] exhausts and ceases,

我作如是說。 I make this explanation.

[Dedication at base] 追為頭陀釋智玄 ‘Posthumously for the ascetic (dhūta) Monk Zhixuan.

This dependent-origination formula (jiyan 偈言) derives from the Foshuo zaota gongde jing 佛説造塔功徳經 (‘Sūtra on the Merit of Dedicating Stūpas’), translated by Dipoheluo 地婆訶羅 (Divākara, 613–87) c.680. It attests to Jiaoyuan's advocation of accumulating merit through stūpa building: in addition to extolling their construction, the use of causation verse stresses the importance of proper Buddhist practice.⁷⁶ Other monks, including Gao family members, had proselytised at Shuimu Mountain before Jiaoyuan,⁷⁷ but none boasted as illustrious a pedigree as Jiaoyuan. His mentor Xuanning succeeded Daowu, who espoused the doctrine of ‘the original heart of Mañjuśrī, the practice [one missing character] of Samantabhadra, and the perfect Buddha-enlightenment of Maitreya’.⁷⁸ This evidence may lend credence to Ku's claim that Shuimu Mountain monks followed the teachings embodied in the Maitreya Buddha-king image in Jianchuan cave no. 4. In any case, the role of high-ranking Gao monks in its dissemination demonstrates Gao support of state-sponsored Buddhism during Duan Zhixing's reign, suggesting Duan-Gao collaboration in promoting Buddhist kingship.

Temple building and governance in the uplands

As an enthusiast of monasteries, Duan Zhixing reputedly ‘built sixteen temples in 1190’.⁷⁹ Given his association with dissemination centres, it is not surprising that the royal family sponsored Buddhism. However, early Mongol-Yuan epigraphic evidence equally reveals the Gao as prominent temple builders:⁸⁰

Because the Gao rendered distinguished meritorious service, [the Duan] appointed their descendants to all the prefectures, commanderies, sub-prefectures, and counties, and the Gao built all the great monasteries on famous scenic mountains.

Leading members of the Gao family erected temples ‘on famous scenic mountains’ because Duan monarchs had appointed them to govern provincial areas. An undated stele at Zixi Mountain 紫溪山 in today's Chuxiong praises Gao Liangcheng's fondness for ‘constructing monasteries’ and his devotion to ‘fully providing for all the temples on the various mountains’. In recognition of Liangcheng's proselytisation, the Duan monarch conferred on him the title ‘Dharma-Protecting Bright Duke 護法明公’.⁸¹ This case verifies the practice of temple building for the state within the framework of Duan-Gao relations before Duan Zhixing.

Dissent and tensions from the late 1140s unsettled the peripheries of the Dali Kingdom. The Thirty-Seven Tribes in the northeast revolted early in Duan Zhengyan's 段正嚴 reign (r. 1117–41), killed a senior Gao official at Shanchan 善闡 in their large-scale rebellion c.1147, and rose up yet again in 1154. Further unrest ensued with the 1147 revolt by ethnic groups and 1150 disturbances in the two Gao-administered southwestern prefectures of Yongchang and Tengchong, which Gao Mingqing 高明清 eventually quelled.⁸² In this section, I investigate the building of temples and administrative offices to restore order at Yao prefecture 姚府 in central Yunnan.

The need for stable governance arose due to clashes between two branches of the Gao for the coveted position of Minister of State. Therefore, I must make a digression to put temple building within the perspective of Duan-Gao relations. The two branches of the Gao family each had their own power bases. The Yucheng branch 踰城派 (descendants of Gao Taiming) controlled the west and simultaneously inherited the position of Yao prefecture Yanxi 姚府演習. The Guanyin branch 觀音派 (descendants of Gao Guanyin 高觀音) administered Shanchan in the east and possessed an appanage at Baiya 白崖 in the west, strategically positioned on communication routes leading to the Upper Mekong river basin. Fang Guoyu traces the origins of this split to the usurper Gao Zhisheng (r. 1094–96), who assigned his eldest son Gao Shengtai 高昇泰 to reside at Dali and another son Gao Shengxiang 高昇祥 to reside at Shanchan. Succession to the post of minister of state devolved on the eldest male issue, so starting from Gao Taiming (Shengtai's eldest son) the position passed down through this line, which Fang Guoyu dubs the ‘Yucheng branch’.⁸³ In 1174, the Guanyin branch deposed the incumbent Yucheng branch minister of state, replaced him with their own Gao Zhenming 高貞明, causing the two factions to fight one another.⁸⁴

Intra-Gao warfare subsided by the mid-1180s. According to the 1186 stele documenting the renovation of the Xingbao Temple (Temple of Flourishing Treasure) by Gao Yucheng Guang 高踰城光, the Superior Duke (shanggong上公) and administrator of Yao prefecture, monasteries functioned as the ‘foundations of moral power’ (deji 德基), aiding the maintenance of social order.⁸⁵ This royally sanctioned stele authored by Yang Caizhao 楊才照, the Vice Director of the Fentuan 粉團侍郎 at the imperial capital's 皇都 Chongsheng Temple, endorses Gao patronage of Buddhism. Yang Caizhao held positions as Monk Confucian 釋儒 and ācārya on the Buddhist register 僧錄闍梨, demonstrating close connections with royalty and esoteric Buddhism.⁸⁶ This stele records the restoration of Buddhist temples dovetailing with local governance, praises meritorious service rendered by senior Gao officials, and stresses their cooperation and support for royalty.

Reputedly first established by a Nanzhao official named Yang Zhen 楊楨 sometime after 860, the Xingbao Temple ‘fell into ruin’ before 1186. The stele elaborates Gao Yucheng Guang's motives for restoration:⁸⁷

In his spare time from governance (qili 緝理), he profoundly refreshed his moral power (zaode 澡德).⁸⁸ … The severe dilapidation of this monastery (lan 藍) saddened him [because it manifested] the harm done to the root of beneficial influence (deben 德本) before it flourished. Waiting for people to gather in numbers, he collected artisans with hearts as pure as mirrors⁸⁹ and [rebuilt the monastery] ingeniously by creating a new model following the plan of the old design. He was delighted once the ridgepole was placed on top and rafters positioned below the beams [completing the basic structure], which exactly accorded with the proper [meaning] of the dazhuang 大壯 hexagram.⁹⁰ With a [design as accurate] as an arrow speedily [flying towards its mark] and with [eaves] resembling a large bird with beautiful feathers soaring with its wings spread, the force of its majesty escalated it to the rank of the [palace in] the Sigan 斯干ode. It exhausted the secluded elegance and uniqueness of the landscape and brimmed with the intriguing flavour of fogs and mists.

Greater than its eulogistic tone is the stele's emphasis on repairing the temple to restore the ‘foundations of moral power’ and facilitate administration. Couched in language with strong Buddhist undertones and filled with allusions to the Confucian classics, the stele records patronage of Buddhism as both a mark of devoutness and a contribution to governance. It describes the temple's dereliction as ‘harm done to the root of beneficial influence before it flourished’, analogising the decline of social order. The stele also stresses renovation as a means of reinvigorating politico-religious ideology when stating, it ‘transforms [the populace] through moral power and honesty 德化清廉’.⁹¹ First, the restoration was marked by frugality. The line ‘ingeniously by creating a new model following the plan of the old design’ alludes to Min Ziqian 閔子騫 counselling against inappropriate expenditure when rebuilding the treasury in the ancient State of Lu 魯國.⁹² Second, the refurnished monastery served as a centre for promoting state-sponsored Buddhism. The fine design of the edifice, replete with eaves resembling beautifully coloured bird feathers, put it on par with a Western Zhou monarch's palace,⁹³ implying that Gao Yucheng Guang possessed an edifice suitable for governance. The restoration heralds the rejuvenation of Buddhism, bringing order to chaos.

The meritorious service rendered by three generations of Gao males preceding Gao Yucheng Guang underscores the family's cooperation and support for Duan monarchs. Yucheng Guang's great grandfather Taiming served as Minister of State. His grandfather Mingqing served as General for Pacifying Faraway Lands 定遠將軍 from c.1147,⁹⁴ and the stele praised his father Yucheng Sheng 高踰城生, eldest son of Mingqing, for ‘accumulating pure moral power from the firm and flexible 剛柔之粹德, and embodying the latent spirits of the [five] peaks and [four] ditches 岳瀆’.⁹⁵

As the second son of Yucheng Sheng and succeeding his elder brother, as Yanxi of Yao prefecture, the stele confirmed the legitimacy of Yucheng Guang's appointment:⁹⁶

After receiving the king's edict, his reputation for benevolence already harmonised with [the hearts of the people],⁹⁷ and whenever he alighted from his carriage, the pure breeze awakened him [reminding him of the king's fine character]. Coming to greet him with baskets of rice and vessels of soup,⁹⁸ people sang, recovering their vigour and filling the roads. Former subjects and officials with the strength of character not to flatter and be toady came out of seclusion to serve as officials. They warmed [the new administration] like the autumn sunlight and their might [radiated as strong as] the summer sun. Sitting underneath a sweet pear-tree hearing court cases [he gained a reputation for good governance]⁹⁹ and setting up courtyard torches to see men of worth, he thought of [matching them].¹⁰⁰ He promoted equal benefits 平惠 in administering the people, broadened righteousness, and gave precedence to encourage superior men 君子.¹⁰¹

The stele stresses Yucheng Guang's personal role in the restitution of good governance, his recalling of capable officials forced to hide during the unrest and his promotion of ‘equal benefits’ in administration. Duan Zhixing's worship of the worldly saviour Maitreya may have been motivated by the decline of the dharma epitomised in the Xingbao Temple's disrepair. If so, Yucheng Guang's efforts possibly comprised part of Duan-Gao attempts to restore social order through Buddhism. In addition, the stele recorded putting monks to state service:¹⁰²

A fox when [dying] still adjusts its head in the direction of the mound [where it was whelped; manifesting thereby that it shares in the feeling of benevolence 仁].¹⁰³ Sunflowers can protect their roots [by shading them with their leaves],¹⁰⁴ thereby not forgetting the source from which they came. For the time being they will not quickly perish! Therefore, to sue for peace with China, the king's court separately promoted a strategy. From this time onwards, we used monks to maintain the equilibrium, drawing back our armies and stopping wars. This was achieved because the elder and younger brother Dukes were capable.

Enlisting monks for diplomacy was not novel; the Tang deployed them in negotiations with Nanzhao in 876.¹⁰⁵ The stele invokes Confucian notions of benevolence and remembering one's origins as background to the ‘strategy’ of mobilising monks for peace talks with the Southern Song. Monks played a role by hand-copying sūtras for Song envoys, but the stele mentions more direct participation in diplomacy.

Unrest could have led to the court's portraying Duan Zhixing as a Buddhist monarch. Apocalyptic Maitreya scriptures assign rulers the task of governing and converting 治化 populations when the dharma declines and society falls into chaos.¹⁰⁶ April Hughes argues that Buddha-kingship legitimised Sui and Tang emperors because association with a buddha or bodhisattva validated imperial authority, making monarchs ‘the highest role in the religious realm—a buddha—along with the supreme role in the political sphere—an emperor.’¹⁰⁷ Buddha-kingship may have facilitated administrative integration in areas with high concentrations of ethnic diversity, such as Yunnan and upland Southeast Asia. This would lend credence to Tateishi Kenji's assertion that Avalokiteśvara worship by monarchs aided the integration of different ethnic peoples into the Nanzhao and Dali kingdoms.¹⁰⁸

Extension of governance into the uplands

History in Yunnan, as in mainland Southeast Asia, unfolded within the topographical and ecological framework of the lowland/upland dichotomy.¹⁰⁹ Uplanders raided lowland basins for the wealth generated by permanent agriculture and trade. Protected by precipitous terrain, ethnically diverse upland communities remained outside the ambit of state power. The Ming dynasty succeeded in establishing governance over the autonomous internal frontier (neibian 內邊) in the uplands centred on Iron Chain Gorge 鐵鎖箐 after two hundred years of warfare.¹¹⁰ This frontier included the western parts of twelfth-century Yao prefecture. In this section, I demonstrate how the Gao extended administration to upland communities.

Evidence for this comes from the commemorative stele Hufa Minggong deyun bei moya which records Gao Liangcheng settling Southern Song refugees to prevent upland raiding.¹¹¹ Though Liangcheng's term in office as Minister of State coincided with a peaceful period in Southern Song and Jin relations,¹¹² this stele documents people fleeing from Guangxi into Dali Kingdom territory c.1141–50. Though the author's name remains undecipherable, his title was: ‘Metropolitan Graduate in the Jianwu Army of the Great Song State’ 大宋國建武軍進士, and he was stationed in today's Guangxi province. The author had resided ‘in the Southern State [Dali Kingdom] for sixteen years 南國 ，十有六年, and gratefully acknowledged his close association with Liangcheng: ‘the Duke genuinely treated [me] as member of his lineage 蒙公清照如族人’.¹¹³ This personal relationship suggests stele text composition c.1150s–60s, while the title ‘Metropolitan Graduate’ reveals the author as a Southern Song literatus. The Dali rulers, like their Nanzhao predecessors, utilised Song captives for composing steles.

The stele outlines governance of refugees in Yao prefecture uplands:¹¹⁴

Suddenly the four yi 夷 and eight man 蠻 rebelled against China, and displaced people crowded the roads. … Thereupon the Duke led righteous troops and local braves to eliminate the beacon fires, open the territory of the Dali Kingdom, and assuage the prefectures after the displacements caused by the disturbances. He assembled those who survived the perilous and dangerous circumstances, making all within the four seas quiet and respectful. … taking ceremonies and rites (yili 儀禮) as his clothes, personal integrity and trustworthiness (zhongxin 忠信) as his armour, and intelligence and courage as his sense of justice 心肝, the Duke granted land and enfeoffed those coming from afar, raising armies and sending punitive expeditions against those not submitting. From this time onwards, the state's realm was greatly transformed. … the Duke's feudal estate 爵地 at Shisangnong, Mouzhou lay at the western corner of Weichu prefecture fifty li from the prefectural seat. Bandits lurked in the luxuriant forests on the mountains and harmed people gathering wood and cutting grass. The Duke returned [one missing character] and established a residence, building a palace and chambers [thereby causing] the bandits 賊 to scatter and leave for places several thousand li away. With sweet water in the springs and exuberant mountains, the Duke's residence was, as Confucius said, a place for ‘the benevolent and the wise’.¹¹⁵ Barbarians from the four quarters 四夷八蠻 continuously gathered here, and herdsmen (qunmu 群牧) from the eight quarters continuously [one missing character] here. When they reached this place, moral goodness returned to their minds, and evil conduct vanished in due course, despite deep-seated hatred by the barbarians and the animosity of the dependants (buqu 部曲).¹¹⁶

Liangcheng stabilised the uplands by ‘granting land and enfeoffing’ the refugees, settling them as his own vassals, and mobilising them as warriors to evict the ‘bandits’. Located at strategic points on vital transportation routes to Dali in the west, Shanchan in the east and Sichuan in the north, lowland basins in Weichu prefecture were prime targets for plundering by uplanders. Vassals afforded protection for Liangcheng's upland administrative base. The term qunmu (herdsmen) underscores the stabilising effect of his measures. It alludes to the mythical emperor Shun giving ‘audience to the nobles of the empire and confirming them in their fiefs’.¹¹⁷ Here, it refers to Gao Liangcheng verifying the allegiance sworn by the herdsmen (local leaders) and ‘barbarians from the four quarters’. The term ‘Commissioner of the Herds’ (Qunmu Dashi 群牧大使) appears on the back (beiyin 碑陰) of the Dehua Stele of c.766 in the title of the general Yang Cuobai Qi 楊瑳白奇.¹¹⁸ This term does not appear in Tang and later Chinese sources; however, the text suggests the Commissioner of the Herds administered local leaders near Liangcheng's mountainous fief. The stele credits Liangcheng with successfully handling the uplands, recording him transforming ‘the state's realm’ by converting unadministered ‘bandits’ into governed upland communities, thereby eradicating ‘evil conduct’ and causing ‘moral goodness to return to [peoples] minds’.

By classifying unadministered peoples as ‘barbarians’, and invoking terms like ‘yili’, and ‘zhongxin’, the Dali kings applied Confucian civilisation narratives to morally justify upland governance in the same way that Nanzhao legitimised expansion into the Upper Ayeyarwaddy and Upper Mekong.¹¹⁹ Building an official residence-cum-office and settling refugees in the uplands resembles the Ming tactic of eradicating raiding by constructing administrative infrastructures and populating the internal frontier with non-local peoples.¹²⁰

Conclusion

I began by asking if the Gao arrogated political and military authority from twelfth-century Duan monarchs, and whether Duan Zhixing promoted himself as a Buddhist king for the purpose of asserting superiority over the Gao. I have clarified the collaborative nature of Duan-Gao relations and shown that the FXJ represented Duan Zhixing as a Buddhist monarch in the esoteric Buddhist tradition. Based on extant evidence, I hypothesise his melding of political and religious ideology for the purpose of administration. Though this ideology's contents remain unclear, the court clearly possessed mechanisms for propagating it. The need to disseminate Buddhist ideology must have intensified during intra-Gao conflicts early in his reign, perhaps prompting him to commission the court painter Zhang Shengwen to visually record it. Gao-sponsorship of temples at Shuimu Mountain and Yao prefecture must have enjoyed Duan approval because Chongsheng Temple monks composed stele texts for the Duan kings. Therefore, we can surmise connections between Duan monarchs deploying tantric Buddhism to legitimate politico-religious ideology and Gao administrators disseminating it beyond the court.

Dissemination proceeded within the framework of Duan-Gao relations and temples functioned as the ‘foundations of moral power’. Confucian notions of rulers transforming their subjects through moral power lay behind dissemination through temples, indicating a melding of Confucian concepts of governance with Buddhist politico-religious ideology. The high-ranking position of ‘Monk Confucian’ 釋儒 suggests a hybridity of Confucian and Buddhist political ideology, which did not contradict the roles of Duan kings as cakravartins promoting Buddhist teachings and performing almsgiving 大檀越. I hypothesise Duan Zhixing infusing new vitality into the long-standing tradition of Buddhist monarchy by adjusting ideological contents to restore social order.

Duan monarchs and the offspring of Gao ministers of state mobilised monks at the capital to disseminate the ruling ideology. Epigraphic evidence for building and renovating temples bespeaks firm Gao support for Duan monarchs during ‘internal struggles and external rebellions’. Even at the height of the succession wrangles, the Gao never attempted to usurp the throne as in 1094–96. These circumstances must be borne in mind as constant background to the promotion of Duan Zhixing as a Buddhist monarch. I hypothesise that the promotion of Buddhist monarchy from the 1170s aimed to revitalise a politico-religious ideology to aid the restoration of social order in the wake of unrest in the kingdom, as evidenced in the Xingbao Temple's renovation. Duan Zhixing fulfilled his duty as Buddha-king and sovereign by stabilising society, upholding the dharma, and saving his subjects from chaos, like Pagan's charismatic min laung.

The dissemination process reveals the Duan-Gao relationship as collaborative and not fundamentally confrontational. Therefore, we can postulate twelfth-century Duan-Gao relations changing before the 1250s when sources mention Gao domination. The Mongol-Yuan restored the politico-religious authority of former Duan monarchs as mahārāja in 1255, and later appointed them as native officials 土官 to administer local society.¹²¹ The Duan successfully governed local society in western Yunnan without the Gao during the Mongol-Yuan period, revealing that the source of the Dali Kingdom's politico-religious authority ultimately resided in its Duan monarchs, and not Gao ministers of state. Their restoration as mahārājas suggests that Duan native officials promoted Dali Buddhism until the 1382 Ming conquest. Twelfth-century Duan monarchs had no need to elevate themselves ‘above the Gao officials’ as suggested by Megan Bryson because the ultimate source of political authority lay with the monarch, even when the Gao handled day-to-day affairs.

Comparing the Dali and Dai-Viet kingdoms on the eve of the Mongol-Yuan invasions (1253–66), James Anderson argues that unlike Dai-Viet, the Dali Kingdom ‘never achieved the conditions necessary for a transition to a new political order’ radically different from Nanzhao.¹²² Citing instability of regional alliances in eastern and northeastern Yunnan, Anderson concludes that the Dali Kingdom possessed a ‘more fluid mandala structure’ than coeval Dai-Viet.¹²³ Rebellions arising at the mandala's furthest reaches did not threaten the constancy of Duan rule. In the long run, Gao governance of local society protected the monarchy, and their power bases facilitated the mobilisation of political and military resources to quell uprisings at the margins. Despite Gao ministers of state handling day-to-day governance, the notion of a state united around Duan Buddhist monarchs was not hollow, and its structure proved firm enough to moderate fluidity within the mandala for 150 years.

Three distinctive features of the Dali Kingdom provide points of reference for further investigation of Buddhist kingship in coeval classical Southeast Asian states. The first is the dissemination of Buddhist kingship's politico-religious ideology through state officials and monks, thereby supporting governance in strategically located communities outside royal centres. The second is the repackaging of the monarch's politico-religious ideologies to adjust to changes in society. Lastly, Buddhist kingship was a stabiliser of dynastic succession. The death of kings heralded instability. Deification deterred contenders from usurping the throne facilitating smooth succession by heirs because it divided responsibilities for governance between the monarchy and ministers of state. Indeed, no usurpations occurred in the Dali Kingdom after 1096, only armed conflict between claimants for the Minister of State title. Buddha-kingship functioned as an integrating force because the onus for oppressive interference lay with ministers of state. Deification made Buddha-kings appear infallible and aided integration because transcendence over day-to-day governance could turn them into a rallying point for diverse ethnic groups within the kingdom's mandala. Buddhist kingship in Southeast Asian classical kingdoms may have similarly strengthened mandalas by extending politico-religious ideology beyond royal centres.