The term Jên-Chung images (Jên-Chung meaning “in one's body”) is found in such old Chinese Buddhist manuscripts as the Liao Kao Sêng Chuan (Biographies of High Priests, written in the Liao period) and the Lo Yang Ch'ieh Lan Chi (Record of Buddhsti Temples in Lo-yang). Because mentions in these manuscripts lack concrete descriptions, it has been unknown what sort of images they were and in what form. The Jên Chung images, which were widely known during their times but which were forgotten in later periods, have attracted the author's deep interest. His first approach to the interpretation of this term was through literary sources, which has led him to the conclusion that it is an abbreviation of “Lu-shê-na Fa-chieh Jên-chung” image (Jên-chung images of Vairocana Dharmakaya), and denotes a peculiar type of Vairocana inage with illustration of the Atavamsa Cosmos in its body (Figs. 1-15). Examples of this type have been known in East Turkestan and Tun-huang, and the author has added some more through his studies on literary sources, establishing that the Jên-chung type was transmitted during the early fifth century from East Turkestan through Tun-huang and Ho-hsi to China Proper, where it was in use until the end of the Tsang period. He has thus succeeded to clarify the situation of Jên-chung images in the history of Chinese Buddhist art. According to his interpretation, the principal statue in Cave No. 18 of Yün-kuang Cave Temple is a Jên-chung image (a Vairocana image), though this theory has been denied by other experts. He believes that this conclusion involves various problems concerning the eastward spread of Atavamsa teachings as well as the character of Northern Wei Buddhism.
