Fotudeng (d. 348) worked among the people and served the rough latter Zhao emperors Shi Luo (r. 330–333) and Shi Hu (r. 333–348) with a repertoire of mantras and
dhāraṇīs. Like later Zhenyan masters, he used ritual to bring rain, to make military prognostications, to heal, and to influence politics.
During the Six Dynasties period (221–584), the magical use of mantra and dhāraṇī found greater acceptance in North China while other Buddhist traditions dominated the literary culture of the South. The unification of China under the Sui (584–618) and Tang dynasties wedded the interests, culture, and family lines of the barbarian North with those of the Han South. Meanwhile in India, Tantric ritual, spurned earlier as heterodox by the Buddhist establishment, was being codified and blended with Mahāyāna theology, resulting in the formation of the Vajrayāna. During the first century of Tang rule other Buddhist schools held sway, and Daoists were patronized by emperors who made much of the fact that they bore the surname (Li) of the sage Laozi.
Tantric teachings remained eclipsed until the arrival of Śubhākarasiṃha (Shanwuwei) in 716 and his translation of the Mahāvairocana Sūtra (T.D.
