Self-Sacrifice and Healing at Baodingshan

At the turn of the tenth century, a buddhist layman named Liu Benzun attracted a sizable following across the Chengdu Plain with his extraordinary healing power. He is known to have delivered the sick from evil spirits, epidemics, famines, delusions, and even death. Liu’s ability to perform miracles lay in his mastery of sutras and mantras of the esoteric school as well as his limitless compassion for others, best demonstrated through his ascetic practice of sacrificing ten different parts of his body in honor of specific Buddhist deities, which came to be known as the Ten Austerities (Shilian). These instances