Mijiao

mijiao (J. mikkyō; K. milgyo 密教). In Chinese, “esoteric teachings”.

A term used to describe a large body of literature and practices that included both Mahayana rituals introduced from India and Central Asia into China beginning in the third and fourth centuries CE, as well as more specifically “tantric” teachings translated into Chinese in the eighth century. Rather than representing a specific independent school, mijiao refers more generically to a range of esoteric practices (including the recitation of mantras and the creation of mandalas), which came to be adopted by many of the Buddhist traditions of China.