Domesticating esoteric Buddhism: lay women, Foxin Jing practice, and somatic authority in contemporary China

This study examines how lay women engage with, adapt, and transmit the heart-mind esoteric Buddhist tradition known as Foxin Jing () in contemporary China. Previous scholarship on Chinese esoteric Buddhism has predominantly focused on issues related to legitimacy, lineage, institutional power, and master-disciple relations. However, there has been a relative lack of focus on the role played by women in maintaining esoteric Buddhist practice via the domestic, affective, and embodied dimensions of religion. Drawing on qualitative research with twenty lay women practitioners, this study shows that Foxin Jing is experienced not merely as an esoteric ritual or protective dhāraṇī, but as an embodied heart-mind discipline integrated into domestic routines, interpersonal relationships, and personal cultivation. The findings demonstrate that women sustain the practice through domestic and informal lay settings, relational networks, and bodily-affective experiences involving voice, breath, silence, emotional composure, and changes in bodily tension. The article further develops the concept of somatic authority to explain how embodied transformation becomes socially recognizable as evidence of religious efficacy and a basis for interpersonal trust. These findings show that the continuity of Foxin Jing depends not only on formal institutions and lineage authority, but also on women's everyday discipline, relational transmission, and embodied religious credibility.