common practice, the burning of incense or moxa (i.e., Artemisia
　　　　  tinder) on the body (the crown of the head or the forearm) at
　　　　  ordination. The primary source of information on autocremation is
　　　　  that contained in collections of biographies of Chinese monks and
　　　　  nuns, where self-immolators merited a biographical category all of
　　　　  their own, and it is clear that the Lotus Sutra was by far the most
　　　　  common legitimating text for this type of ritual suicide.(7)
　　　　  However, although heroic autocremation as an offering to the buddhas
　　　　  is extolled in this and other texts of Indian origin and endorsed in
　　　　  Chinese commentaries on them, a justifiable objection could be made
　　　　  that the practices described and advocated therein are those of the
　　　　  mahasattva rather than those of monastics bound by the Vinaya. This
　　　　  is precisely the argument made in Buddhist circles by those monks
　　　　  who were critical of autocremation, branding, and burning. The
　　　　  primary motivation for the creation of statements made in the
　　　　  Fanwang jing and the Shouleng'yan jing should therefore be clear
　　　　  from the outset; no clear and unambiguous justification for burning
　　　　  the body could be found in texts of non-Chinese origin, hence texts
　　　　  (or parts of texts in this case) were created in order to provide
　　　　  one. Burning the body is an "apocryphal practice" in a number of
　　　　  different senses.(8) As I shall demonstrate, the practice existed in
　　　　  China long before the composition of the Fanwang jing or the
　　　　  Shouleng'yan jing, and indeed before the translation of the Lotus
　　　　  Sutra itself, in the forms of (1) moxibustion and (2) ritual
　　　　  autocremation in praying for rain.(9) Hence, burning the body can be
　　　　  considered an apocryphal practice in the sense of an indigenous
　　　　  (non-Buddhist) practice. Passages in the Fanwang jing and the
　　　　  Shouleng'yan jing were specifically created in order to endorse the
　　　　  practice as it developed in a Buddhist context from the early part
　　　　  of the fifth century. Having been created, these two apocryphal
　　　　  texts were in turn productive of more practices, including burning
　　　　  of ordination, which was not an immediate effect but rather took
　　　　  some centuries to evolve. These practices are thus "apocryphal" in
　　　　  the sense of being inspired and justified by apocryphal texts.
　　　　  Whether Buddhists burned their bodies in India or not is a moot
　　　　  point, but what is clear is that some textual justification was
　　　　  required in China, beyond that contained in the Lotus Sutra.(10)
　　　　  Just as some apocryphal sutras were created in order to endorse