their light is negligible. For the followers of Guifeng [Guifeng
　　　　  Zongmi 780-8411 burning the arm in praise of the dharma is not
　　　　  permitted by the pure precepts, so how much worse for burning the
　　　　  living body?(93) This is what Wenling calls "a cause of suffering
　　　　  returning as an effect of suffering."(94)
　　　　  CONCLUSION
　　　　  Both the Fanwang jing and the Shouleng'yan jing were popular and
　　　　  influential texts. I have merely indicated some ways in which they
　　　　  distinctively shaped Chinese Buddhism even many centuries after
　　　　  their composition. Chinese monks and nuns continued to burn their
　　　　  bodies throughout the imperial and republican periods, but one
　　　　  particular form of burning, that done at ordination, became
　　　　  orthodox, ironically enough on the basis of texts that were not
　　　　  orthodox at all. I have suggested some ways in which text and
　　　　  practice were locked in a cycle of production, and in doing so have,
　　　　  I hope, shed a little light on some aspects of Chinese Buddhist
　　　　  history that have hitherto remained obscure. On the actual
　　　　  production of these texts I have been able to add tittle, other than
　　　　  to indicate what seems at least a plausible motive for the inclusion
　　　　  of those very few lines in the Shouleng'yan jing that relate to the
　　　　  burning of the body. Moreover, while burning practices were
　　　　  "apocryphal" in the medieval period, there was nothing odd or
　　　　  unprecedented about burning the body, due to the existence of
　　　　  non-Buddhist analogues: moxibustion and burning the body to bring
　　　　  rain. The concept of "apocryphal practice" as I have defined and
　　　　  applied it in this study seems to be a workable hermeneutical tool
　　　　  that might be applied to other investigations of Sinitic Buddhist
　　　　  practices and texts. I hope that others more skilled and more
　　　　  patient than myself might like to apply it to other practices and
　　　　  other texts.
　　　　  Parts of this article were presented to the China Workshop at the
　　　　  University of California, Los Angeles, in May 1997 and at the
　　　　  Needham Research Institute, Cambridge, in September 1997. My thank
　　　　  to the participants of both these seminars, and to Robert Buswell,
　　　　  William Bodiford, and T. H. Barrett who commented on earlier drafts
　　　　  of the article. Unless otherwise noted, all translations are my own
　　　　  (1) In December 1983, the Chinese Buddhist Association (Zhongguo
　　　　  fojiao xiehui), which is nominally in charge of the religion in the
　　　　  People's Republic, declared that burning the head at ordination was