Amoghavajra

[1] Zhao Qian states that Amoghavajra was born in Samarkand[2] of an Indian merchant or Brahmin father as according to Feixis's Stele Inscription and a mother of Sogdian origin.

In 750, he left the court to join the military governorship of General Geshu Han of the Tang dynasty, for whom he conducted large-scale tantric initiations at his field headquarters.

Amoghavajra was captured during the An Lushan Rebellion but in 757 was freed by loyalist forces, whereupon he performed rites to purify the capital and consolidate the security of the Tang state.

[4][5] In 765, Amoghavajra used his new rendition of the Humane King Sutra in an elaborate ritual to counter the advance of a 200,000-strong army of Tibetan and Uyghurs which was poised to invade Chang'an.

The opulent Jinge Temple on Mount Wutai was completed in 767, a pet project of Amoghavajra, one of his many efforts to promote the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī as the protector of China.