New History Of Tantric Lieterature In India

Author(s): J W De Jong
Publisher: J W De Jong

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J. W. de Jong the Nayaśata pañcaśatika was extracted from the Dpal dam-pa. A text of this name existed already in the first half of the seventh century because it is mentioned by Candrakirti. Therefore, it can be considered nearly certain that in the course of the development of the Rishukyo from a Prajñāpāramita text an important role was played by a text called Sriparamadya or Satapancaśatika. Already Bodhiruci's translation is Tantric in style, and this shows that this development of a Prajñāpāramitā text into a Tantric text was already well advanced in the seventh century.
The larger recension, Sriparamadya, according to the Tibetan translation, (Tohoku nos. 487-488) consists of three parts. The first part corresponds to the smaller recension but contains moreover descriptions of constructions of mandala-s and rituals connected with mandala-s. Probably the original text was expanded by means of all kinds of sādhana-s and rituals which were practised in connection with it. The larger recension did not yet exist at the time of Amoghavajra because his analysis of the contents of the Rishukyo (cf. T. 869) has no relation with the existing larger recension. Three texts translated by Amoghavajra (T. 1119, 1120 and 1123) are considered to be extracted from the Sriparamadya. However, their main theme is the idea of the gohimitsu (the five secrets represented by the five Vajra Bodhisattvas). At the time of Amoghavajra the Sriparamādya was only a short text, which was later expanded into the larger recension by incorporating all kinds of traditions and secret instructions.
In the process of the transformation of a Prajñāpāramitā text into a Tantric text important changes took place. In the texts translated by Hsuan-tsang and Bodhiruci the preacher is the Bhagavat himself or the Bhagavat who takes the aspect of different Ta. thāgatas, but in the text translated by Amoghavajra the text is preached by different Tathāgatas. In sections 3 to 10 of the main text which comprises 17 sections the preaching is repeated by eight great bodhisattvas who summarise the teaching in the form of a bija, a spell consisting of one syllable. These bodhisattvas are the sambhogakaya-s of Mahāvairocana. Spells are not found in Hsüan-tsang's translation. In Bodhiruci's translation at the end of each section it is only said that the Tathāgata pronounced the following spell. However, in Amoghavajra's translation the spell is considered to express the essence of the teaching in each section. In early Tantric texts spells were used to ward off evil and to obtain happiness. In the middle period the motivation of the spell is turned inwards (naimenka). The third change concerns the description of the merits of the recitation of the text. The merits are mentioned in greater detail at the end of the first section than at the end of the other sections. At the end of this section Hsüan-tsang's version mentions the attainment of Buddhahood, but this is not found in the texts translated by Bodhiruci and Amoghavajra, which stress respectively the attainment of the