New History Of Tantric Lieterature In India

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

Page 15

A NEW HISTORY OF TANTRIC LITERATURE IN INDIA
105 vajrakaya of the Buddha-Tathāgata-s and the attainment of the states of Tathāgata and Vajradhara. Although in the tantras of the middle period the attainment of Buddhahood is the goal, this is not often expressly stated. According to M. the reason is that one strives to obtain union with the Absolute, for instance with Mahāvairocana. This implies the attainment of Buddhahood.
The text translated by Amoghavajra is a Tantric text, but it still shows traces of the fact that it developed out of a Prajñāpāramitā text. Amoghavajra's version contains no important ritual elements, and the philosophical contents are more important. However, from the eighth century onwards the text was greatly transformed by the addition of many rituals. The larger recension represents a ritualisation of the text. At the time of Amoghavajra there were already rituals relating to the Rishukyo but they were not yet incorporated in the text. The complete transformation into a Tantric text was achieved by the creation of the different texts belonging to the larger recension by the addition of many rituals.
The fourth chapter deals almost entirely with the Guhyasa mājatantra and related texts. The G. [=Guhyasamāja] belongs to the anuttarayoga tantras which are divided into three groups: 1. the yuganaddha or advaya tantras ; 2. the prajñā or mother (ma) tantras ; 3. the upaya or father (pha) tantras. To the first group belong the Kalacakra tantras. The second and third group are divided into seven and six families. The G. belongs to the Akşobhya family of the upāya or father tantras. It has eighteen chapters, of which seventeen form the Mulatantra and the eighteenth the Uttaratantra. The G. was translated into Tibetan by Sraddhākaravarma and Rin-chen bzan-po in the beginning of the eleventh century and by Shih-hu into Chinese in 1002. The G. was very popular in India and Tibet but not in China.
The Malatantra can be divided into two parts, the first comprising chapters 1-12 and the second chapters 13–17. There are two important traditions relating to the G., the Jñānapāda school which goes back to Jñānapāda, and the 'Phags-lugs which goes back to Aryanāgārjuna. In one of the oldest commentaries (Ākhyānatantra), the Samdhivyākaraņa, there is as yet no clear influence of one of these two schools. The Samdhivyakarana explains only the first 12 chapters of the G. This is an indication that this part of the G. is older than the second part. The same conclusion emerges from an examination of the G. itself. A commentary of the Dge-lugs-pa school on the Pradipoddyotana, a commentary on the G., distinguishes three traditions regarding the construction of mandala-s: the Indrabhūti tradition with thirteen Venerables, the Jñānapāda tra6 The word 'Venerable translates Japanese son, which is always used to indicate the different persons (Buddhas, bodhisattvas, Vidyārājas, etc.) in a mandala.