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 dition with nineteen Venerables and the 'Phags-lugs with thirty-two Venerables. The first is described in Indrabhūti's Jñanasiddhi and agrees entirely with the mandala found in the first chapter of the G. (five Buddhas with Akşobhya as central figure, four śakti-s and four krodha-s) The mandala of the Jñānapāda tradition comprises a group of five Buddhas with Mañjuvajra as central figure, four śakti-s and ten krodha-s, adding six krodha-s to the four in the previous mandala. However, the names of these six krodha-s are not found in the first part of the G., but only in the second part. The mandala of the 'Phags-lugs is not found in the G. itself and must have developed in a later period. The Uttaratantra mentions the fourfold upaya (sevāsadhana, upasadhana, sadhana, mahāsādhana) and declares that chapters 2-17 of the G. correspond to these four upayas, cf. below p. 108. However, the original form of these four upāya-s is already found in the twelfth chapter. There is also a great difference in content and size between the first and the second half of the G. Chapters 13–17 are much longer and, moreover, describe many rituals. Finally, the Uttaratantra recapitulates the teachings and the rituals in fifty-two questions and answers. Everything mentioned here is already found in the first half of the G. It is therefore reasonable to suppose that, originally, the first half of the G. was a complete text in itself.
With regard to the doctrines, the sadhana-s and the construction of the mandalas of the anuttarayogatantra-s, both the father and mother Tantras are based upon the Tattvasamgraha. An intermediary position between the Tattvasamgraha and the G. is occupied by the Māyājalatantra, which is extant in a Chinese translation (T. 890) and in two Tibetan translations (Tohoku nos. 466 and 833). The second translation represents a different and later text. A commentary on the G. (Tōhoku no. 1909) quotes from the Guhyagarbha (Tōhoku no. 832), which is based upon the Māyājalatantra. This indi.. cates a close relation between the G. and the Mayājalatantra. The mandala of the Mayajalatantra comprises a group of five Buddhas with Vairocana as the central figure, whereas in the G. the central figure is Akşobhya as in the Tattvasamgraha, a yogatantra. The four śakti-s of the mandala of the Maya jalatantra are not found in the Tattvasamgraha, but their names are mentioned in other yogatantras. The mandala of the Māyājalatantra comprises also two groups of four krodha-s. Ten krodha-s are found in a text translated in Chinese in the Sung period (T. 891) and in a collection of mandalas composed in the eleventh century, the Nişpannayogāvali. Both the four śakti-s and the ten krodha-s are found in the G. The Mayājālatantra clearly represents a transitional stage between the Tattvasamgraha, a yogatantra, and the Guhyasamaja, an anuttarayogatantra.
In the past the G. and the Tathāgataguhyasūtra were considered to be identical,