– N.K. Singh
It may be noted that the Tantras themselves, whether Hindu or Buddhist, usually make no claim to historicity. They claim to be a revelation and the Hindu Tantras are often equated with the Vedas. As regards the Buddhist Tantras, they are traced to the Buddha himself. According to Sekoddesa Tika, a comment on the Sekoddesha section of the Kalachakra Tantra, Mantrayana was first taught by Buddha Dipankara and was adapted for our age by Sakyamuni Buddha. At the request of Suchandra, King of Shambhala, Gautama Buddha convened a Council at Sri Dhanyakataka, turned the Wheel of Law for the third time, and delivered a discourse on the esoteric path or Mantranaya, just as he had earlier delivered discourses on the Hinayana and the Prajnaparamitanaya (Mahayana), respectively at Rshipattan and at Grdhrakuta. However, the Tibetan authorities give different dates for this event – according to some of them, it took place in the first year of the sambodhi, according to others in the sixteenth year after sambodhi, and according to a third tradition only shortly before the Parinirvana.
But as pointed out by Joshi, the tradition of a third Dharmachakra-pravartana, like that of a second, is apparently a later fabrication. There is no reliable proof to show that the Buddha ever went to the Andhra region. The Manjushrimulakalpa, possibly the earliest Vaipulyasutra, which contains many elements of the Mantrayana, does not know the third turning of the Wheel of Law, although it is aware of Sriparvata and Sri Dhanyakataka as the centers for the practice of mantra-siddhi. The Guhyasamaja Tantra, perhaps the earliest known Buddhist Tantra, which gives all essential elements of Tantra, also does not refer to it. Rather it seems to contradict the Tantric Buddhist tradition when it states that Dipankara Buddha did not teach the tenets of the Guhyasamaja and gives a graphic description of the astonishment and shock to the bodhisattva when they heard the radical Tantric teachings.
However, despite these facts, the Tantric Buddhists attribute a number of Sadhanas and mantras to Gautama Buddha and make him a Tantric of the first order and attribute a number of sAdhanAs and mantras to Gautama Buddha and make a Tantrika of the first order going to the extent that he had discovered himself the great truth that the Buddhahood abides in the female organ and had delivered the secret discourse while enjoying the blissful state with the vajrayoginI. Some modern scholars such as B Bhattacharya also believe that the tantras and mantras, mudras, and dharanis were taught by the Buddha to the lay brethren. But the tAntric sAdhanAs cannot be regarded as Buddha’s creations or revelations. As pointed out by Wintemitz there is no proof to believe in the existence of Tantras, maNDalas, and dhAraNI-s in the age of Buddha. The Buddha discouraged superstition and blind faith and encouraged the spirit of critical inquiry. The kevaTTa sutta shows that he was not in favor of magical and superhuman feats, and regarded these as black arts. In the brahmajAla sutta, a long list of pseudo-sciences is given which the Buddha apparently condemned as low arts.
But the supposition that the Buddha was generally disinclined towards magic and mantras does not mean that he did not believe in their efficacy or that the early Buddhism was completely free of those elements which later on acquired the form of Tantra. If those elements existed in the Indian society in the Vedic, nay even in the pre-Vedic period and were present in the Brahminical and even Jaina societies in the age of early Buddhism, how can it be maintained that the Buddha and his followers remained immune from them, especially in view of the fact that in later stages Tantra transformed Buddhism beyond recognition? It is true that in the Brahmajala Sutta, the Kevatta Sutta, etc., the Buddha condemns certain magical arts as Triacchana vijja or Miccha-ajiva, but their very condemnation proves their existence.
Further, the Buddhists claimed that the aspirant for arhathood attains some supernatural powers (rddhis). The Buddha himself recognized rddhis, and practiced asphanakayoga. He took recourse to the display of superhuman feats to influence the laity. He is said to have converted the Jatilas by living in a room with a dragon whom he converted into an insect, showed the miracle of sending the same pot of fire to several mendicants who were suffering from the cold while taking bath in a river, walked on a river, and converted Nanda by showing him heavenly nymphs. In the Patika Sutta he boasts of his miraculous powers. His disciple Moggallana was also famous for such powers.
In the Digha Nikaya there is a complete sutta (Atanattya) which is described as paritta or rakkha (protecting spell) to be memorized for averting evils. Most of these parittas were later incorporated in the Mahamayuri, an esoteric text. A form of esoteric Buddhism in the incipient stage is also found in the Mahasamaya suttanta of the Digha Nikaya. According to the Vinaya Pitaka, Bharadvaja, a disciple of the Buddha, rose up into the air miraculously and brought down the begging bowl which was held high above by a setthi. In the Chullavagga, a mantra is given as being prescribed by the Buddha to be used as a means of warding off the fear of snakebite. The Trisarana formula was also recited to ward off dangers and bring prosperity.
In a slightly later period, the magical spells or dharanis formed a section of the Mahasanghika texts. In the Mulasarvastivada Vinaya, the Mahamayuri Dharani appears in extension. Thus it is evident that the mind of the early Buddhists was not fully disabused of the belief in the efficacy of mantras and mantric rituals. The Buddha clearly did not permit the use of mantras, mantric rituals, and of fish, wine, association with the opposite sex, etc. On the part of the monks; yet it appears that there were many who violated his instructions in secret. It led to the emergence of secret (guhya) conclaves of Buddhist monks who secretly practiced things that were forbidden by the Buddha. In course of time, these secret conclaves developed into big organizations known as Guhyasamajas which composed their own text known as the Guhyasamaja Tantra.
The generally accepted view among modern scholars is that Tantric Buddhism appeared in the seventh century. However, B Bhattacharya, Tucci, Gopinatha Kaviraja, and G C Pande are inclined to push the date of emergence of Buddhist esoterism back to the time of Maitreya and Asanga. Rahula Sankrtyayana has also drawn attention to the great antiquity of Mantrayana. In proof, these scholars recall that Taranatha believed that the Tantras and Tantric ideas of a secret nature were as old as the time of the Mahayana teacher Nagarjuna and that they were handed down from gurus to disciples secretly for nearly three hundred years. Further, there are strong Tibetan and Chinese traditions concerning the intimate connection of Asanga and Maitreyanatha and of both with esoteric Buddhism.
Further, there are a number of texts which are Tantric or semi-Tantric in nature and belong to the pre-700 A.D. period. The earliest available texts on Tantric Buddhism are the guhyasamAja tantra and the Manjushrimulakalpa. The former deals with yoga (ordinary meditation) and anuttarayoga (Tantric forms of meditation), and the latter with mudras, mandalas, mantras, kriyas, charyas, shila, vratas, shauchachara, niyama, homa, japa and dhyana. The Manjushrimulakalpa also gives directions for the painting of the different gods and goddesses of the Tantric pantheon. Thus it reflects not only the developed popular Mahayana but also shows the growth of Tantric ritual and worship. Though this work was revised in the post-Gupta period, its original form may be as early as the second century A.D. Among other early Tantric texts are also included the Karandavyuha sutra, which possibly existed before the 4th century A.D., the Nilakanthadharani, discovered from central Asia, and the Mahapratyangira Dharani, which invokes Tara and probably belongs to the 6th century A.D.
Though Tantric Buddhism had greater influence in China than has often been granted, it still has had a less prominent place in constituting the mainstream. Owing to its distinctive character more to its rituals and meditative practices than to its philosophy, it did not win an intellectual following like that of Tien-tai and Hua-yen; nor did it enjoy the sustained acceptance accorded to the other schools of practice, Ch’an, and Pure Land.
During the T’ang dynasty (618-906), both foreign and Chinese masters spread this form of Buddhism and in the eighth and ninth centuries under imperial patronage, it became one of the leading sects of Chinese Buddhism. Thereafter, although as a distinct movement it waned, elements of Tantric Buddhist ritual and belief survived until the present century, diffused throughout Chinese Buddhism. It should further be noted that, while the Chinese appear to have added little to the Indian Tantric Buddhism they received, the Tantric sect of the Tang dynasty played a pivotal role in the founding of the Japanese esoteric traditions of Shingon and Tendai, which developed along distinctive lines and still flourish today.
Since Tantric Buddhism existed only briefly as an identifiable movement in china, materials for its study are relatively limited, if not in quantity, at least in kind. Apart from biographies of monks, the chief sources of information are the extant translations of Tantric texts from Sanskrit into Chinese. Since these translations can be dated, it is possible to trace the spread of Tantric Buddhism into China. Japanese scholars have established a distinction between miscellaneous Tantric texts, on the one hand, and pure or systematic texts, on the other. In general, texts in the miscellaneous category were compiled in India before the seventh century C.E. and incorporated elements of Tantric practice that already had a long history in Hinduism: dharanis, mantras, mudras, and the worship of deities.
Though presented as pronouncements of the historical Buddha, these texts have little to do with traditional Buddhist teachings; rather, they are concerned primarily with the magical attainment of blessings and the avoidance of misfortune. The pure or systematic texts, in contrast, were formed in the seventh and following centuries and represent a stage at which Tantric practices adopted from Hinduism were thoroughly rationalized in Mahayana Buddhist doctrinal terms. The principal texts of this type introduced into china are the Mahavairochana Sutra and the several texts grouped under the title of the Vajrashekhara Sutra.
In these later texts, the Buddha Mahavairochana, a personification of the true nature of all that exists, is the protagonist. His name may be translated as the Great Luminous One. Various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are introduced as Mahavairochana’s manifestations and guidelines are provided for their depiction in sacred diagrams known as mandalas. In Tantric practice, these Buddhas and Bodhisattvas serve, along with certain other objects, as the focus of a complex meditation that aims above all at the sudden attainment of Buddhahood. The meditation has a three-part structure, involving the use of dharanis and mudras in conjunction with specific objects of concentration. Through this technique, known as the practice of the Three Mysteries, the individual is enabled to realize his true Buddha nature by symbolically identifying with Mahavairochana or any of his manifestations in body, speech, and mind.