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Journal articles on the topic 'Buddhist tantric deity; Buddhism'
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1
Lepekhova, E. S. "Ganeša’s Cult and His Veneration in Japanese Buddhism." Journal of the Institute of Oriental Studies RAS, no. 1 (11) (2020): 33–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.31696/2618-7302-2020-1-33-46.
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This research focuses on the cult of the deity Ganeša in Japanese Buddhism. Ganeša is one of the Hindu gods, also known as Vinayaka, Ganapati and Vighnesa. Like many other Hindu deities, he was included in the pantheon of Vajrayana Buddhism. Due to this fact, various hypostases of Ganeša spread in Tibet, China and Japan, where his worship turned into an esoteric cult. In the Far East were known both single and paired images of Ganeša in the form of two hugging creatures with elephant heads. In Japan, such images were called Sosin Kangiten. In local esoteric Buddhism (mikkyō) they were interpreted as the opposites, male and female, phenomenal and absolute in the form of two sacred mandalas: the “Diamond mandala” and the “Womb Mandala”. For this reason, Ganeša is sometimes considered the epitome of the main deity of mikkyō tradition — Mahavairocana Buddha (Jp.: Dainiti Nerai) and was known as a composite element of another esoteric deity, Matarajin, or Santen, a triad of deities Saraswati, Dakini, and Ganeša. The history of Ganeša’s cult in these countries has not been sufficiently studied yet, however it shows the way in which elements of Hindu religion were preserved in the traditions of tantric Buddhism. While this religious and philosophical doctrine spread in the countries of Central Asia and the Far East, they gradually became part of local religious and cultural traditions. The author stresses that in the future they influenced not only the development of philosophical doctrines in local Buddhist schools, but also the formation of popular religious beliefs.
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Grela, Joanna. "Avalokiteśvara in Tibetan Buddhist art of the Later spread (Tib. phyi dar) of the Dharma. Image classification proposal, part 1." Polish Journal of the Arts and Culture New Series, no. 12 (2/2020) (2020): 27–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.4467/24506249pj.20.007.13446.
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According to traditional Buddhist narratives and popular beliefs, Tibetans are a people chosen by Avalokiteśvara. Therefore, his worship and multitude, as well as diversity of his images are quite common both in temples and public areas. Unlike the widespread analyses where the Bodhisattva has been treated as a peaceful tutelary deity, and classifications of its images have been based on morphological features (i.e. the number of hands, heads, etc.) or by artistic styles and techniques. This paper proposes another approach by grounding images in Tantric Buddhism models used locally. In the first part of the article, the images of Avalokiteshvara are inscribed in the bodyspeech-mind models as well as the external, secret and the first of the three internal aspects of the Three Refuges, also known as the Three Jewels, which covers a much wider set of iconographic material than usually considered.
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Payne, Richard. "Lethal Fire." Journal of Religion and Violence 6, no. 1 (2018): 11–31. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/jrv201842348.
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An important element in the ritual corpus of Shingon Buddhism, a tantric tradition in Japan, is the homa (goma, 護摩). This is a votive ritual in which offerings are made into a fire, and has roots that trace to the Vedic ritual tradition. One of the five ritual functions that the homa can fulfill is destruction, abhicāra. A destructive ritual with Yamāntaka as the chief deity is one such ritual in the contemporary Shingon ritual corpus. Consideration of this ritual provides entrée into the history of destructive practices, including violent subjugation, that date from very early in the Buddhist tradition. Exploration of this theme is offered as a balancing corrective to the modern representation of Buddhism as an exception to the violent character of other religions. However, despite the history of destructive ritual practices, the contemporary homa examined in the latter part of the essay shows very few of the characteristics found historically. This indicates an ambiguity in the tradition between a historical understanding of such rituals as literally destructive of one’s enemies, and the contemporary understanding that the enemies to be destroyed are simply personifications of one’s own obscurations.
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Wang, Juan, and Damzhin Cedain. "Princess Wencheng in historical writing: The difficulty in narrating ethnic history in multi-ethnic China." Chinese Journal of Sociology 6, no. 4 (October 2020): 615–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2057150x20963264.
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For a multi-ethnic political entity, whether it is an empire or a nation-state, the key to survival is an inclusive order under which multiple ethnic groups with different heritages coexist peacefully. Historical writing on ethnic groups and interactions among them is an important part of this order. To demonstrate this point, this paper offers an examination of three different historical narratives of Princess Wencheng, the heroine of a “peace-making marriage” of the Tang Empire (AD 618–907), who married Songtsen Gampo, the king of Tubo (the ancient name of Tibet). In the first narrative, which is from Chinese classical literature, Princess Wencheng was treated as an insignificant figure and the text paid much more attention to the ceremony of the “peace-making marriage” than to the princess’s individual traits. In the second narrative, which is from Tibetan ancient literature, the princess was portrayed as the incarnation of “Green Tara”, a tantric deity in Tibetan Buddhism, and supposedly possessed goddess qualities and magical powers. This striking difference reflects the different views about the world and its ideal order of the two ancient civilizations. The third narrative, which was shaped by the nationalist discourse during the first part of the 20th century, depicted a new image of Princess Wencheng, gradually transforming her into a “transmitter of technology.” This paper offers a detailed analysis of this evolution and, furthermore, a critical comment on the historical writing done under the guidance of the so-called “progressive view of history”. Our conclusion provides a theoretical discussion of the structural dilemma for modern China as a multi-ethnic nation-state.
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Nepal, Gopal. "Tantric Buddhism in Nepal." Research Nepal Journal of Development Studies 4, no. 1 (June 25, 2021): 122–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/rnjds.v4i1.38043.
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Tantrism is the science of practical spiritualism. Tantrism is the practical way out of enlightenment. It is the perfect mix of theoretical and empirical knowledge of liberation. Although there are different arguments for and against tantric Buddhism. To find out the basic overview of Tantric Buddhism the study has been conducted. It is a literature review of Tantric Buddhism in Nepal. In conclusion, the study found that there is a great contradiction between Buddhist philosophy with the law of cause and effect. It is difficult to make ritual action conform to such a law, as he demonstrated.
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Gentry, James Duncan. "Arguing over the Buddhist Pedigree of Tibetan Medicine: A Case Study of Empirical Observation and Traditional Learning in 16th- and 17th-Century Tibet." Religions 10, no. 9 (September 16, 2019): 530. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel10090530.
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This article examines the relationship between the practice and theory of medicine and Buddhism in premodern Tibet. It considers a polemical text composed by the 16th–17th-century Tibetan physician and tantric Buddhist expert Sokdokpa Lodrö Gyeltsen, intending to prove the Buddhist canonical status of the Four Medical Tantras, the foundational text of the Tibetan medical tradition. While presenting and analyzing Sokdokpa’s polemical writing in the context of the broader debate over the Buddhist pedigree of the Four Tantras that took place during his time, this discussion situates Sokdokpa’s reflections on the topic in terms of his broader career as both a practicing physician and a tantric Buddhist ritual and contemplative specialist. It suggests that by virtue of Sokdokpa’s tightly interwoven activities in the spheres of medicine and Buddhism, his contribution to this debate gives voice to a sensibility in which empiricist, historicist, and Buddhist ritual and contemplative inflections intermingle in ways that resist easy disentanglement and classification. In this it argues that Sokdokpa’s reflections form an important counterpoint to the perspectives considered thus far in the scholarly study of this debate. It also questions if Sokdokpa’s style of argumentation might call for a recalibration of how scholars currently construe the roles of tantric Buddhist practice in the appeal by premodern Tibetan physicians to critical and probative criteria.
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Batomunkueva, S. R. "The Mahakala cult in Tibet: some aspects of its history." Orientalistica 3, no. 4 (December 28, 2020): 1114–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.31696/2618-7043-2020-3-4-1114-1130.
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The article offers a research on Mahakala cult in Tibet. Mahakala is a deity common to Hinduism and Buddhism. It appears also as protector deity known as dharmapala – the Protector of Buddhist Doctrine. The author addresses some issues regarding the genesis of this cult, namely materials and historical facts about how it did appear in the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon, and how it did subsequently receive its further development and became popular inTibet. The author uses the already published scholarly works to illustrate some of the main forms of the deity manifestation and their functional aspects. She also draws attention to the ways of Mahakala teaching lineages and transmissions as well as religious practices, which did exist in the early stages of the cult formation. The article emphasizes the importance of the deity cult inTibet, as well as the prevalence of the Mahakala Six-Armed manifestation. This ancient and multifaceted cult was tightly connected with that of the deities in ancientIndia became firmly rooted in the Buddhist pantheon. Subsequently it gained significant popularity not only in the “Land ofSnows” but also in all other areas where the Tibetan Buddhism was spread.
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Erokhin, B. R. "BUDDHIST HERITAGE OF KALINGA (ODISHA STATE, INDIA)." Bulletin of Udmurt University. Series History and Philology 30, no. 1 (March 21, 2020): 119–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.35634/2412-9534-2020-30-1-119-125.
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The interaction between autochthonous, Buddhist and Hindu traditions here is regarded through the historical perspective basing on the material presented in publications of the state’s historical school which describe the archaeological and epigraphic monuments of Odisha. Unlike the “brahminical” approach, which generally dominates the Indian historiography and diminishes the influence of Buddhism on the Indian subcontinent, the studies of the local school provide more attention to this factor forming the regional history. The introduction describes the early period of Kalinga's relationship with Buddhism. The main part of the article is dedicated to the evidence of the overwhelming presence of Buddhist tantric tradition and subsequent gradual adaptation of Buddhist images and symbols in Hinduism. Due attention is paid to the outstanding figures of Buddhism whose lives were connected with Odisha, and to the main archaeological sites of the state. The conclusion generalizes the historical process of assimilation of Buddhist ideas and practices on the Indian subcontinent, which ended in the 13-14 centuries by extinguishing Buddhism over the most part of the subcontinent.
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Sharrock, Peter D. "Garuḍa, Vajrapāṇi and religious change in Jayavarman VII's Angkor." Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 40, no. 1 (January 7, 2009): 111–51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022463409000083.
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Ancient Cambodia turned definitively to state Buddhism under King Jayavarman VII at the end of the twelfth century, after four centuries of state Śaivism. This paper explores the motivation behind this momentous change and tries to establish the means by which it was achieved. It uncovers signs of a very large, politically motivated campaign of tantric Buddhist initiations that required a significant overhaul of the king's temples and the creation of a new series of sacred icons.
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Mallinson, James. "Kālavañcana in the Konkan:How a Vajrayāna Haṭhayoga TraditionCheated Buddhism’s Death in India." Religions 10, no. 4 (April 16, 2019): 273. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel10040273.
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In recent decades the relationship between tantric traditions of Buddhism and Śaivism has been the subject of sustained scholarly enquiry. This article looks at a specific aspect of this relationship, that between Buddhist and Śaiva traditions of practitioners of physical yoga, which came to be categorised in Sanskrit texts as haṭhayoga. Taking as its starting point the recent identification as Buddhist of the c.11th-century Amṛtasiddhi, which is the earliest text to teach any of the methods of haṭhayoga and whose teachings are found in many subsequent non-Buddhist works, the article draws on a range of textual and material sources to identify the Konkan site of Kadri as a key location for the transition from Buddhist to Nāth Śaiva haṭhayoga traditions, and proposes that this transition may provide a model for how Buddhist teachings survived elsewhere in India after Buddhism’s demise there as a formal religion.
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Wallace, V. A. "Imagination, Desire, and Aesthetics in Engendering a Vision of Śambhala." Orientalistica 2, no. 1 (September 7, 2019): 40–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.31696/2618-7043-2019-2-1-40-50.
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Abstract: the legend of Śambhala and a related eschatological battle between the twenty-fifth kalkī king of Śambhala and the enemy of Dharma, which initially appeared in the eleventh-century Indian, Buddhist tantric tradition of the Kālacakratantra, proliferated in the later Tibetan and Mongolian sources. In the nineteenth, and particularly in the early twentieth-century Mongolia, when the demolishing of Buddhist monasteries and persecution of Buddhist monks were carried out by the Mongolian Peoples’ Revolutionary Party, a wealth of literature on meditational and ritual practices related to the transference of consciousness (‘pho ba) to the Buddhist kingdom of Śambhala emerged. Witnessing the executions of monks and a destruction of Buddhism in Mongolia, Mongolian lamas in the country’s capital felt the urgency to compose practical guides to a swift transference of consciousness to Śambhala for the lamas who were facing an immanent death. The instructions on the transference of consciousness to Śambhala abound in meditations with visualization and imagination practices and accompanying rituals.
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Bond, Kevin. "The “Famous Places” of Japanese Buddhism: Representations of Urban Temple Life in Early Modern Guidebooks." Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 43, no. 2 (May 20, 2014): 228–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0008429814526141.
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This paper examines the commercial and recreational cultures of the urban Buddhist temple during Japan’s Edo or early modern period (1603–1868) as depicted in popular guidebooks to famous places ( meisho ki). Encouraged by advances in travel and communication, and a vibrant bourgeois culture, meisho guidebooks presented religious sites to the common public not as static, immobile spaces catering only to otherworldly spiritual concerns, but as open and elastic geographies simultaneously offering immediate material rewards and leisurely and commercial attractions to visitors. As unique media of local religion, guidebooks reflect how the reputation and allure of popular Buddhist temples among the general public were driven by the commodification of local legends and objects of worship, as well as material pleasures of religious spaces. This paper argues the importance of guidebooks in the production of public knowledge and expectation about religious sites in early modern Japan. These guides reveal material concerns and entertainment not as having been antithetical to the operation of Buddhist institutions, but rather as supports for the spread of Buddhist teachings and popularization of deity worship among the urban populace.
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Ulanov, Mergen Sanjievich. "Synthesis of Cultures of the East and West in the Philosophy of B.D. Dandaron." RUDN Journal of Philosophy 24, no. 3 (December 15, 2020): 502–11. http://dx.doi.org/10.22363/2313-2302-2020-24-3-502-511.
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The article deals with the phenomenon of synthesis of East and West cultures in the religious philosophy of B.D. Dandaron - one of the most famous representatives of Russian Buddhism in the XX century. The beginning of the spread of Buddhist teachings in Russian society is also connected with his extraordinary personality. Dandaron was engaged in active yoga, tantric practice, and also gave instructions to those who were interested in Buddhism. As a result, a small circle of people began to form around him who tried to study and practice Buddhism. Dandaron was also engaged in Buddhist activities, studied Tibetan history and historiography, and described the Tibetan collection of manuscripts. It is indicated that Dandaron not only made an attempt to consider Buddhism from the perspective of Western philosophy, but also created his own teaching, which was called neobuddism. As a result, he was able to conduct a creative synthesis of Buddhist philosophy with the Western philosophical tradition. In fact, he developed a philosophical system that claims to be universal and synthesized Buddhist and Western spiritual achievements. Trying to synthesize the Eastern and Western traditions of philosophical thought, Dandaron turned to the well-known comparative works of the Indian thinker S. Radhakrishnan and the Russian buddhologist F.I. Shcherbatsky. The author also notes the influence on the philosophy of neobuddism of the ideas of V.E. Sesemann, a neo-Kantian philosopher with whom Dandaron was personally acquainted. The idea of non-Buddhism had not only a philosophical and theoretical, but also a practical aspect, since the consideration of Buddhism from the perspective of Western philosophy helped to attract people of Western culture to this religion. In General, Dandarons desire to create a universal synthetic philosophical system was in line with the philosophical and spiritual search of Russian philosophy, and was partly related to the traditional problem of East-West, which has always been relevant for Russia.
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Allison, Elizabeth. "Deity Citadels: Sacred Sites of Bio-Cultural Resistance and Resilience in Bhutan." Religions 10, no. 4 (April 15, 2019): 268. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel10040268.
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Consistent with the pan-Himalayan tendency to see the landscape as lively and animated, protector deities and local spirits are perceived to inhabit various features of the landscape in Bhutan, causing these places to be treated with reverence and respect. Local spiritual beliefs are prized as central to the cultural identity of the Kingdom, making their way into government planning documents, town planning negotiations, and the 2008 Constitution. This elevation of local spiritual belief has been central to the maintenance and preservation of Bhutanese culture in its encounter with globally hegemonic social, economic, and political norms. Spirits and deities are believed to be the original owners of the land predating the introduction of Buddhism from Tibet. According to terma texts—spiritual treasures hidden by great Buddhist teachers to be discovered later—the initial introduction of Buddhism into Bhutan occurred in the seventh century. At that time, the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo, the 32nd king of the Yarlung dynasty, built two temples in western and central parts of Bhutan as part of a strategy to pin down a demoness who was ravaging the Himalaya. About a century after the construction of the temples, Padmasambhava, known throughout the Himalayas as Guru Rimpoche, or “Precious Teacher,” arrived in Bhutan, subjugated eight classes of local spirits and made them sworn protectors of the Dharma. In this way, local deities and spirits became incorporated into Bhutan’s Vajrayana Buddhism to the extent that images of them are found at Buddhist temples and monasteries. Vajrayana Buddhism and local deities and spirits twine together in Bhutan to shape a cosmology that recognizes a spectrum of sentient beings, only some of whom are visible. The presence of deities and spirits informs local land use. Deity abodes or “citadels” (Dz.: pho brang) are restricted from human use. The presence of a deity citadel is sufficient in some locales to cause the diversion or reconsideration of human construction and resource use. By grounding spiritual beliefs in specific sites of the landscape, the citadels of deities sanctify the landscape, becoming nodes of resistance and resilience that support the Bhutanese in inhabiting their own internally-consistent cosmology, even as the pressures of global integration seek to impose hegemonic Western norms.
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Szmyt, Zbigniew. "Tantryczne ciało rosyjskiego prezydenta – oświecony umysł czyngisydów. Polityka i nacjonalizm w buddyzmie buriat/mongolskim." Sprawy Narodowościowe, no. 43 (April 16, 2015): 87–105. http://dx.doi.org/10.11649/sn.2013.020.
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The tantric body of the Russian president – chingisids’ enlightened mind. Politics and nationalism in Buryat / Mongolian BuddhismThis paper is devoted to the role of Buddhism in the construction of ethnonational identity in Buryatia and Mongolia. On the case of the phenomenon of deification of Russian presidents by Buryat lamas I have analyzed: historically conditioned compounds of Buddhism and politics of the Mongolian groups, the role of Buddhism in ethnic mobilization in Buryatia and Mongolia after the fall of Communism and features of ethnonational model of Buddhism in two neighboring regions. In post-socialist period Buddhism was involved in ethnonational political projects. As a result, an attempt was taken to restore the monastic model of Buddhism, which had functioned in the pre-revolutionary period. Local peculiarities of Mongolian Buddhism were reinforced in order to produce the difference between the (national) Mongolian/Buryat and tibetan Buddhism. In Buryatia, Buddhism became a distinctive element used for ethnic differentiation of Buryats – in opposition to the Orthodox Russians. In Mongolia, traditionalist position of Buddhism was opposed in some way to Christianity, the various factions of which are distributed together with “agendas of modernity” from Western countries. In tantric union with the president Buryat lamas produce harmony between two national identities: Russian – civic and Buryat – ethnonational. Deification of the state power and giving it the attributes of loving femininity is a practice obliging the authority to generosity, which is attributed to the White tara. It is a strategy of the weak, who agree to a game of domination, but they try to define its rules themselves. Looking more broadly it can be said that the Buryats as a national community appeared just as a result of this fusion with the Russian power. Because of this they were separated from the pre-national family of Mongolian peoples. Mongols, for similar purposes use Chingis khan identified with the Buddhist form of Vajrapani. As a result, nationalist narrative is set to famous past, but uses the ‘eternal’ values, achieves harmony of all its elements.
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Baker, Dallas J. "Return of the Eunuch." Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts, Cultural Histories, and Contemporary Contexts 4, no. 3 (December 10, 2010): 339–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/post.v4i3.339.
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This article surveys tensions in Buddhist scripture around gender norms and gender abnormality and argues that, in the context of Vajrayana (or Tantric) Buddhism, gender disobedience—or “gender insubordination,” to deploy Judith Butler’s phraseology—can be understood to be a legitimate path to Awakening, in and of itself. It extends the notion of gender disobedience beyond an engagement with the transgender to a practice/performance of the sexless and genderless which is evoked by the figure of the eunuch. The article uses the traditional Tibetan sacred image of the enlightened protector (Wrathful Buddha) Gonpo Maning Nagpo as a case in point. The article is reflective as well as theoretical and informed by spiritual praxis and foregrounds similarities between Buddhist and Queer Studies perspectives on sex, gender and sexuality.
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Fujii, Akira. "Flesh-selling Rituals in Indian Tantric Buddhism: Descriptions in the Buddhist and Hindu Bhūtaḍāmaratantra." Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies (Indogaku Bukkyogaku Kenkyu) 67, no. 3 (March 25, 2019): 1183–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.4259/ibk.67.3_1183.
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Gómez, Oscar R. "ANTONIO DE MONTSERRAT – LA RUTA DE LA SEDA Y LOS CAMINOS SECRETOS DEL TANTRA." Revista Científica Arbitrada de la Fundación MenteClara 1, no. 1 (January 18, 2016): 5–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.32351/rca.v1.1.8.
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En este artículo se presenta la biografía de Antonio de Monserrat con el objeto de insertar en el pensamiento crítico budista a quien se considera el primer occidental iniciado en la filosofía tántrica e impulsor de ésta en Occidente a través de la Compañía de Jesús. Para ello, primero se hace un recorrido histórico que pone en foco cómo el budismo es desplazado de la India y se refugia entre las poblaciones de Asia central como la etnia Uigur en la actual Turquestán, cómo es adoptado por los emperadores chinos y se expande a lo largo de toda la Ruta de la Seda. La combinación del budismo indio con influencias occidentales (grecobudismo) dio origen a diversas escuelas budistas en Asia Central y en China. Luego se caracteriza en forma sintética la versión esotérica que adquiere el budismo (el tantra) y que se consolida en el siglo VIII en el Tíbet como budismo vajrayana (tántrico).Ésta es la forma de budismo que toman los gobernantes, que promueve la igualdad completa de personas y género, la idea del sujeto como una construcción de la cultura y la noción de deidades metafóricas —útiles para modelar el carácter de las personas pero de absoluta inexistencia— además del postulado budista de verdad relativa. Esta visión no teísta —o transteísta, como Gómez la prefiere llamar— se reflejaba en la total tolerancia religiosa del imperio Chino, Uigur y Mongol, que garantizaba la seguridad y el libre intercambio por la Ruta de la Seda. Es esta visión de sujetos no divididos en castas ni diferenciados por sangre lo que maravilla a de Montserrat al decir que los tibetanos “no tienen reyes entre sí” e inflama la avidez de quienes viajaron especialmente (a partir de los escritos de éste) a iniciarse en el budismo tántrico tibetano como los jesuitas Antonio de Andrade y Juan de Brito. El tercer apartado se dedica de lleno a la biografía de Antonio de Monserrat y a precisar su contacto con el tantra.Abstract This article presents Antonio de Montserrat’s biography to insert him in Buddhist critical thinking as whom is considered the first Westerner initiated into tantric philosophy and who became a driver thereof in the West through the Society of Jesus. To do so, a historical review is first presented to focus on the way Buddhism was removed from India and found refuge among the peoples of Central Asia such as the Uyghurs in present-day Turkistan, how it was then adopted by Chinese emperors and spread throughout the Silk Road. The combination of Indian Buddhism and Western influences (Greco-Buddhism) gave rise to several Buddhist schools in Central Asia and China. Then, the esoteric form Buddhism took (tantra) is briefly described, which was consolidated as Vajrayana (tantric) Buddhism in Tibet in the eighth century. That is the Buddhist form rulers have adopted, which promotes full social and gender equality, the idea of the subject as a cultural construction and the notion of metaphorical deities —useful to model people’s character but completely non-existent— in addition to the Buddhist principle of relative truth (not absolute). This non theistic view —or transtheistic, as Gómez would rather call, was projected in the absolute religious tolerance within the Chinese, Uyghur, and Mongolian empires, which ensured safety and free exchange on the Silk Route. Such standpoint of people not divided into castes or differentiated by reason of bloodline is what amazes de Montserrat when saying Tibetans "have no kings among them" and what encourages those who made a journey (based on de Montserrat’s writings) especially to receive initiation into Tibetan Tantric Buddhism such as Jesuits Antonio de Andrade and John de Brito. Finally, the article jumps in Antonio de Montserrat’s biography and it shows its connection with tantrism.
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Bond, Kevin. "Of saints and blood: the Narita Buddhist sword cult in Edo Japan." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 77, no. 2 (May 22, 2014): 313–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0041977x14000093.
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AbstractThis article examines the local character of early modern (1600–1868) Japanese Buddhism using a case study of the Narita Fudō cult of Shinshōji Temple, with particular attention to the temple's most sacred treasure, the legendary Sword of Amakuni. Drawing on local sources produced within and beyond clerical circles, it examines how the sword and its popular narratives became central to the public identity of the cult and the temple's proselytization efforts. This article illuminates the evolving, fluid nature of deity cults as highly mobile properties working across sectarian boundaries, and how these properties gained importance beyond the walls of Buddhist institutions among the artistic and theatrical landscapes of the country's capital.
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Syrtypova, S. Kh D. "Vajradhara Buddha in Mongolia." Orientalistica 2, no. 1 (September 7, 2019): 62–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.31696/2618-7043-2019-2-1-62-76.
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Abstract: the article deals with the Vajradhara Buddha iconography and sculptural images. Vajradhara is a symbol of the dharmakaya i.e. the primordial Buddha, the fundamental principle of the whole pantheon of deities of the Vajrayana. Due to the genius and inspirations of Zanabazar (1635–1723), the great artist and the spiritual leader of Mongolia, the Adi-Buddha Vajradhara became the holiest figure in Mongolian Buddhism and also religious symbol of the whole country. The author analyses various sculptural images of Vajradhara both as single deity and as a yab-yum symbol (a representation of the primordial union of wisdom and compassion, depicted as a male deity in union with his female consort) by Ӧndӧr Gegen Zanabazar or related to him. The artefacts are currently being preserved in the Buddhist monasteries, temples and the museums of art as well as in private collections in Mongolia. The latter have not yet received their full description and often remain unrecorded.
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REIGLE, DAVID. "The Kālacakra Tantra on the Sādhana and Maṇḍala: A Review Article." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland 22, no. 2 (April 2012): 439–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1356186312000223.
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The Kālacakra Tantra was the last Buddhist tantra to appear in India, before the disappearance of Buddhism there, roughly a thousand years ago. This is the third book on Kālacakra by Vesna Wallace. We must be very grateful to her for another helpful contribution to our knowledge of this complex system. Her first one, The Inner Kālacakratantra: A Buddhist Tantric View of the Individual (New York, 2001), provides an overview of the whole system, drawing on all five chapters of the Kālacakra Tantra. Her next one, The Kālacakratantra: The Chapter on the Individual together with the Vimalaprabhā (New York, 2004), presents a translation of the second chapter of the Kālacakra Tantra along with the indispensable Vimalaprabhā commentary thereon. The Kālacakra Tantra is written entirely in the sragdharā metre, in which the length of every syllable is regulated. When a complex system is presented in a complex metre, we have a text that is hard to understand in the extreme. It would be almost incomprehensible without the full and detailed Vimalaprabhā commentary.
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Syrtypova, Surun-Khanda D. "Автопортрет и Будда Ваджрасаттва у Дзанабазара." Oriental Studies 13, no. 4 (December 25, 2020): 1045–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.22162/2619-0990-2020-50-4-1045-1077.
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Introduction. Jebtsundamba Khutuktu Öndör Gegeen Zanabazar was Mongolia’s first ruler to hold both secular and spiritual power. In the late 17th century, the country witnessed dramatic internecine wars, and his overriding goal was to unify the nation and increase the educational level. Virtually all his self-portraits discovered depict Zanabazar as a real priest with iconographic markers of Buddha Vajrasattva. The selected Buddhist symbol is supposed to deliver a deepest nonverbal sermon and mysterious testament of the prominent Buddhist master. Goals. The paper seeks to further reveal, examine, and describe objects of artistic heritage authored by Öndör Gegeen Zanabazar and currently stored in state, public, administrative, and private collections of Mongolia and Russia. Results. The work is a first attempt to examine Zanabazar’s self-portraits — both sculptural and graphic ones (including tiny elements of different thangkas) — in their structural unity in the context of his meditative practices. The descriptions of the pictures compiled with due regard of Buddha Vajrasattva-related tantric texts and facts of Öndör Gegeen’s biography may be viewed as sources for historical and art studies in Vajrayana Buddhism. The analysis of textual and graphic materials attempts to interpret Zanabazar’s unique position as both a spiritual and Buddhist arts master.
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Acri, Andrea. "VIAJANDO POR LOS «CAMINOS DEL SUR»: EL BUDISMO ESOTÉRICO EN EL ASIA MARÍTIMA, SIGLOS VII-XIII D.C." Revista Científica Arbitrada de la Fundación MenteClara 2, no. 2 (October 30, 2017): 6–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.32351/rca.v2.2.28.
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Este artículo presenta un panorama histórico de las redes de sitios y agentes que fueron instrumentales en la creación y circulación de las diferentes variedades de budismo esotérico (o tántrico) entre los siglos VII y XIII hasta su casi desaparición. El autor aborda el estudio del budismo esotérico desde una perspectiva geográfica amplia, hace hincapié en las interacciones marítimas que se produjeron a través de las llamadas «Rutas Marítimas de la Seda» en el curso de varios siglos y avanza en una narrativa histórica complementaria que toma las conexiones marítimas. Basado en evidencias textuales, materiales y arqueológicas diseminadas en toda el Asia marítima, muestra cómo migraron los maestros budistas tántricos de la «primera ola» a distintos puntos del Asia, donde evolucionaba y se consolidaba el nuevo paradigma tántrico gracias al patrocinio de dinastías como las de los Śailendras, Yarlung y Tang. Durante la expansión de la «segunda ola», los cultos tántricos que giraban en torno a aspectos sumamente esotéricos y militares de las deidades (como Heruka y Hevajra) tuvieron como seguidores al Kublai Kan en la China, a Kṛtanagara en Java oriental y a Jayavarman VII en Camboya, entre otros, hasta su posterior desaparición. El trabajo sostiene que aparte de las contingencias sociopolíticas, tales cambios de paradigma pueden haber ocurrido como resultado de «reformas» religiosas que promovieron un giro hacia las variedades no esotéricas -es decir, variantes mágicomísticas- de las tradiciones budistas (como sucedió, por ejemplo, en Sri Lanka y, en una fecha posterior, en Myanmar y Camboya con respecto a la prevalencia del budismo Therāvada sobre el Mahāyāna y Vajrayāna o incluso diferentes religiones como sucedió, por ejemplo, en Java Central). Finalmente el artículo sienta las bases para continuar los estudios académicos para identificar las redes de practicantes no institucionalizados que contribuyeron a la difusión de las formas del tantrismo en el Asia marítima. AbstractThis article presents a historical overview covering the networks of places and agents that were instrumental to the rise and spread of the different varieties of Esoteric (or: Tantric) Buddhism between the 7th and 13th centuries until near vanishing point. The author approaches the study of Esoteric Buddhism from a broad geographical perspective, emphasizing the maritime interactions that took place through the so-called “Maritime Silk Routes” over the course of several centuries, and provides with a supporting historical narrative based on maritime linking. On the basis of textual, material, and archaeological evidence disseminated throughout all Maritime Asia, the author shows how Tantric Buddhist masters of the « first wave » migrated to different Asian locations, where the new Tantric paradigm was developed and consolidated thanks to the sponsorship of dynasties such as the Śailendras, the Yarlungs, and the Tangs. During the « second wave » of expansion, Tantric cults revolving around highly esoteric and martial aspects of deities (such as Heruka and Hevajra) were followed by Kublai Khan in China, Kṛtanagara in East Java, and Jayavarman the VII in Cambodia, among others, until they eventually disappeared. This work argues that beyond socio-political contingencies, paradigm changes may have occurred as a result of religious “reforms” which promoted a shift towards non-esoteric varieties —that is, mystical-magical variants— of Buddhist traditions (as happened, for example, in Sri Lanka and, at a later date, in Myanmar and Cambodia as regards the prevalence of Theravāda Buddhism over Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna, or even different religions as happened, for example, in Central Java). Finally, the article sets a starting point to pursue further research to identify networks of non-institutionalized practitioners who contributed to the spread of forms of Tantrism across Maritime Asia.
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Vanchikova, Tsymzhit P. "Тибето-монгольские традиции культа Майтреи в бурятском буддизме: освящение статуи Майтреи в Анинском дацане." Oriental Studies 13, no. 5 (December 28, 2020): 1331–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.22162/2619-0990-2020-51-5-1331-1338.
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Introduction. The article describes an archival document stored at the Center of Oriental Manuscripts and Xylographs (Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies, SB RAS) and reviewing the temple’s construction and the Maitreya statue’s erection at Aninsky Datsan. The study provides insight into origins of the Maitreya cult dating back to ancient India. Goals. The paper aims to determine the authenticity of the data reported by Ven. Lodon and trace origins of the Maitreya cult, including those related to the consecration of relics. Materials. The essay entitled ‘History (Description) of the Burkhan (Bur. ‘deity statue’) at Big Maidari Aninsky Datsan’ was written by Ven. Lodon, ethnic Buryat, in 1915. The former is a garchak — inventory list — of various relics and objects embedded inside the statue. The written monument is valuable due to that it contains unique source materials and data on the history of Buddhism in Buryatia which reveal the inner life of the Buddhist monastery and its community, shows the relationships between the monastic sangha and lay believers, the Buddhist clergy and state authorities. Materials describing the festive events dedicated to the 1897 consecration of the Maitreya statue and the temple are interesting enough. Results. The examined ‘History of Burkhan’ is important not only because sources on the history of Buryat Buddhism are scarce enough and it gives an opportunity to reconstruct the long and convoluted history of the statue, but also because the original Maitreya statue itself never survived and was dramatically destroyed in the late 1930s.
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Kaufmann, Paulus. "Visuality in Esoteric Buddhism – Awakened with a Single Glance?" Asiatische Studien - Études Asiatiques 74, no. 4 (November 1, 2020): 911–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/asia-2018-0027.
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Abstract In the year 806 CE the Japanese monk Kūkai returned from a journey to China and brought a large amount of visual artefacts with him. Commentators have wondered since what role these visual media play in Kūkai’s Buddhist thought. It has been speculated that the art works show that Kūkai values visual media higher when it comes to transmitting the teaching of the Buddha. Proponents of this view usually refer to a single passage from Kūkai’s writings to warrant their interpretation. By analysing the respective passage in detail and showing how it connects to Kūkai’s other writings, this article argues that Kūkai did not prefer the visual to the verbal in transmitting the dharma. Mandalas certainly play an important role in Kūkai’s thought, but their role differs from what these modern interpreters suppose: first, when Kūkai speaks about ‘mandalas’ he often does not refer to paintings, but to the structure of reality or to ritual procedures. Second, mandala paintings have an ambiguous role in esoteric ritual, because they were added rather late in the development of esoteric ritual. For Kūkai they serve primarily as storyboards for ritual performance. Third, the first glance at a mandala is an important moment during esoteric initiations, but it is only the beginning of a rigorous training. Moreover, the crucial moment in esoteric ritual is the union of the practitioner with the deity; glancing at the mandala has no role to play in this mystic union. Fourth, mandala paintings can be used, according to Kūkai, to reveal the deeper structure of texts, but in this role they are not superior to the written medium but rather play a helping role. Fifth, Kūkai believes that texts as well as paintings can be misleading whenever they are taken as representations of a rigid structure of reality. In Kūkai’s eyes, the visual cannot, therefore, solve the problem how the Buddha can transmit his dharma.
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GONKATSANG, TSERING, and MICHAEL WILLIS. "The Ra Mo Che Temple, Lhasa, and the Image of Mi bsKyod rDo rJe: The Narrative of Ri ‘Bur sPrul sKu." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland 19, no. 1 (January 2009): 41–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1356186308009097.
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Although practicing Buddhists and historians of Tibet are well aware of the Ra Mo Che Temple in Lhasa, very little about the building and its history has been published. Situated a short distance north-west of the more-famous Ra Sa gTsug Lag Khang or Jo Khang, the temple received, according to the dBa' bZhed, the Buddha image brought to Tibet in the time of the Tang princess Ong Jo. Early in the reign of Khri Srong lDe bTsan, while the king was still in his minority, anti-Buddhist factions led by Zhang Ma Zham Khrom Pa sKyes circumscribed royal power and murdered the pro-Buddhist minister Zhang sNa Nam Khri Thong rJe Thang la ‘Bar. They also arranged for the image at Ra Mo Che to be removed from the temple. The plan was to return the Buddha to China, along with the head priest and his entourage. The statue's great weight, however, thwarted the scheme. After being dragged a short distance, the Buddha was left half-buried in the earth. The state of affairs in those days is indicated by dBa' bZhed which reports that the Lhasa vihāra was turned into a workshop with sheep carcasses hung from the arms of the principal holy images and entrails wound round their necks! After Buddhism was reinstated, the Ra Mo Che was returned to worship. Subject to campaigns of refurbishment and additions through the centuries, it was the centre of a number of important developments, notably becoming the seat of the upper Tantric college (rGyud sTod) established by rJe bTsun Kun dGa' Don Drub in 1474.
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Faure, Bernard. "The Cultic World of the Blind Monks: Benzaiten, Jūzenji, and Shukujin." Journal of Religion in Japan 2, no. 2-3 (2013): 171–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/22118349-12341254.
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Abstract This paper examines the complex institutional and symbolic network that developed during the medieval period, bringing together people, places, institutions, myths, legends, rituals, and deities. It focuses on the relationships between the goddess of musical arts and eloquence Benzaiten, the Hie Shrine deity Jūzenji, and itinerant performers such as the blind monks (mōsō) and the biwa hōshi, who were instrumental in bringing together traditional Buddhist teachings and the performing arts (geinō). The paper argues that these relationships formed part of a broader semantic and symbolic field, at the center of which was the Protean figure of the shukujin (whose name can mean “astral god” and “god of destiny,” but also “god of the shuku”—outcasts groups and settlements). It shows how the latter was eventually identified by the Nō playwright Konparu Zenchiku (1405-1468), in his seminal work Meishukushū, with the figure of Okina, the divine old man that is widely regarded as the symbol of Nō theater. With the slow decline of the blind monks and the growing aestheticism of Nō, however, the vital connection between esoteric Buddhism, local religious traditions, and the performing arts eventually unraveled.
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Poss, Janice L. "Women Healing the Globe, Preserving the Tibetan Plateau." Feminist Theology 29, no. 3 (May 2021): 264–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/09667350211000603.
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The Tibetan Plateau’s Permafrost is melting at an alarming rate. Six of the world’s major rivers are sourced in the Tibetan Himalayas that are warming at a faster rate than the rest of the earth. If the temperature of the region continues to increase, the rivers will dry up and the earth will warm at an even faster rate. Buddha Yeshe Tsogyal (ye shes mTsho rgyal) (757–817 CE), long considered the Mother of Tibetan Tantric Buddhism, was the consort of Padmasambhava. She reached “complete liberation” or Nirvana in a single lifetime. Her stories are preserved in rman thar. Her life was an exemplary practice of compassion, responsible care, and non-violence toward all sentient beings and the world. Can we follow her proto-eco-feminist example? Can we build responsible care for our planet and humanity across disciplines and faith traditions? What does compassionate, non-violent Buddhist thought and Roman Catholic pastoral care bring to eco-feminism? Can an eco-feminist epistemology informed by Buddhist EcoDharma construct programs of sustainability into humanity’s excessive habits integrating science’s ability to quantify, with Buddha nature? Can Catholicism’s pastoral ability to show dependence on God, the peaceful, compassionate Creator of all allow us to see our dependence on God and our earth? Many women have already begun this work around the globe. In 2002, Rosemary Radford Ruether brought 16 women together from around the globe in Women Healing Earth: Third World Women on Ecology, Feminism, and Religion to tell us how they are doing it and succeeding. Each is highlighted here for their visions on how to heal the planet at the grassroots level. From their insights, this article explores their contributions as being still relevant today and adding new concerns about the dangers arising on the Tibetan Plateau. The article emphasizes their ideas, provides a warning and other ideas that collective activation might inspire to address climate change.
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Koed, Hans Krab. "Sindhu Raja-legenden og buddhismen i Bhutan." Religionsvidenskabeligt Tidsskrift, no. 17 (September 20, 1990). http://dx.doi.org/10.7146/rt.v0i17.5355.
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The purpose of this article is to show how a old form of Buddhism integrated with the local cult in the remote country of Bhutan in the Himalaya. How the former gods and demons were not unly subdued, but also convinced to fight for the new belief. They were not destroyed but converted and at the same time degraded. In accordance with geomantism the monasteries are to be built where they have the greatest effect. The physical presence of the monasteries symbolizing the capture of the demoness, whose body constitutes the country. It is all described in the legend of King Sindhu Raja, whose conversion is connnected with his recovering from a dangerous illness. Padmasambhava, the great buddhist and tantric yogi from Tibet, is called to Bhutan to fight the demon who has stolen the life force of the King. As he succeeeds in the fight, the king and country is converted. The fight persists until this day in Bhutan's version of Vajrayana Buddhism, the hBrug-pa school, as the old gods and demons still have to be reminded to fight for buddhism. For this purpose they have tantric rituals connected with exorcism like in the case of the legend of Sindhu Raja, where the King's stolen soul was freed by means of meditation and magic by the great mahasiddha Padmasambhava. Thus the connection between myth and history shows us the function of the culture hero who created social order and organized the country as an independent Buddhist kingdom by means of the sindhu Raja-legend.