Buddhist tantras
The late Seventh century saw the rise of another new class of Buddhist texts, the Tantras, which focused on ritual practices and yogic techniques such as the use of Mantras, Dharanis, Mandalas, Mudras and Fire offerings.[73]
Many early Buddhist Tantric texts, later termed "action Tantras" (kriyā tantra), are mostly collections of magical mantras or phrases for mostly worldly ends called mantrakalpas (mantra manuals) and they do not call themselves Tantras.[74]
Later Tantric texts from the eighth century onward (termed variously Yogatantra, Mahayoga, and Yogini Tantras) advocated union with a deity (deity yoga), sacred sounds (mantras), techniques for manipulation of the subtle body and other secret methods with which to achieve swift Buddhahood.[75] Some Tantras contain antinomian and transgressive practices such as ingesting alcohol and other forbidden substances as well as sexual rituals.[76]
Some scholars such as Alexis Sanderson have argued that these later tantras, mainly the Yogini tantras, can be shown to have been influenced by non-Buddhist religious texts, mainly Tantric Śaivism and the Śaiva tantras.[77]
In East Asian Esoteric Buddhism and its Japanese offshoot, the Shingon school, the most influential tantras are those which focus on Vairocana Buddha, mainly, the Mahavairocana Tantra and the Vajrasekhara Sutra.
Buddhist Tantras are key texts in Vajrayana Buddhism, which is the dominant form of Buddhism in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. They can be found in the Chinese canon, but even more so in the Tibetan Kangyur which contains translations of almost 500 tantras. In the Tibetan tradition, there are various categories of tantra. The Sarma or New Translation schools of Tibetan Buddhism divide the Tantras into four main categories:
- Kriyayogatantra
- Charyayogatantra
- Yogatantra
- Anuttarayogatantra
Anuttarayogatantra (Higher Yoga Tantra) is known in the Nyingma school as Mahayoga. Some of the most influential Higher Tantras in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism are the Guhyasamāja Tantra, the Hevajra Tantra, the Cakrasamvara Tantra, and the Kalacakra Tantra. The Nyingma school also has unique tantras of its own, not found in the other Tibetan schools, the most important of these are the Dzogchen tantras.
Other products of the Vajrayana literature
Tibetan Buddhism has a unique and special class of texts called terma (Tibetan: gTer-ma). These are texts (or ritual objects, etc.) believed either composed or hidden by tantric masters and/or elementally secreted or encoded in the elements and retrieved, accessed or rediscovered by other tantric masters when appropriate. Termas are discovered by tertöns (Tibetan: gTer-stons), whose special function is to reveal these texts. Some termas are hidden in caves or similar places, but a few are said to be 'mind termas,' which are 'discovered' in the mind of the tertön. The Nyingma school (and Bön tradition) has a large terma literature. Many of the terma texts are said to have been written by Padmasambhava, who is particularly important to the Nyingmas. Probably the best known terma text is the so-called Tibetan book of the dead, the Bardo Thodol.
A sadhana is a tantric spiritual practice text used by practitioners, primarily to practice the mandala or a particular yidam, or meditation deity. The Sādhanamālā is a collection of sadhanas.
Vajrayana adepts, known as mahasiddha, often expounded their teachings in the form of songs of realization. Collections of these songs such as the Caryāgīti, or the Charyapada are still in existence. The Dohakosha is a collection of doha songs by the yogi Saraha from the 9th century. A collection known in English as The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa was composed by Tibetan Buddhist yogi Milarepa and is especially popular amongst members of the Kagyu school.
The Blue Annals (Standard Tibetan: deb ther sngon po) completed in 1476CE, authored by Gölo Zhönnupel (Tibetan: gos lo gzhon nu dpal, 1392–1481), is a historical survey of Tibetan Buddhism with a marked ecumenical view, focusing upon the dissemination of various sectarian traditions throughout Tibet.[78]
Namtar, or spiritual biographies, are another popular form of Tibetan Buddhist texts, whereby the teachings and spiritual path of a practitioner are explained through a review of their life story.
Kūkai wrote a number of treatises on Vajrayana Buddhism, and these are influential in Japanese Shingon Buddhism.
