Search Results (68)

For Buddhists, preserving the Word of the Buddha has been intimately linked to the astrological notion of a “degenerate age,” marked foremost by the decline of Buddhism in our world and increased incidence of crises such as epidemics, famines, and wars. A tantric scripture called the Only Child of the Teachings (Bstan pa bu gcig), one of the root tantras of the Tibetan Great Perfection Heart Essence tradition, presents itself as not only the offspring of the teachings but also as “the ember of the teachings” that can reignite Buddhism during the degenerate age and, when copied, worn, and ritually recited, confront symptomatic calamities, liberate the deceased from bad destinies, and even hasten the realization of awakening. Properly enlisting the Only Child toward these aims requires careful consideration of another tantra, called Ascertaining the Crucial Point of Timing (Dus gnad nges pa), which serves as the user’s manual for the Only Child by specifying the astrological, material, and ritual elements for the Only Child’s reproduction, wearing, and efficacious deployment. This paper examines the content of Ascertaining the Crucial Point of Timing in its broader context as a lens into understanding how scriptures can generate the reproduction, preservation, and ritual use of other scriptures, particularly during times of crisis, and what this generativity between texts implies about the creation and revitalization of tradition more broadly. It includes in an appendix a preliminary Tibetan edition and English translation of Ascertaining the Crucial Point of Timing. Full article

This comparative study sheds light on the agency of nature and provides a lens through which to examine the intersection of ritual, ecology, and indigenous environmental consciousness in South Asia. The paper argues that the sacred groves are not just passive backdrops for human rituals, but dynamic spaces in which fauna, flora, rocks and other natural entities are actively involved in spiritual practices and ecological processes. We compare two case studies: one from South India (Kerala), the Vallikāṭṭu sacred grove (kāvu), and one from Nepal, the shamanic forests of Nagarkot. While the beliefs and rituals connect people with the environment and impose certain restrictions as to the mode of conduct in the groves, we point to the agency of non-human animals In the case of Vallikāṭṭu we show that while the worshippers and priests of the groves may be inclined to restructure the groves or ritual patterns, the groves’ monkeys are perceived as emissaries of the spiritual-natural forces who preserve the ecosystem of the grove. Similarly, the trees and stones at the sacred sites of Nepal are seen as spiritual guides of the shamans or physical manifestations of the spirit of nature. This ethnographic study, combined with botanical research on plant animal interactions in the groves and philological study of sacred texts of the priests and shamans, highlights the existing indigenous ecological knowledge systems that are inextricably linked to and transmitted through ritual practices, spirit possession, trance and visionary journeys. Full article

This article examines the evolution and potential cross-cultural adaptations of the “Goddess of the Flaming Mouth”, Jvālāmukhī (Skt.) or Kha ‘bar ma (Tib.), in Indic and Tibetan traditions. A minor figure in medieval Hindu Tantras, Jvālāmukhī is today best known through her tangible manifestation as natural flames in a West Himalayan temple complex in the valley of Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India. The gap between her sparse portrayal in Tantric texts and her enduring presence at this local “seat of power” (śakti pīṭha) raises questions regarding her historical development and sectarian affiliations. To address these questions, we examine mentions of Jvālāmukhī’s Tibetan counterpart, Kha ‘bar ma, across a wide range of textual sources: canonical Buddhist texts, original Tibetan works of the Bön and Buddhist traditions, and texts on sacred geography. Regarded as a queen of ghost spirits (pretas) and field protector (kṣetrapāla) in Buddhist sources, her portrayal in Bön texts contain archaic motifs that hint at autochthonous and/or non-Buddhist origins. The assessment of Indic material in conjunction with Tibetan texts point to possible transformations of the goddess across these culturally proximate Himalayan settings. In presenting and contextualizing these transitions, this article contributes critical data to ongoing efforts to map the development, adaptation, and localization of Tantric deities along the Indo-Tibetan interface. Full article

In this article, we investigate the previously unstudied life and works of the late-12th/early-13th century Tibetan polymath Jamyang Sarma Sherab Özer (‘Jam dbyang gsar ma shes rab ‘od zer), an important Buddhist master in the Dro lineage of the Kālacakra Tantra. We will focus on his unique syncretic work, Illuminating the Path to Freedom (Thar lam sgron me), and provide an overview of his surviving literary output. Jamyang Sarma predates Dölpopa Sherab Gyeltsen (Dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan, 1292–1361) in the use of the term ‘other-emptiness’, or ‘extrinsic emptiness’ (gzhan stong), in his writings, as opposed to the well-known view of Madhyamaka on ‘self-emptiness’ (rang stong). While conventional historiography has predominantly attributed the earliest systematic deployment of the technical term gzhan stong to Dölpopa, whose writings indeed represent the most comprehensive theoretical exposition within the Jonang tradition, current philological evidence suggests more complex lines of transmission through earlier Tibetan masters. This essay will shed new light on this issue by looking into Jamyang Sarma’s Illuminating the Path to Freedom. Full article

This paper draws from the author’s direct experience with material care, adaptation, renewal, and disposal made while working within Himalayan and Tibetan Buddhist practitioner communities as a museum professional, conservator, and object-based researcher. It considers the function and utility of Buddhist tantric religious objects in terms of their care and capacity for practitioner engagement. In addition to exploring specific examples of what is referred to here as ‘devotional maintenance’, this paper will discuss how these strategies for object custodianship are related to Tibetan and Himalayan religious life and the specific epistemological and soteriological paradigm in which these actions are performed. Working from the perspective of a non-practitioner and material specialist, this research builds on observations of material care-taking to engage with local concepts of continuity, value, and longevity, including practices of accumulation, renewal, or disposal. Thinking critically about the methods and standards of heritage preservation provokes a discussion of how they can be interpreted as acts of care. At the same time, this paper will explore material custodianship through the cultivation of merit and an object’s capacity to transmit ‘blessings’ or the gift of beneficial influence (byin rlabs). Full article

Durkheimian anthropology has so insisted on the primacy of the sacred that one scarcely pauses to think on what role the profane may play in the study of religion. This paper examines the cultivation of dead bodies in the Tantric ritual of shav-sadhana to draw out the element of the “profanation of holy objects” operative within religion. Based on ethnographic research among Tantric specialists in rural Bengal, this paper examines how impurity liquidates the distance between the sacred and the profane which opens a window on the role of mundanity in religious rites and beliefs. I begin by portraying the ritual act undertaken by Tantric practitioners in which corpses ensuing from sudden, untimely deaths are mobilized for spiritual advancement. The ritual and its mode of efficacy are evocative for using impure matter to turn the flow of human ideals away from transcendence to ordinary, human ones. This paper concludes with a snapshot of Kaliyuga, the last age of Hindu cosmogony and the most corrupt, to thematize how the profane forms a lure as much as a barrier to religion. Full article

The aim of this paper is to discuss sun worship and healing practices in Samayācāra Śrīvidyā, a Hindu tantric tradition. Thus, I use anthropological and philological perspectives to show how the contemporary Samayācāra Śrīvidyā guru of Śrī Lalitāmbikā and his disciples redefine healing and use sun-related meditations to energize and rejuvenate the human body. This paper shows how contemporary Tantric religiosity is multidimensional in nature and promises protection from disease and an overall better quality of life. Conversely, I endeavor to show how the Śrī Lalitāmbikā temple combines solar healing with tantric practices that lead to a reconnection with the divine and offer the ultimate dimension of healing, i.e., spiritual immortality. Full article

This article investigates the Sanskrit hymn, ´Srī Gurugītā, from a scholarly, scriptural, historical, and ethnographic standpoint. Mystical yogic concepts such as chaitanya-shabda (Consciousness–sound) and shravana samadhi (absorption through reading or listening to holy texts) are introduced in the context of Gurugītā recitation. The history of diverse lineages that practice Gurugītā recitation and several historical dimensions of svadhyaya (long-text chanting) and namasankirtana (short chants) are briefly introduced, and the works of Jeremy Morse and Antonio Rigopoulos are closely considered. This article deals with the significant elements of yogic awakening referenced within the Gurugītā text and the goal of liberation cited therein. Many scholars have researched Hinduism, Tantra, Bhakti yoga, and devotion. This article investigates musical devotion in the context of yogic communities dedicated to Gurugītā recitation with the aim of experiencing the inner Self. The democratization and dissemination of this practice have global dimensions. Full article

This article delves into the exploration of a significant sign, the “viśvavajra”, found in the caisson ceilings of Buddhist esoteric art in Dunhuang’s Mogao Caves. These caissons, featuring the viśvavajra sign in the center, were prevalent from the mid-Tang period to the Western Xia dynasty (ninth to thirteenth centuries) and are recorded by The Overall Record of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes under description as “Jiaochu Jingxin”. Similar caissons are also found in Western Buddhist Caves near Dunhuang, and Yulin Caves in Guazhou County, indicating a distinct regional character. Focusing on a well-preserved and intricately detailed example from Cave 361, this article aims to elucidate the specific tantric significance of the viśvavajra at the center of the caissons within the broader context of Buddhist art. Drawing from related tantras, the discussion explores how the sign and its surrounding compositions align with a particular homa (fire offering) maṇḍala, specifically the śāntika maṇḍala crucial to numerous Tantric Buddhist rituals. Furthermore, the article examines the evolution of caisson of this type of maṇḍala over time. By comparing the mid-Tang example from Cave 361 with the late Tang period’s Cave 14, a noticeable shift in format becomes apparent. The viśvavajra sign takes on new significance, embodying “the samaya of all Tathāgatas”. Ultimately, the article explores how the significance of the viśvavajra sign transforms into an allusion to Vairocana or Rocana under the Sino-Tibetan Esoteric Buddhist context in the Hexi Corridor during the early Northern Song and Western Xia dynasty. Full article

The religious worldview of the mantranaya (esoteric Mahāyāna or Vajrayāna) can arguably be seen as rooted in the perspective that reality (tattva) is to be self-experienced (svasamvedya) through contemplative practices, serving as both their means (upāya) and expression (caryā). The tantric path-model of Padmavajra’s Guhyasiddhi, an exegetical text in the Guhyasamāja tradition, supposedly enables individuals to rapidly realize reality, a state also referred to as mahāmudrā or other, within a single lifetime. This path-model describes a transformation leading to the revelation of ultimate realization leaving behind conventional means. These two levels correspond to two stages, the stage of arising (utpattikrama), serving as the foundation for the stage of the arisen (utpannakrama). While the first stage is like a supporting framework giving rise to the correct view, in the second stage, the practitioner cultivates the view that has arisen. The practices of the latter stage eventually become inseparable from the view itself, meaning they are practical expressions of the view exemplified in doctrines like unmattavrata and other forms of observances integral to the mahāmudrā doctrine. Thus, contemplative practices and the established worldview mutually inform each other in a reciprocal relationship. Simultaneously, this system of practice and view continues to influence and shape religious practices and rituals as they are transmitted, e.g., through teacher–disciple lineages (guruparaṃparā). In this paper, I will explore this relationship through the critical edition and annotated translation of Guhyasiddhi’s first chapter by Padmavajra (ca. late 8th and early 9th century), in which a clear exposition of the relationship in question is presented. My analysis of it, thus connecting the work to more general Buddhist concepts, follows a two-level framework, that is, the well-known two-fold system of conventional/implicit (a) and definitive/explicit (b), which can be seen as equivalent to utpatti- (a) and utpannakrama (b). The efficiency of promoted practices accords with the practitioner’s correct assessment of tattva which, following Padmavajra, is the basis for engagement in tantric practices per se. The first part provides the analysis, given in 1.1–1.5, of Padmavajra‘s system and is based on the second part, the annotated translation (2.1) and critical edition (2.2) of Padma-vajra’s Guhyasiddhi chapter one. Full article

The burning ground is both a place and a metaphor in the religion of Shaktism or goddess worship in West Bengal, India. As a place, it is where corpses are cremated. As a metaphor, it refers to the human heart, which has been left as a wasteland through sorrow and tragedy. It is when the soul loses its attachment to this world, when the heart is desolate and alone, that the dark goddess Kali descends from the heavens. She may bring the gift of salvation, bringing the soul to her paradise, or she may save it from unhappy rebirth by bringing a new and better life. She may also bring the universal consciousness that is moksha or liberation. Transcendence from the bondage of worldly attachments, which are left behind amid the ashes of the burning ground, brings divine vision and realization. This paper explores the roles of negation and desolation in ritual practice and religious experience in Bengali Shaktism. Full article

How do we remember and write about powerful women and the impacts they have had on history? Who tells their stories, and to whose advantage are those narratives constructed? And what happens if we look carefully and acknowledge that when they enter historical narratives, many of these “women” are not adults, but actually relatively young girls? Rani Rasmani Dasi (1793–1861) and Bar-rajā Phuleshwari Kunwari (also known as Phulmati and Pramateshwari) (d. 1731) are each remembered as powerful women influencers of popular religion in South Asia, though in very different ways. These two “queens” were each remarkable women who variously defied, upended, and upheld common assumptions and narratives about caste, gender, power, and religion in Hindu society in early modern India. This study critically investigates the work of Rasmani and Phuleshwari’s many chroniclers, biographers, and hagiographers, questioning received narratives and attempting to construct a glimpse of them as living girls and women. What do we actually know about them, about their activities and motivations? And what can we know, when so much of the evidence is unreliable? Thrust into unfamiliar social, political, and religious environments as young girls, they grew into deeply religious women who used their considerable influence and resources to promote their own visions of divine power. They also became full participants in and beneficiaries of problematic power structures of domination and exploitation. But with closer investigation, it appears that much of what we think we know about these women is incomplete or, in the case of Phuleshwari, completely unreliable. Full article

This article provides an in-depth exploration of the contextual, epistemic, ethical, personal, practical, religious, and socio-cultural factors that sixteen Western practitioners of Vajrayāna Buddhism highlighted as having particularly challenged their ability to learn and engage in deity yoga, including what strategies they may have adopted in attempting to overcome their impact. While these have been largely overlooked by empirical research on meditation, their pertinence to understanding practice efficacy and outcome, as well as the phenomenological unfolding of particularly adverse practice-related experiences, have recently been recognized alongside the prevalence of the latter. In addition, these practitioner testimonies shed light on how the cross-cultural transmission of Vajrayāna Buddhism involves a process in which practice approaches and environments are undergoing adaptation and negotiation in light of the needs and lifestyles of lay practitioners, while meaning is being synthesized through their responses to the experiences that unfold not only from their exposure to teachers and their teachings but also from their engagement in tantric practice. Full article

In this paper, we shall examine some major religious roles for women in West Bengal, India, and the challenges they must face. Among the Santals, an Adivasi group, religious women must avoid being called witches, for women’s power is seen as dangerous and religious social roles are traditionally forbidden to them. Some women have been called by deities to become trance mediums, colloquially known as ‘bhar ladies’, and this role is generally not accepted by family members. Girls have had to undergo exorcisms by male healers to get them to renounce the gods that have called them to this role, while married women must deal with husbands who do not want their wives going into public trances. Many such women have learned tantric practices to control the trance possession. In rural areas, the combination of ascetic practices and stories known as bratas (vratas) are taught to young girls by female leaders called ayes. However, in more urban areas, this role has been taken over by male brahmin priests. We also see women in the bhakti tradition, who run ashrams and lead worship and who must deal with male devotees who question a woman’s leadership abilities. All of these involve challenges, and many of these women have developed strategies to deal with the difficulties of being a religious influencer in their societies. Full article

The Mahānayaprakāśa of Śitikaṇṭha is an understudied text within Kashmir Śaivism, notable for its rich description of the inner structure of consciousness vis-à-vis the body and the natural world, and esotericization of Left-Handed Tantric Practice. Furthermore, it is also significant in its form; like the Buddhist dohākoṣas it consists of Apabhraṃśa verses with accompanying Sanskrit commentary. However, in the sporadic scholarship on this text it is consistently portrayed as an early attestation of “Old Kashmiri,” and siloed off into obscurity. This article demonstrates that these verses are definitively composed in Apabhraṃśa, and argues that they should be examined alongside their Buddhist counterparts, which also articulate a mystical cosmology of the sacred realm Uḍḍiyāna located within the body. Afterwards the fourth chapter of this text is translated and presented, in which the human body takes center stage as the pīṭha, the pilgrimage destination and practice space of Tantric ritual. Ultimately this article argues that within medieval Tantric traditions the Apabhraṃśa verse form served as a privileged vehicle of esoteric teachings, and that it commands a unique linguistic value by indexing mystical states of consciousness. Full article