Tantra in Practice

643 Pages·2000·3.39 MB·English

by  David Gordon White

TANTRA
IN PRACTICE
Edited by David Gordon White
P R I N C E T ON R E A D I N GS IN R E L I G I O NS
RELIGION / ASIAN STUDIES
TANTRA IN PRACTICE
Edited by David Gordon White
As David White explains in the Introduction to Tantra in Practice, Tantra is an Asian body
of beliefs and practices that seeks to channel the divine energy that grounds the universe,
in creative and liberating ways. The subsequent chapters reflect the wide geographical and
temporal scope of Tantra by examining thirty-six texts from China, India, Japan, Nepal,
and Tibet, ranging from the seventh century to the present day, and representing the full
range of Tantric experience - Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, and even Islamic. Each text has been
chosen and translated, often for the first time, by an international expert in the field who
also provides detailed background material. Students of Asian religions and general readers
alike will find the book rich and informative.
The book includes plays, transcribed interviews, poetry, parodies, inscriptions, instruc
tional texts, scriptures, philosophical conjectures, dreams, and astronomical speculations,
each text illustrating one of the diverse traditions and practices of Tantra. Thus, the nine
teenth-century Indian Buddhist Garland of Gems, a series of songs, warns against the illu
sion of appearance by referring to bees, yogurt, and the fire of Malaya Mountain; while
fourteenth-century Chinese Buddhist manuscripts detail how to prosper through the Seven
Stars of the Northern Dipper by burning incense, making offerings to scriptures, and chanting
incantations. In a transcribed conversation, a modern Hindu priest in Bengal candidly ex
plains how he serves the black goddess Kali and feeds temple skulls lentils, wine, or rice. A
seventeenth-century Nepalese Hindu praise-poem hammered into the golden doors to the
temple of the Goddess Taleju lists a king's faults and begs her forgiveness and grace. An
introduction accompanies each text, identifying its period and genre, discussing the his
tory and influence of the work, and identifying points of particular interest or difficulty.
The first book to bring together texts from the entire range of Tantric phenomena, Tantra
in Practice continues the Princeton Readings in Religions series. The breadth of work in
cluded, geographic areas spanned, and expert scholarship highlighting each piece serve to
expand our understanding of what it means to practice Tantra.
David Gordon White is Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the
University of California, Santa Barbara. A specialist in the religions of South Asia, he is the
author of Myths of the Dog-Man and The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medieval
India.
PRINCETON READINGS IN RELIGIONS
Donald S. Lopez, Jr., Editor
Adopting a fresh approach to sourcebooks on the religions of the world, Princeton Readings in
Religions moves away from an emphasis on philosophy and the religious expressions of elite
groups to represent instead a wide range of current and historical religious practices. The series
provides a new configuration of texts by making available for the first time works that have never
been translated before, including ritual texts, hagiographical and autobiographical works,
folktales, and ethnographic material. Although the books are designed for students, specialists
will discover in them a wealth of unfamiliar and valuable material. Furthermore, the selections,
appealing in themselves, are placed in an understandable context to attract a wide audience
of general readers. The contributors include experts from around the world, each of whom
provides a substantial introduction for his or her piece, placing the text in time and genre,
discussing the history and influence of the work, and identifying points of particular difficulty
or interest. Each volume also contains a substantial general introduction in which the history
of the traditions is outlined and the significance of each work is explored.
www.pup.princeton.edu
PRINCETON READINGS IN RELIGIONS
Donald S. Lopez, Jr., Editor
TITLES IN THE SERIES
Religions of India in Practice edited by Donald S. Lopez, Jr.
Buddhism in Practice edited by Donald S. Lopez, Jr.
Religions of China in Practice edited by Donald S. Lopez, Jr.
Religions of Tibet in Practice edited by Donald S. Lopez, Jr.
Religions of Japan in Practice edited by George J. Tanabe, Jr.
Asian Religions in Practice: An Introduction
edited by Donald S. Lopez, Jr.
Religions of Late Antiquity in Practice edited by Richard Valantasis
Tantra in Practice edited by David Gordon White
T A N T RA
IN P R A C T I CE
David Gordon White, Editor
PRINCETON READINGS IN RELIGIONS
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON AND OXFORD
Copyright © 2000 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Market Place, Woodstock,
Oxfordshire OX20 ISY
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tantra in practice / David Gordon White, editor.
p. cm. - (Princeton readings in religions)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-691-05778-8 (cloth: alk.paper) - ISBN 0-691-05779-6 (paper: alk.paper)
1. Tantrism. 2. Tantric Buddhism. I. White, David Gordon. II. Series.
BL1283.84 T36 2000
294.5'95 - dc21 00-022890
This book has been composed in Berkeley
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R 1997) {Permanence of Paper)
www.pup.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
13579 10 8642
13579 10 8642
(Pbk.)
PRINCETON READINGS
IN RELIGIONS
Princeton Readings in Religions is a new series of anthologies on the religions of
the world, representing the significant advances that have been made in the study
of religions in the last thirty years. The sourcebooks used by previous generations
of students, whether for Judaism and Christianity or for the religions of Asia and
the Middle East, placed a heavy emphasis on "canonical works." Princeton Read
ings in Religions provides a different configuration of texts in an attempt better
to represent the range of religious practices, placing particular emphasis on the
ways in which texts have been used in diverse contexts. The volumes in this series
therefore include ritual manuals, hagiographical and autobiographical works,
popular commentaries, and folktales, as well as some ethnographic material. Many
works are drawn from vernacular sources. The readings in the series are new in
two senses. First, very few of the works contained in the volumes have ever been
made available in an anthology before; in the case of the volumes on Asia, few
have even been translated into a Western language. Second, the readings are new
in the sense that each volume provides new ways to read and understand the
religions of the world, breaking down the sometimes misleading stereotypes in
herited from the past in an effort to provide both more expansive and more
focused perspectives on the richness and diversity of religious expressions. The
series is designed for use by a wide range of readers, with key terms translated
and technical notes omitted. Each volume also contains a substantial introduction
by a distinguished scholar in which the histories of the traditions are outlined
and the significance of each of the works is explored.
Tantra in Practice is the eighth volume of Princeton Readings in Religions and
the first substantial anthology of Tantric works ever to appear in English. The
thirty-nine contributors, drawn from around the world, are leading scholars of
Tantra. Each contributor has provided a translation of a key work, in most cases
translated here for the first time. Each chapter in the volume begins with an
introduction in which the translator discusses the history and influence of the
work, identifying points of particular difficulty or interest. David White has pro
vided a general introduction to the volume that serves as an ideal guide to the
riches contained between the covers of this book. He has organized the volume
thematically, providing fascinating juxtapositions of works from different regions,
periods, and traditions. Two additional tables of contents are provided, organizing
the works by tradition and by country of origin.
vi PRINCETON READINGS IN RELIGIONS
The range of works represented here is remarkable, spanning the continent of
Asia and the traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Islam over more
than a millennium. With the publication of this volume, the long disparaged and
neglected Tantric traditions of Asia receive the attention they so rightly deserve.
This is a groundbreaking work.
Donald S. Lopez, Jr.
Series Editor
NOTE ON
TRANSLITERATION
The works in this volume are translated from many Indic languages, as well as
from the Chinese, Japanese, and Tibetan languages. In the case of the Indic
languages, the translators have, in general, adhered to the standard
transliteration system for each of the languages. Certain common place names,
proper names, and selected terms that have entered into English usage on the
Indian subcontinent are shown without diacritical marks. Chinese terms appear
in Pinyin. Japanese terms appear in Hepburn transliteration. Tibetan terms are
rendered in a phonetic equivalent by the translator, after which the term is
provided in Wylie transliteration. Modern place-names and names of modern
authors and editors are transliterated without diacriticals.
CONTENTS
Princeton Readings in Religions v
Note on Transliteration vii
Contents by Tradition xiii
Contents by Country xv
Contributors xvii
Introduction • David Gordon White 3
Gurus and Adepts
1. The Tantric Guru • Andre Padoux 41
2. King Kunji's Banquet • Matthew T. Kapstein 52
3. Interviews with a Tantric Kali Priest: Feeding Skulls in the Town of
Sacrifice • June McDaniel 72
4. A Parody of the Kapalikas in the Mattavilasa • David N. Lorenzen 81
5. A Trance Healing Session with Matajl • Kathleen M. Erndl 97
Kings and Priests
6. The Consecration of the Monastic Compound at Mount Koya by
Kukai • David L. Gardiner 119
7. Praises of the Drunken Peacocks • Richard H. Davis 131
8. Precepts for an Emperor • Allan G. Grapard 146
Devotees and Deities
9. Raising Snakes in Bengal: The Use of Tantric Imagery in Sakta
Poetry Contests • Rachel Fell McDermott 167
10. The Wedding of Siva and the Goddess in the Kulalikamnaya
Teun Goudriaan 184
FEB 24 2001
X CONTENTS
11. An Advertised Secret: The Goddess Taleju and the King of
Kathmandu Bronwen Bledsoe 195
12. Tantric Rites in Antal's Poetry • D. Dennis Hudson 206
Traditions in Transition and Conflict
13. The Jain Monk Jinapati Suri Gets the Better of a Nath Yogi
Paul Dundas 231
14. Longchenpa and the Possession of the Dakinis • David Germano
and Janet Gyatso 239
15. The Anonymous Agama Prakasa: Preface to a Nineteenth-Century
Gujarati Polemic . Robin Rinehart and Tony K. Stewart 266
16. Conversation between Guru Hasan Kabiruddin and Jogi Kanipha:
Tantra Revisited by the Isma'ili Preachers • Dominique-Sila Khan 285
Tantric Paths
17. Emptiness and Dust: Zen Dharma Transmission Rituals
• William Bodijord 299
18. The Necklace of Immortality: A Seventeenth-Century Vaisnava
Sahajiya Text • Glen A. Hayes 308
19. The Tibetan Practice of the Mantra Path According to Lce-sgom-pa
• Yael Bentor 326
20. The Ocean of the Heart: Selections from the Kularnava Tantra
• Douglas Renfrew Brooks 347
21. Tantric Buddhism and Chinese Thought in East Asia
• Fahio Rambelli 361
Rites and Techniques
22. Worship of the Ladies of the Dipper • Charles D. Orzech
and James H. Sanford 383
23. The Great Wisdom Mother and the Good Tradition
• Giacomella Orofino 396
24. Worship of Bell-Ears the Great Hero, a Jain Tantric Deity
• John E. Cort 417
25. Secret Yantras and Erotic Display for Hindu Temples
• Michael D. Robe 434
26. The Six Rites of Magic • Gudrun Buhnemann 447