Cuerpos de Agua

The final two of the six types of tantras Butön enumerates are concordant tantras (cha

mthun pa’i rgyud, *bh›gıya-tantra[?]) and elaborating or branch tantras (spros pa’i rgyud

or yan lag gi rgyud,: *prapañca-tantra or *aºga-tantra). The ⁄rı Param›dya Tantra is classified as a concordant Yoga Tantra because it accords with the teaching of the four mudr›s in the four sections of the Compendium of Principles.520 Another concordant tantra is the Vajra Essence Ornament Tantra, since its Vairocana ma˚˜ala accords with the arrangement of deities in the Compendium of Principles.

The ⁄rı Param›dya Tantra is also classified as a branch tantra because its rites of generating the five manifest enlightenments and so forth are in relation to, and rely upon, the Compendium of Principles.521 The Purification of All Bad Transmigrations is called an elaborating Yoga Tantra because it elaborates on the process of purifying beings in bad transmigrations that was set forth in the second section of the Compendium of

Principles.522 Or, since most of its main deities are similar to the deities of the first section of the Compendium of Principles, the Purification of All Bad Transmigrations is also called a branch tantra.523

Another text that needs to be mentioned here is the Mode of the Perfection of Wisdom

in 150 Stanzas. Although this is a Perfection of Wisdom text, it is also considered to be a

519 _{mtshan ma mchod rten zhes bshad de/ /bstan pa ting ’dzin gyur pa nyid/ (Butön, Ship, 57a.3).} 520 _{Butön, Ship, 57a.4-57a.5.}

521 _{Butön, Ship, 56a.5-56a.6.}

522 _{Butön, Ship, 57a.6. I will discuss this further in chapter three.} 523 _{Butön, Ship, 57a.6-57a.7.}

tantra because it elucidates mantra. It is specifically classified as a Yoga Tantra because of its relationship with the ⁄rı Param›dya: it is considered to be an explanatory tantra of the ⁄rı Param›dya’s first section.524 I have discussed this relationship in some detail earlier in this chapter.

The most striking feature of Butön’s discussion of six types of tantras is the centrality of the relation between texts. His presentation of the individual tantra-texts emphasizes the fact that after the production of the Compendium of Principles and the subsequent emergence of the body of texts associated with it, these traditions were consolidated into a system, a corpus of related tantras, an organic whole. Furthermore, the discussion of the inter-textual relationships of the various instances of the six types of tantras reflects the pivotal position the Compendium of Principles holds in the Yoga Tantra system. It is in relation to the Compendium of Principles—the root or fundamental or basic Yoga Tantra—that every other tantra of the Yoga Tantra system is a Yoga Tantra. Thus, the central criterion for a text’s inclusion in the Yoga Tantra system as it was constructed by Indian exegetes appears to be its relationship to the Compendium of Principles. For example, the explanatory Yoga Tantra the VajraŸekhara elucidates and expands on the

Compendium of Principles in the six ways an explanatory tantra explicates a root tantra,

the Purification of All Bad Transmigrations expands upon a practice taught in the second section of the Compendium of Principles and thus is an elaborating Yoga Tantra, and so forth.

524 _{The first section of the ⁄rı Param›dya Tantra is the “Perfection of Wisdom” section (Tib: shes rab kyi}

pha rol tu phyin pa’i dum bu, abbreviated to sher dum; the corresponding Sanskrit would be prajñ›p›ramit›-kha˚˜a).

The Mode of the Perfection of Wisdom in 150 Stanzas is classified as a Yoga Tantra even though it is not explicitly related to the Compendium of Principles; it is considered a Yoga Tantra because of its relation to the ⁄rı Param›dya Tantra. However, the Indian Jñ›namitra’s commentary on the Mode of

the Perfection of Wisdom in 150 Stanzas indicates a relationship with the Compendium of Principles,

It is important to remember that the Yoga Tantra system, like the individual tantras themselves, developed over time. Thus, Butön’s fourteenth-century presentation is of a more systematized and mature Yoga Tantra corpus than likely existed during the seventy- five or one-hundred years after the Compendium of Principles was produced around the last quarter of the seventh century. By the middle of the eighth century north Indian exegetical traditions began to associate these texts as a corpus, which they referred to as Yoga Tantra.

We find a somewhat different case in south India. Amoghavajra’s eighth-century presentation of the VajraŸekhara cycle of eighteen tantras consists of a loose configuration of texts in constellation around the Compendium of Principles. However, he does not refer to this corpus as Yoga Tantra (although all but the first text’s titles end in “yoga”). In fact, Amoghavajra does not mention any doxographical distinctions whatsoever, and texts he describes correspond to those later included in several doxographical categories (Yoga Tantra, Mah›yoga, Yoginı Tantra, and Highest Yoga Tantra).

Conclusion

The textual traditions that grew out of the Compendium of Principles exhibit affinities (to greater or lesser degrees) with the tantra that spawned them. As these traditions were consolidated, they came to be called “Yoga Tantra” (at least in north India), and this represents the first true corpus in Indian Buddhist tantra. The relationships between the

Compendium of Principles and the texts in constellation around it were enumerated and

solidified, and the tantras were divided into categories.

Texts later classified under the rubric of “explanatory tantra,” such as the

VajraŸekhara Tantra and the Conquest over the Three Worlds Procedure, demonstrate

the closest relationship to the Compendium of Principles, as they directly comment and elaborate on it. Other texts take practices mentioned in the Compendium of Principles

and expand on them. For example, the Purification of All Bad Transmigrations, as its name indicates, has as its central practice the purification of bad states of existence as well as of the karma that creates these unfortunate circumstances, and we find an embryonic form of this practice in the second section of the Compendium of Principles.

Introduction

Ronald Davidson explains the innovations of mature Buddhist tantra exclusively within the framework of the adoption of the metaphor of royal coronation and the deployment of power drawn from the socio-political environment of early medieval India. While his argument is compelling, it discounts the important continuities some of these innovations display with earlier Buddhist tradititions. In addition, it obscures some of the nuance and detail—and therefore the importance—of these innovations that, even though some cases demonstrate continuity with earlier Buddhist traditions, represent a revolution in Buddhist theory and praxis. In this chapter I will examine the importance of several aspects of the Compendium of Principles, such as narrative structures, new practices (including the integration of earlier doctrinal positions), and the relationship between narrative and ritual. I will also examine innovative and important aspects of tantras associated with the Compendium of Principles such as the Conquest over the

Three Worlds Procedure, the VajraŸekhara Tantra, and the Purification of All Bad Transmigrations.