The primary explanatory tantra of the corpus later known as Yoga Tantra is the
Principles in its entirety and exists only in Tibetan translation.243 In terms of the historical development of the VajraŸekhara Tantra, although there are no known extant Sanskrit manuscripts or commentaries, Chinese and Tibetan materials strongly suggest that it is a compilation of two independent texts. While there are no Chinese translations of the VajraŸekhara Tantra that correspond to the Tibetan translation (or any other text bearing that title), the term “vajraŸekhara” is extremely important in East Asian tantric Buddhism. The title “vajraŸekhara” itself (Chi: chin kang ting; Jap: kongßchß) is employed in China during the first half of the eighth century as the name of a collection of eighteen tantras, of which at least some were translated into Chinese. The Indian tantric master Vajrabodhi (671-741 CE),244 who along with his disciple Amoghavajra (705-774 CE)245 are the two most important figures in the translation and transmission of the Compendium of Principles to China, employs the term “vajraŸekhara.” At the beginning of his explanation of the central practices of the Compendium of Principles, he explains that the Compendium of Principles was taken from the “100,000 verse
VajraŸekharamah›yogatantrar›ja.”246 Here we find the term “vajraŸekhara” employed in the title of the larger textual collection. Furthermore, we also find that the title itself corresponds in large part to the title of the VajraŸekhara Tantra as it is preserved in its Tibetan translation, the Sanskrit of which is “VajraŸikharamah›guhyayogatantra.”247 With the exception of “guhya” (“secret”) and the term “r›ja” (“king”)—an ornamental appendage commonly found at the end of tantra titles—Vajrabodhi’s title for the
243 gSang ba rnal ’byor chen po’i rgyud rdo rje rtse mo, VajraŸikharamah›guhyayogatantra , P113 (Toh. 480), vol. 5, 1.1.2-56.4.8.
244 Giebel, “Chin-kang-ting ching yü-ch’ieh,” p. 110. 245 Giebel, “Chin-kang-ting ching yü-ch’ieh,” p. 107. 246 Eastman, “The Eighteen Tantras,” p. 2, n. 4.
eighteen-text tantric corpus and the title of the Tibetan translation of the VajraŸekhara
Tantra are the same.
The corpus of eighteen tantras that Vajrabodhi mentions was later described in some detail by his student Amoghavajra in his Chinese text outlining this tantric system,
Indications of the Goals of the Eighteen Assemblies of the Yoga of the VajraŸekhara SÒtra.248 In this text Amoghavajra uses the term “VajraŸekhara-yoga” (sometimes
abbreviated to “Vajra-yoga”) to refer to the system of tantric practice and doctrine related to the eighteen tantras. To confuse the issue further, the title “VajraŸekhara SÒtra” (Chi:
Chin gang ting ching; Jap: Kongßchßkyß) is also used in East Asia to refer to the first and
central member of the eighteen-text tantric corpus, the Compendium of Principles. Thus, in addition to the employment of the term “VajraŸekhara-yoga” to refer to the eighteen- text tantric cycle, “VajraŸekhara SÒtra” is the common title by which the Compendium of
Principles is known in East Asia (including Japan to the present).
Amoghavajra’s digest of the eighteen texts of the VajraŸekhara cycle provides crucial evidence concerning the formation and content of the VajraŸekhara Tantra. For the second text in the list, the Sanskrit reconstruction of Amoghavajra’s Chinese title is
Sarva-tath›gata-guhya-r›ja-yoga (or Sarva-tath›gata-guhyendra-yoga).249 We find this title (or some variation of it) at the end of each of the four chapters of the second half of the Tibetan translation of the VajraŸekhara Tantra.250 Additionally, the similarity of Amoghavajra’s description of the second of the eighteen texts and the contents of the second half of the Tibetan VajraŸekhara Tantra led the Japanese scholar Sakai Shinten
248 Chin kang ting ching yü ch’ieh shih pa hue chih kuei , T. Vol. 18, No. 869 (Giebel, “ Chin-kang-ting
ching yü-ch’ieh,” p. 107).
249 Giebel, “Chin-kang-ting ching yü-ch’ieh,” p. 165, n. 159. 250 Giebel, “Chin-kang-ting ching yü-ch’ieh,” p. 166, n. 159.
(Shiro) to identify tentatively Amoghavajra’s second text with the second half of the
VajraŸekhara Tantra (or an early stage of its development).251
Sakai also tentatively identifies Amoghavajra’s third text, the reconstructed Sanskrit of which is Sarva-kalpa-samuccaya-yoga (Yoga of the Collectionn of All Procedures), with the first half of the Tibetan VajraŸekhara Tantra.252 Again, Amoghavajra’s title occurs in the titles at the end of each of the chapters of the first half of the Tibetan translation of the
VajraŸekhara Tantra, all of which contain rtog pa thams cad bsdus pa, the Tibetan
translation of sarva-kalpa-samuccaya. Sakai makes the identification of Amoghavajra’s third text and the first part of the VajraŸekhara Tantra based on the common titles as well as the similarity between Amoghavajra’s description of the text and the contents of the first half of the VajraŸekhara Tantra.253 There also appears to be a relationship between the text Amoghavajra describes, the first part of the extant VajraŸekhara Tantra, and the second supplement to the Yoga of the Equality of All Buddhas (Buddhasamayoga)
Tantra, which is titled Sarva-kalpa-samuccaya. I will discuss this in more detail in
chapter four (see p. 262 ff).
Internal evidence from the two parts of the Tibetan translation of the VajraŸekhara
Tantra further supports the argument that the text is a compilation. The titles of the text
at the end of each chapter differ markedly for the first and second parts of the text and, as discussed above, correspond to the titles of Amoghavajra’s third and second texts, respectively. Moreover, at the end of the first part of the text there is a closing section, a common structural component marking a text’s conclusion that is found at the end of
251 Giebel, “Chin-kang-ting ching yü-ch’ieh,” p. 166, n. 159. 252 Giebel, “Chin-kang-ting ching yü-ch’ieh,” p. 168, n. 164.
253 Giebel, “Chin-kang-ting ching yü-ch’ieh ,” p. 168, nn. 164 and 166. The Chinese texts T. Vol. 18, Nos. 908 and 909 are related to the second of the eighteen texts (and thus also to the second half of the Tibetan VajraŸekhara Tantra).
most tantras. This is then followed by the second part of the VajraŸekhara Tantra, which opens with an homage, a standard element found at the beginning of almost all tantras. While it is customary for the text title (often given in both Tibetan transliteration of the Sanskrit and in Tibetan translation) to precede the homage, there are many cases where the title is missing and the text begins with the homage. In addition to the presence of back material at the end of the first half of the VajraŸekhara Tantra followed by front material at the beginning of the second half, the chapter numbering of the second half begins with one rather than continuing the chapter numbering sequentially from the last chapter of the first half of the text, as is common for Buddhist texts. This indicates that the second half of the VajraŸekhara Tantra was originally a separate text that maintains its own chapter numbering.
Thus, the Tibetan translation of the VajraŸekhara Tantra contains several pieces of persuasive evidence indicating that the text resulted from the combination of two previously independent texts. The existence of material indicative of the end and beginning of a text at the conclusion of the first half and opening of the second half, respectively, of the VajraŸekhara Tantra, as well as the difference in the title of the text given at the end of the chapters of the first and second half of the text and the chapter numbering, strongly suggest that the two parts of the VajraŸekhara Tantra originally existed as two independent texts. In this regard it appears that the term “VajraŸekhara Tantra” (Tib: rdo rje rtse mo’i rgyud) found at the end of the titles in both parts of the
VajraŸekhara Tantra was added, perhaps gratuitously for at least one of the two parts,
when the compilation into a single text occurred.
There is an additional piece of evidence in Butön’s Yoga Tantra history relating to the formation of the VajraŸekhara. In discussing the Indian tantric figure Buddhagupta, Butön relates an unidentified scholar’s opinion that Buddhagupta directly received initiation and instruction from MañjuŸrı in five tantras: the Compendium of Principles,
the VajraŸekhara, the ⁄rı Param›dya, the Purification of All Bad Transmigrations
Tantra, and the Collection of All Procedures (Tib: rTog pa thams cad bsdus pa; Skt: *Sarva-kalpa-samuccaya).254 While the source of this opinion is not known (it could be either an Indian or a Tibetan scholar), the fact that the VajraŸekhara and the Collection of
All Procedures are listed as separate texts is significant. I will provisionally assume that
the Collection of All Procedures mentioned here is the same as the text Amoghavajra identifies by that title (and which is connected with the first part of the extant
VajraŸekhara in Tibetan)—which seems likely since all five texts mentioned are
described by Amoghavajra in his summary of the eighteen-text tantric collection (with the possible exception of the Purification of All Bad Transmigrations). The position Butön relates then perhaps indicates that the title “VajraŸekhara” originally referred only to the second part of the extant VajraŸekhara Tantra, and that the Collection of All
Procedures existed as an independent text that was later joined to it to form the VajraŸekhara Tantra as we find it today in Tibetan translation.
Amoghavajra describes the Collection of All Procedures as consisting of four parts, which presumably correspond to the four sections of the Compendium of Principles.255 The second half of the Tibetan VajraŸekhara Tantra, however, only covers the first two sections of the Compendium of Principles and then abruptly ends.256 After the conclusion of chapter four, the text continues with what appears to be the beginning of a new section,257 as Vairocana and all the Tath›gatas praise Vajrasattva with a litany of 108 names and supplicate him to generate the great mode in order to subjugate poisonous
254 des de nyid bsdus pa dang/ rdo rje rtse mo dang/ dpal mchog dang po dang/ ngan song sbyong ba’i
rgyud dang/ rtog pa thams cad bsdus pa dang lnga’i dbang dang gdams pa rnams ’jam dpal la dngos su thob bo/ (Butön, Ship, 63a.6).
255 Giebel, “Chin-kang-ting ching yü-ch’ieh,” p. 165 and n. 161, pp. 166-167. 256 Giebel, “Chin-kang-ting ching yü-ch’ieh,” pp. 166-167, n. 161.
ones and effect the welfare of sentient beings.258 Rather than the text continuing with Vajrasattva giving a teaching in response to the request of all the Buddhas, the
VajraŸekhara Tantra surprisingly ends with a closing section consisting of a title that
demarcates the boundary of the text as a whole.
Thus, part of the original text is missing in the extant version. Butön notes this, stating that the text is incomplete and that following the supplication five-and-a-half collections of procedures (or of chapters) appear to be missing.259 He further elaborates the missing content as the external vajra family section, the taming transmigrators [section], the accomplishment of all aims [section], and the action and supreme first Buddha.260 Therefore, it seems reasonable to conclude that the second half of the VajraŸekhara
Tantra represents an incomplete version of the text Amoghavajra identifies as the Yoga of the King of Secrets of All Tath›gatas.
Determining the date of the compilation of the VajraŸekhara Tantra is a difficult task. Giebel relates Tanaka Kimiaki’s argument that Amoghavajra’s ordering of the first three texts reflects their historical development. The Compendium of Principles was the earliest composition, followed by its two explanatory tantras, in this order: the Yoga of
the King of Secrets of All Tath›gatas, which is the second half of the VajraŸekhara Tantra (or an earlier version of it); and then the Yoga of the Collection of All Procedures,
which is the first half of the VajraŸekhara Tantra (or an earlier version of it).261 These two texts still circulated as individual texts and had not yet been combined to form the
258 gdug pa rnams ni ’dul ba dang/ /de bzhin sems can don bya’i phyir/ /tshul chen skyed par mdzad du gsol (VajraŸekhara Tantra, P113, vol. 5, 56.4.7).
259 gsol ba btab pa’i ’phro la lus nas mjug ma rdzogs te/ ’di’i ’phro phyi rol rdo rje’i rigs kyi dum bu dang/
’gro ’dul dang/ don grub dang las dang mchog gi dang po’i sangs rgyas te/ rtog pa bsdus pa phyed dang lnga ma tshang bar snang ngo/ (Butön, Ship, 28b.3-28b.4).
260 See previous footnote.
VajraŸekhara Tantra in the middle of the eighth century, as evidenced by Amoghavajra’s
treatment of them as separate texts in his summary of the eighteen texts of the VajraŸekhara cycle.
While the evidence from Amoghavajra’s Chinese text points to the second half of the eighth century at the earliest as the date of compilation of the VajraŸekhara Tantra, references in the works of the prominent eighth-century Indian tantric exegete Buddhaguhya support an earlier date. In his Commentary on the Concentration
Continuation Chapter, Buddhaguhya refers to the Compendium of Principles and
immediately thereafter mentions the VajraŸekhara, describing it as the “elucidation of the thought of Yoga Tantra.”262 Additionally, there is a citation from the VajraŸekhara near the beginning of Buddhaguhya’s Entry into the Meaning of the Tantra, a commentary on the Compendium of Principles.263 A thorough search of this text for other quotes from the VajraŸekhara, and locating such quotes in the text of the extant VajraŸekhara Tantra, is necessary to determine whether Buddhaguhya uses the title VajraŸekhara to refer to the extant Tibetan translation in its entirety, to either of its two parts, or even perhaps to some other text.264
262 rnal ’byor gyi rgyud kyi dgongs pa ’grel pa rdo rje rtse mo (reading ’grel for ’brel). bSam gtan phyi ma
rim par phye ba rgya cher bshad pa, Dhy›nottarapa˛ala˛ık›, P3495 (Toh. 2670), vol. 78, 79.5.6;
reference in Davidson, Indian Esoteric Buddhism, p. 378, n. 137.
263 Buddhaguhya, Entry into the Meaning of the Tantra , P3324, vol. 70, 39.4.7. I discovered this reference because it immediately follows a passage from the Entry into the Meaning of the Tantra cited in Max Nihom, Studies in Indian and Indo-Indonesian Tantra: The Kuñjarakar˚adharmakathana and the
Yogatantra (Vienna: Sammlung de Nobili Institut für Indologie der Universität Wien, 1994), p. 63, n.
158.
264 It is interesting to note in this context the existence of two texts from the Collected Tantras of the
Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism with titles suggesting a possible relationship to the VajraŸekhara
Tantra: the Condensed VajraŸekhara Tantra (rDo rje rtse mo 'dus pa'i rgyud) and the VajraŸekhara Tantra (rDo rje rtse mo’i rgyud). A cursory examination reveals that the content of both texts appears to
be different than that of the VajraŸekhara Tantra. Also, the former text has a different Sanskrit title (Vajra-agraviru-tantra) and different chapter titles than the VajraŸekhara Tantra, and the latter text has
The appearance of a quote from a text identified as the VajraŸekhara in Buddhaguhya’s commentary raises several possibilities. The first is that the text Buddhaguhya refers to with the title VajraŸekhara is not the same as the extant Tibetan translation of the VajraŸekhara Tantra, or that it corresponds to only one of the two independent texts Amoghavajra mentions that were combined to form the VajraŸekhara
Tantra as we find it today in Tibetan. Another possibility is that the compilation
occurred after Amoghavajra left south India in 746 CE and before Buddhaguhya composed the Entry into the Meaning of the Tantra. Buddhaguhya’s fame as a tantric master reached central Tibet during the reign of King Trisong Detsen (r. 755/756-797),265 who invited Buddhaguhya to Tibet. According to the letter he wrote in response, Buddhaguhya sent a copy of his commentary on the Compendium of Principles to Tibet,266 and therefore could have composed it anytime during the second half of the eighth century. Thus, it is possible that the formation of the VajraŸekhara Tantra from the two independent texts mentioned by Amoghavajra occurred after 746 CE and before Buddhaguhya wrote his commentary.
Another possible explanation is that this compilation occurred in northeastern India (Buddhaguhya was a resident of N›land› Monastery) but not in south India, where Amoghavajra obtained his texts and teachings. This might explain the somewhat curious situation that the VajraŸekhara Tantra was never translated into Chinese—not even during the late tenth and eleventh centuries when the Indian monk D›nap›la (Chi: Shih-
different chapter titles and lacks a Sanskrit title (rDo rje rtse mo 'dus pa'i rgyud, Nyingma rgyud ’bum,
mTshams brag Edition, text Tb.408, vol. 18, 717.7-752.3; rDo rje rtse mo’i rgyud, text Tb.581, vol. 32,
2.1-17.1. Both texts are found in The mtshams-brag Manuscript of the rñying ma rgyud ’bum [Thimpu, Bhutan: National Library, Royal Government of Bhutan, 1982]. For an online catalogue and digital edition of these texts, see http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu:6060/ntrp/tibet/tb.ed).
265 Kapstein, The Tibetan Assimilation of Buddhism, p. xvii.
hu) and others translated the fully-developed versions of tantras such as the Compendium
of Principles and the Hevajra Tantra into Chinese. We must remember, however, that
the mere fact that there is no Chinese translation of the VajraŸekhara Tantra is not conclusive proof that the text did not exist in India at that time, as numerous Indian tantras translated into Tibetan were never translated into Chinese.
The evidence pertaining to the Tibetan translation of the VajraŸekhara Tantra supports the argument for the relative lateness of its compilation in India from the two independent texts the King of Secrets of All Tath›gatas and the Collection of All Procedures. Although the Compendium of Principles was translated into Tibetan during the early period of translation activity (eighth century),267 there is no reference to any translation of the VajraŸekhara Tantra (or parts thereof) at that time. The translators of the
VajraŸekhara preserved in the Kangyur are identified as the Indian scholar and vajra-
master Karmavajra and the Tibetan translator-monk Zhönu Tsultrim (gZhon nu tshul
khrims),268 who was born at the end of the eleventh century. 269 Thus, the Tibetan translation of the VajraŸekhara Tantra dates to the twelfth century and is a product of the second propagation of Buddhism in Tibet.
Butön provides further information about the Tibetan translation. He relates the position of Rongpa Chögön (Rong pa chos mgon)270 that although the Great Translator
267 Butön, Ship, 70a.5.
268 rgya gar gyi mkhan po rdo rje slob dpon chen po karma badzra’i zhal snga nas dang/ lo tstsha ba dge
slong gzhon nu tshul khrims kyis sgyur cing zhus ba’o/ (VajraŸekhara Tantra, P113, volume 5, 56.4.8).
269gzhon nu tshul khrims/ khong ni spyi lo’i dus rabs bcu gcig pa’i dus mjug tsam du sku ’khrungs pa’i
snyan grags can gyi lo tsA ba zhig yin/ (Ko zhul Grags pa ’byung gnas and rGyal ba bLo bzang mkhas
grub, Gangs can mkhas grub rim byon ming mdzod {Treasury of Names of the Successive Scholars and
Adepts of Tibet} [Mtsho-sngon, PRC: Kan su’u mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1992; hereafter abbreviated as Treasury of Names], p. 1505).
270 This might be the tenth/ eleventh century figure also known by the name g.Yung chos mgon and the title
Rinchen Zangpo did not make a translation of the VajraŸekhara Tantra, he and others