Homa Variations

Homa Variations
Author: Richard K. Payne
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 449
Release: 2016
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0199351589

Throughout human history, and across many religious cultures, offerings are made into fire. The essays collected in Homa Variations provide detailed studies of this practice, known in the tantric world as the "homa," from its inception up to the present.

The Ocean of Heroes

The Ocean of Heroes
Author: Tsunehiko Sugiki
Publisher: MDPI
Total Pages: 418
Release: 2022-06-03
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3036520325

The Śrīḍākārṇavamahāyoginītantrarāja (abbreviated to Ḍākārṇava, “Ocean of Ḍākas or Heroes”) is one of the last scriptures belonging to the Buddhist Saṃvara tradition in South Asia. It was composed in the eastern area of the Indian subcontinent sometime between the late 10th and 12th centuries, and its extant version was most likely compiled around the early 12th century. Chapter 15 of the Ḍākārṇava, (hereafter Ḍākārṇava 15) teaches a large-scale and elaborate maṇḍala of the highest god Heruka that comprises 986 major deities. This monograph presents the first critical edition and English translation (with annotation) of the Sanskrit text of the Ḍākārṇava 15, elucidates its form and meanings, and clarifies its significance in the history of Buddhism in South Asia. I also provide the first critical edition and English translation (with annotation) of Jayasena's Ratnapadmarāganidhi ("Precious Ruby Treasury," composed in the 12th century), which is the oldest manual for visualizing the Heruka maṇḍala of the Ḍākārṇava 15. In the last stage of the history of Tantric Buddhism in India, when various Buddhist Tantric traditions were already present, some texts were composed, such as the Kālacakratantra and the Vajrāvalī of Abhayākaragupta. These texts provide inclusive Tantric systems in which various preceding traditions are integrated and reorganized. The Ḍākārṇava is one such text. The Heruka maṇḍala in the Ḍākārṇava 15 is comprehensive and integrates deities from various Tantric traditions and components of the Buddhist cosmos within the framework of the Saṃvara system.

Three Mountains and Seven Rivers

Three Mountains and Seven Rivers
Author: Musashi Tachikawa
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
Total Pages: 964
Release: 2004
Genre: Buddhism
ISBN: 9788120824683

Three mountains and the seven rivers is a collection of 56 essays to felicitate the sixtieth birthday of Doctor Musashi Techikawa, Professor at Aichi gakuin University in Nagoya. This volume consist of thirteen Sections; (1) Ancient Geography, (2) Buddhism, (3) Madhyamika, (4) Iconography, (5) Jainism, (6) Logic, (7) Poetics, (9) Social Practice, (10) Tibetan Themes, (11) Vedanta and Mimamsa, (12) Samkhya and Yoga and (13) Tantrism. these saetions throw new light on enduring themes in Indian studies as well as raises fresh issues.

Tantric Buddhist Practice in India

Tantric Buddhist Practice in India
Author: Anthony Tribe
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 475
Release: 2016-06-03
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1317230841

Using a commentary on the influential text, the Mañjuśrī-nāmasaṃgīti, ‘The Chanting of the Names of Mañjuśrī’, this book deals with Buddhist tantric meditation practice and its doctrinal context in early-medieval India. The commentary was written by the 8th-9th century Indian tantric scholar Vilāsavajra, and the book contains a translation of the first five chapters. The translation is extensively annotated, and accompanied by introductions as well as a critical edition of the Sanskrit text based on eight Sanskrit manuscripts and two blockprint editions of the commentary’s Tibetan translation. The commentary interprets its root text within an elaborate framework of tantric visualisation and meditation that is based on an expanded form of the Buddhist Yoga Tantra mandala, the Vajradhātu-maṇḍala. At its heart is the figure of Mañjuśrī, no longer the familiar bodhisattva of wisdom, but now the embodiment of the awakened non-dual gnosis that underlies all Buddhas as well their activity in the cosmos. The book contributes to our understanding of the history of Indian tantric Buddhism in a period of significant change and innovation. With its extensively annotated translation and lengthy introductions the book is designed to appeal not only to professional scholars and research students but also to contemporary Buddhists.