tantric threads between india and china 251India to China. Bearing these reservations in mind, a short overview of
the circumstances under which Tantric Buddhism spread in medieval
India is quite revealing.- Displacement of Buddhism in Medieval India
Buddhism may be approached as a methodology of salvation, based
on karmic correlativity of causation and a meta-ethically conceived
praxis. The praxis implements salvi c techne—as for example medita-
tion, altruism, rituals, reasoning—to realise its soteriological aim for the
bene t of the others and oneself. Buddhist denominations differ on the
doctrinal issue of categorisation and mediation of these techne, which in
turn implies ethical questions. And ethical questions refer to the social,
historical and political circumstances of a given locale.
Tracing the developments of Tantric praxis in India, Ronald M.
Davidson scrutinised the socio-historical conditions between the sixth
and ninth century, which proved to be unfavourable for institutional
Mahyna. In the following, only a few signi cant aspects will be sub-
sumed under ve points:- Patronage crisis: after the fall of the Imperial Guptas around mid
sixth century, Buddhism gradually lost its privileged position in religious
life, competing with Brahmanic rites and the Puric narrative which
proved to be more suitable for the legitimising needs of the warlords of
the medieval Indian warring states. Puric aiva and Vaiava ethics
of violence and rhetoric of military glori cation were more persuasive
than Buddhist dialectics, justifying violence at best as a “skill in means”
(Skt. upyakaualya) for the “bene t of others” (Skt. parahitya). Medieval
aivism instead offered disinhibiting aesthetics based on an image of
the king after the model of iva who was represented as an eroticised
killer deity.^12 - Funding crisis: since late seventh century, donations to the monas-
teries went down as the great Indian merchant guilds signi cantly lost
ground to their Arab and Sogdian competitors and the trade surplus
owed to the Middle Eastern Islamic caliphate.^13 - Tighter relations between clergy and kingship: Buddhist institutions
increasingly relied on the support of the remaining Buddhist-friendly
(^12) Davidson 2002, pp. 86–91.
(^13) Davidson 2002, pp. 79–83.
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