78
ON THE CONCEPT OF SAHAJA IN
INDIAN BUDDHIST TANTRIC
LITERATURE
Per KvaerneSource: Temenos XI (1975): 88-135.The importance of the term sahaja in tantric Buddhist thought has long been
recognized - in fact, certain scholars, apparently without textual justification,
have introduced the term Sahajayana, as if there were a particular yana within
tantric Buddhism characterized solely or at least chiefly by its dependence on the
concept of sahaja^1 • Likewise we find expressions like "the Buddhist Sahajiya
cult", "Sahajiya Buddhists" etc. - presumably due to confusion with the term
sahajiya used in connection with the Vaishnava sahajiya movement in Bengaf.
While the concept of sahaja certainly is not limited to any particular yarra
within tantric Buddhism - as we shall see, it is frequently found in a basic tantra
like the Hevajratantra (HVT), and is, moreover, identical with many other con-
cepts, like mahasukha ("Great Bliss"), tattva ("the Essence"), samarasa ("Same-
ness of Flavour") etc. - there can be no doubt as to its fundamental importance.
However, this basic concept of tantric Buddhism has not, to the best of my
knowledge, been studied in a systematic way^3 •
Sahaja literally signifies "being born (-ja) together with (saha-)". The
Tibetan lhan-Cig skyes-pa, followed by the Mongolian qamtu toriigsen, faith-
fully renders this. Frequently this basic meaning is expanded to include "con-
genital, innate, hereditary, original", hence also "natural". Translations of sahaja
have tended to be based on these derived senses; thus, to quote but two
examples, Shahidullah rendered it "l'lnne"^4 followed by Snellgrove "the
Innate"^5 • While this translation is etymologically sound, and doubtlessly
expresses an important aspect of sahaja, it nevertheless has the disadvantage of
suggesting that sahaja is purely subjective or in some sense individual, that it is
something like a hidden "divine spark" in the depths of man. Such at least are
the associations which would seem most readily to present themselves. M.
Eliade has suggested another translation, "le non-conditionne"^6 ; while certainly
correct as far as it goes, this, too, is unsatisfactory as it seems to lay exclusive
stress on the transcendent nature of sahaja.