TANTRIC BUDDHISM (INCLUDING CHINA AND JAPAN)The common character of the Y ogottaratantras and the Y oganuttara-IYoginltantras is
recognized in a classification which groups them together as the Anuttaratantras [Tib.
hla med kyi rgyud], 'the Ultimate Tantras'. In Tibetan Buddhism the Yogottaratantras
and the Yoganuttara-1 Yoginltantras jointly occupy the position of the most esoteric
level of the Buddha's revelation. In the Indian subcontinent, where Tantric Buddhism
survives among the Newars of the Kathmandu valley, the Yogottara tradition has died
away leavin~ that of the Y oginltantras in command; and among these that of the
worship of Saqwara and his consort Vajravarahl is overwhelmingly dominant. Two
major Yogottaratantras, the Guhyasamaja and the Advayasamatavijaya, reached the
Sino-Japanese Buddhist canon in translations (Taish6 885 and 887) by the Indian
Sego (Skt. Danapala ?), who was working as a translator in China from 982 to I 0 17
C.E. Also Yogottara is a ritual of Vajrabhairava translated around 1000 C.E. (Taish6
1242; cf. T6hoku 468). Of the Y oginltantras, the last and most unconventional wave
of the Tantras, only the Hevajra [I)akinljalasaqwara] entered that canon (Taish6 892).
It was translated by H6go (Skt. Dharmapala ?), who was in China from I 004 C. E.
until his death in I 058. The most striking difference between the Yogottara and
Yoganuttara-/Y oginltantra traditions is that the latter bring to the centre the symbol-
ism, practices and deities of the Saiva culture of the cremation grounds. Beneath the
Yogatantras and the Caryatantras are the Kriyatantras (Tohoku 502-827). These texts,
which form the lowest category, are entirely concerned with the attainment of super-
natural benefits; and the majority of the works so classified are undoubtedly the earliest
specimens of Buddhist Tantrism. Texts of this class were translated into Chinese from
the third century C.E. However, they were never supplanted by later developments in
the way that the Yoga-and Y ogottaratantras were by the Y oginltantras. They con-
tinued to be used in important apotropaic rituals in Newar, Tibetan and Japanese Bud-
dhism. Nor did the later scholars who translated the soteriological Tantras consider
them beneath their dignity. Amoghavajra, for example, produced new translations of
the Anantarnukhasa-dhakadharai).I (Taish6 1009 [Tohoku 525]), the Mahameghasiitra
(Taisho 989, 990 [Tohoku 658]), and the Mahamayiirividyarajfil (Taisho 982, 983
[Tohoku 559]). Chinese translations of the first go back to the third century (Taisho
1011), of the second and third to the fourth century (Taisho 388 and 988).
2 Abhayakaragupta, Vajravali (ed. Lokesh Chandra, Satapitaka Series Vol., Delhi:
Sharada Rani, 1977 [photographic reproduction of a Ms]) 2195 -": v'iracaryiivratam
eva yauvariijyavratacaryeti vajrakiipiilikacaryiivratam iti cokta/'fl sr'isa/'flputatantre I.
3 Translating Abhayakaragupta, Ni~pannayogavali (ed. Benoytosh Bhattacharyya,
Gaekwad's Oriental Series No. 109, Baroda: Oriental Institute, 1949), 261 -^13 •
4 Following MS B naharuyajiiopav'ifi against the editor's niigayajiiopav'it'i. See
Yajravali 2192 -^3 : nr(nii) naharumaya/'fl kesakrta/'fl vii brahmasiitram I, "The sacred
thread should be made from human sinews or hair." For the form naharu cf. Pali
nahiiru (<Old Indic *sniiru), Nepali nahar, Maithili nahru.
5 Yimalaprabha (Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project, Running No.
E13746, Reel No. E61815, Place of Deposit: Asha Kaji Bajracharya, Lalitpur) folio
1 7 5r 1-5: tathiidibuddhe - yo grh'i mathikiibhoktii sevako liingal'i vm:zik I saddhar-
mavikray'i miikho nasa vajradharo bhuvi II ityiidinii trividho gurur iiciiryapar'i/cyiiyiim
uktab II dasatattvaparijiiiiniit trayii1Jiif!1 bhi/cyur uttamab I madhyamab sriivaneriikhyo
grhasthas tv adhamas tayor iti I tathii - na kartavyo gurur iijiiiibhiimiliibhal'fl vinii
grh'i I tatra srutaparij;iiinair ling'i kartavya eva yab I bhiimiliibhal'fl viniiciiryo
grhasthab piijyate yadii I tadii buddhas ca dharmas ca Sa/'flgho gacchaty agauravam I
atha - vihiiriideb pratisthiidya/'fl kartavyal'fl linginii sadii I satsu tri!fv ekadese ca na
grhi1Jii !fVetaviisinii iti I evam anekaprakiire1Jiiciiryaparl/cyiiyiif!1 bhagavatokto gurub
si!fyeniiriidhanlya iti I; ibid. folio 175v7-176r9: iha tri!fkiilal'fl bhilcyubhi/:z ka!iiiyad-
hiiribhir vajriiciiryo vandyate na grhl na navakab saddharmavyiikhyiinena vinii I sad-