122 CHAPTER SIXSirp.khya system of philosophy. Scholars produced new texts as well as intro-
ductions, critiques, and commentaries on the works inherited from earlier
writers, refining and synthesizing the teachings of the various schools. The
Chinese pilgrim Hsiian-tsang reported that Nalanda was a vast educational
complex, with lavishly decorated buildings, three multistory libraries, rigorous
admissions standards, one hundred lectures a day, and a schedule of debates
lasting from dawn until late at night.
Nalanda and other universities in the Pala period played a paradoxical role
in the rise ofVajrayana and its integration with earlier Buddhist thought. The
initial spread of Vajrayana may be attributed in part to the increasing remote-
ness of the monks in the universities from the spiritual life of the people in
general. When Dignaga wrote his masterpiece on epistemology, he dedicated
it to the Buddha who, in his words, embodied the criteria of epistemology.
Such a conception of the Buddha was unlikely to speak to the religious needs
of the general populace, and yet it came to typify the concerns of the monas-
tic scholars. The growing reputation of the universities also siphoned some of
the best minds in Buddhism away from meditation and ordinary teaching du-
ties. Chinese travelers report that many monastics used their university educa-
tion as a stepping-stone toward social advancement, disrobing after establishing
their reputations so as to pursue political careers. Famous scholars who re-
mained monks might receive lavish honors and patronage, including gifts of
land. All of this opened the door to political corruption within the university,
which must have severely affected the spiritual side of university life and the
public view of the Sangha as a whole.
Many causes have been cited for the growth ofVajrayana, but one of them
is surely the universities' 'neglect of the spiritual concerns of ordinary people.
In particular, for all the sophistication of their teachings, the university schol-
ars lacked the essential prerequisite for the continued vitality of the tradition:
living exemplars who had followed their teachings to the promised goal. As a
result, lay Buddhists in general, from royalty to the common populace, began
to look beyond the Buddhist tradition and its elite monastic universities for
guidance. The universities were at this time paralleling a general movement in
Indian society toward rigid stratification and a widening gulfbetween the gen-
eral population and the political and intellectual elites. Part of Vajrayana's ap-
peal was that it cut across class and caste lines-actually enfranchising the lower
classes, allowing outsiders to be insiders-and could also point to living exam-
ples of the ideals it taught.
Once the Vajrayana movement had begun to grow and receive royal sup-
port, however, the universities-realizing that their continued existence de-
pended on pleasing the tastes of their royal patrons-were among the first to
adopt it and bring it into the mainstream of the Buddhist tradition. In doing
so, they were near the forefront of the movement. A glance at the list of major
writings produced by scholars in this period gives the impression that the en-
tire society had become consumed with enthusiasm for Tantrism, yet the Ti-
betan historian Taranatha admits that by far the majority of Indian Buddhists
throughout the Pala period belonged to the Hinayana schools. The original