VAJRAYANA AND LATER INDIAN BUDDHISM 123Tantric adepts, who had resisted social conventions from the start, denounced
the influence of university scholars in their movement and devised ways of re-
expressing their teachings so as not to be co-opted by the intellectual elite.
The monks at the Buddhist universities, however, were not the only elite
to espouse the new movement. Members of other political and religious
elites-Hindu and Jain, as well as Buddhist-also came to include Tantrism in
their religious practices. One possible explanation for the seeming paradox of
an anti-elite cult practice being embraced by the elites lies in social psychol-
ogy. The Gupta and Pala periods mark a rigid period in the history of the In-
dian caste system. When a society becomes increasingly specialized and
stratified, its members on all levels find large areas of their personalities being
denied expression. As a result, they begin to feel alienated not only from one
another but also from themselves. A monk engaged full-time in the study of
logic and epistemology-as with any other member of society, male or fe-
male, forced into a confining role-may well feel that he is neglecting impor-
tant religious needs. Tantrism, which offers a fast-track approach to spirituality
through the ritual harnessing of powers from the repressed parts of the psyche,
would thus naturally have had an appeal.
6.3 BUDDHIST TANTRISM
Vajrayana is often referred to as Buddhist Tantrism, after the Tantras that form
its primary body of texts. However, it is important to bear in mind that not all
Buddhist Tantras originated with Vajrayana. Most of the Action and Perfor-
mance Tantras (see Section 6.1) appear to have been composed for use in a
typical Mahayana setting; the Buddhas and bodhisattvas they invoke come
from the standard Mahayana pantheon, and the doctrines and concepts they
espouse fit well with standard Mahayana thought. Only with the Yoga and
Unexcelled Yoga Tantras do we enter a distinctively new phase ofBuddhist
thought and practice.
Because the Tantras were originally intended to be secret doctrines, re-
quiring initiation into their mysteries, it is impossible to date their initial com-
position with any certainty. However, they were not the earliest Buddhist
ritual or incantation texts. The Pali Canon contains texts for Buddhists to re-
cite for protection against evil spirits and dangerous animals. Unlike the
Tantras, however, these early texts do not claim that their words have the
power of coercion. Most of them, such as the Metta Sutta (Sn.I.8), derive
their power from the compassion in the r-eciter's mind; the good karma pro-
duced by thoughts of goodwill is what protects the reciter from danger. In an-
other discourse, the Atanatiya Sutta (D.32), the deva VaisravaJ:?.a (see Section
1.4.2) promises that if any practicing Buddhists are being harassed by spirits
under his jurisdiction, they need only chant his mantra and he will deal with
the offenders. In this case, the power comes from VaisravaJ:?.a's voluntary offer
to fellow Buddhists; this is the pattern followed in the ritual passages of the
early Mahayana texts.