Buddhism : Critical Concepts in Religious Studies, Vol. VI

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TANTRIC BUDDHISM (INCLUDING CHINA AND JAPAN)

of enlightenment. Such an interpretation does violence to the basic principles of
the Vajrayana and betrays a modern, Western bias against anything in religion
that seems remotely magical, too worldly, or political. We might term this a
transcendentalist or essentialist bias, and it often manifests in interpretations of
objectionable or worldly elements in the Vajrayana as purely symbolic. David
Snellgrove is among the few who have questioned this notion. In his Indo-
Tibetan Buddhism Snellgrove has argued: "When modern apologists use the
term 'symbolic' as though to suggest that the external practices were never taken
in any literal sense, they mislead us. Central to tantric practice is the refusal to
distinguish between the everyday world (saf!lsiira) and the experience of
nirvana."^28 In fact, Snellgrove defines the Vajrayana as essentially concerned
both with enlightenment and with practical ends: "All tantras of all classes
promise both supramundane success (the gaining of Buddhahood sooner or
later) and mundane successes, such as gaining prosperity, offspring, a particular
woman, good harvests or rainfall, overcoming adverse influences such as
various kinds of disease-causing evil spirits, curing the effects of poison, etc. It
is sometimes suggested that while the tantras, later classified as inferior, cater
for the more mundane requirements, the superior ones are concerned with more
truly religious objectives. In fact all tantras are interested in precisely the same
objectives, whether supramundane or mundane."^29
It is this last point that I wish to develop here, for if we set aside the notions
that Chen-yen disappeared or degenerated and consider instead the nature of
Vajrayiina practice and the rites prominent in the Chinese context, we gain a
very different, and challenging, view of Chen-yen Buddhism.

Chen-yen: Vajrayana as applied realization
In 771 Arnoghavajra wrote a memorial to the emperor Tai-tsung requesting that
the texts he had labored to translate over a thirty-year period be entered into the
official imperial catalog. In this memorial Amoghavajra says: "Among the
teachings I have translated, the Yoga of the Tip of the Vajra is the path for
quickly becoming a Buddha .... As for the remaining sections of the Chen-yen
teachings ... these I present to help the state avoid disasters, to keep the stars on
their regular courses, and to insure that the wind and rain are timely."^30
Throughout Amoghavajra's writings and in the writings of his spiritual
grandson Kukai, there is reiterated the assertion that the Vajrayana (Chen-yen,
Shingon) is the best method for the pursuit both of enlightenment and of various
forms of "worldly" attainments. The notion of the intimate relationship between
supramundane and mundane siddhi ("attainment") and between inner and outer
homa ("immolation") is found in the root texts of the tradition and is the basis
for apotropeic ritual.^31 This pursuit of a "dual goal" is implicit in Vajrayana cos-
mology, and it is the key for "seeing" Chen-yen in China.
The Chen-yen tradition, particularly that founded by Vajrabodhi, Amoghava-
jra, and their successors, is based upon two tantric ritual texts, the Mahiivairo-

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