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A CRITICAL T ANTRISM
Shinichi TsudaSource: Memoirs o{the Research Department of' the Toyo Bunko 36 ( 1978): 167-231.- General remarks: the 'critical' character of Tantric
Buddhism
i. Buddhist Tantrism on the ridgeIn trying to get a total image of the history of the Tantric thought of Buddhism
in India, it is first necessary for us to observe the diametrically opposed charac-
ters of the Vairocaniibhisambodhi-siitra^1 (:k B ~) and the Tattvasamgraha-
tantra2 ( ~11ifiJ]Ji~) i.e. the two greatest scriptures of the Shingon-sect ( ~ i§ *)
of Japan. These two scriptures include two opposite ideas or logics; one the
Mahayanic idea of the accumulation of two kinds of merits, viz. moral and intel-
lectual ( i!ii!I1!W=~3:), or the logic of action and its result (karman ~ ), the other
the Tantric idea of the essential union of the individual existence with the ulti-
mate reality, or the logic of yogic practice.
I would like to depict the point of contact of these two scriptures metaphoric-
ally as the sharp ridge of a mountain upon which one cannot find an inch of flat
place upon which to balance onself. Ascending to the uppermost part of the
slope of Mahayana Buddhism, that is, the first chapter of the Vairocaniibhisam-
bodhi-siitra, we find ourselves facing the dizzy precipice of Tantrism which
starts from the Tattvasamgraha-tantra at the opposite side of knife-edged ridge.
The theoretical part of the Vairocaniibhisarilbodhi-siitra i.e. the first chapter,
may well bf regarded as the summit of Mahayana Buddhism due to its magnifi-
cent and harmonious image of the world, its deep insight into the reality of
human life and its noble, lofty ideal of life reassuringly advocated on the basis
of this insight into the structure of the world and human nature.
The theoretical framework of this siitra, however, did not necessiate any
Tantric practices. There is a critical, unbridgeable gap between the Mahayanic
theoretical part of this scripture i.e. the first chapter, namely, the chapter of the
progressing stages of the human mind (fl:·C.·.Iil) and the practical Tantric part i.e.
all the following chapters.
At the time when Buddhism was declining at an accelerated pace, the reli-