HREL 42701/SALC 48300: Issues in Indian Esoteric Buddhism Spring Quarter 2012 Christian K. Wedemeyer Monday 14:00-16:50 Swift 310B Swift Hall 403 Office Hrs: Tues/Wed 2:003:00

wedemeyer@uchicago.edu

Though one of the most vigorous movements in Indian Buddhism of the latter half of the first millennium, Esoteric Buddhism (Mantranaya, Vajrayna) has only since the end of the last century become a significant focus of modern studies of Buddhism. In this course, we will look more closely at these traditions, and consider some of the many questions concerning their genealogy, history, literature, and practice. In addition to active (or, at minimum, attentive) participation in class discussions, students will give a presentation and help guide discussion on the material for one class, give a brief presentation on their term paper at a mini-conference during the final week of the quarter, and submit a 2025pp. original paper on a topic to be determined in consultation with the instructor.

Prerequisites: Preferably some background in South Asian religions. Course readings are available for purchase at Seminary Cooperative Bookstore (*) and on electronic reserve on the Chalk site.

Schedule of Class Meetings: Week One (26 March 2012): Introduction/Orientation Week Two (2 April 2012): What is Tantra? What is Tantric/Esoteric Buddhism?

Readings: Bhattacharyya, Introduction to Buddhist Esoterism, pp. 19 La Valle Poussin, Tantrism (Buddhist) Tribe, Mantranaya/VajraynaTantric Buddhism in India

Urban, The Extreme Orient *Davidson, Indian Esoteric Buddhism, pp. 124 Wedemeyer, Introduction to Making Sense of Tantric Buddhism (MSTB)

Recommended: Padoux, What Do We Mean by Tantrism? Davidson and Orzech, Tantra

Week Three (9 April 2012): The History and Historiography of Esoteric Buddhism

Readings: Snellgrove, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, pp. 117-141 Davidson, Indian Esoteric Buddhism, pp. 75-168 Wedemeyer, MSTB, Chapters 13

Recommended: Bhattacharyya, Introduction to Buddhist Esoterism, pp. 10-42 Week Four (16 April 2012): Vajra Hermeneutics or How to Read the Buddhist Tantras

Readings: Snellgrove, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, pp. 160176 Davidson, Indian Esoteric Buddhism, pp. 236-292 Wedemeyer, MSTB, Chapter 4 Recommended: Broido, Killing, Lying, Stealing, and Adultery Thurman, Vajra Hermeneutics

Mitra, Tathgata-guhyaka alias Guhya-samgha

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Week Five (23 April 2012): Syncretism and Esoteric Communities Readings: Davidson, Indian Esoteric Buddhism, pp. 169-235 and 293339 Sanderson, The aiva Age, pp. 124243 (skim pp. 192219) Wedemeyer, MSTB, chapters 5, 6 and conclusion

Granoff, Other Peoples Rituals Recommended: Sferra, Some Considerations on the Relationship...

Kapstein, Scholastic Buddhism and the Mantrayna Bhnemann, Buddhist Deities and Mantras in the Hindu Tantras I and II

Week Six (30 April 2012): Readings & Rituals: Majur m lakalpa and Mahvairocana

Readings: Wallis, Mediating the Power of Buddhas, pp. 15, 2330, 87126 Giebel, Vairocanbhisabodhi Stra, pp. 311, 1930, 4568, 81103, 187192, 225242 Davidson, Litany of Names of Majur Recommended: Hodge, Mahvairocanbhisambodhi Tantra with Buddhaguhyas Commentary

Week Seven (7 May 2012): Readings & Rituals: Sarvadurgatipariodhana and Susiddhikara Readings: Skorupski, Sarvadurgatipariodhana Tantra, pp. 134, 8081, 100107 Giebel, Two Esoteric Sutras, pp. 125141, 145154, 199220 Skorupski, Kriysagraha, pp. 73124 Isaacson, Observations on the Development...

Week Eight (14 May 2012): Readings & Rituals: Yoga, Mahyoga, and Yogin Tantras

Readings: Giebel, Two Esoteric Sutras, pp. 19102 Davidson, Bodhisattva Vajrapis Subjugation of iva

Wedemeyer, Guhyasamja Tantra (chs. 1, 2, and 5) George, Caamahroaa Tantra, pp. 4485

Gray, Cakrasavara Tantra, pp. 155177, 222225, 243247, 256262, 265288 Recommended: Snellgrove, Hevajra Tantra

Tsuda, Savarodaya Tantra, pp. 239247, 281287, 294299, 303306 Sikls, Vajramahbhairava Tantra (Vajrabhairava Tantras, pp. 2749)

Week Nine (21 May 2012): Vajrayna Scholasticism, K lacakra , and Vernacularization

Readings: Wedemeyer, ryadevas Lamp, pp. 63120, 137149, 243252, 277305. Sferra, Laud of the Chosen Deity pp. 435468 Jackson, Tantric Treasures, pp. 117141 Recommended: Kvrne, Buddhist Tantric Songs

Wallace, Klacakra Tantra (translations of the Chapters on Individual and Sdhana) Pollock, Language of the Gods in the World of Men, pp. Week Ten (4 June): Presentation of Student Projects

Readings: none Final Paper due Wednesday 6 June 2012 in Swift 204 by 3:00PM. Course Reading Bibliography (n.b. newer editions may be available and/or used)

Bhattacharyya, Benoytosh. Chapters I to IV in An Introduction to Buddhist Esoterism, (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1980), pp. 1-9. La Valle Poussin, Tntrism (Buddhist) in James Hastings, ed., Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark,

1908-1926), Tntrism (Buddhist) q.v., pp. 193-197.

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Tribe, Anthony. Mantranaya/VajraynaTantric Buddhism in India in Paul Williams, Buddhist Thought (London: Routledge, 2000), pp. 192-244.

Urban, Hugh. The Extreme Orient: The Construction of Tantrism as a Category in the Orientalist Imagination, Religion 29

(1999), pp. 123-146. Davidson, Ronald M. Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement. (New York: Columbia University Press,

2003). Wedemeyer, Christian K. Making Sense of Tantric Buddhism: History, Semiology and Transgression in the Indian Traditions. South

Asia Across the Disciplines. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012 (prepress copy; not for circulation). Snellgrove, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, vol. one. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1987. Sanderson, Alexis. The aiva Age: The Rise and Dominance of aivism during the Early Medieval Period, in S. Einoo, ed.,

Genesis and Development of Tantrism, (Tokyo: Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo, 2009), pp. 41349. Granoff, P. Other Peoples Rituals: Ritual Eclecticism in Early Medieval Indian Religions, Journal of Indian Philosophy, vol 28

(2000), pp. 399424. Wallis, Glenn. Mediating the Power of Buddhas (Albany: SUNY Press, 2002).

Giebel, Rolf, trans. The Vairocanbhisabodhi Sutra. BDK English Tripitaka, 30-I. Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist

Translation and Research, 2005. Davidson, Ronald M., trans. The Litany of Names of Majur, in D.S. Lopez, Jr., ed., Buddhism in Practice (Princeton:

Princeton University Press, 1995), pp. 104125. Skorupski, Tadeusz, ed. and trans. The Sarvadurgatipariodhana Tantra: Elimination of All Evil Destinies. Delhi: Motilal

Banarsidass, 1983. Giebel, Rolf, trans. Two Esoteric Sutras: The Adamantine Pinnacle Sutra [and] The Susiddhikara Sutra. BDK English Tripitaka, 29-II

and 30-II. Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2001. Davidson, Ronald M., trans. The Bodhisattva Vajrapis Subjugation of iva, in D.S. Lopez, Jr., ed., Religions of India in

Practice (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 191995), pp. 547555. Skorupski, Tadeusz, trans. Kriysagraha: Compendium of Buddhist Rituals. Tring: The Institute of Buddhist Studies, 2002.

Isaacson, Harunaga. Observations on the Development of the Ritual of Initiation (abhieka) in the Higher Buddhist Tantric

Systems, in A. Zotter and C. Zotter, eds., Hindu and Buddhist Initiations in India and Nepal (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2010), pp. 261279.

Wedemeyer, Christian K., trans. The Guhyasamja Tantra (chapters 1, 2, and 5) (unpublished, draft translation). George, Christopher S., trans. The Caamahroaa Tantra. New Haven: American Oriental Society, 1974. Gray, David B. The Cakrasamvara Tantra (The Discourse of r Heruka) (rherukbhidhna): A Study and Annotated Translation.

Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences. New York: AIBS/CBS/THUS, 2007. Wedemeyer, Christian K., trans., ryadevas Lamp that Integrates the Practices (Carymelpakapradpa): The Gradual Path of

Vajrayna Buddhism according to the Esoteric Community Noble Tradition. Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences. New York: AIBS/CBS/THUS, 2007.

Sferra, Francesco, Laud of the Chosen Deity: The First Chapter of the Hevajratantrapirthak by Vajragarbha, in S.

Einoo, ed., Genesis and Development of Tantrism, (Tokyo: Institute of Oriental Culture, 2009), pp. 435468.

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Jackson, Roger R., trans. Tantric Treasures: Three Collections of Mystical Verse from Buddhist India. Oxford & New York: Oxford

University Press, 2004. Recommended Readings

Padoux, Andr. What Do We Mean by Tantrism? in K. Harper and R. Brown, eds., The Roots of Tantra (New York: SUNY Press, 2002), pp. 17-24.

Davidson, Ronald, and C. Orzech, Tantra in R. Buswell, ed., Encyclopedia of Buddhism (NY: Macmillan, 2003), pp. 820-826. Bhattacharyya, Benoytosh. Chapters I to IV in An Introduction to Buddhist Esoterism, (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1980), pp. 10-

42. Broido, Michael. Killing, Lying, Stealing, and Adultery in D. Lopez, ed. Buddhist Hermeneutics (Honolulu: Univ of Hawaii

Press, 1988), pp.71-118. Thurman, Robert A.F. Vajra Hermeneutics, in D.S. Lopez, Jr., ed., Buddhist Hermeneutics (Honolulu: University of Hawaii

Press, 1988), pp. 119148. Mitra, Rajendralal. Tathgata-guhyaka alias Guhya-samgha in The Sanskrit Buddhist Literature of Nepal (Calcutta: Baptist

Mission Press, 1882), pp. 257-260. Sferra, Francesco. Some Considerations on the Relationship Between Hindu and Buddhist Tantras, in G. Verardi and S.

Vita, eds., Buddhist Asia 1: Papers from the First Conference of Buddhist Studies Held in Naples in May 2001 (Kyoto: Italian School of East Asian Studies, 2003), pp. 5784.

Kapstein, Matthew. Scholastic Buddhism and the Mantrayna, in M. Kapstein, Reasons Traces (Boston: Wisdom

Publications, 2001), pp. 233-255. Bhnemann, Gudrun. Buddhist Deities and Mantras in the Hindu Tantras I, Indo-Iranian Journal 42 (1999), pp. 303-334. Hodge, Stephen, trans. The Mah-Vairocana-abhisabodhi Tantra with Buddhaguhyas Commentary. London: RoutledgeCurzon,

2003. Snellgrove, David L., ed. and trans. The Hevajra Tantra: A Critical Study. London: Oxford University Press, 1959. Tsuda, Shinichi, ed. and trans. The Savarodaya Tantra: Selected Chapters. Tokyo: Hokuseido Press, 1974. Sikls, Bulcsu, trans. The Vajrabhairava Tantras. Tring: The Institute of Buddhist Studies, 1996.

Kvrne, Per. An Anthology of Buddhist Tantric Songs: A Study of the Carygti. Bangkok: White Orchid Press, 1986. Wallace, Vesna, trans. The Klacakratantra: The Chapter on the Individual together with the Vimalaprabh. New York:

AIBS/CBS/THUS, 2004. Wallace, Vesna, trans. The Klacakratantra: The Chapter on the Sdhan together with the Vimalaprabh. New York:

AIBS/CBS/THUS, 2011. Pollock, Sheldon. The Language of the Gods in the World of Men: Sanskrit, Culture, and Power in Premodern India. Berkeley:

University of California Press, 2006. Practically the complete published works of Alexis Sanderson are available free online at: www.alexissanderson.com