Esoteric Buddhism?

[patrick457]

I’ve been researching a bit about Esoteric (aka Vajrayana, Tantric, Mikkyō) Buddhism recently and I just thought I’d open a thread about it to see what other people think of it and maybe give out some of the little I can glean about it so far, especially since it’s probably not as known in the West as say, Zen or Theravada. Which is actually important, because it’s different from both in a number of ways. (Actually, different schools of Buddhism have these differences in actual philosophy from each other.)

Anyone else interested or can teach me a bit more about it?

Here’s one bit.

I think that the variety of Esoteric Buddhism that’s familiar to more people is the one found in Tibetan Buddhism, whether real or exaggerated (that whole thing about ‘tantric sex’ and whatnot). I’m not exactly sure about the status of Shingon Buddhism from Japan - is it as well-known as the Tibetan tradition?

But lest you think that just because they’re both ‘esoteric’ they are similar to one another, that’s not exactly the case. East Asian (Chinese / Japanese) Esoteric Buddhism and Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism represent different stages of development.

A little history lesson. Scholars generally divide Esoteric Buddhism into three stages: early, middle, and late. The tradition that arrived in China and came to Japan is of the middle stage; esoteric traditions in South Asian countries like Tibet or Nepal are of the late stage. The rise (and fall) of Esoteric Buddhism in India coincided with the ‘revival’ and rise of Hinduism (in other words around AD 400-1000), with which it competed actively. In fact, IIRC Esoteric Buddhism apparently pretty much developed as a reaction against Hinduism: it sought to attract people by adopting ‘heterodox’ Hindu practices, rituals, and concepts. (I think this ties in to the Mahayana Buddhist concept of ‘skillful means’ / ‘skillfulness’ or upaya, where one guides people to enlightenment and liberation by whatever expedient means or tools can be used.)

P.S. Actually, Zen does have a bit of esoteric element in it (mainly in the realm of practices: mantra and dharani - basically a kind of longer mantra - recitation is one). Reason being that (another history lesson) in the year 845, the Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution happened in China, which dealt a heavy blow to Chinese Buddhism (really, only the native Daoism and Confucianism was not affected by the purge; other religious groups in the empire - (Syriac) Christians, Zoroastrians, Manichaeans and Buddhists - were all affected) and pretty much killed the esoteric school there. Esoteric Buddhism ceased to exist as a distinct school of thought of its own in China, and a few of its traditions were absorbed into the schools that did survive - Zen (Chan) being one.

 

[Exiled_Child]

Any religion which is meditation-based is “esoteric” by definition.

And Catholicism was meditation-based in the Desert Father’s days.

Why not just study Saint John Cassian?

 

[patrick457]

Any religion which is meditation-based is “esoteric” by definition.

And Catholicism was meditation-based in the Desert Father’s days.

Why not just study Saint John Cassian?

Well, Esoteric Buddhism (or at least, the Japanese variety of it) isn’t just meditation-based as some varieties of Buddhism might be, but also ritual (tantra)-based. The reason why I study it right now is (1) because of the place the two Japanese sects - Shingon and Tendai - had in Japanese history, and (2) because I’m curious as to how Catholics might address its teachings and philosophy (or at least, the ones that are available for public scrutiny). Most Christian / Catholic answers to Buddhism I’ve seen actually tend to be more about (as I’ve noted earlier) Theravada or Zen - which admittedly are two forms of Buddhism that are more familiar to Westerners than say, Pure Land Buddhism or Nichiren or whatever.

And yes, I’ve also been interested in the Desert Fathers. They’re also in my list.

 

[rossum]

I’ve been researching a bit about Esoteric (aka Vajrayana, Tantric, Mikkyō) Buddhism recently and I just thought I’d open a thread about it to see what other people think of it and maybe give out some of the little I can glean about it so far, especially since it’s probably not as known in the West as say, Zen or Theravada. Which is actually important, because it’s different from both in a number of ways. (Actually, different schools of Buddhism have these differences in actual philosophy from each other.)

I know something of the Vajrayana, and very little of Shingon beyond its existence.

Be very careful of any book or person trying to tell you the “secrets” of Vajrayana. All the secrets that are taught require swearing not to reveal them to the uninitiated. So, either the person has no knowledge of the secrets, and is lying, or the person is breaking a very strict oath, and so is an untrustworthy oathbreaker.

Some Vajrayana texts are accessible to the layman; many are not. They are effectively written in a code, and the “secrets” are how to understand the code, and hence understand what the text is saying. For an English example, a reference to a “red herring” is not talking about a pink fish, despite what the words say.

As an example, here is one of the less secret Vajrayana texts:

The Perfection of Wisdom in One Letter

Homage to the Perfection of Wisdom!

Thus have I heard. At one time the Lord dwelt at Rājagriha, on Vulture Peak, together with a large congregation of monks, and with many hundreds of thousands of niyutas of kotis of Bodhisattvas. At that time the Lord addressed the Venerable Ananda, and said: “Ananda, do receive, for the sake of the wellbeing and happiness of all beings, this perfection of wisdom in the letter: A.”

Thus spoke the Lord. The Venerable Ananda, the large congregation of monks, the assembly of the Bodhisattvas, and the whole world with its gods, men, asuras and gandharvas rejoiced at the teaching of the Lord.

Of course, the explanation of the meaning of that “A” is a lot longer than the text itself. As a start it is the negative prefix in Sanskrit, as seen in amoral or amillenial. It also appears in English as the prefix un-. The words of Saint John of the Cross apply: “nada, nada, nada.”

To learn Vajrayana you need to find a teacher who is willing to initiate you and teach you.

rossum

 

[patrick457]

I know something of the Vajrayana, and very little of Shingon beyond its existence.

Be very careful of any book or person trying to tell you the “secrets” of Vajrayana. All the secrets that are taught require swearing not to reveal them to the uninitiated. So, either the person has no knowledge of the secrets, and is lying, or the person is breaking a very strict oath, and so is an untrustworthy oathbreaker.

I can confirm this. The Shingon term for this prohibition IIRC is 三昧耶戒 sanmaya-kai (samaya = oath, vow). That’s part of the reason why much of Shingon is still a mystery: certain teachings and mantras are still passed down by word of mouth to the initiated. Even in a number of ‘public’ material the guidance of a qualified teacher is still stressed.

I’m not interested in the secrets anyway - just the accessible information is enough for me. My interest is purely academic.

Some Vajrayana texts are accessible to the layman; many are not. They are effectively written in a code, and the “secrets” are how to understand the code, and hence understand what the text is saying. For an English example, a reference to a “red herring” is not talking about a pink fish, despite what the words say.

As an example, here is one of the less secret Vajrayana texts:

The Perfection of Wisdom in One Letter

Homage to the Perfection of Wisdom!

Thus have I heard. At one time the Lord dwelt at Rājagriha, on Vulture Peak, together with a large congregation of monks, and with many hundreds of thousands of niyutas of kotis of Bodhisattvas. At that time the Lord addressed the Venerable Ananda, and said: “Ananda, do receive, for the sake of the wellbeing and happiness of all beings, this perfection of wisdom in the letter: A.”

Thus spoke the Lord. The Venerable Ananda, the large congregation of monks, the assembly of the Bodhisattvas, and the whole world with its gods, men, asuras and gandharvas rejoiced at the teaching of the Lord.

Of course, the explanation of the meaning of that “A” is a lot longer than the text itself. As a start it is the negative prefix in Sanskrit, as seen in amoral or amillenial. It also appears in English as the prefix un-. The words of Saint John of the Cross apply: “nada, nada, nada.”

To learn Vajrayana you need to find a teacher who is willing to initiate you and teach you.

rossum

The Rishukyo is another example of such a text BTW. I’ll elaborate on it (well, what I know of it) later.

 

[patrick457]

The Rishukyo is another example of such a text BTW. I’ll elaborate on it (well, what I know of it) later.

Here goes:

The Rishukyō (理趣経), aka Hannya-rishukyō or Principle of Wisdom (Prajñāpāramitā) Sutra is an esoteric sutra which is one of the three foundational texts of Shingon Buddhism (the other two are the Vairocana Sutra aka Dainichikyō, and the Vajrasekhara Sutra aka Kongōchōkyō).

The sutra’s contents and teaching itself is unique in a number of ways. The sutra essentially teaches

 

[patrick457]

The Rishukyo is another example of such a text BTW. I’ll elaborate on it (well, what I know of it) later.

Here goes:

The Rishukyō (理趣経), aka Hannya-rishukyō or Principle of Wisdom (Prajñāpāramitā) Sutra is an esoteric sutra which is one of the three foundational texts of Shingon Buddhism (the other two are the Vairocana Sutra aka Dainichikyō, and the Vajrasekhara Sutra aka Kongōchōkyō).

The sutra’s contents and teaching itself is unique in a number of ways. The sutra, as explained in this tiny article, teaches that “the true nature of all desires, including sexual desires, is purity, and that this purity of all things and phenomena is realized through the wisdom, or prajna, that penetrates the truth.”

In other words, the sutra teaches that desires and emotions like love, pride or anger are part of the natural condition and are not evil in and of themselves; instead, they are naturally ‘pure’. They only lead to ignorance and suffering when used towards self-serving ends. One is taught not to detach oneself from desire (this is one difference in philosophy Shingon has towards other schools of Buddhism), but instead redirect it towards a higher, altruistic purpose that leads to enlightenment - in other words, to convert “small / petty desires” that benefit only oneself into “great desire/s” (大欲 taiyoku) that benefits others.

There’s this (in)famous passage from the sutra which goes (translation from here):

[Vairocana Buddha] expounded the Gate of the Epithets of Purity of all Dharma, with these words:

“The epithet, “the purity of exquisite bliss” is the stage of a Bodhisattva.
The epithet, “the purity of the arrow of desire” is the stage of a Bodhisattva.
The epithet, “the purity of touching” is the stage of a Bodhisattva.
The epithet, “the purity of the bond of love” is the stage of a Bodhisattva.
The epithet, “the purity of natural sovereignty” is the stage of a Bodhisattva.
The epithet, “the purity of seeing” is the stage of a Bodhisattva.
The epithet, “the purity of rapture” is the stage of a Bodhisattva.
The epithet, “the purity of love” is the stage of a Bodhisattva.
The epithet, “the purity of pride” is the stage of a Bodhisattva.
The epithet, “the purity of adornment” is the stage of a Bodhisattva.
The epithet, “the purity of mental abundance” is the stage of a Bodhisattva.
The epithet, “the purity of purity of light” is the stage of a Bodhisattva.
The epithet, “the purity of bodily bliss” is the stage of a Bodhisattva.
The epithet, “the purity of form” is the stage of a Bodhisattva.
The epithet, “the purity of sound” is the stage of a Bodhisattva.
The epithet, “the purity of smell” is the stage of a Bodhisattva.
The epithet, “the purity of taste” is the stage of a Bodhisattva.
And why is it so? Because all dharma in their self-nature are pure, the Prajñā-pāramitā is pure.”

This and other such passages from the Rishukyō are notorious for having the potential to be misinterpreted as condoning wantonness and sexual misconduct.

One of the main differences Japanese Esoteric Buddhism has with Tibetan Vajrayana is the lack of any actual sexual yoga in it (which was a product of the late period of Esoteric Buddhism). For one, Shingon doesn’t have an equivalent to the Tibetan anuttarayoga-tantra.

However, during the Middle Ages, there was a sect within Shingon - the so-called Tachikawa-ryū - that supposedly actually practiced sexual rites, using the Rishukyō’s line of reasoning to justify such practices. For this and a variety of reasons (which includes political ones), the orthodox Shingon establishment eventually condemned the Tachikawa-ryū as a heretical sect, and was eventually outlawed by the government and by all accounts, died out. Even today, the Tachikawa-ryū are used as textbook examples for the need to study from reputable, qualified sources and the dangers of ‘casual’ study of such teachings. The implication is that the Tachikawa sect is based upon a gross misinterpretation of the Rishukyō.

For the record, one of the famous feuds in Japanese history - that of Saichō, the founder of the Tendai school, and Kūkai, the founder of Shingon - happened because of the Rishukyō. Well, to be precise, a number of factors were involved, but the Rishukyō was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

 

[rossum]

Here goes:

The Rishukyō (理趣経), aka Hannya-rishukyō or Principle of Wisdom (Prajñāpāramitā) Sutra is an esoteric sutra which is one of the three foundational texts of Shingon Buddhism (the other two are the Vairocana Sutra aka Dainichikyō, and the Vajrasekhara Sutra aka Kongōchōkyō).

There is also a translation of this sutra in Conze’s “The Short Prajnaparamita Texts”. The main body is translated as “The Perfection of Wisdom in 150 lines”, with the part you quote, from section XVB, separated out as “The 25 Doors to Perfect Wisdom”, though in a different recension. Conze’s version is based on the Tibetan text rather than the Chinese/Japanese.

This and other such passages from the Rishukyō are notorious for having the potential to be misinterpreted as condoning wantonness and sexual misconduct.

Indeed. They are deliberately written so as to be incomprehensible to the uninitiated, and so are often misunderstood by the uninitiated.

rossum

 

[patrick457]

Indeed. They are deliberately written so as to be incomprehensible to the uninitiated, and so are often misunderstood by the uninitiated.

rossum

That brings me to another reason why the Rishukyō is unique.

In Japan, most Buddhist scriptures (which came to Japan in the form of translations into classical Chinese) were not translated into Japanese but recited in a Japanese approximation of Chinese. Anyone who has studied kanji (Chinese characters or hanzi, specifically the Japanese incarnation of them) will know about .on’yomi**kun’yomi We could say that Buddhist sutras are read using on’yomi.

As the article I linked to says:

There are often multiple On’Yomi readings for each and every kanji because they were introduced to Japan multiple times over the course of a few hundred years, and for some reason Japan decided it would be cool to keep all of them. Pile 'em up, Japan said. More is better. These different readings came from different provinces, dynasties, and what have you, and apparently all of them had slightly different ways to pronounce things. That’s why you’ll often see multiple on’yomi options with an individual kanji.

Generally speaking, much of Buddhist terminology and Buddhist scriptures in Japan are read using the so-called go-on (呉音, literally “Wu sound”), which is basically the oldest of the on’yomi and is either an approximation of a variety of Chinese spoken in the 5th-6th century, or an approximation of a Korean approximation of said variety of Chinese (Buddhism did officially come to Japan after all via Korea, after all).

However, the Rishukyo is unique in that it is one of the few Buddhist sutras that are not read using go-on. Instead, it is pronounced using the kan-on (漢音, “Han sound” - Han here meaning ‘Chinese’) system, the Japanese version of Chinese as spoken during the Tang dynasty (7th-9th centuries), specifically the dialect spoken in the capital city of Chang’an.

Hence, the Rishukyo’s actual title in Chinese, 大樂金剛不空真實三麼耶經 (Adamantine Non-Empty True Samaya Sutra of Great Bliss), rather than being read in go-on as Dairaku-fukū-shinjitsu-sanmaya-kyō, is instead read as Taira(ku)-fukō-shinji-sanmaya-kei. Names and terms like 毘盧遮那佛 (Vairocana Buddha), or 釈迦牟尼如來 (Śākyamuni the Tathagata) or 菩薩摩訶薩 (bodhisattva-mahāsattva), which would be read as Birushana-butsu, Shakamuni-nyorai or bosatsu-makasatsu in go-on, are instead read here as Hiroshada-fu, Seikyabōchi-jorai or hosan-bakasa. The standard opening formula for sutras, 如是我聞 (“Thus have I heard”), which is read as nyo ze ga mon in go-on, is instead read as jo shi ga bun.

Here’s the Rishukyō being recited. Anyone familiar with Japanese sutra recitations will immediately notice that this sutra sounds a bit ‘different’.

It is traditionally thought that the reason for this peculiar pronunciation was because of the esoteric nature of the sutra. In order to hide the sutra in plain sight (it is recited everyday by Shingon monks as part of their daily practice; the sutra, like many other Buddhist scriptures, promises great benefits to those who will read and recite it or hear it being recited), an uncommon - for Buddhist-related stuff - scheme of pronunciation was deliberately chosen.

However, recently, it has been proposed that there might be a more mundane reason for the use of kan-on: when the sutra was introduced into Japan, kan-on was the favored on’yomi scheme for Chinese characters. Shingon monks simply adopted the common pronunciation scheme in vogue at the time, and it stuck. One might compare this with the Tendai school (founded around the same time as Shingon): Tendai monks also recite a few sutras in kan-on rather than go-on, such as the Peaceful Practices chapter of the Lotus Sutra and the Amitabha Sutra. And these are not esoteric scriptures.

Another comparison can be drawn to the later Zen sects. The Ōbaku school, one of the latest schools of Buddhism in Japan (it was introduced from China in the 17th century as a subsect of Rinzai / Linji), recites sutras neither in go-on nor kan-on, but in an approximation of early modern Mandarin Chinese (!) So instead of calling the Heart Sutra (般若波羅蜜多心経, Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya) like many Japanese Buddhists doHannya-haramita-shingyō, Ōbaku Zen monks read the title as Poze-poromito-shinkin (cf. Mandarin Bōrě-bōluómìduō-xīnjīng).

 

[patrick457]

There is also a translation of this sutra in Conze’s “The Short Prajnaparamita Texts”. The main body is translated as “The Perfection of Wisdom in 150 lines”, with the part you quote, from section XVB, separated out as “The 25 Doors to Perfect Wisdom”, though in a different recension. Conze’s version is based on the Tibetan text rather than the Chinese/Japanese.

I just checked Conze. No, it’s not the 25 Doors to Perfect Wisdom (which isn’t present in the Chinese - Amoghavajra’s - version anyway; Amoghavajra’s version ends in what is section XVA in Conze). It’s actually section I.

 

[rossum]

I just checked Conze. No, it’s not the 25 Doors to Perfect Wisdom (which isn’t present in the Chinese - Amoghavajra’s - version anyway; Amoghavajra’s version ends in what is section XVA in Conze). It’s actually section I.

OK, thanks for the correction.

rossum

 

[patrick457]

Bumping this thread.

To make it clear I’m probably more interested in knowing the history of the development of esoteric Buddhism, particularly the Tibetan one (I already have an idea about the history of esoteric Buddhism in Japan).

 

[Tarquin]

Why not just study Saint John Cassian?

For which a pdf is available at ccel.org/ccel/cassian/conferences.pdf