SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis constitutes a study of the Sarva-tathagata-tattva-samgraha, the principal Buddhist tantra of the Yoga Tantra class. The thesis is based on the original sources in Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. The text of this tantra is preserved in the original Sanskrit, and in Tibetan and Chinese translations. As for the commentaries, the thesis makes use of two commentaries written by the Indian masters Anandagarbha and Sakyamitra, which are preserved only in their Tibetan versions. In addition, the thesis incorporates the information culled from the relevant works in Chinese by Amoghavajra and Donjaku, and several Japanese and Korean works as indicated in the bibliography. The Sarva-tathagata-tattva-samgraha is divided into five parts and twenty six chapters. In conformity with this tantra's structure, the thesis is also divided in the same way. The thesis starts with a general introduction, and then proceeds step by step to provide a textual study of the doctrinal, ritual, and other dimensions of the entire tantra. In conformity with its structure, first there are provided expositions of each part as a whole, and then there follow detailed studies of individual chapters contained in each part. In the case of individual chapters, first there is explained their overall structure, then, whenever appropriate, there are given translated excerpts from the tantra, followed by an integrated interpretation of their doctrinal and other aspects in the light of the commentaries. Since all chapters of this thesis have similar structures, the overall presentation is somewhat repetitive. However, this style reflects the structure of the tantra and its logical progression, and also the style of its commentaries. In terms of its teachings, the Sarvatathagata-tattva-samgraha provides the foundational exposition of the doctrines and practices of the Yoga Tantra. This tantra class focuses predominately on meditation, visualisation of deities, and on ritual activities performed in connection with mandalas. This tantra contains a seminal treatment of the Yoga Tantra theories, but all such theories are not divulged in an open and plain language, but are encoded in esoteric terminology, and cast in visionary, meditational, and ritualised ways. The overall discourse is built around a logically devised group of mandalas in connection with which the tantra explains the meditational and ritual process leading to Buddhahood. According to this tantra, Sakyamimi Buddha attained Buddhahood in the Akanistha abode, proclaimed the Yoga Tantra on the summit of Mount Sumeru, and then returned to earth and reenacted the state of enlightenment under the bodhi tree in Bodhgay?. His enlightenment in the Akanistha and his proclamation of the Yoga Tantra on Sumeru are recast in this tantra and revealed as a body of the Yoga Tantra teachings.