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Classification of Tantras in Dpal Brtsegs's Ita Bahi Rim a Bthdpa and Its Problems

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Classification of Tantras in Dpal Brtsegs's Ita Bahi Rim a Bthdpa and Its Problems Classification of Tantras in dPal brtsegs's iTa bahi rim a bthdpa and Its Problems Shinichi Tsuda We may be able to find one of the frameworks of the history of ideas of Indian Esoteric Buddhism in its classification of tantras, if we can succeed in reconstructing it. Several references can be found but still it is necessary to examine more basic material in order to have a general idea. In the following pages is examined the ITa bahi rim pa brad pa (abbr. T.RS) as a data for the classification of tantras. The author of the above (1) text is dPal brtsegs whose period of activity is c. 780-820 A. D. As for the text, we have used the Photographic Reprint of the Peking (2) edition (Catalogue of the Photographic Reprint of the Peking edition, No.5843) and the sDe dge edition (Tohoku Catalogue, No. 4356). The numbers of the volume, pages, etc. in annotation and assigned numbers of the works are those of the Photographic Reprint of the Peking edition and its Catalogue. (1) We can find his, name, as an early case, in the Bod rje hbans la brdsans pahi hphrin yig (No. 5693). The date of this letter seems to be later than time of the first initiation of sad mi mi bdun (779 A. D.), but not much more. He was one of the editors of the Catalogue ZDan dkar ma, and one of the main au- thors of the Mahavyutpatti. In the Tibetan Tripitaka, abont 95 works of his translation are found, but the fact that 24 of them are revision shows his activity for several years after the start of the compilation of the Mahavyutpa- tti. See G. Tucci: TTK, pp. 14-19, 40-41; MBT, Part II, p. 48. note; Takao Kaga- wa, On the Compilation Date of the Mahavyutpatti, JIBS, vol. 7, No. 1, p. 160 f. dPal brtsegs translated several works which were written by Buddhaguhya, and moreover, translated together with Buddhaguhya himself. See Nos. 3.511, 4528. (2) Published by the Tibetan Tripitaka Reseach Institute, Tokyo-Kyoto. Its Catalogue & Index was published in 1961. -402- (43) Classification of Tantras in ZTa bahi rim pa brad pa (S. Tsuda) In the first half of TRS, are explained various degrees of the views, which will be examined later, and in the later half, dPal brtsegs seems to express his own opinion. First of all, it is said as follows: "Bowing to the Padmanetra, I will explain the degrees of the views. The worldly (views) and unworldly (views), appear from the one, like the gold objects gser gyi rdsas. Knowing that the appearings of the ways rnam grans are five, three and two (ways), it (3) should be arranged and accepted". In this we can understand from the fol- lowing - contents that, "five" indicates from the kriya-tantra-yana to the ati- yogatantra-yana, "three" is sravaka, pratyekabuddha and bodhisattva, and "two" is the worldly and the unworldly views. Secondly, after the explanation of the heretical and worldly views, it is said that: "Unworldly views are, also, in the other (views), (those of) aryasravaka, pratyekabuddha, Sautrantika, and, kriya (-tantra-yana), ubhaya (-tantra-yana) and likewise, yoga (-tantra) -yana and, mahayoga (-tantra) -yana and, anuyoga (-tantra) -yana and, atiyoga (-tantra) -yana, " -hjig rten hdas pahi lta ba yan//cig sos lta ba las hphags pa//nan thus ran rgyal mdo sde dan//kri ya u pa yan dag dan//de bshin yo gahi theg pa dan//ma ha yo (4) gahi theg pa dan//a nu yo gahi theg pa dan//a ti yo gahi theg pa dan//, and subsequently, those are explained respectively, and, in this, the passage to which we should pay attention is " kri ya u pa yanh dag danl l ", and, we can identify this " u pa yan " to be ubhaya according to the following explana- tion, that is, next to the -explanation to the kriya-tantra, (5) gn"is ka rgyud kyi spyod pa ni//lta spyod gon hog rjes su mthun// "the practice of the ubhaya-tantra, (its) practice and doctrine agree to those of the former and the latter' (tantra)." From those explanations we may know the classification of the tantras in TRS. Now, we must take up the problem of Sans rgyas gsan ba. i. e. Buddha- (6) guhya (or Buddhagupta, his period of contact with Tibet is c. 780-800 A. (3) vol. 144, p. 128-1'-8. (5) vol. 144, p. 128-33. (4) vol. 144, p. 128-25-7. -401- Classification of Tantras in ITa bahi rim pa brad Pa (S. Tsuda) (44) D.), who was in close contact with dPal brtsegs, and the classification in- dicated by him is, so far as we know, one of the earliest examples . In his Shorter Commentary of the Vairocanabhisambodhi-tantra(No . 3468), Buddhaguhya classifies tantras into two classes, viz. kriya, yoga, and fur- ther more, he says clearly that the Vairocanabhisambodhi, though it is gene- (7) rally thought to be a carya-tantra, is a kriya-tantra, and his Unrevised Longer Commentary of Vairocanabhisambodhi (No. 3487) and the revised one (No. 3490), he again classifies tantras into kriya, and yoga, but, he says that the Vairocanabhisambodhi is either a yoga-tantra or a kriya-tantra or "ubhaya- (8) tantra " (gnis kaki rgyud), and here we find an example of the word ubhaya- (9) antra which is earlier than that in TRS. But, taking into consideration the context, -we can hardly take it as an independent classification, but -we must rather take its meaning literally, as "both kriya and yog a-tantra", (6) We can find the data adout him as follows: , Taranatha's history of Buddhism, edit. by Shiefner, Petrograd, 1868, pp. 169-171; Bu ston's history of Buddhism, transl. by H. Sato : Hisashi Sato, Historical Study of Ancient Tibet, II, Kyoto, 1959, p. 858; Deb ther snon po, transl. by George N. Roerich, The Blue Annals. Calcutta, 1945, 1953, pp. 170, 191. 351, 372, 867; the Catalogue Man dkar ma, M. Lalou, Le textes bouddhiques au temps du roi Khri-sron-lde-bean, JA, CCXLI, 1953, p. 326; Bod rje hbans la brdsahs Pahi hphrin yig, No. 5693, Vol. 129; 4dPag bsam lion bzah, edit. by Sarat Chandra Das, Calcutta, 1908, part I, p. 114, part II, p. 170; sBa bshed edit. by R. A. Stein, Paris, 1961, p. 1. Descriptions in -these data have some contradictions and confusion, so it was necessary for us to examine them carefully, -and the names of the translators and the joint translators who worked with him on his works were greatly helpful. (7) See Vol. 77, p. 81-56-p. 82-11. (8) See Vol. 77, p. 111-25-7, p. 231-28-31 9) Examining Buddhaguhya's commentaries to the Vairocaabhisambodhi con- cerning their styles and contents, we decided their sequence as follows: the writing of the Shorter Commentary and sending to Tibet, writing of the Un- revised Longer Cemmentary and its translation into Tibetan by Buddhaguhya himself, and the translation of the Vairocanabhisambodhi and its Shorter Com- mentary by dPal brtsegs and S"ilendrabodhi. On the other hand, we can find the influence of the Vairocanabhisambodhi in TRS, so the using of the word " ubhaya-tantra ".in the Unrevised Longer Commentary is earlier than that in TRS. -400- (45) Classification of Tantras in iTa bahi rim Pa brad Pa (S. Tsuda) and, this fact seems to be exactly reflected in TRS . Though the classes of the tantras are said to be five in TRS, the fact is, they are really six when one includes the ubhaya-tantra, and, using one, verse for the explanation of other tantras, there is only half a verse for the explanation of the ubhaya-tantra, which is declined in the dual together with the kriya-tantra, so in TRS, we can find the beginning of an independ- ent treatment of the ubhaya-tantra . Formerly, Ekai Kawaguchi made an abridged translation and introduced Padma dban gi rgyal po's sDom g sum rnam nes as an authority of the ninef old classification of the teachings that was adopted by the rNin ma sect and in this it is clearly said that the other name of the carya-tantra is " (10) ubhaya-tantra ". Judging from the above alone, we may provisionally assume that, the word ubhaya-tantra has its origin in Buddhaguhya, and, in dPal brtsegs0 it is in the process of becoming independent as a class, corresponding to the carya-tantra. Now, we shall give as many other examples as we can find of the, ubhaya-tantra. (1) In S-akyamitra's Carya-melayana-pradipa-nama-tika (No. 2703), the, tantras are classified into bya ba, spyod pa, gni ga and rnal hbyor bla mahi (11) (12) (13) rgyud (= bla na med pahi rgyud, or rnal hbyor chen pohi rgyud?), and the fact that Vairocanabhisambodhi is included not in gni ga but in spyod pa (10) Ekai Kawaguchi, "Comparison of the Chinese and Tibetan versions of the Mahavairocana-sutra ", Mikkyo-Kenkyu, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1919, p. 68. We could not look the text of the sDom gsum rnam nes, but following his translation into Japanese, the carya-tantra-yana is: "The carya-tantra-yana is also known as the 'dual- tantra-ysna'. In a book called Ran gsal (?), UPAYA-TANTRA- YANA ' (?) is said as follows: Its theory is the same as that of the yoga- tantra-yana, and its practice is the same as that of the kriya-tantra-yana, , so it is called' dual- tantra-yana'.
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