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Acknowledgments Acknowledgments MY MENTOR, Masatoshi Nagatomi, supported this project long before it showed concrete promise. He sets an unattainable standard of passion- ate, rigorous scholarship that is ever an inspiration. Diana Eck's astute questions have challenged and deepened my thought, while Tu Wei- ming lent invaluable theoretical insights. Elisabeth Schiissler Fiorenza provided inspiration through her feminist historical work on early Christianity. It was her courageous example that spurred my decisive commitment to this project. I would like to acknowledge several valued companions in explora- tion. John Huntington's enthusiastic introduction to Tantric Buddhist art awakened my lifelong fascination with the subject. He and Susan Huntington introduced me to the joys of scholarship and adventures of research. Robert Thurman was my unforgettable and peerless guide first to Madhyamaka texts and later to the Tantric genre. Frederique Apffel Marglin has been a constant advisor since our first meeting in Orissa. I cannot overestimate my debt of gratitude to her for helping to forge insights that shape every page of this work. Gaining entree to any religious tradition requires the cooperation of adherents of that tradition, and that necessity is heightened in the case of an esoteric tradition like Tantric Buddhism. Therefore, I want to thank all the yoginis, yogis, lamas, monks, scholars, and lay people who graciously opened their monasteries, temples, rituals, homes, her- mitages, pilgrimages, and hearts to me. I went to them for information and came away deeply enriched with both knowledge and affection. Among the lamas to be thanked for assisting me, the foremost is His Holiness the Dalai Lama, for giving his approval, offers of assistance, and an indispensable interview. The following lamas assisted my re- search in various ways: in the dGe-lugs order, Lati Rinpoche, Tara Tulku Rinpoche, and Gungru Tulku; in the 'Bri-gung bKa'-brgyud order, H. H. Chetsang Rinpoche, Ayang Rinpoche, and Khenpo Kon- chog Gyaltsen; in the Karma bKa'-brgyud order, H. H. Shamarpa Rin- poche, Pawo Rinpoche, and Trangu Rinpoche; in the Sa-skya school, H. H. Sakya Trizin, Jetsun Chime Luding, Luding Khen Rinpoche, and Khenpo Abbe; and in the rNying-ma tradition, H. H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Minglin Trichen, Tulku Thondup, and Lama Tsultrim. Sev- eral of these venerable teachers have subsequently passed away, and I am honored that their memory is woven into these pages. Sonam Sangpo helped me locate some manuscripts in exceptionally hot Xll ACKNOWLEDGMENTS weather in Kathmandu and then helped me translate them after we had found them. Ngawang Jorden of Sakya College, Dehra Dun, fortu- itously came to Harvard at the same time that I returned from the field and has remained a willing and knowledgeable advisor ever since. When I was in India, it was a privilege to have the brilliant historian Bitendra Nath Mukherjee as my project advisor. The inimitable Naren- dra Nath Bhattacharyya offered his piquant insights over many cups of Indian tea. Abhijit Ghosh shared his philological expertise during many enjoyable hours of reading Hindu tantms and Sanskrit fiction. I am grateful to the staff of the United States Educational Foundation in India, at both the New Delhi and Calcutta offices, for assistance with the arcane world of Indian bureaucracy and for a myriad of indispens- able arrangements when I was in the field. The institutions whose directors, staffs, and libraries greatly aided my research include the Indian Institute for Advanced Studies, Simla; Tibet House, New Delhi; Lokesh Chandra, International Academy of Indian Culture, New Delhi; Sahitya Akademii, Delhi; Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath; Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Dharamsala; Orissa State Museum Library; The National Li- brary, Calcutta; The Asiatic Society, Calcutta; Ramakrishna Mission In- stitute of Culture, Calcutta; and Yenching Institute, Harvard Univer- sity. I am also grateful to Joseph Loizzo for the loan of his bsTan-'gyur for the duration of this project, to Melbourne Taliaferro for procuring copies of some essential texts, and to Musashi Tachikawa for a timely gift of the rGyud sde kun btus. This project required fieldwork, archival research, and time for translation and writing free from other obligations. All this would not have been possible without the funding provided by the dean of Rad- cliffe College, the Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions under the directorship of John Carman, the Fulbright-Hays Founda- tion, the Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation, the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation, and the Faculty Research Committee of the University of Richmond. Steven Zimmerman and Pamela Russell also deserve spe- cial thanks for two crucial trips to Nepal. For advice, encouragement, helpful references, and editorial advice I am indebted to Tsultrim Allione, Paula Kane Arai, Theodore Bergren, Agehananda Bharati, Annie Dillard, Sherab Drolma, John Dunne, Elinor Gadon, Herbert Guenther, Adelheid Hermann-Pfandt, Toni Kenyon, Cliff Leftwich, Miriam Levering, Sara McClintock, Mildred Munday, Robin Rao, Shinichi Tsuda, and Alex Wayman. Special appre- ciation is due to Prajwal Ratna Vajracharya for luminous dance inter- pretations of the comportment of Tantric deities. Emily Martindale ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii gave the project a final infusion of energy with her exquisite line-drawn renderings of Tibetan paintings and woodblock prints. My deepest gratitude goes to Lama Sonam Jorphel Rinpoche, a 'Bri- gung bKa'-brgyud lineage holder, for sharing the precious resource of his time and the abundant stores of his kindness and erudition during three months at his mountain hermitage in Ladakh, hundreds of hours of discussions in the following months, and two months going over the fine points of the manuscript in Kathmandu. Nothing can ever repay this debt. Finally, to the family that nurtured and supported me: my grand- mother, Frances Wilson Eberle, who taught me the importance of books; my mother, Merry Gant Norris, whose appreciation sweetens every accomplishment; and Kenneth Rose, companion in life and intel- lectual journeying, whose numerous personal and scholarly ministra- tions helped to bring this book into being. .
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