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Tantra Reference

IMPORTANT HINDU AND BUDDHIST TANTRASAND OTHER TANTRIC TEXTS, SOME AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH

Hindu tradition has Tantras coming direct from archaic dialogsbetween Shiva "Lord of Yoga" and his Shakti, the "Great Goddess."Some of these dialogs got "overheard" or revealed to Yogi Siddhas,whose students eventually wrote them down. The Tantric teachings ofShiva and Shakti come to us from the distant past, perhaps as farback as the Indus Valley civilization, circa 2500 B.C.E. These secretteachings were preserved mostly in oral form, aided by the use ofsymbols and the sacred arts, such as sculpture, painting, music anddance.

Written Tantras are the latest of the Hindu sacred writings(Shastras), following the Vedas, Upanishads etc. South India has itsown tradition of Tantras, also derived from Shiva, Shakti and thelineage of Siddhas. Hindu medical, alchemical and astrological textsare commonly termed Tantras, as are works dealing mainly withsorcery.

Buddhist occult tradition tells that Gautama the Buddha impartedesoteric teachings to select disciples, "by initiation and by word ofmouth." Modern scholars suggest that many of the known early Tantraswere "transmitted in utmost secrecy for 300 years or so," passed-onin dialogs between teachers and chosen students. It was not until thetime of the Siddhas, circa 6th-11th century C.E., that they werewritten down. In Mahayana Buddhist culture, study of the Tantrasnaturally follows after study of the Sutras.

There are Tantras, both Hindu and Buddhist, compiled or created byYogis, Yoginis, priests or scholars. These are generally based onfragments or compilations of earlier works, oral tradition, mysticsongs or are the result of empirical scientific studies in medicine,chemistry, astronomy etc. When a sacred text is called a Tantra, ittakes on added significance because of the traditions of lineage,historicity and revelation. Spiritual sex, literal or allegorical, isa topic discussed in many Tantras.

Some Tantras were written on palm-leaves, flimsy folios of paperand never published. Many were lost over the passage of time. Otherswere "discovered" and entered the mainstream of spiritual literature.These texts were generally regarded as radical, heretical even, butnevertheless viewed as authoritative in the present decadent aeon,the Kali Yuga.

Following is a list of Buddhist and Hindu Tantras, ofsignificance, together with likely dates of their compilation anddetails of their English translation, if available:

SOME BUDDHIST TANTRAS

Guhyasamaja Tantra, the Sanskrit text edited withcommentaries by Benoytosh Bhattacharya, Gaekwad's Oriental Series,1934. Dr. Alex Wayman translated selected verses into English,

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published as Yoga of the Guyasamaja, Motilal, Delhi, 1977. Thisimportant "Mother" Tantra was probably compiled in the 4th centuryC.E.;

Manjusri Mula Tantra, edited by T. Ganapati Shastri,Trivandrum Sanskrit Series, vols. 70, 76 and 84, 1920, 1922 and 1925;

Chandamaharosana Tantra, chapters I-VIII, translated by Dr.Christopher George, published by the American Oriental Society, NewHaven, 1974. Possibly compiled in the 7th century C.E., the earliestmanuscript is from around the year 1100;

Hevajra Tantra, selected verses translated with substantialcommentaries by Dr. David Snellgrove, Oxford University Press,London, 1959. This important text was probably compiled between the7th and 8th centuries C.E.;

Chakrasambhara Tantra, selected verses translated by LamaKazi Dawa Samdup, Luzac, London, 1910;

Mahakala Tantra, translated by Dr. William Stablein. Ph.D.dissertation, Columbia University, 1976.

Abhidhanottara Tantra, partly translated by Dr. MartinKalff;

Samvarodaya Tantra, selected chapters translated byShinichi Tsuda, Hokuseido Press, Tokyo, 1974;

Kalachakra Tantra, a 10th century text, published inTibetan facsimile and with commentary in English by Dr. LokeshChandra, New Delhi, 1966. Also selectively translated by JeffreyHopkins and published as Kalachakra Tantra Rite of Initiation, 1985and Wisdom, Boston, 1989, and extracted in various English formats,including Gelong Jhampa Kelsang's translation of Ngawang Dhargyey'sCommentary on the Kalachakra Tantra, Dharamsala, 1985.

There are very many other important Buddhist Tantras, mostly onlynow available in the Tibetan language. Among them are: theKurukulla Tantra; Mahavairochana Tantra; VajrapatalaTantra; Vajrayogini Tantra, Yogini Tantra andothers too numerous to detail. The official compilation of Tibetansacred books, known as the Kanjur and Tenjur, contain 22 volumes ofTantras and 86 volumes of commentaries on them. The Nyingmapa "old"sect of Tibetan Buddhists know of "over a hundred thousand Tantras"!

SOME HINDU TANTRAS

Mahavidya Tantra, possibly dating from before the 4thcentury C.E.;

Lakshmi Tantra, translated by Sanjukta Gupta, E. J. Brill,Leiden, 1972, compiled sometime between the 9th and 10th centuriesC.E.;

Kularnava Tantra, compiled around 1000 C.E. Available inEnglish translation.

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Kalivilasa Tantra, published by Arthur Avalon (Sir JohnWoodroofe) in English, 1916;

Kalikapurana (Tantra), chapters 54-69 translated by K. R.Van Kooij, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1972, compiled around the fourteenthcentury C.E.;

Kamaratna Tantra, translated by Hemchandra Tattabhusan,Shillong, 1928;

Mahanirvana Tantra, better known as the Tantra of the GreatLiberation, translated by Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe),Calcutta and London, 1913. A very late text, with radical reformistviews.

Other important Hindu Tantras, mostly dating from between the 11thand 17th centuries are: Chinnamasta Tantra, GanapatiTantra, Gandharva Tantra, Guptasadhana Tantra,Jnanarnava Tantra, the Kakachandishvarakalpa Tantra,translated by Jyotir Mitra, Varanasi, 1970, in manuscript; KaliTantra, Kamakhya Tantra, Kaulavali Tantra,Kubjika Tantra, Kulachudamani Tantra, Englishtranslation available on the Internet at the Hindu Tantrik home page;Kularnava Tantra, compiled between the 11th and 15th centuries,translated by Rai, 1993 and selected parts by Goudriaan, 1992;Kundalini Tantra; Malinivijayottara Tantra, translatedby V. D. Shastri, Punjab University, 1956; MatrikabhedaTantra; Maya Tantra; Netra Tantra, translationavailable on the Internet; Nila Tantra; NiruttaraTantra; Nirvana Tantra; Saraswati Tantra;Svacchanda Tantra, an early Shaivite work, partly translatedby Teun Goudriaan, SUNY, 1992; Tantraloka; TantrarajaTantra; Tara Tantra; Todala Tantra, available onthe Internet; Vinashikha Tantra, translated by Teun Goudriaan,Motilal, Delhi, 1985; Yogini Tantra and Yoni Tantra,available on the Internet at the Mike Magee "Hindu Tantrik" homepage.

There are many other "Kashmiri" Tantras, "Bengali" Tantras (mostlyfrom a relatively late period, into this century) and "South IndianTantras", which are sometimes referred to as Kalpas.

A Tantra generally is a "no holds barred" guide to spiritualliberation, presumably put together by a liberated enlightenedperson. The very large number of both Buddhist and Hindu Tantras thathave survived in some form or another, suggests that spiritualenlightenment was not as difficult to achieve as is generallysupposed.

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