Esoteric Final Flashcards
Sanskrit
Perfected
Sanskrit
‘well-put’ or ‘perfected
Prakrits = street sanskrit
-Mayanana cultural movements after sanskrit translations!
Sanskrit mantras - can manipulate reality thru sound
Why did they use Sanskrit?
Sanskrit carries status, expressive power and technical vocabulary
has the POWER of transforming things
Institutional influence of Buddhist monasteries, Saiva or Brahmanical centres
areas would utilize sanskrit for communication & spoke Sanskrita
Regional Sanskrit distinct glossia conveying social information
Prakrit
Prakrits = street sanskrit
Pali (means ‘textual language’ = one of most important prakrits
Samdhyabhasa (enigmatic language)
-related to connotative semiotics
-Hermeneutic strategies to offer explanations that were socially or textually difficult
i.e. you must kill mother & father - means mother is ignorance, father is hate, so to kill the samsaric baby, you must kill the progenitors
Unpack intentional layers of significance below surface layer of ostensive language
All tantric words are polysemic by definition!!!
so the guru or vajracarya HAS to tell you what it really means!!
so it becomes a tool for the domestication of tantra
Tool in the process of domestication
Lessens, tones down the force of the scripture’s extreme contents and moves the text into a symbolic realm approachable by normative Buddhist praxis
Difficult language is transformed into buddhist soteriological descriptions
Secret ritual words
coded language employed for hermeneutics and a new type of communication
Consists of words AND gestures
as the literature develops, it seems to get more and more antinomian
the more antinomian/transgressive it gets, the ‘higher’ the tantras gets
Four levels of language in descending order of social status: standard Sanskrit, nonstandard, Apabhramsa, local, low-status vernacular
Formulated and constructed within social contexts of intimate and sustained communications between siddhas and their communities
Diglossic context (Sanskrit/Apabhramsa-vernacular) governed by local sociocultural rituals
Virupa
Virupa’s (mahasiddha) Drinking Song
this is a super low-class activity
root text is his drinking song
shows up with buddies and no money
puts knife on the table, says he’ll pay if sunlight reaches it
drinks everything in all the regions
king has to come and pay the bar tab lol
“All alone this barmaid serves 2 at her home
(the unique central channel brings together the 2 channels - the right and left - internal yogic act)
“The booze is brewed naturally strong,making my body touch - no old age or death for me!
(the ultimate thought of awakening is made firm with the noose of bliss)
Ganacakra (tantric feast)
Ganacakra =(gathering/offering in a circle, circle of assembly)
Ganacakra: Group offering that is celebrated by a group of Tantric practitioners on auspicious occasions or after special sessions of intensive practice
certain rules for it - no anger, etc
can only do authorized shit
can’t hang out with non-initiates for 7 days
-Tantric feasts, communal assemblies
-consecrated ppl who have undergone consecration
-acquiring power
-sacramental experience of forbidden items
-consume sexual fluids, etc
-some say it’s just symbolic - controversial
-people covered in ashes, using fluids (esp menstrual),
-Group sexual rites held at night in variety of secret location
-rites were non-sectarian, though rites run by members of various sects, rites were open to members from other sects
-signs, passwords, codes, etc
like a rave
tantric feasts become domesticated over time
become more and more symbolic in nature
Secret signs (choma)
Secret signs and coded language
as the literature develops, it seems to get more and more antinomian
the more antinomian/transgressive it gets, the ‘higher’ the tantras gets
the two tantras listed above are two tantras with secret signs and gestures
like gang symbols, graffiti tagging
all these hand gestures
even the commentators won’t discuss them
we don’t know what they were!!
performative aspects: means of identification and communication for tantric feasts (ganacakra)
secret signs (choma MI = chadman =Skt indicates disguise, deception
the fact that the word is middle-indic shows that it didn’t come from the establishment/educated aristocracy
choma-mudra signifies defeat, disguise, deception
physical signs - hand and facial gestures
vocal signs
even if tibetans use stuff, they may have linguistically changed it
commentators (eg Sahara, padmavajra) do not elaborate or explain the use of these signs
it’s very hard to know what they were
words and gestures formulated in the social experience
rock and roll concert/festival culture, with groupies following them around
Semiotics
Semiotics: the study of the production of meaning through signs
What is a sign:
from Saussure
the basic unit of meaning, at least in Saussure’s version of semiotics, is the Sign. A sign is any thing that makes meaning. Or in Umberto Eco’s clever formulation, “A SIGN IS ANYTHIGN THAT CAN BE USED TO TELL A LIE”
Denotative Semiotics
Denotation’ tends to be described as the definitional, ‘literal’, ‘obvious’ or ‘commonsense’ meaning of a sign. In the case of linguistic signs, the denotative meaning is what the dictionary attempts to provide. For the art historian Erwin Panofsky, the denotation of a representational visual image is what all viewers from any culture and at any time would recognize the image as depicting (Panofsky 1970a, 51-3). Even such a definition raises issues - all viewers? One suspects that this excludes very young children and those regarded as insane, for instance. But if it really means ‘culturally well-adjusted’ then it is already culture-specific, which takes us into the territory of connotation.
Connotative Semiotics
Connotative Semiotics
Note that Davidson has been highly critical of Wedemeyer’s theory (connotative semiotics - beef, dog)
Connotative semiiotics - how advertising works
Approaches to Tantric Interpretation
Literalism - literal meaning is the original
Figuratism - symbolic interpretation of the commentators
Assumption of denotative natural language
Context of great literary sophistication
irony, double-entendre, metaphor, similes, etc
theoretical model that goes beyond the ‘trap’ of literalism v figuratism
connotation of mythic speech
even a performative act can have connotative meaning
Davidson argues for ‘historicism’
tantra has to be contextualized under the historical conditions that it occurs
looks at lots beyond language - gender, power, etc
the shape of things
structuralism & post-structuralism = explanatory methods
here we loop back to the ‘metaphor of organic development’ and see that it is kind of a poor model
Post-structuralist + semiotics
a signifier is any material thing that is signified
Wedemeyer argues AGAINST simple denotation or the literal meaning
rose does not mean some type of flower
connotations involve signifying signs, signs that become the signifier for a second signified. Here, the sign ‘rose’ becomes a signifier for a second signified. Here the sign rose becomes a signifier for a secondary signified, namely…
The graphic representation of how signs work is itself made up of signs. The image of the rose hove is not really the signified, it’s another sign that i’m using to signify the signified (the signified, remember, is what’s in your head) One of the reasons semiotics can be so difficult to understand is because it inevitably involves using signs to talk about signs
Barthes - the signification of myth
myth conveys 2 levels of meaning
the structure of connotative semiotics (((sa/sa)sa/sa)SIGN)
example:
Signifier: Barbie (word, toy, picture, etc)
Signified: On the basis of the agreed “cultural code”, in the Western world, the word, toy or picture is understood to be, the Mattel doll, Barbie (this is the DENOTATION - level 1)
2nd level = connotation. Barbie as connotative sign
The perfect woman, consumer, etc
(((Barbie/Mattel toy)Barbie doll/Perfect woman)Perfect contemporary womanhood)
Mahayoga tantric ritual
Ritual pattern of sadhana (means/mode of accomplishment)
Five meats and five ambrosias - quicksilver must be all five together
occurs in the context of EATING and OFFERING
two big ritual acts in india
underlying concept = purity/pollution
Taboo meats and polluting bodily fluids
the aim is non-dual gnosis or awakened integration (yuganaddha)
model: (((beef/pollution) =Polluting Beef; 1.Eating Polluting Beef/2. Non-Dual Gnosis)= “I have attained integration- non-dual, blissful integration)
Wed. wants to say - are they actually eating this or not? well, that’s irrelevant
Ritual speech guided by intention
generate a signification of non-dual experience/gnosis
just by enacting it - whether consuming it or not, by going through this, the cultural transgression occurs within a ritual context
Experience of non dual gnosis is the primary object signified
these become signifiers to think with
Transgression in tantric discourse are culturally specific within a ritual context
Employmentof ‘signifiers to think with’ as a media for thinking about ritual purity, freedom, gnosis
Wed. says this whole thing (signifiers to think with) are actually done by buddhist monastic elites
but Davidson says the siddhas were composing it!
language, etc
according to Davidson, they would actually DO whatever the transgressive act said
Wed’s idea doesn’t fit the historical evidence
siddhas were transgressive anyway
Wed. bases his whole theory on the “Arya School” of the Guhyasamaja Tantra (“secret assembly”-sexual overtones, but also refers to the assembly of yogic processes)
Buddhists are ‘polluted’ anyway!! they are outside of brahmanical culture!!
that’s why they provided hospice care, handled the dead, etc
The term ‘connotation’ is used to refer to the socio-cultural and ‘personal’ associations (ideological, emotional etc.) of the sign. These are typically related to the interpreter’s class, age, gender, ethnicity and so on. Signs are more ‘polysemic’ - more open to interpretation - in their connotations than their denotations. Denotation is sometimes regarded as a digital code and connotation as an analogue code (Wilden 1987, 224).
Five Meats
foul offerings and antinomian acts
feces, meat (big no-no!!) - certain kinds, sometimes elephant or even human!!, etc
-ganacakra
inversion of brahmanical purity and brahmanical culture
there is power in inversion
acquisition of power
sacramental experience of forbidden items
Approaches to Tantric Interpretation
literalism - literal meaning is the original
tantras advocate the consumption of the 5 ambrosias and 5 meats
beef, dog, elephant, horse, human
feces, urine, blood, semen and marrow
Mahayoga tantric ritual
Ritual pattern of sadhana (means/mode of accomplishment)
Five meats and five ambrosias - quicksilver must be all five together
occurs in the context of EATING and OFFERING
two big ritual acts in india
underlying concept = purity/pollution
Taboo meats and polluting bodily fluids
the aim is non-dual gnosis or awakened integration (yuganaddha)
model: (((beef/pollution) =Polluting Beef; 1.Eating Polluting Beef/2. Non-Dual Gnosis)= “I have attained integration- non-dual, blissful integration)
Wed. wants to say - are they actually eating this or not? well, that’s irrelevant
Ritual speech guided by intention
generate a signification of non-dual experience/gnosis
just by enacting it - whether consuming it or not, by going through this, the cultural transgression occurs within a ritual context
Experience of non dual gnosis is the primary object signified
these become signifiers to think with
Transgression in tantric discourse are culturally specific within a ritual context
Five Ambrosias
MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT
Pledge and Knowledge Being
pledge deity (samayadevata)
2 types of samaya:
1-pledge to the observances after consecration - you pledge certain practices & to avoid transgressions
2-pledge to consume the five nectars and five meats
when you observe these pledges, you enhance and strengthen your meditation
when you start practicing sadhana, you have great skill
padmavajna - means lotus vessel (can be skull)
What’s in that skull bowl that they are consuming? Probably a shit-mix of sexual fluids (ambrosias)
tantras advocate the consumption of the 5 ambrosias and 5 meats
feces, urine, blood, semen and marrow
Mahayoga tantric ritual
Ritual pattern of sadhana (means/mode of accomplishment)
Five meats and five ambrosias - quicksilver must be all five together
occurs in the context of EATING and OFFERING
two big ritual acts in india
underlying concept = purity/pollution
transformation
Dissimulation
?
Domestication
-Bodhisattva (buddha-to-be) ideal
-some kind of change or innovation happened to cause this; we don’t know what
-buddhists start writing!! 100 BCE in Sri Lanka
-the idea of ‘bodhisattva’ as we know it in Mahayana did not exist in the life of the B.
-the word only applied to the B before enlightenment - liminal stage?
-domestication of the boddhisattva ideal
-selfless figure based on B. in Jataka tales
-in Mahayana forms, it takes 3 incalculable aeons (3x10 to the 23rd power) to become a buddha
-making ridiculous, overly dramatic sacrifices
-boundaries?
-Tantra - in this lifetime
history of tantra is the history of domestication
eearly forms are wild, then it becomes integrated, domesticated, toned down
antinomian behaviour: a siddha inverts ‘normal’ morality
secretive practice: a siddha reveals his practice only to those who share the initiation (consecration = better term)
‘secret’ may have been a way of creating prestige and propagating it
-the whole story of buddhism after this belligerent phase is a domestication - getting used to it all
One word to sum up esoteric buddhism: DOMESTICATION
this means secret, controversial practices become normalized (normative inversion)
-the beginning of tantricism took place ‘off camera’ - we don’t have records - too intense
-like rock & roll, rap culture
-this wild, untamed, energetic stuff
-gradually becomes ritualized
-the dalai lama is a tantric practitioner!
Classification of Tantras
Classification of Tantras & the Mediating Power of Buddhas (action tantra)
tantric literature is very vast, so the indigenous tradition finds ways to classify them
these (today) mostly from 10th to 12th century perspective
also a way of acknowledging historical development
Tantric texts: classifications and characteristics
tantric texts = all start with and are built on a text or ritual
Tantric texts consist of a wide range of scriptures such as:
Compendia: instruction for the consecration of monasteries, temples and statues, etc
Pala dynasty
Sadhana = “means of attainment” selon prof
another type of text: Vidhi = “ritual instruction on…”
Ritual manuals: preparation and construction of mandalas, consecration
traditionally coloured sand or rock (just like tibetans do)
very occasionally in a few places - 3 dimensional
Instruction manuals (sadhana) for the evocation of tantric deities
sadhanas are important because the basic ritual stages & structures inform all other buddhist ritual texts
compendia, etc,…all up to present day - based on the structure of sadhanas
Collections of tantric songs, hymns, dohas (“songs of realization”), as well as texts on doctrine - is another genre of tantric literature
classification systems develop over time
a way for buddhists to historically account for things
buddhists like to add layers to things (another historical development) rather than change thigns
ie. tripartide division between kriya (action-tantra), practice (Carya) & yoga
kriya/action-tantras are the earliest/oldest
Tripartide division (different types of classification: Kriya (action), Carya (practice) or Yoga
all yoga = derivatives of hatha yoga - sun and moon joining
Fivefold division - Kriya, Carya, Yoga, Yogottara (superior, highest yoga) and Yoganiruttara (unsurpassable yoga)
Fivefold division - Kriya, Carya, Yoga, Mahayoga, Yogini
Common classification found in Tibet: fourfold: Kriya, Carya, Yoga and Anuttarayoga (highest yoga)
*Anuttarayoga = a tibetan back-construction
the other terms are found in sanskrit
China & Japan mostly accepted Kriya & Carya (and a little yoga), everything else was too offensive
Tibetans were receptive to the tradition
IndoTibetan Buddhism term signifies a continuity and acceptance of this type of buddhism
for tibetans, it’s VERY difficult to go to india. ppl died all the time trying to make it over the himalayas
plus they carried gold and everything
chinese word for tibet = western treasure-house
Kriya (action)
Kriya Tantras
Earliest Kriya texts date from second century CE
Over 450 assigned to this category in Tibetan Kanjur
“tantra” rarely occurs in the title of texts
Other names more commonly used: dharani (mnemonic, literally “to hold” or “to chain”), kalpa (“unit of time”, “aeon”…but here, it signifies power or majesty), rajni (queen, wisdom), sutra (discourse, thread)
Manjusrimulakalpa
every step along the way represents different stuff
a very thorough ritual evocation of certain forces
each step would take 2-3 hours to perform
Subahupariprccha (very early text, still called a ‘sutra’!)
Notable scholar: Buddhaguya
Magical ritual texts focused on achieving worldy goals
Ritual aims to alleviate illness, control the weather, oppose enemies, generate wealth
this layer of tantric ritual text has NO utility for attaining awakening!
the soteriology (salvation scheme) of becoming awakened does not factor in
Kriya tantras are used for protection mainly
Important Kriya text - the ‘dharani’
‘to support’ or ‘to hold’
‘magical spells’ and ‘memorization’
famous mantra - OM (buddhists accommodate it)
OM AH HUM - famous for purifying body and mind
dharani is not the same as mantra
dharani = same etymology as dharma (in latin = “firm, to make firm”, like an atom. To hold things together)
sound that evokes or compacts a lot of buddhist doctrine for memorization
they often sound kind of silly
