Abstract
Esoteric Buddhism in Medieval Maritime Asia: Networks of Masters, Texts, Icons, edited by Andrea A. Acri
Highlights
Esoteric Buddhism began to develop from roots in the Mahāyāna c. 500 ad, as advanced techniques of concentration and visualization were developed that were said to prepare the practitioner for consecration into a realm of pure Buddha consciousness as the ‘ruler’ of a particular mandala and Buddha realm
Through Bianhong we are introduced to two founding documents of esoteric Buddhism: the Vairocanābhisaṃbodhitantra and the Sarvatathāgatatattva-saṅgraha and to the influential lineage of Śubhakārasiṁha (637–715), Vajrabodhi (674–741) and Amoghavajra (704–74), the three ‘great teachers’ of esoteric Buddhism whose travels from South Asia to the Tang court were instrumental in the diffusion of esoteric Buddhism
Part iii takes a close look at Bauddha-Śaiva dynamics, a relationship between practitioners of Tantric forms of Buddhism and Śaivism that was marked by porous textual and ritual boundaries, but at the same time by intense rivalries
Summary
Esoteric Buddhism began to develop from roots in the Mahāyāna c. 500 ad, as advanced techniques of concentration and visualization were developed that were said to prepare the practitioner for consecration (abhiśeka) into a realm of pure Buddha consciousness as the ‘ruler’ of a particular mandala and Buddha realm. Acri (ed.) Esoteric Buddhism in Medieval Maritime Asia: Networks of Masters, Texts, Icons.
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