UC Santa Barbara

This dissertation examines the tantric thought and writings of the Bengali master Atiśa Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna (Tib. Jowo Jé; Jo bo rje, 982–1054), one of the most important figures of the later transmission of Buddhism (tenpa chidar; bstan pa phyi dar), the “renaissance” of Buddhism in Tibet. Atiśa is best known for composing works such as the Lamp for the Path to Awakening (Bodhipathapradīpa; Byang chub lam gyi sgron ma), which presented the exoteric Buddhist path (Sūtrayāna) in a concise, synoptic format. Such works formed the basis for the “stages of the path” (lam rim) tradition, which was central to the Kadam (bka’ gdams) school, founded by Atiśa’s disciple, Dromtönpa (’Brom ston pa; 1004–1064). The Lamp, however, also forbade monastics from practicing the higher classes of tantra (Mantrayāna or Vajrayāna), specifically the yoganiruttaratantras, due to their antinomian, transgressive practices. As a result, Atiśa came to be considered a doctrinally orthodox monastic reformer, but this belied the fact that he was also a prolific author of works on the tantric vehicle. While his tantric works have received scant attention within either traditional or modern Buddhist scholarship, works such as the Vajra Song of the Vajra Seat (Vajrāsana Vajragīti; Rdo rje gdan gyi rdo rje’i glu) and the Song of Conduct (Caryāgīti; Spyod pa’i glu) reveal Atiśa’s fluency in the doctrines of the yoganiruttaratantras and yoginītantras, presenting an entirely different image from the ostensibly conservative reformer of Buddhism. These works also reveal Atiśa’s indebtedness to the great adepts (mahāsiddha) of India as well a deep resonance with the meditative traditions of the great seal (mahāmudrā). These connections suggest a figure who was far more comfortable with antinomian tantric traditions than has previously been assumed. The dissertation seeks to elucidate some of the historical, religious, and sectarian factors in the marginalization of tantric works in traditional portrayals of Atiśa. It looks first at the scholarly precedents for his ideas in Indic commentaries from between the ninth and eleventh centuries, examining how Buddhist authors wrote treatises grappling with the transgressive sexual elements of yoganiruttaratantras such as the Guhyasamāja Tantra and Cakrasaṃvara Tantra within a wider Buddhist context. It then considers the religious and political currents in western Tibet during the later transmission, where reformist voices, such as Lha Lama Yeshé Ö (Lha bla ma ye shes ’od, 947–1019/1024) sought to halt what they saw as mistaken tantric practices and to purge false Tibetan tantric traditions. Following this, it engages in an analysis of several texts by Atiśa, including the Vajra Song and Song of Conduct, which reveal his largely unexplored views on the yoganiruttaratantras, including their erotic practices. Finally, it examines ways that works such as the Book of Kadam (Bka’ gdams glegs bam) posthumously imagined Atiśa as a “reformer,” marginalized his yoganiruttaratantra writings, and promoted the relatively tame “four Kadam deities” (bka’ gdams lha bzhi) as the principal Kadam tantric tradition.