Indian Literature; Sanskrit Language Literature, 300-1399; Kalacakra-tantra; Treatment of the Individual; Tantrism; Folk Belief Systems; Religion in India; Buddhism in India; Tantrism and its Relationship to the Individual; Wallace, Vesna Acimovic
摘要
The K alacakratantra is the eleventh-century Highest Yoga Tantra that first appeared in India and was later transmitted to Tibet and Mongolia, where it is still a significant part of the living Buddhist Tantric tradition. It forms a unique Indian Buddhist Tantric system by synthesizing the philosophical and contemplative frameworks of Sutrayana Buddhism and Indian Vajrayana Buddhism, and the ideas of Indian non-Buddhist systems with the innovative elements of its own theory and practice. Thus, it is a valuable source for research into the classical philosophical systems of Mahayana, such as Madhyamaka and Yogacara. Buddhist Tantra and its interaction with other contemporary religious and philosophical systems in India of that period, and into the Buddhist Tantric world view and the modes of practice as promoted by the proponents of the Kalacakratantra.
The most fundamental principle of the Kalacakratantra's world view is that of the non-duality of the universe and the individual as two aspects--external and internal--of conventional and ultimate realities.
This dissertation focuses on the Kalacakratantra's conventional and ultimate views of the individual as the internal aspect of conventional reality and as the impure manifestation of ultimate reality. Part I consists of six chapters providing (1) an overview of the primary sources for the study of the Kalacakratantra, (2) an introduction to the unique theoretical and methodological features of this Tantra and its language, (3) an exposition of the characteristics of the Kalacakratantra's theoretical and practical syncretisms, (4) inquiries into the Kalacakratantra's view of the individual's mind, mental distortions, and the path of their eradication and (5) the Kalacakratantra's view of the individual's body. Lastly, it offers an analysis of the second chapter of the Kalacakratantra, called "The Chapter on the Individual" (adhyatmapatala). Part II contains a translation of the second chapter of the Kalacakratantra from Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Mongolian, a translation of the Vimalaprabha commentary on the second chapter of the Kalacakratantra from Sanskrit and Tibetan, and a translation from Tibetan of most of Buston's annotations on the second chapter of the Kalacakratantra and the Vimalaprabha. Part III contains a critical edition of the Mongolian version of the second chapter of the Kalacakratantra.
Although for a long time Western scholars have marginalized this Tantric tradition and its world view with respect to Indian Buddhism, the Kalacakra system can be perceived as its pinnacle and synthesis, for it brings together the mundane and spiritual as well as the exoteric and esoteric aspects of the Indian Buddhist tradition into a comprehensive system of Buddhist thought and practice. This dissertation clarifies the theoretical and practical orientation of the Kalacakratantra, illuminates the reasons and manners in which this Tantric system integrates diverse theoretical principles, and explains the theoretical and practical methods in which this Tantra unifies the individual with the universe and the individual's mind with the individual's body.
