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Document Details : Title: On Dating the Guhyasamājatantra Author(s): NEWMAN, John Journal: Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Volume: 48 Date: 2025 Pages: 213-228 DOI: 10.2143/JIABS.48.0.3295427 Abstract : Indo-Tibetan Buddhist scholarly traditions say that 'the Uḍḍiyāna king Indrabhūti the Great requested the Buddha Śākyamuni for the Śrī Guhyasamāja', and that the Buddha initiated Indrabhūti and his court into this system of mysticism and taught Indrabhūti the tantra text which presents it. Not surprisingly, etic Buddhist studies scholars have not accepted the historicity of this traditional account of the origin of the Guhyasamājatantra. In its place etic scholars have posited a variety of dates for the origin of the Guhyasamāja ranging from the 3rd through the 8th centuries of the Common Era. Currently several scholars believe that the Guhyasamājatantra originated in the 8th century. This study questions that belief and argues that the theory that the Guhyasamājatantra originated in the 8th century is based upon a misrepresentation of its current terminus ante quem as if it was a terminus post quem. I argue that we do not know when the Guhyasamājatantra originated. Because it is generally acknowledged that the Guhyasamāja represents a kind of watershed in the development of Vajrayāna Buddhism in India, this problem has significant ramifications for our understanding of the history of the Vajrayāna tradition as a whole. |
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