QUERY> Guhyagarbha-tantra in Taisho canon

Joshua Capitanio Discussion

Dear colleagues,

In the article "The Lhan kar ma as a Source for the History of Tantric Buddhism," Adelheid Hermann-Pfandt writes that within the Sino-Japanese Taisho canon there are "two texts (T. 883-884) which seem to belong to the Guhyagarbha-tantra cycle which in Tibet is practised only by the Rnying ma pa school." (Adelheid Hermann-Pfandt, "The Lhan kar ma as a Source for the History of Tantric Buddhism," in The Many Canons of Tibetan Buddhism, eds. Helmut Eimer & David Germano, 131 [Leiden: Brill, 2002]).  Unfortunately, no further details or references are provided for this statement.  I have consulted a few other studies of the Guhyagarbha by Gyurme Dorje, Dan Martin, and Dorji Wangchuk, but have not been able to find any discussion of such a connection between these Chinese translations and the Guhyagarbha, and I am wondering if any of you might be able to direct me to additional scholarship on this subject?

Thank you,

Josh Capitanio
Public Services Librarian
East Asia Library, Stanford University

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Dear Dr. Capitanio,

It seems to me that the confusion stem from the Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (仏教漢梵大辞典), where it lists *guhya-samaya-garbha-rāja and *guhya-garbha-rāja for the titles of T.883 祕密三昧大教王經 and T.884 佛說祕密相經 (p. 894). Seemingly, *guhya-samaya-garbha-rāja is simply a typo for *guhya-samaya-kalpa-rāja, which does not suggest a Guhyagarbha connection.

For T. 883, Sakai identifies it as the 13th assembly described by Amoghavajra in his list of 18 assemblies, see
Sakai Shirō 酒井 紫朗, 金剛頂經の第十三会について, 密教文化 32 (1956) 34–41.

For T.884, Sakai suggests that the title might be *Guhya-tilaka, because T.884 shares many features with another Tantra in the Kanjur, Guhya-maṇi-tilaka [To.493] (See 酒井紫朗, 五相成身観の西蔵伝訳資料に就いて, 密教研究 85 (1943).)

In terms of content, T.883 and T. 884 are squarely within the Tattvasamgraha circle, and probably compiled much earlier than the Guyagarbha in India. Whereas the former deals more with the Vajradhātumaṇḍala, the latter expounds the Pañcābhisambodhikrama sequence. It seems to me that here the "Secret feature" (祕密相) here possibly refers to both the stages (krama) and the shape (ākāra) of the moon-disk in the stages.

Best wishes
Yi Ding
PhD Candidate, Religious Studies, Stanford