Development of the Kalacakra System in Later Buddhism
by Biswanath Banerjee
The Buddha, the Perfectly Enlightened One, is represented in the sacred texts as having preached a doctrine unheard before・ He is said to have realised the Truth by his own unaided efforl and to have shown a Path which makes an end of suffering leading to release from repeated existenee in the world・ His
words attracted the atten- tion of a large number of people and spread over a large area・ What we mean by Buddhism today is, however, not the essence or funds- mentals of this new doctrine but a religio-philosophical system which assimilated and adopted new ideas and beliefs from the environment in which it developed・ Elaborate ethical principles and stringent doctrinal disciplines together with the insistence on retirement from worldly Hfe kept Buddhism confined to the recluses and monasteries during the first century of its existence・
To understand the background of Buddhism one has to take into consideration the problem of the relation of Buddhism to Brahma¬nism. Brahmanism as developed from the religion of Aryan India and influe need by non - Arya n contacts had by the sixth ceptury B.C ・ become an 'elaborate sacrificial and sacredotal
system1 ・11 was in the midst of this Brahmanic system that Buddhism origirmted. Brah- manic ideals and principles have very much influenced and guided Buddhism particularly in its later phase which is more akin to Brah¬manism. The elaborate ritualistic systems of the later phase of Buddhism gave the Buddha^ religion a totally different form and flavour.
It was perhaps a century after the Passi ng away of the Founder that Buddhism began to assimilate some current ideas and thoughts which ultimately led to the historical division of Buddhism into two schools, Hinayana and Mahayana・ Mahayana has a broader and liberal outlook and possesses a deep sympathy for
the suffering beings. It is true that this broadness of outlook and liberal attitude saved Buddhism from its narrow scholastic dogmatism of the age but it can not be denied as well that once the portals of this religion of rigorous moral discipline were thrown open^it paved the way for the incorporation of various practices and ideas in Buddhism・ In the early centuries of the Chirs- tisn era Buddhism started adjusting itself to the pressure of the en-
vironment5y and Mahayanism with its promise to deliver all beings and with the idea of making Buddhism acceptable to all classes of people, began to incoTporate all sorts of popular ceremonies and practices in the religion. With this process continuing in about the eighth century and thereafter Buddhism underwent a gi•巳at change wh巳n various elements like mantra, mudra, mandala and other religious practices began to make their way into Buddhism・ An
altogether new form of Buddhism called the Vajrayana with much emphasis on rituals, medi¬tational practices, gods and goddesses appeared as the third major division of Buddhism, This new phase of Buddhism is more or less a kind of Buddhist Tantrism and the appellation Mantrayana or Tantra- yar)8 is also given to it as it is based on mantras, tantras etc. In its form and characteristics the principles, doctrine and paraphernalia of Tantra-Buddhism are much the same as are found in the so-called Hindu tantras,
For a long time Tantrism has been considered as an off-shootiaf Brahmanism or that it is a phase of Brahmanic sadhana only. A very recent work on Tantra-study even state^ that 'as regards Buddhism, Tantra stands for a Hindu conquest* . In the context of modern .researches on the subject we can hardly accept
such ideas and the materials at our disposal will not allow us to conclude that the Budd- hi st tantras originated from the Brahmanic Tantra-sastra or the vice versa・ The Buddhist tantric literature is perhaps richer and more varied than its counterpart in the Brahmanic domain. The Tantric literature is to be regarded as an independent religious literature consisting essentially of religious methods and practices current in India f rom a very old time. As a system it may not have developed in the Vedic age but many of the rites that have constituted the system at a later period are found scattered in different parts of the Vedic Jjtereture・ Whether Vedic or non-Vedic in origin the Tantras, Brah- manic or Buddhist, represent a special aspect of the social, religious and cultural life of India and it is not possible to trace the origin of any of these two groups to any system or systems of philosophy. The Tant
rik tradition is not the work of a day, it has a long history and the principles on which the Tantras, Hindu or Buddhist, are based were not evolved by either Hinduism or Buddhism out of their own mate¬rials but were the growth of the soil utilised both by the Hindus and the Buddhists. In th巳 Pali canonical literature we have references to practices observed by religious sects during or before the time of the Buddha, which seem to be mainly tantric
in character. It is also a historical fact that some tmntrie trends 'arose particularly on India's extreme boundaries, some even outside Indian territor/^ As it appears no particular age of origin can be assigned to the develop¬ment of the vast Tantra iiterature9 the age of each Tantra has to be determined on lhe basis of available evidences in 日nd about the Tantra ・
In spite of the fast-growing interests of scholars during the last few decades the Tantra has remained an enigma to us・ There is perhaps no other branch of Indian studies which has evoked so much interest and at the same time has been subject to gross misconceptions lead¬ing to various contradictory views. Outwardly Tantra denotes both rayama, injunction, and yidhi, regulation^ and essentially it connotes the nature of being revealed and the revelation itself
at the same time. In the spiritual context they are some experience-concepts realisable in terms of revelation of the mysteries of men and matter, and ethically the tantras are the di rective principles he I pi ng to for¬mulate what is good and what is bad in the social context. The aim of the Tantra is to spread that kind of knowledge which saves the indi¬vidual from suffering and helps him to receive Divine Grace・ With the help of the knowledge
inculcated in the Tantra one can realise his own esse ntial nature and thereby attain freedom from worldly limita¬tions ・ The supreme ideal of Tantra-worship and practice is the iden¬tity of the individual with the Supreme・ This nature or characteristics of the Tantras hold good in the case of both the Hindu and Buddhist tantras. There seems to be no essential difference between Brahma- nic and Buddhist Tantrism. Both of them inculcate a theological
prin¬ciple of duality in non-duality and hold that the ultimate non-duality possesses two aspects i ni ts fu ndame ntal nature - the negative a nd the positiVe^nivrtti andpravrtti represented as Siva and Sakti in Brahmanism and as Prajna and UpSya in Buddhism・ln the case of Brahmanism the metaphysical principles of Siva and Sakti are mani¬fested in the material world as the male and the female whereas in Buddhism the principles of Prajna and Upaya or Sunyata and Karuna are objectified as the male and the female・ The ultimate goal of both is the state of perfect union and the realisation of the non-dual nature of the self and the not-self.
The fundamental principles are the same in both the Tantric schools and whatever differences we may observe are due to the fact that Brahmanic Tantrism bears the stamp of Brahmanic philosophy, reli¬gious ideas and practices, whereas Buddhist Tantrism is permeated with Buddhist ideas and practices. In the
Buddhist Tantras we find fragments of Mahayanic metaphysics influenced by Upanisadic monism, often with ideas of sunya-vada, vijnana-vSda, vedSnta etc. put*side by side indiscriminately and sometimes jumbled up confused¬ly. The fundamental principles of early Buddhism are also found scattered in Buddhist tantric texts along with Mahayanism and
Brahmanic ideas often in a distorted form. In this context a correct assessment of many of the Buddhist Tantras will appear to be diffi¬cult if not impossible atpresent・ It is indeed an interesting study to find out how the teachings of ^Skyamuni remarkable for its ethical and moral discipline could
incorporate so many heterogenous and sometimes even revolting ideas within its fold* Whatever be the origin, antiquity, source or character of the Tantras the fact remains that a large number of such texts belonging to various Buddhist and Brahmanical sects have been written,and it is 合 pity that most o£ these texts have still remained in manuscripts keeping us ignorant of a valuable treasure of Indian studies・
With our present state of knowledge in the subject it is indeed diffi¬cult either to trace any organic relation between Buddhism and Tan¬trism or to ascerta in as to how, whe nan d by whom these esoteric¬elements or practices were introduced in Buddhism・ Attempts h^ve been made to c#nnect even the Buddha with the introduction of these elements has bEen held on the basis of a statement in the Tattva saingraha that the Teacher made provision for these
prac¬tices to help his disciples of lower calibre who would not be able to understand his noble and subtle teachings・ This seems to be in direct contradiction of the life and teachings of the Master who has always been represented as an uncompromising critic of the Brahmanic system of rituals and ceremonies. No testimony from any source can convince us that the Buddha- whose entire life was dedicated to stem the tide of evils ge nerated by the
prevale nt religious systems should have himself advocated for these elements only to attract a larger number of people to his fold. T raditio rwlly Asan gaf the expone nt of the Yogacar a philosophy, has been responsible for the introduction of the esoteric principles in Buddhism, and in some sources Nag9rjuna, the propounder of the Madhyamika philosophy, has been mentioned as the founder of the Buddhist esoteric school. Buddhist
dharanis have been sometimes considered to be precursors of the tantras and Tucci thinks the dharanis to be 'the first kernel from which the Tantras developed* ・ A number of tantric texts are reported to have beenintroduced into Kambuj as early as the beginning of the 9th century・ The Suram- gama-sutra repeated by Fa-Hien for his own protection and held by him with high revere DUE has bee n thought to be a collectio n of not later than the first
centur y・ In this con text the Buddhist tantras may be traced to the beginning of Chirstian era・ Yuan Chwang considers the dh&raQis belonging to the Mantrayana to be as old as the Maha- sahghikas (1st-2nd C.A.D.).
Whatever be the time 8nd the reason for the introduction of the esoteric elemenls and whoever be the person responsible for that it seems reasonable to
maintain that the Mahayanic pledge for universal redemption could not but make way for the current popular religious practices into Buddhism to make it generally acceptable・ Buddhist principles and traditions tinged with these materials helped the growth of the so-called'Ta ntrik Buddhism comm on ly desig naled by the term Vajrayan日.As a corporate system Vajrayana has incorporat¬ed a large number of popular beliefs and practices which have play¬ed a
significsmt role of far-reaching consequences in IhG develop¬ment of Buddhism at its later phase・ With continuous flow of these beliefs or even rituals into the body of Buddhism the Teacher who was so much againsl anylhing connected with deity and divinity became himself deified and was considered as
Lokottara or super¬human. The Buddhist masters with their broad-minded receptiveness strenglhened by the tendency of spreading over the backward fron¬tier peoples drd not hesitate to accept their ideas and even deities in their fold・ These elements were,^iowever, fully transformed, fpurged of their primitive crudeness' and endowed with secret symbols Many of the mand^as of Vajrayana reveal con tact of Buddhism with frontier peoples. Though the Manjusri-mulakalpa describes a number of gods and goddesses Buddhism did not have even then, about second century A.DM any conception of a well
classified Pantheon, and it is with the emergence of Tantric Buddhism that gods came to be multiplied・ The different branches or sects of Vajrayana accepted the ideas and institutions current among the masses and with their tolerant univer¬salism incorporated popular indigenous deities in their masalas
BS acolytes of their chief gods・ In the process popular Hindu deities like In dr 日,Varuna, Mahesvara, Kuvera, Skanda, Visnu, and even Kama, the god of love, 'are all admitted wholesale into Buddhism and find the places in the mandalas but as keepers of the quarters. With the diver¬sion of Buddhism to this
direction a large number of divine and fien- dishbeings also found their places in Vajrayanic texts, ofte n in female forms and sometimes with monstrous appearances・ In almost all texts of later Buddhism we meet with such beings as Cunda, Amba, Dakini, Yogini, Yaksini and a host of others like them・
The inoorporation of Hindu gods and goddesses into Buddhism reached its maximum limit with the development of the Kalacakra system ・ The most import ant factor for the increase of the compromi¬sing attitude of the Buddhists towards different Brahmanic sects m®y be traced in the change of Indian situation with the advent and infil¬tration of Islamic religion and culture・lt is learnt from Kalacakra texts that the Buddhists were faced with the social problem
of the overpowering infiltration of the Semitic culture and to resist the growing influence of the foreign elements they offered to join hands with the followers of the Brahmanic religion・ It is said that the pur¬pose of introducing the Kalacakra system has been to prevent the people from being con verted
to Islam ・ In order to stop the inroad of the alien culture the leader of the Buddhists proposed intermarriage and inter-dining among the Buddhists and the Brahmanical sages and appealed to the sages to assemble under the banner of the one Lord Kalacakra^ the Adi Buddha, the progenitor of all Buddhas, the
unitary embodiment of Prajna and Upaya the Omniscient One ・ Buddhism or for that matter Vajrayana seems to have reached its extreme development with the Kalacakra system or Kalachakrayana・ Both Indian and Tibetan
sources agree that this system was introduc- ed in India from a country named Sambhala about sixty years before it went to Tibet・ It is generally accepted that the system penetrated into Tibet through Kashmir in 1026 A.D., and it was approximately in 966 A・D・ that this phase of Buddhism was first known in India. The system exercised a potent influe nee i n the life a nd thought of the Tibetan people ・ The Lamaist religion is fully in flue ncedbythe system and a large number of treatises have been written by Tibetan scholars mostly in the form of commentaries and sub-commentaries to original Sanskrit works・
A land of Sambhala has been mentioned in some Puranic texts as the birth place of the kalki-in car natio no f Visnu .Ptolemy speaks of a Sambhala as a city of Rohilkhand in the east of Delhi. But the land of Sambhala of the Kalacakra texts isundoubtedly a different one andin all probability was a place outside
India which in course of time became shrouded in mystic tales and accounts and passed as only a mythical country・ The Vimalaprabha locates the country in the north of the river sita9 and the arya-visaya, the land of the Aryans, i.e., India, is said to be situated in the south of the river and in between the Himavat and the island of Lanka. CsomadeKoros places the land between about 45° and 50° North Latitude beyond the rivere Sita which he identifies with
Jaxartes・ Descriptions about the way to the mysterious land of Sambhala as given by Tibetan sources, however, suggest Tarim in East Turkestan to be the Sita of the Kalatakra fame Tibetan sources describe the country as of the shape of a lotus having eight petals・ In each of these eight petals there are twelve big states each with a king. In each of the twelve states there are about hund¬red provinces, each having a crore of villages in it・ The central
part of the lotus is surrounded by the Himalayas・【n the centre of the country is situated the great capital city of Kalapa with the royal palace at its centre and in that area known as mahamunigrama dwell great Brahmanical sages・ King Sucandra represented as an incarna¬tion of Bodhisattva Vajrapani, and as associated with the preaching of several esoteric teachings, is the lord of the land. In the centre of the southern direction of the mahamunigrama lies
the malaya garden, the garden of sandal trees, with a mandala of Kalachakra, built by king Sucandra, which is of a four-cornered shape having a breadth of 400 cubits. There is also a smaller mandala built by king Pundarika, one of Sucandra^ successors. The malaya-garden is as large as the capital city with a circumference of 12000 yojanas. In the east and west of the garden are located respectively the Upamana and the Pundarika lakes each of which occupy an area of 12000 Yojanas.
Waddell once discarded the system as unworthy of being considered as a philosophy and found in it nothing but 'a mc^istrous and poly¬de monist dectrine.... withits demoniacal Buddhas1 S.B. Dasgupta in his excellent work entitled 'An Introduction to Tantric Buddhism' seems to have tacitly accepted the view of
Vaddell・ Considered on the basis of Sanskrit texts now available, both in prints and in manu¬scripts, the view of Waddell loses its ground・ The Kalacakra-tantra, the Virnalaprabha, the exhaustive Commentary on the Kalacakratan- tra, the Sekoddesatika, and various Tibetan commentaries on the subject help us to understand the real nature and characteristics of the system which in keeping with the tradition of the Vajrayana attempts to explain the whole creation within the body.
The Kalacakratantra, now extant as the Laghu-Kalacakratantra is the only available fundamental text of this system, and it appears from various sources that there was a Mula-tantra from hich the present text of Laghu-tantra was adapted・ The text of the Tantra is composed in Sanskrit verses of the
Sragdhara metre w让h occasional irregularities・ With a total number of 1047 verses the text is divided into five patalas or chapters, viz., Lokadhatu patala (1 69), Adhyatma -patala (1 80), Abhiseka-patala (203), Sadhana-patala (23^))and Jnana-patala (261 )• The Vimalaprabha informs us in its introductory part that the text in its five chapters contains 1030 versee in the Sragdhara met re・ Bu-ston i n his History !H records this point and
observes that some of the versesof the Laghu-versiondo not come from the original text. He mentions verses 93 and 148 of the first chapter as of later origin and4s of the view that all parts of the La^tu -tantraare not from the Mula-tantra・ According to the Vimalaprabha the title of the Jantra-text known to us at present is L^ghu-KSa- cakra-tantra and the Commentary designates itself as La^Mi-K3la- cakratantra-raja-tika and claims itself to be mula-tantra-
nusSrici・ In the Sekoddesa-tika of Na^apada (Naro-pa) on the Seka-section of the Kalacakratantra we have at least fifteen quotations from the Mulatantra. According toNaro-pa's exposition each Tantra ispresen- ted in two recensions, viz., Mulatantra i.e., the basic or original text, and Laghu-tantra i.e., the abridged text. The Mulatantra of the Kala- cakra see ms to have been lost to us in as much as we do not possess anything of the Mulatantra either in the
Tibetan or in the Chinese canon・ But a voluminous literature gradually developed from the Mulatantra which belongs to the group of mStr-tantras, 'Mother- Tantras' The matr-tantras inculcate teachings on PrajnS or Tran¬scendental Wisdom, whereas the other group known as the pitr- tantras,'Father-Tantras'are concerned with the active realisation of the ideal of Karuna 'compassion*. This Tantra is also considered as an advaya tantra.
The Buddha is supposed to have preached the Kalacakra doctrine himself on the famous Grdhrakuta-mountain in Rajagrha after the promulgation of the Mahayana, the Prajnaparamitayana・ He pro¬claimed the Kalacakra-teachings again at Dhanykataka which with the famous Amaravati-stupa and the sacred Sri-parvata must have played important and singnificant roles in the propagation and deve¬lopment of Vajrayana in general and Buddhist Tantrism in particular.
To associate the Master with the preaching of the Kalacakra-tantra and similar other texts has been in accordance with the practice of the Buddhists of the later times. With a view to giving a colour of authority and sancti ty to later texts and passing them off as the Buddhavacana, the Buddhists would prefer to put the new teachings in the mouth of the Buddha who would be dipicted as delivering the lectures m an assembly of gods, men, Bodhisattvas and other
beings. This form of introduction to important texts has been known as the Sangiti-f orm and can be found to have become very popular during the later stage of Buddhism・ This form is similar to the introductory portions of the earliersutras of the canonical texts where the Tea¬cher is depicted as lecturing to earnest listeners・
Some Tibetan sources hold that the Buddha revealed the Mula- tanlra of the Kalacakra in the year of his Enlightenment while others think that the basic text was preached by the Master in his eightieth year・ It is said that while the Master was reveallng the esoteric lea- chmgs in the assembly of gods.
Bodhisattvas etc・ Sucandra, the king of Sambhala, was present there in a mysterious way and he prayed to the Buddha for the text of the teachings in Kalacakra・ One year later the Mula-tantra with 12000 verses was recorded and preserved in Sambhala ・ The text of the present Tan Ira opens with a prayer of king Sucandra to the omniscient Buddha for an exposition of the yoga of Kala¬cakra so that the
people in the Kali-age can set themselves on the right path and attain emancipation・ This introduction to the text shows that this text is the work of an author different from King Sucandra・ The original text was prepared by King Sucandra from the z exposition made by the Buddha and later King Yasas, a successor of King Sucandra, explained the text in an abridged form i・e・，the prese nt Laghu-text to
Suryaratha, the leader of the Brahmanical sages of 5ambhaja, in order 扌& con vert the sages to the teachi ngs and prac¬tices of Sri Kalacakra ・ King Sucandra, generally accepted by traditions as the inspirer of the Kalacakra doctrine, is supposed to be the first in the line of seven *Priest-kings' of Sambhala・ This line of Priest-kings1 was succeeded by a line of twenty six Kalla or Kulika-kings each of whom ruled for one hundred years・ Verse 151
of the first chapter of the present Laghu-tex t speaks of thirty five kaikins, but Bu-ston refers to the number of kalki-kings as 26. It seems that Bu-ston keeps the seven 'Priest-kings* out of this list while the text andits comm巳ntary include the seven kings as well as the two sons, Brahma and SuresSna, of the 26th Kalkin of Bu-storfs account making the tota number of theKalld-family of Sambhala as thirty five・ Rudracakrin, the 26th and supposed to be the
last Kalian, will annihilale the Mlecchas in a fier- ceful battle and a Golden Age of happiness and prosperity will usher in・ Many Tibetans still believe that such anincident will take place bringing in new hopes for Buddhism. It is stated that the religion of the Mlecchas will exist for eight hundred years and after its destruc¬tion by the great Rudracakrin the religion of the Buddha will continue for 19800 years : vimsat sahasram karasatarahitam Buddhadharma- pravrttih.
King Yasas who has been credited with the introduction of the Laghu- version of the Kalacakratantra is a nirfmija-kaya of Manjusri and has been referred to as the eighth king of Sambhala and the first of the Kalians. He is said to have con verted the Brahmanical sages of Sambhala into the system and principles of Kalacakra.
Since very ancient time kala (Time) has been regarded as the Supreme Lord by many Brahmanicai Schools・ Kala has been described in the Mahabharata in ari elaborate metaphorical way that one who. knows well the flow of kala is never deluded sind reaches his goal. The Lord Kalacakra might have been set up GIS
ai non-sectarian God to rnake it possible for all the warring elements of different religious groups to unite and fight under one banner of leadership sigsiinst a foreign culture・ The development of this system with abundant incorporation of Brahmanic deitiesin the mandala might have been an unavoidable necessity to cause a cultural fusion in offering a united resistence to the impending danger of the Semitic penetration・ With
united in one family, the Vajrakuia, with the four-fold initiation (abhiseka) in the Kalacakra—ail differences in race, class, creed and customs were sought to be removed : kalasa-^yhya-prajfiKa^-jnara- bhisekatah sarva-varnanam eka-kalko bhavati ・ Besides the deve- 9 t> / « •
loping systems of Sai vism and Vaisnavism the system seems to have bOFFoiw巳d from the flourishing Manichaeanism and other foreign eiemerHs・ The Kalacakra
system and the concept of Kalacakra are two important examples of the process of cultural fusion as taking place in India since iong. The Saiva, Vaisriavu and even Sakta ideas and Yoga elements are r » noticeable in a large measure in the principles and doctrine of the kalacakra system. The practical side of Tantra-Buddhism generally follow the specific
yogic method but in the case of Kalacakra we have the system of utpamiakrama and sadanga-yoga. The importanee of the four stages of sleeping, dreaming etc. and mok^a in the forma¬tion of the meditational system of Kalacakra, a nd particularly the reference to the avatar as (incarnations) of Vi^nu, especially of the ninth and the tenth avataras, i.e., Buddha and Kalkin, have given a distinct Vaisnava colour to the system・此 echoes the Vaisnava ideas that the
rituals of animal sacrifices are of no rationalistic necessity and the himsa in the rites is the source of evils and cause fights・ Simi- Iar to the Vaisnava belief that the Kalki-incarnation of Viggu is to destroy alt wicked beings and establish the rule of peace and justice, we fi nd here the hope that between the 25th and 26th kings of the kalki-family of Sambhala, a fierc已 battle will take place between the united army of the land and foreign powers・[n this battl巳 the follo¬wers of Kalacakra would emerge victorious and led by Vi^nu, Siva and ether generals wculd retire to the residence of the rqling kalld-king in the kaHasa mounf ai n. A11 the sentient beings in the world would become happy and satisfied w让h ctiarm® 8门ci STthw FECOV巳red and established. All these traits have sometime led scholars to misunder- stand this system as fully Vaisnava in origin and character. It is true that Vaisnava elements are there but to call it a Vaisnava v/ork is to
ignore textual materials・ The anti—8ni「nal-sacFific£ senlim巳门t and that violence or hatred breeds hatred etc* are as much Buddhist as they are Vaisnava and early Buddhist texts abound in such serntiments and statements・ The KaSkin in the Kalacakra is in no way identical with the kalki-inearnatior)of Visnu
but stands fur a family of kings of noble descent (Kulika) : sakalko1 syastib (Tib. rigs idan) tasya gotram kalki-gotram vajrakulabhisekatah „ Excepting the promi¬nence of these Kalki-gotra kings the Kalacakra text nowhere speaks of Visnu or of his incarnation with the same glory, glamour or exce¬llence as could be expected of a Vaisnava work, - rather the inc ar na¬tions of Visnu are referred to as possessed of rajas-quality and Visnu as a lieutnanl of the Kalki-l<incj.
The Vai5nava,Saiva and Yoga principies along with other forms of Indian and foreign idetdS micjht have.htiwever, played an important role at some time or other in the formation of the kalacakra system, which is certainly a syncretic one, porticuiarly in its meditational principles, it is nevertheless out and
out a Buddhist system in origin, spiri t and character. Ils essentially Buddhist characteristics can not be missed by anybody exa仃十门inq its ideas, theories, and propensity. It is a system which true l o the principles of Tantras arid Vajray?5na attempts to explain the whole creation within this bedy・ An elaborate system of Yoga- practices with the conti cl of the vital winds in the body bias been regarded as a very important fundamenlal ^setor in
realising the Truth in the form of the Lord Kalacakra. A Kalaca- krayanist vvarits Io keep himself above the uifluence of tHe t/ycle of time/which is ever moving to cause decay, death and rebirth. The flow of time is net hi nq bd t the work icig of the vital winds in the body, it is in the action of ttiese winds that time reveals itself and if a sadhaka can control and stop this action he can step the flow of time and can thereby raise himse-t upto U)e state
of Mahasukha removing suffering, death and rebirth. Since Kala is the most irnpoitarv. concep! in their pllosephy these Buddhists have attaclied greatt^st important e to the astronomical conceptions of yoga (.variable divisions of tin>e in astronomy), karana, tithi (lunar day) and to the mc\ ements and pGbiiions of the Sun, the planets and the const eHations.
Fxpei Is in asfronofiiy and astrology they irite rpre t the 卩rinc.iples and furuiamc'nl ais of Bijcidhisrr； in rela¬tion with tsrne and !ts(jiffc「m uniis.
In the Tantra-text we find the theory of PraUtyasamutpada interpreted in a novel way as the movement of the Sun through the twelve zodiacal signs in twelve months. The first rv<£na in the process is caused by the Sun's entry into the sign of Capricor^i.e«> with the beginning of the northern movement of the Sun
To understand life and the cause of life, to know the real nature of the phenomenal objects, one should comprehend this movement and the process・ To put an end to the mass of evils is to stop it・
Of the two cardinal principles of Buddhism, Sunyata and KaruQa^ Sunyata has been represented by these Buddhists as the Sun of the dark fortnight and KarunS as the Moon of the bright fertnight. FirstI they speak of three Sunyatas: sunyata^ mahasunyata and paramar- thasOnyatS, and three Karunas: sattvavalambini, dharmavalambini, and anavalambirv. The three types of each of the two principles are further analysed into sixteen in relation to the fifteen tithis of each fortnight.
during the next five days of the Sun of the same fortnight, i.e^from the sixth to the tenth tithis, whereas the paramartnasunyata is understood as the
voidness of the five indriyas developing during the next five days, i.e.;from the eleventh to the fifteenth tithis (ama- vasya) of the dark fortnight. The sixteenth sunydla is held as to arise with the position of the Sun at the juncture of the end of the dark fortnight and the beginning of the bright fortnight which is all- pervasive, sarvakaraJ^
The first group of five of the sixteenKarunas develops the sympathy or compassion for the suffering beings during the first five days of the Moon of the bright fortnight・ The second the dhar- mavalambini type, compassion for the phenomenal world i.e., viewing the world of appearances as with no existence
by nature, develops during the next five days of the Moon of the same fortnight,i・e・, from sixth to the tenth tithis・ The third or the ariavaiambirv type, the compassion based on no object and which is a part of the nature of the Bodhi, develops during the third five days of the fortnight, i.e., from the eleventh to the fifteenth tithis (purrima) of the bright fort¬night ・ The sixteenth karuna is held as to arise with the position of the Moon at the
juncture of the end of the bright fortnight and the begin¬ning of the dark fortnight. Jt may be mentioned here that dohas, caryapadas and other Tantra-texts understand Sunyata as Praji&i.e. Moon and take Karuna as Upaya i・e・, Sun; but it is explicitly stated by these buddhists a< Krsnapaksa suryah prajna^^uklapak^as candrama* upayah : the
Sun of the dark fortnight is the Sunyata or Prajna and the Moon of the bright fort night is Kzru 貞 or Besides lhes 巳 cardinal principles the system in keeping with the fundamental characteristics of Buddhism treats of the two truths,safpvrti and paramSrtha, the four abhisambodhis, the four Icayas, the five abhij- fias, etc., but in the light of their own theory centering round the concept of Kalacakra・
Kalacakra, the highest God of worship in this system, is substantially of the same nature as that of the concept of Vajrasattva as found in different Vajrayana texts. He is the unily of Prajna and Upaya, the Bodhicitta, the ultimateygnmutableiOne in the form of the motionless Great Bliss (Mat&ukha) • He is without origination and destruction, the unitary embodiment of knowledge and knowable embraced by Prajna (Transcendenl Wisdom) both endowed with and
bereft of forms (contents). He is the creator of all Buddhas, the Adi Buddha, the only Lord・ Th巳 Vimalaprabha 巳xplains the expression K刍lacakrg by showing that each and every syllable of the word is invested with a meaning : KakSrat karane sante lakarac ca layoHra vai cakarac calacittasya krakarat kramavandhahat ・
Ka means causality, la denotes absorption, or dissolutionrca signifies the unstable mind and kra stands for the chain of events or the process.
Thus Jcala comes to mean the state in which 'the original cause¬potency' has been absorbed, that is the state of immutabfe happiness of knowledge, this is Upaya and it is of the nature of karuna;cakra, on the other hand, stands for the cycle of world process and this is the principle of knowability, this is
Prajna and is of the nature of sunyata: Kalo'ksarasukham jnanam upaya karuriatmakah jxieyakaram jagac cakram Sri Prajna 紀nya啟mik5・ kar\|na-sunyatSmCktilj kala-samvrtirupinT^ 〔8 Sunyata cakram ityuktam k^llacakro'dvayo matalj.
Kaiacakra is thus the state of absolute unification of Prajna and Upaya, i.e., sunyata and karuna. He is the One God to be realised by these Buddhists to free themselves from the bondage of repeated existences (samsara)・ The importance that this concept once exer¬cised among th巳 Buddhists may be evident from the famous senten¬ces reported by Padma dkar po to have been inscribed by Tsi lu pa on the upper side of main entrance to the Naianda monastery: fHe
who does not know the Adi Buddha, does not know the Kalacakra; he who does not know the Kalacakra does not know how to utter the mystic names properly；* and so on. The Lamaist religion of the present day is fully influenced by this system and the present cycle of Tibetan years came into vogue from the date of the introduction of the system in Tibet* The Pagan Inscription of 1442 A.D. mentions the names of two texts, Mahakalacakka and Mahakalacakkatika, which
suggests that the 5ystem was also known to Upper Burma in the 15th century・ It was known in eastern India during the reign of king Mahipala of Bengal. It can not be said with any certainty as to who first made the system known in India since there are contradictory reports on this issue. Tsi Iu pa, Pi to pa and the older Kalacakrapada are generally mentioned in different sources as the first Indian scholar of the system・ We have two different lines of
teachers inculcating the tra- dition of Kalacakra established by Tibetan Masters, one started by Tsi Lu pa and the(3ther by Pandit Somanatha, a disciple of Naro pa. The materials available to us are so scanty that we are not able yet to form a correct idea about the teachings of the system. The lan¬guage of the texts
and the numerous astronomical calculations seem to be baffling to a modern scholar. It is well known a fact that the Tantras have always bee?n transmitted from the preceptors to the disciples in the most serret'rrianner arid it has been held an unpai- donabie crime on the part of a sadhaka to let the
uninitiated into the secrete of their sadhana. As a resul I tant rik texts have never been the subject of a pure acu(!e(Bic (fiscussitjn and any attempt to have an insight into the doctime、(汀 thp tHntiik scfiools of Buddhism pose insurmountable difficulties to which the Kaiacakra school is no exception.
1- N. Dutt, Early Monastic Buddhism 1(1941), Ch. IIIG.C. Pande,
Origins of Buddhism, 316 ff.
2. M. Basu. Tantra, 24
3・ Tucci, Tibetan Painted Scrolls I, 210
4. B. Bhattacharya, Buddhist Esoterism, 18 ff.
6w Tucci, op. cit. 223.
7. Tucci, op/ cit・ 215
8・ See the present author's article in J.A.S. XVIII, II
9. Lamaism, 131
10. As under n. fl above
11. Vimalaprabha I
12. Loc. cit. 13・ See present authorfs article in K.C. Chattopadhyay Vol., Allaha¬bad -G・N・ Jha Inst.
14・ See the present author's article in Proc・ Gauhati Session, A IOC ・
15・ See the presen t author's article in Proc ・ In ternational Congress of Orientalists9 New Delhi 1964,
16. See the present authorfs article in L.Sternb日ch Fel. Vol. I
17. Vimalaprabha I
18. Vimalaprabha I
