Krodha-vighnantaka

The iconographic development of krodha-vighnantaka - "wrathful destroyers of obstacles" - is the subject of this excellent study. Images of this class of deity first appeared in eastern India during the late sixth-century and gradually came to char­acterize Indian Esoteric Buddhism by the late tenth or early eleventh century - Indian Buddhism's final and, arguably, most fascinating phase. Ferocious in appearance and often portrayed in explicitly erotic states, these multilimbed deities have intrigued and puzzled observers of Esoteric Buddhism for centuries. In 1895 an early Western interpreter of Tibetan Buddhism noted "the wild and ter­rible ... often monstrous" forms assumed by Indian medieval Buddhist deities, a pantheon that he perceived to be evidence of "the distorted form of Buddhism introduced to Tibet."

While twentieth-century scholarship has considerably revised Waddell's assessment, intriguing questions remain. In this richly argued volume, Rob Linrothe presents a new model for the development of Indian Esoteric Buddhism, one which draws upon both visual and literary evidence. In so doing, he breaks new ground, for previous studies have sought to understand Esoteric Buddhism chiefly by analyzing texts; works of art, if used at all, were primarily valued as illus­trations of textual ideas.

Linrothe demonstrates that an understanding of the development of Esoteric Buddhist iconography can reveal important paradigmatic shifts within Esoteric Buddhism and, when assessed in the light of textual infor­mation, presents a more accurate picture of the development of Esoteric Buddhist ideas and practices. He frequently returns to the relationship between Esoteric Bud­dhist texts and images, concluding: "It is consistently true that the period when images begin to appear falls after the dates attributed to the earliest layer of rele­vant texts, though the texts are often accepted as the exclusive markers of the begin­ning of each movement. Sculpted and painted images are more accurate gauges than texts to identify the period when a substantial community of practitioners engaged in the ritual activity described in a text."

Linrothe's study is founded upon an assessment of hundreds of late sixth- to twelfth-century eastern Indian Buddhist wrathful images, a far larger corpus than was previously known. He arranges these objects chronologically and discerns three main phases in their evolution. Phase One krodha-vighnantaka - seen in works dating from the late sixth to the twelfth centuries - appeared as often undiffer­entiated subsidiary figures within an essentially Mahayana context. Accompanying a bodhisattva whose powers they personified, their purpose was to ensure the attainment of mundane goals. Thus, in the earliest stages of Esoteric Buddhist the­ory, they are "sent by bodhisattva to gather together and to intimidate the recalci­trant beings of the universe and protect the human aspirants."

Phase Two krodha­ vighnantaka - seen mainly in mid eighth- to tenth-century images and exemplified in deities such as Yamantaka and Trailokyavijaya - appeared both as independent deities with clearly differentiated iconography and in larger assemblies, for exam­ple as subsidiary deities in mandalas associated with the Five Tathagata. Linrothe suggests that Phase Two images herald the emergence of a new paradigm, one that is only fully realized in Phase Three krodha-vighnantaka. This final phase - seen in late tenth- to twelfth-century images - exhibits breathtakingly imaginative,

powerful forms, portrayed both independently and as the central deity in large, highly complex mandalas. They are intimately involved in the primary task of Eso­teric Buddhism: "the transformation of the passions and ignorance into compassion and wisdom."

Linrothe's primary concern is to document and explain the remarkable icono­graphic and iconologic transformation of the krodha-vighnlintaka and, crucially, to understand what the evolution of this iconographic type can tell us about the development of Indian Esoteric Buddhism as a whole. Linrothe observes that wrathful deities became more prominent as they were increasingly perceived to represent the power by which an adept is transformed into an enlightened being. "Terrifying deities in sexual embrace expose the enigma at the heart of Phase Three Esoteric Buddhism: poison as its own antidote, harnessed obstacles as the liberat­ing force."

Esoteric Buddhism offered a radical reinterpretation of the path to spiritual enlightenment, postulating that one is already enlightened, although the untrained, defiled nature of sensory and psychological functions prevents one from realizing this. The Hevajra Tantra states: "All beings are buddhas, but this is obscured by ... defilement. When this [[[defilement]]] is removed, they are buddhas at once, of this there is no doubt."7 Esoteric Buddhist practice recommended that these defile­ments be dispelled not through compassionate deeds exercised over many lifetimes (as advocated in Mahayana practice), but in this life, or in a few lifetimes, through rigorous meditative practices (yoga).

Linrothe notes the remarkable parallels between the appearance of the krodha­ vighnlintaka and that of medieval yogins, who also wore bone ornaments and ani­mal skins, who carried skull cups, and who almost certainly participated in the sex­ ual practices that are sometimes portrayed in krodha-vighnlintaka iconography. Cit­ing the Dutch scholar Karel van Kooij, Linrothe states: "Heruka's iconography gives support to the observation ... that Heruka is more or less a deified hyposta­sis of the ... yogin himself." 8 It is these medieval yogins who could shed perhaps the most valuable light not only on the significance of the krodha-vighnlintaka, but on the entire Esoteric Buddhist movement. But their testimonies are not easily obtained. Texts written by them or by their disciples are often intentionally ellipti­cal and obscure.

Medieval Indian Esoteric Buddhist texts are scathing in their assessment of contemporaneous academics {pandits) who sought to understand their practice by intellectual discourse alone. According to Saraha (active ca. second half eighth to early ninth centuries), a leading yogin and Esoteric Buddhist practitioner: "All these pandits expound the treatises,/ But the Buddha who resides within the body is not known.

But they shamelessly say, 'we are Pandits."'9 The difficulty, even for curious contemporaries, in gaining access to Indian medieval Esoteric knowl­edge is illustrated in an intriguing if anecdotal passage found in the sixteenth cen­tury Tibetan historian Pawo Tsuklak Trenghwa's Scholar's Feast of Religious History (chos 'byung mkhas pa'i dga' ston). 

A novice Buddhist heard about Batsiker Island, on which all the inhabitants were said to be yogins and yoginis. Drawn by an intense curiosity, he went to the island, but saw and heard nothing extraordinary. Howev­er, while sailing back to the Indian mainland in the company of merchants, he over­heard them sharing wonderful tales about the island inhabitants and their magical ways.

The novice broke in: "[the claim that] there are only siddhas on Batsiker island ... I went to see, but it is not true." A yogin called Kusalipunya was amongst the merchants and he wanted to correct the novice's misconception, so he took him aside. "Among yogins, there is mutual recognition (phan tshun shes pa yin).

You don't know. The island inhabitants are only yogins." Pawo Tsuklak Trenghwa writes that the two became friends and proceeded to Bodh Gaya to meet the Bud­ dhist teacher, Atisa.10

Linrothe makes an impassioned plea to historians of religion, urging them to make greater use of Esoteric Buddhism's visual legacy. Most art historians recog­ nize the complementary nature of image and text, and the importance of learning to read their respective languages. The link between image and culture is even more important in the study of Esoteric Buddhism, for images - and the practice of visualizing imagery - played a pivotal role within Esoteric Buddhist practices. As Linrothe notes, "The adept is to 'visualize' and to become Trailokyavijaya, Acala, Hayagriva or Ucchusma, and to participate in the subjugation [of corre­sponding parts] of the self."

Esoteric Buddhist sources suggest that intimate acquaintance with the wrath­ful, brutal aspects of life is a prerequisite to wisdom. The Hevajra Tantra states: "The six faculties of sense, their six spheres of operation, the five skandhas and the five elements are pure in essence, but they are obstructed by ignorance (avidya) and emotional disturbance (klesa). Their purification consists in self-experience, and by no other means of purification may one be released."

Such passages seem to sug­gest that the wrathful iconography of the krodha-vighnantaka is intimately linked with self-experience, that is, with our own inner states. Linrothe summarizes simi­lar textual passages when he writes that krodha-vighnantaka are "metaphors for the internal yogic processes employed to gain enlightenment."

The Sarvatathagata tattvasamgraha, a ca. mid seventh-century text that Linrothe cites as a prime exam­ple of Phase Two Esoteric Buddhism, has Mahavairocana state that Trailokyavijaya is "specially commissioned and equipped to perform those necessary tasks the Tathagata cannot perform with only peaceful means."

If Esoteric Buddhism highlights the wrathful, the sexual, and  the malevolent,  giving  them  an exalted  place  in its worldview and in its arts, it does so heuristically. Esoteric imagery enshrines powerful glimpses of man's malevolence within an aesthetic vision, reflecting the Esoteric Buddhist  view  that  -   when informed  by  Buddhist practice -    experience of the wrathful, brutal aspects of one's self can become a transformative, ennobling experience. Professor Linrothe's study will serve as  an  indispensable  guide  for  all who seek to understand the Indian roots of Esoteric Buddhism and  its  still  potent visual and literary manifestations.