Encyclopedia of Buddhism Volume One A -L Robert E. Buswell

V AJRAYA NA
Mahayana is a prelude to the Vajrayana, for the latter
is an advanced practice. Accordingly, one of the more
important of the tantric scriptures, the Guhyasamaja
Tantra, proclaims that the reason it had not been
preached before was that there were no beings sufficiently
advanced to hear it. It became revealed in the
world once bodhisattvas with advanced practice arose
to receive it. This means that the Vajrayana is not just
another, albeit faster, method but is inherently superior
to normative Mahayana and not to be revealed to
those of inferior faculties. In this way, the awakening
conferred by the Vajrayana was also different, for while
the Mahayana led to the tenth or eleventh stage of the
bodhisattva path, the citadel of the Eternal Buddha Vajradhara
was said to be on the thirteenth stage, far advanced
over the Mahayanist idea of buddhahood.
The sorcerer’s discipline
As the sorcerer’s discipline (vidyadharasam vara),
the Vajrayana is laid out on a hierarchy of practice.
The neophyte begins with the monastic discipline
(pratimoksasam vara), which may be formally that of
the monk or of the devout layman (upasaka) who has
taken refuge and the five vows of the LAITY. Concomitantly,
the views of the ABHIDHARMA and SAU-
TRANTIKA school may be studied. Once this practice
is correctly established, then the practitioner may take
the precepts of the bodhisattva (bodhisattvasam vara)
and study the views of the YOGACARA SCHOOL and
MADHYAMAKA SCHOOL. Finally, the precepts of the
sorcerer may be taken through the rite of INITIATION,
and they qualify the yogin to become the universal
conqueror of the sorcerers (vidyadharacakravartin) so
long as the PRECEPTS are scrupulously maintained.
There are different lists of the precepts for the sorcerer’s
discipline, but the two most frequently encountered
are vows to guard against the fourteen root
transgressions:
1. Contempt for the teacher.
2. Transgressing the message of the Tathagata.
3. Anger at members of the feast family.
4. Abandoning loving kindness.
5. Rejecting the thought of awakening.
6. Abusing the three vehicles.
7. Revealing secrets to unprepared people.
8. Disparaging the victor’s body of instruction.
9. Doubt about the pure-natured dharma.
10. (Improper) love or dispassion toward evil people.
11. Imposition of other than nonduality upon reality.
12. Disparaging those with faith.
13. Not relying on the sacraments and vows.
14. Disparaging insight-filled women.
and the eight gross transgressions:
1. Seeking to take a consort who is without sacramental
preparation.
2. Relying on unauthorized sacraments.
3. Arguing in the tantric feast.
4. Showing the secret dharma.
5. Teaching another dharma to those of faith, causing
confusion.
6. Staying with śravakas for seven days.
7. Claiming the status of a mantrin without sufficient
realization.
8. Teaching secrets to the unprepared.
The sorcerer’s PRECEPTS were considered superior
to those of the monk and bodhisattva, so that they took
precedence in a hierarchy of value. If a yogin determined
that observance of the sorcerer’s precepts required
the abandonment of one of the others, then
some authorities considered this to be without fault,
and many of the siddha hagiographies feature instances
of exactly this behavior. Like other issues, though, this
position was disputed, and much effort was expended
by commentators to arrive at resolution of these problems.
This question had a social component, for if the
householder siddha was superior to the monk, then the
latter should bow to him, despite the fact that prostrating
before any layman is a clear violation of the
monastic precepts.
The above analyses of the Vajrayana reveal much
inconsistency and a variety of opinions, which is not
surprising for a complex and multifaceted system continuing
to evolve over several centuries. As a result,
among the many controversies that stirred discussion
and polemical debate was whether the buddhahood of
the Mahayana and the buddhahood of the Vajrayana
were in fact the same, or whether the latter was superior,
with many subtle alternatives expressed. The re-
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