Great Perfection.pdf

12 introduction
As there was no authoritative body of any kind, monastic or otherwise,
to check the unreined development of tantric practice, a variety of rituals
connected with Mahàyoga tantras came into existence. Towards the end
of the tenth century, lHa Bla-ma Ye-shes-’od, who was formerly a king of
mNga’-ris and belonged to the line of the Tibetan royal descendants
migrated to western Tibet, therefore began to have grave doubts whether
those Buddhist practices which were popular in his time were genuine. To
this effect, he issued an edict stating his disapproval and warning of the
consequences. 39 His critical views of the tantras and determination to put
an end to the doubtful religious practices eventually resulted in the coming
of Ati≤a to Tibet in 1042, and thus began a new phase of Buddhism
in the Land of Snows.
Tibetan Buddhism (Lamaism):
Co-ordination of Sùtrayàna and Mantrayàna
The mission for which Ati≤a was destined to come to Tibet was mainly to
refute the Buddhist tantric practices which prevailed in the country and
so to put Buddhism on the right course, but then tantric teachings in Indian
monasteries themselves had already long since been part and parcel
of Buddhist practice.
lHa-btsun Byang-chub-’od, the grand nephew of the lHa Bla-ma, is believed
to have put seven questions to Ati≤a concerning tantric teachings as
then known to him, 40 the principal one being whether it was appropriate
for Buddhist monks to take up the tantric teachings. To answer these
questions, Ati≤a composed the short but very influential work, the Bodhipathapradìpa
41 explaining that a Buddhist monk can and must practise the
tantric teachings, but without breaking his monastic vows. 42 Moreover,
the tantric teaching is in fact to be regarded as essential for the
attainment of Buddhahood. Ati≤a’s work therefore inspired the development
of the doctrine according to which a Buddhist monk must be bound
to monastic vows whilst following the tantric teachings in a co-ordination
of sùtrayànic and mantrayànic (mdo sngags zung ’brel gyi theg pa) doctrines.
Most of the Buddhist schools which began to appear in the eleventh cen-
39 bKa’ shog (Karmay 1979).
40 dPal-mang dKong-mchog rgyal-mtshan (1764–1853), Byang chub lam gyi sgron me’i ’grel
ba phul byung dgyes pa’i mchod sprin, Collected Works, Vol. 4, No. 1, New Delhi 1974, pp.
51–53.
41 T Vol. 103, No. 5378.
42 Cf. D.S. Ruegg, “Deux problèmes d’exégèse et pratique tantrique”, Tantric and Taoist Studies
in honour of R.A. Stein, Mélanges chinois et bouddhiques, vol. XX, Bruxelles, 1981, pp. 213 et seq.