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{{Short description|Esoteric beliefs in the Eastern world}}
{{For|its western counterpart|western esotericism}}
{{multiple issues|
{{too long|words=16,280|date=May 2024}}
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[[File:Adi-Buddha Samantabhadra.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Yab-Yum]] of [[Samantabhadra (Bodhisattva)|Samantabhadra]] ("All Good," the Primordial Buddha) and his female aspect of consort, [[Samantabhadrī (tutelary)|Samantabhadrī]] (17th century). The erotic union symbolizes, respectively, the non-duality of [[Karuṇā|Compassion]] (or Method) and [[Prajñā (Buddhism)|Wisdom]]; or also of [[Śūnyatā|Form]] and Emptiness.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2022-08-18|language=en|title=yab-yum|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/yab-yum|website=www.britannica.com}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref>{{cite book|date=1999-10-12|first=Robert|language=en|last=Beer|publisher=Shambhala|title=The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs|isbn=978-1-57062-416-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b5s-o5c8DkAC&q=%22metaphor+for+the+union+of+form+and+emptiness,+compassion+and+wisdom%22}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref>{{cite book|date=2014-07-08|first1=Yongey Mingyur|first2=Helen|language=en|last1=Rinpoche|last2=Tworkov|publisher=Shambhala Publications|title=Turning Confusion into Clarity: A Guide to the Foundation Practices of Tibetan Buddhism|isbn=978-0-8348-2975-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pD76AwAAQBAJ&dq=%22form%22+%22emptiness%22&pg=PT149}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>]]
 
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<blockquote>After Lin was captured, the sky rained down the blood that transformed into writing at the main gate of Lu's capital, and that read, 'Prepare the laws quickly, for the sage Confucius will die; Zhou will be destroyed; a comet will appear from the east. The Qin government will arise and suddenly destroy the literary arts. But although the written records will then be dispersed, the teachings of Confucius will not be interrupted.<ref name=":68" /></blockquote>
 
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At the end of the 18th century, esoteric interpretations resurfaced as the "[[New Text Confucianism|New Text School]]". [[Philology|Philological]] in nature, they sought to rescue the classical texts that were no longer orthodox after Wang Mang. It was started by [[Zhuang Cunyu]] (1719-1788), a classicist scholar who, in his research, rediscovered the Han exegetical tradition of the Gongyang, which was ignored by philologists of his time.<ref name=":712">{{cite book|date=2013-11-05|first=Antonio S.|language=en|last=Cua|publisher=Routledge|title=Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy|isbn=978-1-135-36755-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BZX7AQAAQBAJ&pg=PT282}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> His works remained in obscurity until they were recognized by Liu Fenglu (1776-1829), Song Xiangfeng (1776-1860), [[Gong Zizhen]] (1792-1841) and Wei Yuan (1794-1857). These interpretive trends led to practical use in political reformism, culminating in [[Kang Youwei]] (1858-1927), who made it a radical interpretation and denounced the bankruptcy of the Qing dynasty government.<ref name=":68" /><ref name=":712" /> From the Gongyang writings, which he considered to be the true teachings of Confucius, he applied the notion that humanity moved in a linear direction to a progression of Three Eras: from the Age of Chaos to the Age of Ascending Equality, and then the final Age of [[Great Unity]].<ref name=":68" />
 
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== Buddhism ==
{{Main article|Vajrayana}}
{{multiple image|direction=vertical|image1=Yama Dharmaraja - 19th century Mongolian painting (thangka).jpg|caption1=[[Yama]], based on the Hindu god of Death and Hell of the same name ([[Yama (Hinduism)|Yama]]), holds a skull staff and a noose for capturing souls, while riding a buffalo. He later became a protector (''[[dharmapala]]'') of the [[Gelug|Guelug]] lineage, and above him is [[Je Tsongkhapa|Tsongkhapa]].<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2022-08-15|language=en|title=Yama Dharmaraja|url=https://collection.rubinmuseum.org/objects/641/yama-dharmaraja|website=The Rubin Museum of Art}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> In Tantric Buddhism, his captor symbol was also sublimated to a positive aspect of liberation, leading to spirituality and immortality, with his rope serving dharmic purposes.<ref>Clifton, Wolf Gordon (2013). ''[https://www.academia.edu/19790187/The_Yama_Paradox_The_God_of_Death_as_Entrapper_and_Liberator_in_Hindu_and_Buddhist_Traditions The Yama Paradox: The God of Death as Entrapper and Liberator in Hindu and Buddhist Traditions]''. Vanderbilt University.</ref> Painting from Mongolia (19th century).|image2=Chakrasamvara and Vajravarahi (cropped).jpg|caption2=[[Cakrasaṃvara Tantra|Chacrasamvara]] embracing his consort [[Vajravārāhī]] ([[Yab-Yum]]). Nepal, 17th century}}
[[File:Chakrasamvara and Vajravarahi (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Cakrasaṃvara Tantra|Chacrasamvara]] embracing his consort [[Vajravārāhī]] ([[Yab-Yum]]). Nepal, 17th century]]
"Esoteric Buddhism" is a modernly created designation, but corresponds in part to the East Asian phenomenon through the indigenous terms ''mijiao'' (密教) and ''bimi'' (秘密), which may be translations of the Indian term ''guhya'' ("secret"). The mere equation of these terms, however, presents problems.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Introduction: Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia: Some Methodological Considerations|date=2011|first1=Charles|first2=Henrik|first3=Richard|language=en|last1=Orzech|last2=Sørensen|last3=Payne|publisher=BRILL|title=Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia|isbn=978-9004184916 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F0XNX3N1a2AC&pg=PA12}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> In general, the terms "tantric Buddhism," "esoteric Buddhism," and "[[Vajrayana]]"- ''[[vajra]]'' meaning "diamond" or "ray", regarding the unchanging and indestructible state of awakening - are also used interchangeably.<ref name=":19" />
 
According to Ronald M. Davidson, the minimum requirements that define esoteric Buddhism are an entrance ritual, a mandala, ''homa'' rituals, ''mudras'', mantras, and the caveat of secrecy.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Introdução|date=2012-01-27|editor1=Keul, István|first=István|language=en|last=Keul|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|title=Transformations and Transfer of Tantra in Asia and Beyond|isbn=978-3-11-025811-0 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=38gxbEft3-4C&pg=PA3}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> The earliest Dharma scriptures that describe ritual performances such as fire sacrifice (''homa'') and offering to the sacred fire (''[[Yajna|yajña]]'') are from the sixth century, such as the ''Dhāraṇīsaṃgraha'' of Atigupta (Atikuta), which describes an arrangement of figures, ritual consecration, ''homa'' offerings, and conditions the establishment of mandala within a pavilion as secret, forbidding disciples to speak of it to anyone who had not been given ''[[abhisheka]],'' whereas in the ''Amoghapāśahṛdaya'', the ''abhisheka'' rite is presented not as a transmission ritual, but as a purificatory one to pacify the disturbances of a country.<ref name=":17">{{cite book|chapter=Some Observations on an Uṣṇīṣa Abhiṣeka Rite in Atikūṭa's ''Dhāraṇīsaṃgraha''|date=2012-01-27|editor1=Keul, István|first=Ronald M.|language=en|last=Davidson|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|title=Transformations and Transfer of Tantra in Asia and Beyond|isbn=978-3-11-025811-0 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=38gxbEft3-4C&pg=PA86}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> Ritual or mantra collections are traced to the 5th and 7th centuries, while collections of magic continue to the present. This early material is usually called "proto-tantric" in critical literature. Some of these ''compendia'' may have been alternatively referred to as [[Vidyadhara|''Vidyādhara'']]-''piṭaka'' ("Sorcerer's Basket") and served as inspiration for other surviving collections, which have an affinity to Siddha literature as well.<ref name=":15" />
 
Some point out that "hidden" Buddhist teachings may date back as far as the third century,<ref>{{cite book|date=2023|first=Aaron P.|language=en|last=Proffitt|page=42|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|title=Esoteric Pure Land Buddhism|isbn=978-0-8248-9381-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gMaxEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT42}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> according to evidence of tantric systems such as the Three Mysteries in the ''密迹金剛力力士経'' (''Guhyakādhipatinirdeśa''), and reports of transmission by orality, which left no material evidence.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=''Saṅ Hyaṅ Kamahāyānikan'', Borobudur, and the Origins of Esoteric Buddhism in Indonesia|date=2016-09-05|editor1=Acri, Andrea|first=Hudaya|language=en|last=Kandahjaya|location=Singapura|publisher=ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute|title=Esoteric Buddhism in Mediaeval Maritime Asia: Networks of Masters, Texts, Icons|isbn=978-981-4695-08-4 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2HV8DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA67}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> However, not all scholarly strands consider that esoteric Buddhism falls within the category of tantrism, or that all esoteric Buddhism would be tantric. The ''[[Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sūtra]]'' (1st century BCE-2nd century) can be considered proto-esoteric in its content and also a precursor of the Pure Land lineage.<ref>{{cite book|date=2023|first=Aaron P.|language=en|last=Proffitt|page=40; 44|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|title=Esoteric Pure Land Buddhism|isbn=978-0-8248-9381-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gMaxEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT44}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> Although Tantra and [[Pure land|Pure Land]] esotericism had different goals, the latter aimed to attain [[Sukhavati]] paradise and other Buddhist lands where even more sublime esoteric techniques could be developed. Both were developments of Mahayana and were not mutually exclusive.<ref>{{cite book|date=2023|first=Aaron P.|language=en|last=Proffitt|page=3; 23; 36|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|title=Esoteric Pure Land Buddhism|isbn=978-0-8248-9381-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gMaxEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT3}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
 
Davidson suggests that the spread of ritual expertise was favored by changing geopolitical circumstances and needs of Buddhists following the fall of the [[Gupta Empire|Gupta]] and the decline of social order in North India.<ref name=":17" /> Institutionalization of esoteric Buddhism occurred in medieval India, as new cosmological discourses were articulated and decisions were required of Maya contemplative and intellectual communities, which were suffering declining capacity for political action. The subculture of the [[Siddha]]s ("Perfected"), as Buddhist holy figures on the margins of society and the monks and who performed ritual methods of their own also emerged there.<ref name=":15" /> This may have subsequently occurred in Tibetan Buddhism through moments of disarticulation, according to [[Samten Karmay]], with a shift towards tantrism having developed after the persecution of monastic institutions by King [[Langdarma]] (9th century), while non-monastic tantric movements continued with vitality even under the political fragmentation after the dissolution of the [[Tibetan Empire]].<ref name=":49">{{cite book|date=2016-12-06|first=Holly|language=en|last=Gayley|publisher=Columbia University Press|title=Love Letters from Golok: A Tantric Couple in Modern Tibet|isbn=978-0-231-54275-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OUhmDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA166}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
 
The first tantric system recorded in literature was the Uṣṇīṣa, which came to be subsumed in the mid-eighth century in scriptures of a ''Vajra-uṣṇīṣa'' Canon, the idea of which was to present a further and superior development to the earlier literature, but the main competitor to the early system was the [[Avalokiteśvara]] literature, in which [[Avalokiteśvara|Avalokiteśhvara]] was a mediator in the integration of rituals and iconography of non-Buddhist origin and remained central in parts of in India and China. Also in the mid-eighth century, there was a radicalization of tantrism with the sanctification of the involvement of tribal spirits or outcasts such as ''[[yaksha]]'', ''[[Dakini|dákini]]'', ''[[yogini]]'', and ''[[heruka]]''.<ref name=":16" />
 
One of the most distinctive features of esoteric Buddhism compared to esoteric Hinduism occurs in the symbolic assignment of the male/female polarity: in erotocentric Buddhist practice, the feminine is seen passively as "wisdom" (''[[Prajñā (Buddhism)|prajña]]''), while the masculine is considered in the dynamic role of "method" (''[[upaya]]''); in esoteric Hinduism, the reverse is true: the feminine symbolizing power and activity, and the masculine wisdom and passivity.<ref name=":39" />
 
There is a conflict within the non-esoteric and esoteric schools of Buddhism when it comes to the claims that the Buddha would have hidden nothing and revealed everything and that he would have reserved secret teachings. On the other hand, it is considered in pre-[[Mahayana]] (or non-Mahayana) scriptures that the Buddha did not reveal everything by keeping silent about [[The unanswerable questions|unanswered questions]], although they may have reconciled this with the claim that he had not withheld them either. There was a transition in the degree of secrecy and transparency between [[Early Buddhist schools|early]] and late Buddhism, at first emphasizing the transparency of the Buddha's teachings in comparison to the Vedic secrecy of the Brahmins. There are scriptures from the [[Pali Canon|Pāli Canon]] that deny secrecy, as in the ''[[Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta]]'' ([[Dīgha Nikāya|''Dīghanikāya'']] 16 II,100), and also from the Mahayana, such as the ''Mahāparinirvāṇamahāsūtra tatagatagarba'':<ref name=":53">Wangchuk, Dorji (2020). [https://www.academia.edu/44101883/Dorji_Wangchuk_Secrecy_in_Buddhism_In_Birds_as_Ornithologists_Scholarship_between_Faith_and_Reason_Intra_and_Inter_disciplinary_Perspectives_edited_by_Orna_Almogi_Indian_and_Tibetan_Studies_8_Hamburg_Department_of_Indian_and_Tibetan_Studies_Universit%C3%A4t_Hamburg_2020_pp_7_177 «Secrecy in Buddhism»]. In: Almogi, Orna. ''Birds as Ornithologists: Scholarship Between Faith and Reason: Intra- and Inter-disciplinary Perspectives''. Hamburgo: Department of Indian and Tibetan Studies, Universität Hamburg</ref>
 
<blockquote>O Exalted One! How is [this]? Are there any secrets in what has been taught by the Exalted One? Please do not keep [any teachings] secret in the form of 'intentional statements' (''ābhiprāyikaṃ vacanam: dgongs pa'i tshig = bsam pa can gyi tshig''). O Exalted One! How is [this]? Are the Buddha's teachings similar to an illusory woman, a magical creation, created by the magical (diagrammatic) device (''yantra: 'khrul 'khor'') of an illusionist and magician?" [The Exalted One] replied, "There are no secrets in my teachings, and the Buddha's teachings, like a crescent moon in autumn, are spotless, untainted with marks, without confusion, free from secrets and great secrets, and are transparent (or clear).<ref name=":53" /></blockquote>
 
[[File:Center detail, Thousand-Armed Chenresi, a Cosmic Form of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (cropped).jpg|left|thumb|[[Avalokiteśvara]] of a Thousand Arms, Tibetan ''[[thangka]]'' (14th century)]]
 
Another considered dimension of the secret is that of [[Epistemology|epistemic]] mystery, seen by the Mahayana, in that ordinary cognition and conceptualization have no access to the extraordinary reality of awakened beings.<ref name=":53" /> Third and fourth-century Chinese texts already made the distinction from previous [[Hinayana]] doctrines, considered "exoteric" and simple, while they called the Mahayana esoteric (''mijiao'') and defended it as superior and profound.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=The Terms "Esoteric Teaching" ("Esoteric Buddhism") and "Tantra" in Chinese Buddhist Sources|date=2017-03-27|editor1=Bentor, Yael |editor2=Shahar, Meir|first=Lü|language=en|last=Jianfu|location=Leiden; Boston|publisher=BRILL|title=Chinese and Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism|isbn=978-90-04-34050-3 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mz-9DgAAQBAJ&pg=PA73}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> Vajrayana, on the other hand, considers what they call the "Secret Vehicle" (in [[Tibetic languages|Tibetan]]: ''gsang ba'i theg pa''), a term consolidated in Tibetan texts attributed to [[Padmasambhava]] and others from the 11th century, equivalent to the Sanskrit expression ''guhyayāna'' found in tantras. Meanwhile, they attribute the "exoteric" or "external" (''bāhya'' = ''phyi'') to other non-mantric vehicles.<ref name=":53" />
 
There is a degree of secrecy among the tantras, in classes and hierarchical systems, and [[Taranatha]] (1575-1634) suggests that secrets exist because they are of higher quality, impenetrable or hardly cognitively accessible, or rare. There are scriptures of the yogatantric system that state a commandment of "non-disclosure of secrets" of the mantric precepts, and dissemination of tantric scriptures or improper translations were forbidden by royal decrees. On this, [[Rongzom Chökyi Zangpo|Rongzompa]] (11th century) provides an explanation:<ref name=":53" />
 
<blockquote>[The kind of secret] that is unfit to know, consisting [as it is] of such [deeply] real and surprising types of [mantric] conduct, is not capable or suitable to be the domain of [ordinary] people of the world and [followers of] lower vehicles, and thus must be kept secret from [them], and thus [the vehicle that teaches such doctrines] is called the Secret Vehicle (''gsang ba'i theg pa''). (...) As for not disseminating secret teachings to unworthy [individuals], it is as the following teaches: [Only] if one performs activities for the benefit of sentient beings, through the lower vehicles, until a mind that knows such a [Vajrayana view] arises [in them] that sentient beings will be tamed, and not ruined. Thus [Vajrayana] must be kept extremely secret and is therefore taught as the Secret Vehicle.<ref name=":53" /></blockquote>
 
=== China ===
{{Main|Chinese Esoteric Buddhism}}In the first translations or productions of ''[[Dharani]]'' literature in Chinese between the 4th and 6th centuries, one can notice changes in the body of literature on magic, including a reference to the magic of [[Abhisheka|a''bhisheka'']] at the beginning of the 5th century. This evidences in a relatively early context a rite of initiation and religious anointing that would be central to esoteric Buddhism later on. In this period there was also a co-option of Hindu deities and demons and an esotericization of the Mahayana, with the sophistication of the arcane and formalization of rituals and the pantheon of deities. While Buddhist [[Thaumaturgy|thaumaturgists]] who specialized in ritual practices in the early material were called "masters of magic" (''咒師)'', from the second half of the sixth century the ritual practitioner was called a "seeker of ''[[siddhi]]''" (''成就者''). From this moment an "esoteric Buddhism" is constituted, with its secret transmission, ritual hermeneutics, a system of internal understanding, and moral code.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=On Esoteric Buddhism in China: A Working Definition|date=2011|editor1=Orzech, Charles |editor2=Sørensen, Henrik H. |editor3=Payne, Richard|first=Henrik H.|language=en|last=Sørensen|publisher=BRILL|title=Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia|isbn=978-90-04-18491-6 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F0XNX3N1a2AC&pg=PA164}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
 
{{Gallery
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|File:Depiction_of_Mt._Gośīrṣa_or_Gośṛṅga._Painted_ceiling_of_the_entrance_corridor_of_Mogao_Cave_9_-_9th_century.jpg
|Painted ceiling in the entrance corridor of the Mogao Cave 9, depicting Mount Gośīrṣa (9th century).<ref>Forte, Erika (2 de janeiro de 2020). [https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004417731/BP000003.xml «Images of Patronage in Khotan»]. In: Meinert, Carmen; Sørensen, Henrik H. ''Buddhism in Central Asia I. Patronage, Legitimation, Sacred Space, and Pilgrimage''. Col: Dynamics in the History of Religions. '''11'''. Brill</ref>| alt1=
| File:Asura_in_249th_cave_of_Mogao_Caves1.jpg
|An [[Asura (Buddhism)|Asura]] in the [[Mogao Caves]] 249, 6th century | alt2=
| File:Tejaprabhā_Buddha_and_the_Five_Planets_by_Chang_Huai-hsing.jpg
|Tejaprabhā Buddha ("Buddha of the Resplendent Lights") and the Five Planets (year 897)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.academia.edu/42811423|title=Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism. |volume=II: Lives|last=Kotyk|first=Jeffrey|date=2015|publisher=Brill|editor1=Silk, Jonathan A. |editor2=Hinüber, Oskar von |editor3=Eltschinger, Vincent |editor4=Bowring, Richard |editor5=Radich, Michael|chapter=Tejaprabhā}}</ref>| alt3=
|File:Vaishravana_riding_across_the_waters._61,8x54,7cm_From_Dunhuang,_Cave17._Five_Dynasties,_mid-10th_century_AD._British_Museum..jpg
|[[Vaiśravaṇa]] riding through the waves, 10th century, cave in Dunhuang. The cult of Vaiśravaṇa became prominent in esoteric Buddhism in the middle of the Tang dynasty.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F0XNX3N1a2AC&pg=PA116|title=Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia|last=Sørensen|first=Henrik H.|date=2011|publisher=BRILL|editor1=Orzech, Charles |editor2=Sørensen, Henrik H. |editor3=Payne, Richard|chapter=Central Divinities in the Esoteric Buddhist Pantheon in China|isbn=978-9004184916 }}</ref>| alt4=
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In the [[Tarim Basin]], there are important sites where esoteric Buddhist texts and arts have been preserved, such as in [[Hotan]] (6th-8th centuries) and [[Dunhuang]]. By the 6th century, Hotan had become a center of Buddhist magic (''Dharani'') and the main focus of their transmission to China.<ref>{{cite journal|archive-date=18 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200318234032/https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8050241/file/8589246.pdf|date=2018|first=Christoph|issn=2363-6696|journal=Entangled Religions|last=Anderl|pages=250–311|title=Linking Khotan and Dūnhuáng: Buddhist Narratives in Text and Image|url=https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8050241/file/8589246.pdf|volume=5|doi=10.46586/er.v5.2018.250-311 }}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> The [[Mogao Caves]] in Dunhuang feature several esoteric deities, constituting the most important collection of esoteric Buddhist art of the [[Tang dynasty]].<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Esoteric Buddhism in Sichuan During the Tang and Five Dynasties Period. Esoteric Buddhist Art Under the Tang|date=2011|editor1=Orzech, Charles |editor2=Sørensen, Henrik H. |editor3=Payne, Richard|first=Henrik H.|language=en|last=Sørensen|publisher=BRILL|title=Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia|isbn=978-90-04-18491-6 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F0XNX3N1a2AC&pg=PA401}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> In them were found several textual works as well ([[Dunhuang manuscripts]]). An example of an esoteric Buddhist manuscript from the latter site (10th century) describes a practice of visualization with the recitation of ''Dharani'', in which the practitioner progressively begins to transform the ordinary elements of his body and consciousness, purifying himself with seed syllables (''[[bīja]]''), and identifies with the elements of the cosmos and the [[Dharmakāya|Dharma Body]] of the Universal Buddha, [[Vairocana]]:<ref name=":47">Sørensen, Henrik H. (6 july 2022). «[https://brill.com/view/book/9789004508446/BP000022.xml Visualising Oneself as the Cosmos: An Esoteric Buddhist Meditation Text from Dunhuang»]. In: Kasai, Yukiyo; Sørensen, Henrik H. ''Buddhism in Central Asia II. Practices and Rituals, Visual and Material Transfer''. Col: Dynamics in the History of Religions. '''12'''. Brill</ref>
[[File:Portrait of Amoghavajra, 14 century, National Museum, Tokyo.jpg|left|thumb|[[Amoghavajra]], one of the most powerful Buddhist monks in Chinese history. He conducted tantric initiations and esoteric rituals with military men and emperors of the Tang Dynasty, in accounts of being held responsible for supernatural army victories in the [[An Lushan Rebellion]].<ref>{{cite book|chapter=The Politics of Esoteric Buddhism: Amoghavajra and the Tang State|date=2016-09-05|editor1=Acri, Andrea|first=Geoffrey|language=en|last=Goble|publisher=ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute|title=Esoteric Buddhism in Mediaeval Maritime Asia: Networks of Masters, Texts, Icons|isbn=978-981-4695-08-4 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2HV8DQAAQBAJ&dq=%22who+perceived+him+as+possessing+the+ability+to+ritually+bring+about+the+deaths+of+enemies+to+the+throne%22&pg=PA137}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> He was also considered one of the patriarchs of [[Shingon Buddhism|Shingon]], and [[Kūkai]] imported a portrait of him from China in 806.<ref name=":36">{{cite book|date=2013-03-07|first=Pamela|language=en|last=Winfield|publisher=OUP USA|title=Icons and Iconoclasm in Japanese Buddhism: Kukai and Dogen on the Art of Enlightenment|isbn=978-0-19-994555-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a-Z_WvR-AdQC&pg=PA79}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref name=":35">{{cite journal|access-date=2022-08-15|date=1962|first=Sherman E.|issn=0009-8841|journal=The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art|last=Lee|number=7|pages=159–166|title=The Secret Five|volume=49 |jstor=25151903 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25151903}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> This Japanese painting is from the 14th century.]]
In mid-eighth century China, an esoteric canon was developed with the titles of eighteen works referred to as a compendium, in a book attributed to Amoghavajra, contained in the [[Chinese Buddhist canon|Chinese Tripitaka]].<ref name=":15" /> [[Chinese Esoteric Buddhism]] spread in the [[Tang dynasty]], receiving its apex of popularity from three masters who came from India: [[Śubhakarasiṃha]] (637-735), [[Vajrabodhi]] (671-741), and [[Amoghavajra]] (705-774), who founded the school called Zhenyan ("True Word" or "Mantra") and introduced tantric texts, commentaries, and ritualistic manuals.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Esoteric Buddhism in the Tang: From Atikuta to Amoghavajra (651-780)|date=2011|editor1=Orzech, Charles |editor2=Sørensen, Henrik H. |editor3=Payne, Richard|first=Charles D.|language=en|last=Orzech|publisher=BRILL|title=Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia|isbn=978-90-04-18491-6 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F0XNX3N1a2AC&pg=PA263}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref>{{cite book|date=2000|first=Bibhuti|language=en|last=Baruah|page=170|publisher=Sarup & Sons|title=Buddhist Sects and Sectarianism|isbn=978-81-7625-152-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s1PZAMD13SMC}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> The [[Huichang persecution of Buddhism|Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution]] in the Huichang era (841-846) was long considered in historiography as a fatal blow to Amoghavajra's efforts and Chinese esoteric Buddhism, however it did not erase such efforts.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=The Esotericization of Chinese Buddhist Practices|date=2011|editor1=Orzech, Charles |editor2=Sørensen, Henrik H. |editor3=Payne, Richard|first=George A.|language=en|last=Keyworth|publisher=BRILL|title=Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia|isbn=978-90-04-18491-6 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F0XNX3N1a2AC&pg=PA515}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> Esotericism also spread to other local traditions, such as from [[Taoism]] and [[Chinese folk religion]]s, and these were incorporated into Buddhist rites, for example by Zunshi (964-1032), who advocated for the already existing practice of [[Ghost Festival|ghost-feeding rituals]] that was carried out by several local monasteries.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Song Tiantai Ghost-Feeding Rituals|date=2011|editor1=Orzech, Charles |editor2=Sørensen, Henrik H. |editor3=Payne, Richard|first=Hun Y.|language=en|last=Lye|publisher=BRILL|title=Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia|isbn=978-90-04-18491-6 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F0XNX3N1a2AC&pg=PA520}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> The practice of ghost-feeding was also incorporated into the Buddhist rites.
 
Tantric literature entered the Chinese canon (first printed in 983) at the same time as there was an intense state-supported effort to spread Buddhism, and throughout the second millennium, Buddhist Tantrism was present in various ways in India, Nepal, Tibet, Mongolia, and China.<ref name=":20" /> With the imperial patronage of the [[Song dynasty]], the Institute for Canonical Translation and the Institute for Canon Printing was built, and in the institute's Catalogue (year 1013) is included among the classifications of bibliographic taxonomy called "Esoteric Portion of the Mahayana Scriptural Collection."<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Translation of Tantras and Other Esoteric Buddhist Scriptures|date=2011|editor1=Orzech, Charles |editor2=Sørensen, Henrik H. |editor3=Payne, Richard|first=Charles D.|language=en|last=Orzech|publisher=BRILL|title=Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia|isbn=978-90-04-18491-6 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F0XNX3N1a2AC&pg=PA440}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> Most of the institute's translations were esoteric or tantric, although they included productions from all periods and schools of [[History of Buddhism in India|Buddhism in India]].<ref name=":18">Orzech, Charles D. (2011). [https://books.google.com/books?id=38gxbEft3-4C&pg=PA314 «The Trouble with Tantra in China»]. In: Orzech, Charles; Sørensen, Henrik; Payne, Richard. ''Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia''. [S.l.]: BRILL</ref>
 
Ultimately, hermeneutical and ritual elements, icons, and texts from consolidated South Asian esoteric systems were disaggregated and rearticulated to other ritual and intellectual systems in East Asia, such as the [[Huayan]] and [[Chan Buddhism|Chan]]. According to Charles Orzech, Zanning (919-1001), a leading scholar in the Chan community of Northern Song, saw Esoteric Teaching "as serving a crucial military function in the defense of the state."<ref name=":18" />
 
Several Buddhist esoteric texts also employ mediumship or spirit possession, whereas, in the Chinese context, the medium is called ''wu'' (''巫''). There are descriptions of the use of child mediums. There was also reference to rites that correspond to the Sanskrit ''āveśa'' ("to possess" or "to take possession of"), likely having a connection to practices from India. The distinction of this Buddhist mediumistic rite from mediumship, in general, is that the medium's trance is officiated by a tantric master, who confers this power and assumes the identity of a deity. These practices grew during the Song dynasty and were used in Taoism as well.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Mediums in Esoteric Buddhism|date=2011|editor1=Orzech, Charles |editor2=Sørensen, Henrik H. |editor3=Payne, Richard|first=James|language=en|last=Robson|publisher=BRILL|title=Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia|isbn=978-90-04-18491-6 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F0XNX3N1a2AC&pg=PA251}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
 
There was a Chinese phenomenon of planet worship and astrology for predicting misfortune that influenced Chinese esoteric Buddhism, with the identification of Buddhist deities and constellations or stars, including through the reception of Taoist beliefs.<ref>Sørensen, Henrik H. (2011). [https://books.google.com/books?id=F0XNX3N1a2AC&pg=PA230 «Astrology and the Worship of the Planets in Esoteric Buddhism of the Tang»]. In: Orzech, Charles; Sørensen, Henrik; Payne, Richard. ''Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia''. BRILL</ref> This practice was also found in the [[Goryeo]] kingdom.<ref>Sørensen, Henrik H. (2011). [https://books.google.com/books?id=F0XNX3N1a2AC&pg=PA597 «Esoteric Buddhism Under the Koryo (918-1392)»]. In: Orzech, Charles; Sørensen, Henrik; Payne, Richard. ''Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia''. BRILL</ref>
 
=== Japan ===
{{Main|Mikkyō}}{{multiple image
| footer = Variants of Mandalas of the Two Kingdoms, transmitted from China to Japan by Kūkai as fundamental to esoteric practice.<ref name=":36" /> Above: Womb Mandala (left) and Diamond Mandala (right) in Kojimadera (in dark blue silk and silver and gold dye, early 11th century). Below: Womb Mandala (Senkoji, Kamakura period) and Diamond Mandala (Sai-in, Heian period).
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Japanese esoteric Buddhism (Himitsu-bukkyō or Mikkyō) was created according to the [[Tendai]] and [[Shingon Buddhism|Shingon]] schools. To distinguish between them, Shingon was referred to as "Eastern Esotericism" (Tōmitsu), due to the location of one of its main temples in [[Kyoto]], while the tendai esoteric practice (Mikkyō) was referred to as Taimitsu.<ref name=":102">{{cite journal|access-date=2022-08-12|date=1984|first=Adrian|journal=Religious Traditions: A New Journal in the Study of Religion / Journal of Studies in the Bhagavadgita|language=en|last=Snodgrass|title=The Shingon Buddhist Doctrine of Interpenetration|url=https://openjournals.library.usyd.edu.au/index.php/RT/article/viewFile/13034/11799}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> In turn, Taimitsu was sudivided into the [[Ennin]] and [[Enchin]] lineages, while Tōmitsu was into the Ono and Hirosawa lineages. At the apex of Japanese Tantrism (11th to 14th centuries), the two competing Taimitsu traditions of Ennin and Enchin were referred to as [[Jimon and Sanmon|Sanmon (Mountain branch) and Jimon (Temple branch)]], with a distinct set of rituals.<ref name=":11">{{cite book|chapter=Taimitsu: The Esoteric Buddhism of the Tendai School|date=2011|editor1=Orzech, Charles |editor2=Sørensen, Henrik H. |editor3=Payne, Richard|first=Lucia|language=en|last=Dolce|publisher=BRILL|title=Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia|isbn=978-90-04-18491-6 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F0XNX3N1a2AC&pg=PA744}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
 
Some scholars of Japanese Buddhist history have also distinguished a "pure esotericism" (''junmitsu'') of the [[Heian period]], formed by the Tendai and Shingon traditions transmitted from China and whose practices emphasized the transformation of the practitioner into an enlightened being, in contrast to a "mixed esotericism" (''zōmitsu'') of the [[Nara period]], which was more devoted to ritual recitations of daranis and rarely to ''mudras'' and visualizations, as well as aiming more at healing and the hither of supernatural powers rather than enlightenment. However, this paradigm is questioned, as this pair was conceived only in the mid [[Edo period|Tokugawa period]],<ref>{{cite book|date=1999-06-28|first=Ryûichi|language=en|last=Abé|publisher=Columbia University Press|title=The Weaving of Mantra: Kûkai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse|isbn=978-0-231-52887-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ExNmHIACskC&pg=PA152}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> and uses of doxographies and taxonomies such as these may be anachronistic.<ref>{{cite book|date=2011|first1=Charles|first2=Henrik|first3=Richard|language=en|last1=Orzech|last2=Sørensen|last3=Payne|publisher=BRILL|title=Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia|isbn=978-90-04-18491-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F0XNX3N1a2AC&pg=PA12}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
 
Both were based on the quest for the attainment of enlightenment under the performance of rituals in bodily practices, following the non-dual interpenetration of body and mind. Tōmitsu was based primarily on Kūkai's philosophy of the "Three Mysteries of Method" concerning Body, Speech, and Mind, which are reflected as phenomena of the cosmos as the [[Dainichi Nyorai (Enjō-ji)|Dainichi]] [[Dharmakāya|Dharma Body]], and to which correspond ''mudra'' rites, mantra/''dharani'', and mandala visualizations.<ref name=":11" /> He distinguished between the exoteric (Kengyô) and esoteric (Mikkyō) and granted superiority to the esoteric.<ref>{{cite book|date=2001-03-22|first=Chün-fang|language=en|last=Yü|publisher=Columbia University Press|title=Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitesvara|isbn=978-0-231-50275-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TtlEr3tod18C&pg=PA519}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
 
Kūkai had received the transmission of esoteric teachings in China decades before the Great Antibudist Persecution, being a direct disciple of the Chinese monk [[Huiguo]], who in turn had studied with Amoghavajra. Returning to Japan in 806, he took several items of doctrine and described what distinguished esoteric Buddhism. He spread it under the patronage of [[Emperor Saga]], from which he performed the first public esoteric ritual for the "protection of the nation," as well as other esoteric ceremonies such as mass initiations and an annual court rite.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|access-date=2022-08-16|date=2018|editor-first=Edward N.|editor-last=Zalta|first=John|last=Krummel|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|title=Kūkai|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2018/entries/kukai/|encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Archive}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref>{{cite journal|access-date=2022-08-16|date=November 1989|doi=10.1086/463182|first=Charles D.|issn=0018-2710|journal=History of Religions|language=en|last=Orzech|number=2|pages=87–114|title=Seeing Chen-Yen Buddhism: Traditional Scholarship and the Vajrayāna in China|volume=29 |s2cid=162235701 |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/463182}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> On the image as a vehicle, [[Kūkai]] states:<ref name=":35" />
 
<blockquote>Indeed, the esoteric doctrines are so profound that they defy enunciation in writing. With the help of painting, however, their obscurities can be understood. Thus, the secrets of the sutras and commentaries can be described in art, and the essential truths of the esoteric teaching are all presented therein. Neither teachers nor students can do without it. Art is what reveals to us the state of perfection.<ref name=":35" /></blockquote>
 
[[File:The Secret Five Bodhisattvas (Gohimitsu Bosatsu) - Kamakura Period.png|left|thumb|''The Secret Five'' ("''Gohimitsu Bosatsu"'', 13th century): one of the most secret mandalas that Kūkai may also have brought from China. Used in rituals to convert negative aspects into positive ones. At the center Kongōsatta is the enlightened mind, and around it are the [[Bodhisattva|''bodhisattvas'']] representing the four human illusions, of non-duality.<ref name=":35" /><ref>{{cite web|date=2018-10-31|language=en|title=The Secret Five Bodhisattvas (Gohimitsu Bosatsu)|url=https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1961.423|website=Cleveland Museum of Art}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>]]
In calligraphic art, Kūkai performed correspondence between sound, the written form of the letter, and the images of reality that are embodied. Thus, ''monji'' in the form of calligraphy represents reality itself, of images and sounds, and expresses the eternal [[Dharma]], as forms and contents of Dainichi. He considers that everything is Dainichi, but that there are esoteric arts that are more Dainichi than others in degrees of perfection. For example, the Sanskrit sacred syllable A (''Ajikan''), toward which Kūkai recommends the practitioner visualizes their reality and themselves bending and unfolding, making the letter a symbol of Dainichi as the source of all things, and also of the uncreated, beyond Existence and [[Gorgias#On Non-Existence|Non-Existence]].<ref name=":36" />
 
Historians have traditionally considered the Tōmitsu branch as the "orthodox" one of Japanese tantrism, due to the relevance of Kūkai, but the Taimitsu tradition also developed some contributions to East Asian tantrism, such as their scholastic study of the concept of "esoteric" and its reformulation, seeking to categorize the esoteric teachings (''emmitsu itchi'') in a taxonomy. Moreover, they accomplished the creation of a third hermeneutic category between the Womb and Diamond Mandalas: the Lotus Mandala, which encompassed the previous two and was emblematic of non-duality and the overcoming of esoteric and exoteric. There were different levels of meaning in the scholastic classifications of the clerics, in which many of the esoteric teachings used non-esoteric teachings of the Mahayana traditions, and the esoteric and exoteric had some degree of identification.<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":63">{{cite book|chapter=Reconsidering the taxonomy of the esoteric: Hermeneutical and ritual practices of the Lotus Sutra|date=2015-04-22|editor1=Schard, Benhard |editor2=Teeuwen, Mark|first=Lucia|language=en|last=Dolce|publisher=Routledge|title=The Culture of Secrecy in Japanese Religion|isbn=978-1-134-16874-3 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Lk7lt70qDcC&pg=PA130}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
 
Thus, according to Lucia Dolce, a simple dichotomy between the esoteric and secret that is not esoteric is not possible, and the Taimitsu likely tried to build an alternative system of Mikkyō, based on the ideal of unity of esoteric and exoteric. There was a process of esotericization in medieval Japan, with constant alternations between esoteric and exoteric in ritual programs. As stated in the ''Keiran Shūyōshū'' (14th century), the secret meaning of the esoteric is found in multiple combinations of esoteric and non-esoteric elements, and the exoteric and esoteric are the same (''kenmitsu funi''). In the exegesis of the esoteric liturgies of the ''Lotus Sutra'', they are presented by the encyclopedist as the "secret within the exoteric-esoteric system" (''kenmitsu chū himitsu'').<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":63" />
 
In Japan, [[Ennin]] was the first to propose the idea of a doctrine above the conventions of distinguishing esoteric from exoteric, called the "great perfect teaching" (''ichidai engyō'').<ref name=":12">{{cite book|chapter=Godai'in Annen|date=2011|editor1=Orzech, Charles |editor2=Sørensen, Henrik H. |editor3=Payne, Richard|first1=Lucia|first2=Shinya|language=en|last1=Dolce|last2=Mano|publisher=BRILL|title=Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia|isbn=978-90-04-18491-6 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F0XNX3N1a2AC&pg=PA768}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
 
One of the great systematizers of esotericism, formalizer of Tendai esotericism, and definer of Japanese Buddhism beyond Kūkai was the monk Godai'in Annen, who considered esoteric to encompass all reality, all places, and all times, as he considered all the Buddhas of the world and their teachings to fall under the category of "esoteric Buddhism" (unlike what his predecessors claimed).<ref name=":12" />
 
There were beginnings of esotericization of other Japanese religions as well in the 8th century, such as from the practice of identifying ''[[Kami]]'' with buddhas-which esotericized the spirit worship of Shinto and mountain [[Asceticism]] - and through the influence of [[Onmyōdō]] ([[Yin and yang|Yin-Yang]]), which popularized incantations and esoteric prayers.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=The development of the ''kenmitsu'' system as Japan's medieval orthodoxy|date=2005|editor1=Williams, Paul|first=Toshio|language=en|last=Kuroda|publisher=Psychology Press|title=Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies|isbn=978-0-415-33226-2 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pgrZnmKUKtgC&pg=PA273}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
 
Dohan (12th-13th century) analyzed the diversity of approaches to the [[Pure Land Buddhism|Pure Land]] esotericism of his time.<ref>{{cite book|date=2023|first=Aaron P.|language=en|last=Proffitt|page=24|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|title=Esoteric Pure Land Buddhism|isbn=978-0-8248-9381-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gMaxEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT24}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
 
Esoteric Buddhism became the main discourse in the ideology of medieval Japan, and its conventional lineage attempted to "purify" itself of the sexual elements of Indian Tantrism. There were exceptions, however, as in [[Tachikawa-ryū]] and [[Muromachi period|Ryōbu Shintō]] (I-se tantric tradition), which incorporated the symbolism of mandalas as sexual polarities and mystical sexual union into rituals, as in the equivalency of Yin and Yang, Earth and Heaven, and Uterus and [[Vajra]] in I-se.<ref name=":9" /> A common theme of the Japanese tradition of secrecy is the depiction of deities as symbols of the invisible in contrast to visible figures, and thus this notion of transcendence was developed in the iconography of Japanese esoteric Buddhism in the form of "hidden buddhas" (''[[hibutsu|ibutsu]]''), which were removed in ritual occultation to an inner sanctum, evoking a secret nature of infinite power and potentiality.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=The elephant in the room: The cult of secrecy in Japanese Tantrism|date=2015-04-22|editor1=Schaid, Bernhard |editor2=Teeuwen, Mark|first=Bernard|language=en|last=Faure|publisher=Routledge|title=The Culture of Secrecy in Japanese Religion|isbn=978-1-134-16874-3 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Lk7lt70qDcC&pg=PA255}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
 
Another way that such a culture of secrecy and rhetoric of exoteric-esoteric was employed was in the Shinto interpretation of [[Yoshida Kanetomo]], who developed ritual practices that he considered to have been passed down since the age of the gods without any change. He claimed that the ''[[Kojiki]]'' and ''[[Nihon Shoki|Nihongi]]'' works were exoteric in comparison to the esoteric part that constituted his system of Yuiitso Shinto.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Conversions of Tantric Buddhist Ritual: The Yoshida Shintō ''Jūhachishintō'' Ritual|date=2012-01-27|editor1=Keul, István|first=Richard K.|language=en|last=Payne|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|title=Transformations and Transfer of Tantra in Asia and Beyond|isbn=978-3-11-025811-0 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=38gxbEft3-4C&pg=PA373}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
 
=== Tibet ===
{{Main article|Tibetan Buddhism}}
{{multiple image|direction=vertical|image1=Lukhang mural 3.png|caption1=Part of the [[Lukhang]] secret temple mural (18th century), depicting [[Anuyoga]] practices<ref>{{cite book|date=2000|first=Ian|language=en|last=Baker|publisher=Thames & Hudson|title=The Dalai Lama's Secret Temple: Tantric Wall Paintings from Tibet|isbn=978-0-500-51003-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-XphQgAACAAJ}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>|image2=Lukhang mural 18.png|caption2=Representation of the [[Tögal]] visions in Lukhang}}
 
The schools of [[Tibetan Buddhism]] share mostly the same exoteric themes and sutras, but differ in esoteric practices, such as adherence to certain Tantric masters and lineages. From the 11th century onwards, new Tantric texts and lineages arrived in Tibet and contributed to the formation of the New Schools (Sarma), mainly from the unconventional teachings of walking Tantric yogis (''[[mahasiddha]]s''), commentaries and esoteric manuals of meditators, and also by instructive spiritual poetry ''(nyams mgur''), such as the chants of [[Milarepa]].<ref name=":19" /> There was a reintroduction of sarma texts by the translator [[Rinchen Zangpo]] in the Tibetan Renaissance (ca. 950–1200) when a scheme for dividing tantras emerged.<ref name=":20" />
 
The New Schools also share many Tantricis teachings, such as ''Kalachakra Tantra'' and the Six Yogas of Naropa. There is great emphasis on esoteric meditation practices, involving body and consciousness control. Comprising Kagyu, Sakya, and Gelug, they divide esoteric literature into four classes, from lowest to highest according to initiation rite: ''Tantra of Action'' (''[[Kriyā]]''), ''Tantra of Conduct'' ([[Classes of Tantra in Tibetan Buddhism#Caryā|''Caryā'']]), ''Yoga Tantra'' ([[Classes of Tantra in Tibetan Buddhism#Yoga|Yoga]]), and ''Unsurpassable Yoga'' ([[Classes of Tantra in Tibetan Buddhism#Unsurpassable Yoga|Anuttarayoga]]), the latter being subdivided into "parent tantras" according to the aspect of Method (such as the ''[[Guhyasamāja Tantra]]''), and "mother tantras" according to the aspects of Wisdom (for example, the [[Hevajra|''Hevajra Tantra'']]). The [[Nyingma]] considers the first three categories, but in the end divides the Inner Tantras into [[Mahayoga]], [[Anuyoga]], and [[Dzogchen|Atiyoga]] (or Dzogchen).<ref name=":19" />
 
Most "secret teachings" in Tibetan Buddhism are transmitted orally.<ref>{{cite book|date=1995|first=Janet|language=en|last=Gyatso|publisher=University of California, Berkeley|title=A Literary Transmission of the Traditions of Thang-stong RGyal-po: A Study of Visionary Buddhism in Tibet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nuMKAAAAYAAJ&q=orally}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> The [[esoteric transmission]] happens according to the tantric model, from a teacher to a student during the empowerment ritual (''abhisheka''), with secrecy being protected through metaphorical language that requires interpretation and is secret in itself,<ref>Williams, Paul; Tribe, Anthony; Wynne, Alexander (2012). ''Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition''. United Kingdom: Routledge. pp. 198, 231</ref> because they are "secret" if they are told to people who have not received the teachings and without a context.<ref>Morreale, Don, ed. (1998). ''The Complete Guide to Buddhist America''. Shambhala Publications. {{ISBN|1-57062-270-1}}. p. 215</ref>
 
According to tradition, [[Mañjuśrīmitra]] considered the section of the ''Essential Precepts'' or ''Profound Methods'' (better known in English as ''Pith Instructions''), or ''[[Menngagde]]'' (''man ngag sde''), as one of the three classes into which the Dzogchen teachings are divided, the previous two being the ''Class of Mind'' (''[[Semde]]'') and ''Space'' (''[[Longdé]]'').<ref name=":40">{{cite book|date=2004-06-02|first=Philippe|language=es|last=Cornu|publisher=Ediciones AKAL|title=Diccionario Akal del Budismo|isbn=978-84-460-1771-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JZjYQSMOw8cC&pg=PA463}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=2022-08-17|language=en-US|title="Instruction Section (man ngag sde)". Glossary for Rangjung Yeshe Books|url=http://www.rangjung.com/glossary/|website=Rangjung Yeshe Publishing}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> [[Sri Singha]] is said to have arranged the teachings of the ''Essential Precepts'' into four cycles, in the ''Menngagde'' series, also referred to as ''Nyingthik'' (''snying thig'')<ref>Germano, David; Gyatso, Janet (2000). [https://books.google.com/books?id=hayV4o50eUEC "Longchenpa and the Possession of the Dakinis". In: White, David Gordon (ed.) (2001). ''Tantra in practice'']. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 240. {{ISBN|978-81-208-1778-4}}.</ref><ref>Van Schaik, Sam (2004). ''Approaching the Great Perfection: Simultaneous and Gradual Methods of Dzogchen Practice in the Longchen Nyingtig''. Wisdom Publications. {{ISBN|0-86171-370-2}}, p. 9</ref> or U''padeśa'':<ref name=":40" /><ref name=":41">Halkias, Georgios T. (2021). [https://www.academia.edu/45188380/%C5%9Ar%C4%AB_Si%E1%B9%83ha_s_Ultimate_Upade%C5%9Ba_Seven_Nails_that_Strike_the_Essence_of_Awakening «Śrī Siṃha’s Ultimate ''Upadeśa'': Seven Nails that Strike the Essence of Awakening»]. ''Illuminating the Dharma: Buddhist Studies in Honour of Venerable Professor KL Dhammajoti''. Hong Kong: Centre of Buddhist Studies, the University of Hong Kong.</ref> the Outer Cycle (''phyi skor''), the Inner Cycle (''nang skor)'', the Secret Cycle (''gsang skor''), and the Innermost Unexcelled Cycle (''yang gsang bla na med pa'i snying thig gi skor'').<ref name=":40" /><ref name=":41" />
[[File:Padmasambhava with Rainbow Body - 19th century Tibetan thangka.jpg|left|thumb|Padmasambhava with [[rainbow body]]. Tibetan thangka (19th century).]]
As [[Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje#Dudjom Rinpoche II's family|Dudjom Rinpoche]] explains, in Nyingma the third and final class, "Esoteric Instructional Class," is superior to the other two, and this is divided into three categories: "Random," "Oral Tradition," and "Teaching that Follows its Own Textual Tradition of the Tantras," which are also subdivided. The latter is considered the point of origin of the precepts and has several subdivisions, but which can be summarized in the four cycles of the "External Cycle that Resembles the Body," the "Internal Cycle that Resembles the Eyes," the "Secret Cycle that Resembles the Heart," and the "Unsurpassably Secret Cycle that Resembles the Perfection of the Whole."<ref>{{cite book|date=2012-07-23|language=en|last=Dudjom|publisher=Simon and Schuster|title=The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals and History|isbn=978-0-86171-734-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5DI6AwAAQBAJ}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
 
It is considered in traditional Nyingmas accounts that Sri Sringha transmitted the Eighteen Tantras of the Dzogchen to [[Padmasambhava]],<ref name=":41" /><ref>Kunsang, Erik Pema (tr.) (2006). ''Wellsprings of the Great Perfection''. Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications. p. 158</ref> however Tibetologists claim that the Vima Nyingthig Cycle (of which these tantras are a part) was composed by their alleged discoverer himself, [[Zhangton Tashi Dorje]],<ref>Germano, David; Gyatso, Janet (2000). "Longchenpa and the Possession of the Dakinis". In: White, David Gordon (ed.) (2001). ''Tantra in practice''. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 244.</ref><ref>Hatchell, Christopher (2014), ''Naked Seeing The Great Perfection, the Wheel of Time, and Visionary Buddhism in Renaissance Tibet'', Oxford University Press. p. 54</ref> and that the first historical figure attested to be associated with them was Chetsün Sengé Wangchuk in the 11th century.<ref>Germano, David F. (1994), [https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/view/8826/2733 "Architecture and Absence in the Secret Tantric History of rDzogs Chen"], ''The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies'', '''17''' (2): 203–335. p. 269</ref>
 
The historical Padmasambhava is primarily associated with Mahayoga, emphasizing not the early tantric cycles but the new movements, as in the more philosophically inclined ''Guhyagarbha Tantra''. One of his few attributed works that may be of his authorship is ''Man ngag lta ba'i phreng ba'' ("''Garland of Visions: A Collection of Esoteric Teachings''"), in which the presents a sequence of vehicles from the lower exoteric traditions to the major esoteric teachings and comments on the Guhyagarbha, which emphasized gnosis but encompassed the full range of mythic, contemplative, and philosophical rituals and topics as a classical tantra.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=The Seven Descents and the Early History of Rnying ma Transmissions|date=2002-01-01|editor1=Eimer, Helmut |editor2=Germano, David|first=David|language=en|last=Germano|location=Leiden|publisher=BRILL|series=Proceedings of the Tenth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, 2000|title=The Many Canons of Tibetan Buddhism|isbn=90-04-12595-7 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jubNIsX6P50C&pg=PA233}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
 
Bön folk traditions were indigenous to Tibet and also have esoteric transmission of ritualistic texts. There is a strong presence of spirit mediums, who claim to receive protective and ancestral deities, with effects such as personal transformation of the body and mind when incorporating the deity and performing cures, in a cultic form that was consolidated in the 10th century and continues today. Their doctrines underwent cultural and linguistic modifications in contact with Buddhists from the imperial period on, although a non-Buddhist substratum may predate centuries.<ref>{{cite book|date=2005-07-01|first=John|language=en|last=Bellezza|publisher=BRILL|title=Spirit-mediums, Sacred Mountains and Related Bon Textual Traditions in Upper Tibet: Calling Down the Gods|isbn=978-90-474-0751-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BoZSEAAAQBAJ}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> There is an esoteric ritual tradition in which a deified knife is used for demarcation of sacred boundaries, exorcism, killing, and subjugation of enemies, called Phurba or ''phur pa'', with several lineages.<ref name=":60">Jardins, Jean-Marc des (abril de 2012). [https://www.academia.edu/2385435/The_records_of_Tshul_khrims_mchog_rgyal_on_the_Black_Phur_pa_cycle_of_the_Tibetan_Bon_pos «The records of Tshul khrims mchog rgyal on the Black Phur pa cycle of the Tibetan Bon pos»]. ''Revue d'Études Tibétaines'' (23): 169–202</ref> Its texts and treasures have a form largely shared in the Bön and Nyingma traditions, without presenting much innovation.<ref>Mayer, Robert (2015). [https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/view/23447/17194 «''gTer ston'' and Tradent: Innovation and Conservation in Tibetan Treasure Literature»]. ''Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies''. '''36/37''' (2013/2014): 227–242</ref> The propagation of the teachings may occur with a set of ritual cards with small paintings of figures of deities and masters, and behind texts that are recited; they are usually presented by a [[hierophant]] to a restricted tantric circle.<ref name=":60" />
 
In Tibetan Buddhism, along with the incorporation of native deities, a complex system of demonology and [[Apotropaic magic|apotropaic]] rites developed, and spirits and deities were associated with [[Tibetan astrology]]. It is a shared tradition among the Bön and Buddhist priests that their exponents tamed local demons, which were transformed into protectors of Tibet, such as the Dharma Protectors ([[Dharmapala]]), and often still need to be continually placated. It is further said that Milarepa repelled Bön sorcerers.<ref name=":58" /> The pre-Buddhist use of oracles was also incorporated into Buddhist cosmology,<ref name=":58" /> and there are official mediums (''kuten'') that stand out, such as the [[Nechung Oracle]], used privately by the state and the [[Dalai Lama]], and the women oracles of [[Tenma goddesses|Tenma]], who served the Tibetan government but also attended to the public in mediumistic consultations in their homes.<ref name=":02">{{cite book|chapter=A Tibetan Female State Oracle|date=2002-01-01|editor1= Blezer, Henk |first=Hanna|language=en|last=Havnevik|publisher=BRILL|title=Tibet, Past and Present: Religion and secular culture in Tibet|isbn=90-04-12776-3 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6_f5xBtKYPgC&pg=PA263}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
 
There is a tradition of revelation of "treasures", in Tibetan called ''termas'' (''gter ma''), such as holy objects and text scrolls, which are thought to have been hidden by Padmasambhava, who would have foreseen challenges in the Tibetan future. They were supposedly destined to be found by the "treasure revealers": the ''[[tertön]]s''.<ref name=":48">{{cite book|date=2011-06-28|first=Sam van|language=en|last=Schaik|publisher=Yale University Press|title=Tibet: A History|isbn=978-0-300-15404-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=La1CWinaDR4C&pg=PA96}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> In this context of prophecy, the ''tertöns'' would remedy and rejuvenate Buddhism in periods considered to be degenerating. During the Mongol rule of Tibet, it was considered that it was not enough to physically unearth the hidden treasures, but that the revelator should recall the texts in his mind because he would have lived with Padmasambhava and received the teachings from him in a previous incarnation. Thus, a ''terma'' might simply be some fragment of a scroll, a statuette, or a rock with a letter on it, which would evoke the full recollection.<ref name=":48" /><ref name=":49" /> Others rely on the interpretation that these texts are in a "coded language of the [[Dakini]]" (''mkha' 'gro 'i brda' skad''), heavenly female figures who preserve and transmit the treasures, and whose understanding of the secret writing would require the sexual encounter of the practitioners.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Yoga in Tibet|date=2020-10-28|editor1=Newcombe, Suzanne |editor2=O’Brien-Kop, Karen|first=Naomi|language=en|last=Worth|location=Abingdon; New York|publisher=Routledge|title=Routledge Handbook of Yoga and Meditation Studies|isbn=978-1-351-05073-9 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hef5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT388}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> In the Nyingma lineage, sexuality plays an important role in deep memories of other lives: lamas usually marry and have children, their transmission lines are inherited in families, and, with rare exceptions, their ''tertöns'' have revealed treasures with a consort.<ref name=":49" />
 
Meditations are essential, involve preliminary theories and practices, and require [[deity yoga]]: reliance on a qualified master guide who grants the empowerments, instructions, and transmissions. The quintessence of all Old and New School Tantric meditations is the deity yoga.<ref name=":19" />
[[File:Shangpa White Khechari (Kachod Karmo) - 18th century Tibetan thangka.jpg|thumb|White Khechari, a form of [[Vajrayogini|Vajraiogini]] from the [[Shangpa Kagyu]] (18th century) secret lineage. Used in visualizations, of the union of bliss and emptiness that holds "a journey into the space of supreme unity," whereby transference of consciousness (''[[phowa]]'') occurs.<ref>{{cite book|date=2011-01-16|first=Sarah|language=en|last=Harding|publisher=Shambhala Publications|title=Niguma, Lady of Illusion|isbn=978-1-55939-740-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Di8tDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT294}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref>[[Jamgon Kongtrul]]. ''The Shangs-Pa Teaching. -gDams-mdzod dKar-chag 26B2-27B6.'' [http://www.yogichen.org/cw/cw38/bk106.html Tradução por Matthew Kapstein].</ref><ref>{{cite book|date=2022-06-14|first=Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro|language=en|last=Taye|publisher=Shambhala Publications|title=Shangpa Kagyu: The Tradition of Khyungpo Naljor, Part One: Essential Teachings of the Eight Practice Lineages of Tibet, Volume 11 (The Treasury of Precious Instructions)|isbn=978-1-61180-964-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SOFOEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA582}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>]]
[[Hatha yoga]] techniques were introduced from the doctrinal body of Tibetan Buddhism called ''Amṛtasiddhi'' (11th-12th century), which is considered in scholarly opinion to be the source text of the subsequent Indian tradition. It is in it that one first finds the description of practices such as ''[[mahamudra]]'' - however, the Indian Buddhist tantra ''Guhyasamāja'' had already used the word ''haṭhayoga'' to refer to the way of forcefully inducing noetic views (''[[Darshan (Indian religions)|darśanam]]'') and acquiring "perfection of knowledge" (''jñānasiddhi'') and [[Enlightenment in Buddhism|enlightenment]]. "Haṭha" also appears in the ''Kalachakra Tantra''. In 966, Puṇḍarīka,defined Hatha yoga as a means of concentrating the vital energy (''prāṇavāyu'') and the seminal essences (''bindu'') in the central channel (''[[nadi]]'') of the body, engendering the beatific adamantine body of Buddha within one's anatomy, as well as the attainment of an unalterable awareness of perception. Later, the Kagyu master Nyenton Chökyi Sherap elaborated on these foundational practices of Amṛtasiddhi, and the transformative bodily exercises came to be called Tibetan [[Trul khor]] (''rtsa rlung 'khrul 'khor'').<ref>Baker, Ian (2017). [http://www.bhutanstudies.org.bt/publicationFiles/ConferenceProceedings/Mandala%2021st%20Century/11%20Yoga%20and%20Physical%20Culture%20in%20Vajrayana%20Buddhism%20By%20Lan.pdf «Yoga and Physical Culture in Vajrayāna Buddhism and Dzogchen, with special reference to Tertön Pema Lingpa’s ‘Secret Key to the Winds and Channels’»]. In: Ura, Dasho Karma; Penjore, Dorji; Dem, Chhimi (ed.). ''Mandala of 21st Century Perspectives: Proceedings of the International Conference on Tradition and Innovation in Vajrayana Buddhism''. pp. 54-101.</ref>
 
In the mid-10th century, the reception of the Mahayoga and Yogīnitantras (such as the ''Hevajra Tantra'') was viewed with doubts as to authenticity by King [[Yeshe-Ö]] of the kingdom of [[Guge]], as described in a eulogy by his nephew: "the hidden meaning of the secret mantra was vitiated and corrupted by the practice of the rites of 'sexual union,' 'liberation,' and 'offering tshogs.'" So he sent Rinchen Zangpo to Kashmir to verify their orthodoxy, who found in 975 that these transgressive texts were accepted by Buddhist communities in that region of India. Even so, the royal family continued trying to reform Buddhism in Western Tibet. It was with the arrival of the Indian monk [[Atiśa]] that there was more acceptance. His works described how the considered practices could not be practiced by monks, only by laymen, because the former would violate the value of celibacy. This, however, created the problem of excluding them from the "greater knowledge". In a flexible way to the Tibetan context, one solution propagated by Atiśa to such practices that were considered [[Antinomianism|antinomian]] was the ritual viewing of images of sexuality and violence, without performing them literally. Soon after Atiśa, [[Abhayakaragupta]] stated that advanced monks could perform rituals with a royal consort (''[[karmamudrā]]''), while evil people should stick to the visualized "gnostic consort" (''jñānamudrā'').<ref>{{cite journal|access-date=2022-08-16|date=March 2020|doi=10.3390/rel11030136|first=David B.|issn=2077-1444|journal=Religions|language=en|last=Gray|number=3|title=The Visualization of the Secret: Atiśa's Contribution to the Internalization of Tantric Sexual Practices|url=https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/3/136/pdf|volume=11 |page=136 |doi-access=free }}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
 
The practice of having a "secret consort" (''sangyum'' or ''gsang yum''), considered transgressive in the early medieval centuries, has become routine in public and conventional discourse in Tibetan culture. The possibility of a male consort is admitted, but reports are generally made about female consorts in relation to a tantric master. Consorts are revered and an equality in the couple's fulfilling role is considered. Some Western feminist scholars consider the practice to have arisen in an androcentric environment, while others consider it to confer gynocentric importance and to be empowering for the feminine in the local context. However, in current times this association of secrecy and sexuality has become controversial again, due to the possibility of sexual abuse, as in scandals of denunciations to Buddhist masters that have emerged in the 20th and 21st century. The [[14th Dalai Lama]] has stated on the issue of secrecy that "it is worth disclosing these things" to make "a clear distinction [between] what the true Buddhist teachings are [and] the behavior of that individual," and that there should be communication for correction of behavior and any wrong actions. Along these lines, other Buddhist authorities have also talked about procedures for reporting and removal when there is a breach of the samaia vows in the teacher-student relationship.<ref>{{cite journal|date=2018-06-01|doi=10.3390/rel9060179|first=Holly|issn=2077-1444|journal=Religions|last=Gayley|number=6|pages=179|title=Revisiting the "Secret Consort" (''gsang yum'') in Tibetan Buddhism|volume=9 | doi-access=free }}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
 
== See also ==
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