The Gathering of Intentions

Autorentext
Jacob P. Dalton is Khyentse Foundation Distinguished Professor in Tibetan Buddhism at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of The Taming of the Demons: Violence and Liberation in Tibetan Buddhism (2011) and Conjuring the Buddha: Ritual Manuals in Early Tantric Buddhism (Columbia, 2023).

Klappentext

The Gathering of Intentions reads a single Tibetan Buddhist ritual system through the movements of Tibetan history, revealing the social and material dimensions of an ostensibly timeless tradition.

Zusammenfassung
The Gathering of Intentions reads a single Tibetan Buddhist ritual system through the movements of Tibetan history, revealing the social and material dimensions of an ostensibly timeless tradition. By subjecting tantric practice to historical analysis, the book offers new insight into the origins of Tibetan Buddhism, the formation of its canons, the emergence of new lineages and ceremonies, and modern efforts to revitalize the religion by returning to its mythic origins.

The ritual system explored in this volume is based on the Gathering of Intentions Sutra, the fundamental "root tantra" of the Anuyoga class of teachings belonging to the Nyingma ("Ancient") school of Tibetan Buddhism. Proceeding chronologically from the ninth century to the present, each chapter features a Tibetan author negotiating a perceived gap between the original root textthe Gathering of Intentionsand the lived religious or political concerns of his day. These ongoing tensions underscore the significance of Tibet's elaborate esoteric ritual systems, which have persisted for centuries, evolving in response to historical conditions. Rather than overlook practice in favor of philosophical concerns, this volume prioritizes Tibetan Buddhism's ritual systems for a richer portrait of the tradition.

Inhalt
Preface
Introduction

1. Origins: Myth and History
2. The Gathering of Intentions in Early Tibetan Tantra
3. The Spoken Teachings
4. The Rise of the Sutra Initiation
5. Dorjé Drak and the Formation of a New Lineage
6. The Mindröling Tradition
7. Returns to the Origin
   Appendix: The Four Root Tantras of Anuyoga
   Notes
   Glossary
   Bibliography
   Index