This is the first in a two-volume annotated translation of Tsong Khapa's "Illumination of the Hidden Meaning" ( "sbas don kun sel"). A magnificent and massive commentary on the "Cakrasamvara Tantra," this is first English translation of a work that marks a milestone in the Tibetan assimilation of the Indian Buddhist tantras.

This first volume, which includes Tsong Khapa's detailed introduction to chapters 1 to 24 of the 51 chapter root tantra, covers the history of the tradition, its interpretation, and a range of topics including the construction of the mandala, the consecration therein, and the decoding of mantras and their ritual applications, as well as extensive details concerning the clans of the yoginis and the procedures to win their favor. David B. Gray situates the work in context and explores in depth the sources used in composing this commentary. He also provides detailed notes, a trilingual English-Tibetan-Sanskrit glossary, and an appendix that includes a translation and a critical edition of the "Laghusamvaratantrapatalabhisandhi," a synopsis of the "Cakrasamvara Tantra" composed by Sumatikirti, which is quoted in its entirety by Tsong Khapa in his commentary. This work will be followed by a second volume of the annotated translation subtitled "Yogic Vows, Conduct, and Ritual Praxis (An Annotated Translation of Chapters 25-51)" and a third volume that will include a critical edition of the entire Tibetan text.

Published by American Institute of Buddhist Studies (AIBS)

The tantric Buddhist traditions emerged in India beginning in the seventh century CE and flourished there until the demise of Buddhism in India circa the fifteenth century. These traditions were disseminated to Central, East, and Southeast Asia, and continue to be practiced, most notably in Nepal, Tibet and Japan, as well as in the numerous Tibetan traditions disseminated around the world by Tibetan masters living in diaspora. The central scriptures for these traditions were generally designated by the term tantra. Tantras are works that purport to relate secret teachings of the buddhas that enable awakening in as short as one lifetime. As such they are understood by their advocates to be the inspired speech of a buddha, and hence worthy of inclusion in the canons of Buddhist traditions. Over the past twenty years there has been considerable growth in the study of tantras as well as translations of these works into Western languages. This volume provides a detailed introduction to the Buddhist tantras. It addresses their development in India, their dissemination to Central, East and Southeast Asia, and their reception in these contexts. It introduces the key teachings in the tantras, as well as the history of their interpretation, and their connection to traditions of ritual, and contemplative practices. It also introduces the classification of the tantras and their place in Buddhist scriptural canons. It concludes with a look at the transgressive rhetoric that characterizes many of the tantras, the impact this had on their dissemination and translation, and the ways in which Buddhists explained this. It suggests that transgressive rhetoric and practices served an important role in Buddhist tantric traditions, which may be why they persist despite the challenges they have presented to the dissemination of these traditions.

Tantric traditions in both Buddhism and Hinduism are thriving throughout Asia and in Asian diasporic communities around the world, yet they have been largely ignored by Western scholars until now. This collection of original essays fills this gap by examining the ways in which Tantric Buddhist traditions have changed over time and distance as they have spread across cultural boundaries in Asia. The book is divided into three sections dedicated to South Asia, Central Asia, and East and Southeast Asia. The essays cover such topics as the changing ideal of masculinity in Buddhist literature, the controversy triggered by the transmission of the Indian Buddhist deity Heruka to Tibet in the 10th century, and the evolution of a Chinese Buddhist Tantric tradition in the form of the True Buddha School. The book as a whole addresses complex and contested categories in the field of religious studies, including the concept of syncretism and the various ways that the change and transformation of religious traditions can be described and articulated. The authors, leading scholars in Tantric studies, draw on a wide array of methodologies from the fields of history, anthropology, art history, and sociology. Tantric Traditions in Transmission and Translation is groundbreaking in its attempt to look past religious, linguistic, and cultural boundaries.

This volume fills the void created by the lack of a book-length, critical, and systematic treatment of ecological attitudes and behaviors. It emphasizes psychometrics and experimentation within a broad behavioral-cognitive framework focused on the natural world. Gray summarizes and integrates existing research and reviews major alternative approaches to measuring ecological attitudes, while presenting his own ecological attitude domain model. Russell Weigel and Richard Borden provide state-of-the-art reviews of the research on the relationship between ecological attitudes and actions and on the linkage between personality and ecological concern. Gray himself integrates the theoretical perspectives of social psychologists Milton Rokeach and Martin Fishbein in his construction of a paradigm for ecological change. Using this as background, he reviews existing behavioral studies, differentiating between those that rely on information and those that use reinforcement to produce a desired change in behavior. Finally, he suggests that the key to large-scale change is the creation of a true environmental ethic in our society.