The Encyclopedia of World Religions

438 S Tantrism

in cosmic processes. Tantrism often deliberately transgresses limits and inverts established orders. As a result, other traditions have at times looked upon it with disdain. HISTORY It is generally difficult to write a history of reli gions in India. It is even more difficult to write a history of Tantrism. Tantrism has generally been practiced in secret. Tantrism may have its roots in local, popular practices. Hindu and Buddhist Tantrism seem to have come into existence in India by the end of the sixth century C . E . During the next one thou sand years, Hindu Tantrism was at its height. Its practitioners wrote important Tantric texts, such as Tantras (handbooks of doctrine), Agamas ( RITUAL manuals), and Samhitas (collections). These texts use Sanskrit, the language of learned BRAHMINS . Therefore, Tantrism probably developed among the religious elite. Temples built during this period also reveal prominent Tantric influence. The famous temples at Khajuraho (950–1050 C . E .) are good examples. By about 1500 Tantrism was beginning to lose its creativity. But in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Europeans and North Americans started taking an interest in Hindu Tantrism. Their interest stimulated a minor revival in India. In Buddhism, Tantrism is seen as a specific yana or “vehicle,” the Vajrayana, “Diamond Vehi cle,” or Mantrayana, “Mantra Vehicle.” Vajrayana was common in India during the eighth century when Buddhism spread from India to Tibet. It became the dominant religion of Tibet ( see T IBETAN RELIGION ). That country eventually housed a vast store of Buddhist Tantric texts. Vajrayana was also exported to China. In fact, some of the earliest Bud dhist Tantric writings are in Chinese. From China Kukai took Tantric Buddhism to Japan. There it became Shingon, a school still popular today. BELIEFS Because it is a movement found in several dif ferent religious contexts, Tantrism does not have a single coherent body of thought. Furthermore,

the repeated occurrences of ordinary life. Unlike the B IBLE , the Mishnah has very little to say about historical events. After the Mishnah was compiled, rabbis dis cussed and debated its meanings. The Talmud— Hebrew for “study”—contains the results of their discussions. It follows the organization of the Mishnah, taking up and exploring each topic in turn. At times it seems as if the rabbis are entirely off the subject. At others it seems as if they are trying to split the finest of hairs. In any case, their discussions testify to an intense, intellectual ethos in which it was just as religious to study the law as to observe it. There are two “recensions” or versions of the Talmud. The Jerusalem Talmud was compiled in Galilee, despite its name, during the fifth century C . E . It comments on 39 of the 63 tractates in the Mishnah. The Babylonian Talmud was compiled in Babylonia, today Iraq, around 600 C . E . It comments on 37 tractates. The two overlap considerably, so not every tractate of the Mishnah has Talmudic commentary associated with it. The Jerusalem Talmud limits itself more narrowly to explaining the Mishnah and resolving apparent contradictions in it. The Babylonian Talmud also contains essays that comment on the Bible. Since about the year 1000 the Babylonian Talmud has been considered authoritative. As a result, scholars have studied the Jerusalem Talmud less. In the 18th century, legal restrictions against Jews began to be eliminated, and Jews began to participate in the life of the broader societies in which they live. As a result, Talmudic study no longer has the impact it did when the rabbis were the legal experts and judges for self-sufficient Jew ish communities. Nevertheless, Talmudic study remains an important means of communing with God. Tantrism A movement in H INDUISM , B UDDHISM , and to a lesser extent J AINISM . The basic goal of Tantrism is to appropriate the creative energies of the universe. To reach this goal, practitioners visualize cosmic powers and ritually participate