Tibetan Mandalas : Vajravali and Tantra-Samuccaya

Contents: Introduction-I. Literature cited. 1. Mandala of (25 deity Guhya-samaja-] Manjuvajra. 2. Mandala of [9 deity] Pindikrama Aksobhya. 3. Mandala of [37 deity] Samputatantra Vajrasattva. 4. Mandala of Jnanadakini. 5. Mandala of 17 deity Hevajra. 6. Mandala of Nairatma. 7. Mandala of Vajramrta. 8. Mandala of 9 deity of Heruka. 9. Mandala of Mahamaya. 10. Mandala of 9 deity Buddhakapala. 11. Mandala of Vajrahumkara. 12. Mandala of Sambara. 13. Mandala of [25 deity] Buddhakapala. 14. Mandala of Yogambara. 15. Mandala of Yamari. 16. Mandala of Vajratara. 17. Mandala of Marici. 18. Mandala of Pancaraksa. 19. Mandala of Vajradhatu-[Vairocana]. 20. Mandala of 43 deity [Vairocana] Manjuvajra. 21. Mandala of Dharmadhatuvagisvara. 22. Mandala of Durgatiparisodhana. 23. Mandala of Bhutadamara. 24. Mandala of Pancadaka. 25. Mandala of Satcakravarti. 26. Mandala of Kalacakra. Supplementary mandalas: 27. Mandala of the 13 deity Vajraksobhya. 28. Mandala of the 13 deity Sri-Vajrabhairava. 29. Mandala of the 62 deity Samvara according to Luyipada. 30. Mandala of the 33 deity Bhutadamara Vajrapani. 31. Mandala of the 9 deity Jinasagara Avalokitesvara. 32. Mandala of the 29 deity Usnisasitatapatra. 33. Mandala of Amitayus. 34. Mandala of 9 deity Usnisavijaya. Index of names of deities. Mandalas of the Tantra-Samuccaya: 1. Introduction-II. 2. List of 139 mandalas.

"This book comprises two major series of mandalas : (i) of the Vajravali, detailed in the Nispanna-yogavali, and (ii) of the Rgyud-sde kun-btus or Tantra-samuccaya.

The first series goes back to Abhayakaragupta who lived in the eleventh century at the Vikramasila university. He wrote a general manual of Tantric liturgy by the name of Vajravali where he referred to 26 main mandalas. They were later detailed by him in his Nispannayogavali in 26 chapters. This great Siddha is practically unknown in India, but the Tibetans adore and venerate him as a saint of the first magnitude. The blue annals 2: 1046 record that, Acarya Abhaya was endowed with a mind free of illusions in regard to any of the systems of the Prajna-paramita or Tantra, from the lesser sciences (rig-gnas phra-mo) to the Anuttara-Yoga-Tantra. In the fifteenth century, Kun dgah bzan po, the founder of the Nor monastery invited Nepalese artists to embellish its chapels. His biography mentions that he had Nepalese iconographists delineate the complete mandalas of the Vajravali supplemented by the three mandalas described in the Kriyasamuccaya of Darpanacarya, besides a number of other series of thankas. The Vajravali mandalas have been painted on walls and canvasses for the last eight centuries. In the present volume the 26 mandalas are illustrated and identified. Their variations are also delineated. They are followed by eight more mandalas which are prevalent in Tibet. They were printed in Beijing in 1938 when the Panchen Lama Blo-bzan-thub-bstan-chos-kyi-ni-ma conducted ceremonies. These Beijing mandalas have been reproduced in this volume for the first time.

These line drawings of the mandalas are unique materials for the study of Buddhist art in Tibet, China, Japan, India and Indonesia. They are the basis of Sadhana. The evocation of the divine with liturgical instruments like the Ghanta, Vajra, etc. accompanied by Mantras, Dharanis, Stotras, Japas, Dhyanas and the Bijas has been accomplished with the formantic aid of an image -- a visible projection of the spiritual. With the rise of the esoteric Tantras came into being their complex symbols -- the mandalas with their iconographic affluence and with a cosmic multiplicity -- a veritable psychocosmogram. Initiation (seka or abhiseka) into the mandala became the summum of the Tantric adept trying to identify of himself with the origin beyond time and space.

This volume is of interest to specialists in the History of art, Religion, Anthropology, Cultural sciences, Indology. Buddhism, Tibetology, Mongolistics, Sinology and and allied fields."