Jianfu Lu

Dhāraṇīyāna is a tradition of the esoteric Buddhism, based on faith in Dhāraṇī (ritual speech formulas similar to mantras), which represents the earliest stage in the development of the esoteric Buddhism. Esoteric Buddhism, often called Tantric Buddhism, is the school of Buddhism, which appeared during the latest stages of the history of the Indian Buddhism. Buddhists in China and Tibet understood the concept of Esoteric Buddhism differently; the usage of this term in the western scholarship also differs from that in the East. In the Tibetan Buddhism, the Esoteric Buddhism is known as “Tantra” and is divided into four classes: Kryā tantra, Caryā tantra, Yogā tantra, and Anuttara Yogā Tantra. Western scholars often based their definition of the Esoteric Buddhism on this classification and called it “Tantra” or “Tantric Buddhism.”

Scholars developed the concept of the “Esoteric Buddhism” in order to distinguish between the Esoteric Buddhism in the tradition of Chinese Buddhism, and the Tantric Buddhism of the India-Tibetan Buddhist origin. According to the Chinese Buddhist sources, the concept of the “three secrets” has been developed in its full form by the 8th century. We think that the history of the Esoteric Buddhism could be described as gradual formation of the tradition based on the “three secrets.” It has been originated in tradition of using techniques of dhāraṇī inside the Mahāyāna Buddhism. Thus the earliest Esoteric Buddhism was a school centered around dhāraṇī, but of all “ three secrets” only the secret of speech was present (Dhāraṇiyāna), therefore this earliest version of the Esoteric Buddhism could only be referred to as the primeval Esoteric Buddhism. Later, mudras has been added and the new system of the Esoteric Buddhism has been developed – the Vidyādhārayāna, the system which included the “secret of body” and represented by the text named Vidyādhāra-piṭakaṃ. Finally, yoga meditation (the secret of mind) has been formed and the so-called Mantrayāna has been established. Thus, the process of formation of the full system of the Esoteric Buddhism has been finished.

In this research, I shall develop the concept of Dhāraṇīyāna as the primeval form of the Esoteric Buddhism. This project will take full advantage of using early Chinese translations of the Buddhist texts and compare it with later Tibetan and Sanskrit sources. In the research, I shall define the meaning of the concept of dhāraṇī and track its evolution, explain the differences between dhāraṇī and other forms of speech formulas (vidyā, mantra, pada etc.) and connections between them, shall study functions and significance of the forms of dhāraṇī in the Mahāyāna school and other forms of dhāraṇī (dhāraṇī-mukha, dharma-pada etc.) and explain influence of Dhāraṇīyāna on the later Esoteric and Tantric Buddhism.