Centre for Tantric Studies

In July 2009, more than forty scholars and graduate students gathered in Pondicherry, at the east coast of India, to attend the Second International Workshop on Early Tantra, which was hosted by the École française d’Extrême-Orient centre. In the morning, reading sessions took place in the EFEO library, while the afternoons were dedicated to presentations, each followed by various contributions and lively discussions.

In the first week (July 20-24), reading sessions focused on the following texts:
• The Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā (session headed by Prof. Alexis Sanderson)
• The Mañjuśriyamūlakalpa (session headed by Dr. Martin Delhey).
• A Sanskrit commentary on the Trisamayarājatantra, and the Kalyāṇakāmadhenu (session headed by Prof. Harunaga Isaacson).

The afternoons saw the following presentations (handouts made available by permission of the speakers):
• Dr. Dominic Goodall: On the tattvas in the Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā.
• Prof. Alexis Sanderson: How Buddhist is the Herukābhidhānatantra?.
• Dr. Diwakar Acharya: Glimpses of early Vaiṣṇavism in the Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā and the Svāyambhuvapāñcarātra
• Prof. Harunaga Isaacson: The Buddhist Kriyātantras and their exegesis: the Trisamayarājatantraṭīkā and the Kalyāṇakāmadhenu.
• Dr. Martin Delhey: Miscellaneous Remarks on the Mañjuśriyamūlakalpa.

Readings in the second week (July 27-31) concentrated on the Brahmayāmala, with additional sessions on the Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā and the Mañjuśriyamūlakalpa. In the afternoons, the following presentations were held:
• Dr. Csaba Kiss: The category of the sādhaka in the Brahmayāmalatantra.
• Dr. Judit Törszök: The alphabet goddess Mātṛkā in some early Śaiva tantras.
• Dr. Shaman Hatley: Clans of the goddesses: kulabheda in the Brahmayāmalatantra.
• Dr. Peter Bisschop: A 12th-century (?) Vārāṇasīmāhātmya and its account of a hypethral Yoginī temple.
• Diwakar Acharya: Fragments of Palm-leaves and Tidbits of Evidence: A report of some otherwise unknown Bhūta- and Gāruḍa-Tantras.
• Nirajan Kafle: The rewriting of the Niśvāsamukha to create part of the Śivadharmasaṅgraha.

Two classes relating to tantric studies are being taught in the winter semester (2008–2009) at the AAI, University of Hamburg:

• Lektüre buddhistischer und schivaitischer Tantra-Literatur (Prof. Harunaga Isaacson)
• Philology and Codicology (Prof. Harunaga Isaacson)

In addition, the program held in conjunction with the Buddhism and Human Rights Symposium, co-convened by Dr. Carmen Meinert, offers sessions and lectures related to Tibetan Vajrayāna:

• Nov. 22, 1.30 pm: Conference Panel — Tibet/Vajrayāna (Chair: Prof. Jan-Ulrich Sobisch, Carola Roloff; Discussants: Patrick French, Helmut Steckel)
• Jan. 12, 6.00 pm: Tibet/Vajrayāna: Verhältnis religiöser und staatlicher Ordnungsvorstellungen in Tibet (T.B.A.)

The First International Workshop on Early Tantra was successfully held in Kathmandu, Nepal, from 15th to 26th September, 2008, bringing together over twenty-five participants from twelve countries.

The Workshop, consisting of readings in the morning sessions and presentations in the afternoons, was convened in connection with the Early Tantra project, which explores the interrelationships and ritual syntax of Śaiva, Buddhist, Vaiṣṇava and Saura tantric traditions in their formative period.

There were two public presentations, the first given by Prof. Alexis Sanderson (Oxford), summarising his work on ‘The Śaiva Age’, a study of Śaivism’s rise to prominence and its relationship with other religious currents during the early medieval period. The second public presentation, scheduled for the workshop’s closing session, was given by Péter-Dániel Szántó, and discussed various aspects of the Catuṣpīṭhatantra.

• For further information on the Workshop, please see our brief report.