The Tantra of the Great Ganapati - Ganesh in Tibet by Christopher Wilkinson S.U.N.Y.-libre

Publishedby State University of New Ytrrk Pre'ss,Albany

FOREWO

C)1991State University of Ncw Yrrk

ACKNOW All rights rcscrvcd

NOTE ON Prirrtcd in thc Urritcd Statesof Atle ricn No perrtof this book may bc ttsed or rcproduced in any manner whatsocvcr without written pcrmission cxccpt in the caseof bricf cluotationscmboclied in critical articlesand revicws.

Intro

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For information, addressStatc University oi Ncw Vrrk ['rcss, Statc Univcrsity Plaz;t,Albany, N.Y., 122'16 \

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Production by Marilyn Semeracl Marketingby Dana E. Yanulavich

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Library of CongressCataloging-in-Publication Data Ctrnesh: sttrdiesof an Asit-rrrgod / editcd by Robcrt L. Browrr. ( S U N Y s er i c s i n t ; r n t r i cs t u d i e s ) p. cm. I n c l u d e si n d e x . - ISUN 0-7e14-0657-l(pbk.) ISIIN 0-7914-06s6-3. ( l d e i t y ) 2 . A s i a l { e l i g i o n . l . l J r o w t r ,R o b c r tL . , I i n d u l. Ganeia Il. Scries. 1 9 4 4O c t . 6 8Lr225.C34G37 19el 90-46163 294.5'2113 dc20

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Contents FOREWORD -4.

K. Naroirt

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ACKNOWLEDCMENTS

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NOTEON TRANSLITERAf ION

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lntroduction -Rtrlrt'r-f L. Ilrouttt

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l. Cane6a: A Prokrhistory of thc Idca and thc lcon -A. K. Nnrnin 19 2. Ctrnc6a: Myth ancl Reality M. K. Dhnwlitur

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3. Caneria'sRisc to Prominence in Sanskrit Litcrature Lrtdo ll.orlttr 69 -I'he 4. Cancfa.rs Metaphor: Mrrrlrrr/rr I)uritm -Plrtlllis Cnrtrlf lt5 5. Irnagesof Canc6a in Jainisnr -Mnrttti NatdunTra'rlriarrcl KortmlCiri

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90-46163 CIP

6. The Wivt-s of Clar-resa - LsiL'rttn't'Colrt'rr

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7. "Vatapi Ganapatit.n":Sculptural, Rretic, irnclMusical Tl'xts in a Hymrr kr Caneia Atrry Catlirt 141 8. Canefa in SoutheastAsinn Art: lnclian Connectionsand Incligenous Dcvekrpme.nts -Rtlrcrt L. Broutrr 171 9.

'['lre Tantric Carre'Sa: TL'xtsl)rcservec]in thc l'ibetan Canon Christtt1lrr Wilkitrsorr 235

10. Gane6a in Chintr: Methods of Transforrning the Demonic -Lca'ls R. Lancastcr 277 1l . Literarv Aspects oi Japtrn'sDual-(ltrnejtr Cult - Jnntt's H. Sntrford 287 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS INDEX

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T t all starte I showed m on the Indothe deity tha the trunk wa private and p a c c e - p t e idt a firstly becau ondly becau issue such a ' matter reste ButI di of some coin ghanistanbe fied as Vasud I went throui image the be cles among tl piction of Inc Thxila to Vidi not the last o to the local el I was afraid t on him. Nev not known tc were not nur lection of coir

9 The ThntricGaneSa:TextsPreservedin the Tibetan Canon Wilkinson Christopher

I. Introduction and the Texts a4e6ais a deity who began his careerin India and subsequently spread his influence throughout Asia, including Tibet. There are thirty texts in the Tibetan Buddhist canon of direct interest for the study of Ga4eSa.All of these texts were composed in "lndian" languages,presumably sanskrit or some Prakrit, and it isperhaps only in their Tibetan translations that these texts survive today.There is also a significant postcanonical development of Ganesa in the schoolsof Tibetan Buddhism, and the practicesassociatedwith Gane6aas a Buddhist Tantric deity survive up to this day. The intention of this article is to present a representative sampling of the canonicalliterature related to Gane6ain English translation. Fifteen of the thirty texts concerned with Gane6a are translated below. Time and space prevent the translation of all the texts, and the same restrictions prevent a study of the postcanonical development of Ga4e6a. Furthermore, I have foregone any extensive critical discussion. The historical section (section II) on the authors and translators has been added by Robert L. Brown, primarily from information supplied by Tim Shaw. Otherwise, the translations stand on their own. Hopefully, they will provide a major new source for scholars working on Gape6a. All thirty of the canonical texts relating to Gape6apresent him in a Thntric character. There is, however, no attempt in any of the texts to make claim to any particular classof Tantra. Ga4e6ais presented as a deity from whom food, wealth, sex, and supernatural attainments may be received by the practitioner. Ganeda'srelationship with Mahadeva, better known as

235

236 CfuistoTthcrWilkinson siva, is admitted in some of the texts, yet the predominant tendency is to identify Galesa as ar-remanation of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. This may suggest that an attempt was made to strip Gane6a of his non_-Brrddhist treiitage'und incorporate him fully into the Buddhist pantheon- It also perhaps ieflects the fendency to asstlciate Avalokite6vara and Siva in later Buddhism. It may, finally, and as evidenced by a number of essaysin this book, indicate that Gapesawas originally not a Buddhist, Hindu, or Jaina equally intcl all madeity, but rather an Indian deity who was incorpt'rratecl jor Indian religions. The follSrt ajnn uinianrta ganapati sadhnna,dPal Tshogskyi bDag po ' lur gegs Sel bs Shesbva ba'i sGrub thabs.(Peking #4563). Au. Indrabhuti. Trans. Diparhkara6rijnana, rCya brTson'grus Seng ge. Canapatisadhannmalulcskrunatut, Tshogsktli bDag ptt i sCruh thnbs'khor Io Chen po Shesb11n ba. (Peking #4972). Au. Avadhuti-pa (Avadhttapada). Trans. Diparhkarasrijnana, Tshul khrims rGyal ba. >Viniryaknrajn sndhann,llGr',qsktli rgynl ptt'i scrult thalts. (Peking #4973). Au. Nag-po sPyod pa pa. Trans. Gayadhara, 'Od zer. Zlaba't ja sadhnna V inoynkara , bGegs kyi rcyal yntbscrub 1ta'ithnbs.(Peking #4976). Au. Nag po pa. Trans. Cayadhara, Zlaba'i'Od zer. [Readings diffenfrom Pc-king#4973.1 Sunipuns nahadeaauignarajnsndhano,Shin to Mrlur ba'i Lha Clrcn7rohGagskyi rcyal po'i sGrubthsbs.(Peking #49fll). Au. Diparhkara. Suhdlu dtz,tunnhiaighn ztishnlrnjs sndhsun,Shin tu Myur bo'i L,hnhGegs Chen yt Srt ganapati6onti sadhans,dPal Tslrogskyi bDug ptt Shi ba'i scrub thabs.(Peking #4986). Au. Jo bo. 'Phogs Anla gnnapaticintaratnafsadhanol, 1taTshogskyi bDag po Y id ltzhitr Norbu'i sGr ubt hnhs.(Pe'king# 4987).Au. Nag po pa. Ganapntiguhrla sttdhanl, Tshogskt/i L,Dngpo'i gSangbq'i sGrub f /rcbs.(Peking # a990).Au. Dipa rirkaraj nana. krli bDot Mahaganapatidhututriknrsktn uqiikarasndhnna,Ts/ro.qs 1toChenpo Khans gsum dbAng sDud dMur po'i sGrub tlutbs.(Peking, #4992). Au. Cantapa. Trans. dPal Vairocana of India, Chos kyi Grags pa.

238 Christoyiru Wilkittson 23. Krodhuganapatisndhsrrtt,Tslrogskyi bDag po Khro bo'i sGrult thahs.(Peking #a99\. Au. gSer gling pa (Suvarnadvipa). 24. >Ghanspati samayaguhya ssdhana,TsftogskyibDag po Dam Tshig gSangba'i bscr ub f/ra&s.(Peking # a995). Au. Canakirti. Trans. Vairocana,Chos kyi Grags pa. G. Praises(stotro,stttti) 'Phags 25. > Arya gonapati ragaaajrasaftwy(rstotrtt, ytaTshogskyi bDag 1toChagspa rDo rjc'i Dam tshig gi bs'fLtdpn. (Peking # 4 5 6 7 ) . A u . D i p a r h k a r a S r i j n a n a .T r a n s . D i p a r h k a r a S rijnana, Tshul khrims rGyal ba. 'Phags 26. > Artla ganapatistuti, pa Ts^fttrqs kyi hDag po Ia bsTitdpa. (Pe_king#4977). Au. Nag po Zhabs. 'Phags po Tshttgskqi bDag po la bsTttdpa. 27. > Artla ga4aputistuti, (Peking #4989). Au. Nag po Zhabs. fldentical to Peking

#4977.1 28. >Ca1apsti stotrs, TshogskVi bDag pLtla bs'fttdpa. (Peking #4991). Ar-r.Amoghavajra. 29. >Knmeittnrs sttttrs,'Dttd pa'i dbAng phyuggi ltsTitdpa. (Pe.king #499i3). Au. Candapa. H. The precious elephant text 30. > Hasfi rstna dlmns dcyLtpodc1o , gLarrypo Rin ptt chcla Nor bLang ba'iMan Ngng. (Peking#4971). Au. klu grub (Nagdrjuna).

II. A Note on the Authors and Tianslators of the Gane6a Texts Most of the authors and translators of the thirty Tibetan texts that deal with Gane5aand that are listed above can be identified. The earliest anong the authors appear to have lived in the eighth and ninth centuries a . o . T h e s e i n c l u d e s u c h w r i t e r s a s S r r D i p a r h k a r a b h a d r a( d P a l M a r m e mdzad bazng po) (author of Ganapatisadhnnadnridrs nidhiyradnnann, our no. 9), an Indian monk who wrote some thirty-nine tantrika treatisesand was activein the Bengaland Bihar area of lndia in the late eighth and early n i n t h c e n t u r i e s . rA s e c o n d e i g h t h - c e n t u r y m o n k , A m o g h a v a j r a , w h c r wrote the Ganayrti sfolra translated below (no. 28), is one of the most famous Indian Tantric teachers.He, along with his equally famous teacher, Vajrabodhi, translated many important Thntric texts into Chinese; Amoghavajra is particularly known for his Chinese translation of the Thttrasarugraha.2Another monk on our list with a well-known name, Nagarjuna, au-

The ThntricGsneia 239 Khrohtt'i sGrub 'rarnadvipa). yi hDagptoDant . Au. Canakirti.

gs pn Tslrogsktli lod pa. (Peking DrparhkaraS'g po la hsTitdpa. g po la hsTtdpa. ticalto Peking titdpa. (Peking ;Todytn.(Peking

chela NorhLong (Nagarjuna).

retantexts that :d. The earliest rrinthcenturies r(dPaM l ar me ryndaninn, our .atreatisesand ghth and early ; h a v a j r a ,w h o rf the most faLmousteacher, --hinese;Amothe Tnttuasair 'lagarjuna,au-

thor of the precious elephant text translated below (no. 30), is probably Arya Nagarjuna rather than the earlier and even more famous Nagarjuna who founded the Madyamika school. Arya Nagarjuna lived in the seventh or eighth centuries and was a student of Saraha, who taught at Nalanda. It appears that Nagarjuna's own student, Nagabodhi, was the teacher of Vajrabodhi and thus of Amoghavajra, mentioned above.3It is also possible that with this text, and perhaps others, we are dealing with a later text that was legitimized with the name of an earlier famous author. The latest dates for the authors of these texts corresponds to the dates they were translated arrd introduced into'Iibet, the tenth arrd eleventh centuries. Here again we have authors who are well known and who often are related as teacher-pupil. Jnanavajra(Yeshes rDo rje), for example, author of Vinayakngraha rirmocana (no.7 translated below), was from East Bengal and lived in the late tenth and eleventh century. He has numerous names, as did many of the Thntric monks, a practice due to their r e c e i v i n g n e w n a m e s w i t h e a c h m a s t e r i n g o f a s e t o f t e a c h i n g so r d o c trines, usually under diiferent teachers.''Jrianavajra'sother uames include Advaya-j na n av aira, Ad vayavaj ra, Ma i tripa, Mai trigu pta, a nd Avadu ti-pa. s sttdhnrur Avaduti-pa is listed as the author of no. 13 ot'tour list, tlre Gn4a1tnti mahacokranamo, and thus both treatises on Gape6a (nos. 7 and 13)are probably by the same person. Avaclhuti-pa is associatedspecifically with the important Vikrama6ila Monastery in Bihar and was a teacherof AtiSa.o It is Ati6a's name that appears most frequently on our list, both as an autlror and a translator. Atisa, nnder his name' Diparhkara6rijnana, is listed as the author of text number 21, as both the authclr and translator of text number 25, Arya gona1urtiragnuttjrassma1ttsilitra (translated below), and as the translator of four other texts (nos. 10, 11,12 [translated below], and 13).?Jo-bo (no. 19) is another natne for him. He is also mentiorred as bringing with him to Tibet the longest of our translated texts, the MohaganapntiThutrn,which, being spoken by the Buddha, is not given an author's name. Ati6a's life is well documented, although the sources do not agree in many details. He was born at the end clf the tenth century to a royal family, probably in Bengal,8and frorn boyhood proceeded to study with a seriesof teachers,ultimately mastering teachingsof various schools and most areas of Buddhist knowledge. His constant movement and search for new teachers and doctrines is typical of the monks who wrote the Cane6atexts;perhaps of most interest was that AtiSa'ssearchtook him to Southeast Asia to study with acaryaDharmakirti (Dharmapala) of Suvarnadvipa. It is thought that Suvarnadvipa, literally "Land or Island of Gold," a name used for a varic'ty of Southeast Asian locations over a very long period of time, was in the eleventh century a reference to the maritime

240 Christophu Wilkinsott kingdom of Srivijaya, located somewhere in Sumatra, Malaysia, and peninsular Thailand. Ati6a studied with Dharmakirti for over a decade before returning to Inclia around 1025when he became the heacl Qtwhnsthauira)of the VikramaSila Monastery. Ati6a's fame continued to grow, and he was 'Od-lde asked by King of Tibet (the kingdom of mNa'ris in western Tibet) to come to his country and teach. Arriving in7042, Ati6a worked on translating-in collaboration with his Tibetan disciple Nag tsho Tshul khrims rGyal ba, who is listed as cotranslatclr of four of the Gane6a texts - Sanskrit texts into Tibetan." We know Ati6a translated works of his teacher, Dharmakrrti,r0 who, under his name Suvanradvipa (gSer ling pa)-an obvious refererrceto his SoutheastAsian location-is given as writing text number 23 on our list, Krodnhganapatisndharu. AtiSa was involved in translating five of the twelve Gane6a texts tbr which we have translators named. A second Indian teacher, Gayadhara, 'Otl zer, are res;)onsiblefor analong with his Tibetan colleague,Zlaba'i other four of the twelve (nos. 3, 4, 74,and 15-all translated here except 15). Gayadhara, a contemporary of Ati6a, was active in the first half of the e-leventhcentury and visited Tibet sevc-raltimes. His collaborator,Zlaba'i 'Od zer, is well known as the first translator of the KalacskrsThntra. The four works they have translatc.dall have authclrs whose names are vari.rtions of Krsna: Nag propa, Nag po zhabs, and Nag po sPyod pa pa. The authors of texts numhers 20,26, and27 on ()ur list have Krsna names as well; thus, there are seven Gane6a texts by authors with names that are variants of Krsna. Some of these writers are probably tlre samc.person. Unfortunately, however, Krsna is a common Tibetan name for tantrikas and siddhas. One likely canciidatewould be Krsna the Elder, an expert on trrsmnktwho lived in the ninth the Hevajra Thntra and author of the Vr,qara century.'r Another would be Krsnapada, one of Ati5a's teachers(and thus l i v i n g i n t h e r - l e v e n t hc e n t u r y ) w l r o , a l o n g w i t h A t i s a ' s T i b e t a n p u p i l , . t2 Tshul khrims rGyal ba, tran slated C;rndrakirti's Madhyamakauatarn The final two translators,Vairoczlnaand Chos kyi Grags pa, are listed as translating together two works (nos. 22 and 24, the later translated beIow), while Vairocana is listeclas sole translator of text number 17.Here., based on the identification of the translator of text number 17 as Vairocarra of KoSala,and assuming the other two Vairocanasare the same person, we can probably iclentify him as Vairoczrnarakgita, another contemporary of A t i 6 a , w h o s e c a r e e r p a r a l l e l sA t i 6 a ' s i n m a n y w a y s . H e w a s c o n s t a n t l y moving, studying with new teachers, and conquering new doctrines. Only a partial review shows hirn moving from his home in southern India to western India, then to Magadha, to Varanasi, to Nalanda, and to Vikra-

ma6ila. even is s, Ih; texts, bu was a sr erature t the most The won ing and, dian mo: ings outt As lators is ,

orinap study w. mized b shouldp the honc er's writi trine or r most hi1 teachers but, by t

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mgntrat formed Thntra,it and mut a traditi as the " 'gy bKa' no trans

The ThntricGqLteitt 241 FSia,and pendecadebefore 'ahasthrrtir0) of v, and he was vesternTibet) rkedon transTshulkhrims t texts- SanLakirti,Iowho, ferenceto his 23on t>urlist, ne5atc.xtsfor , Gayadhtrra, nsible for anJ here e.xcept rst half of the rator,Zla ba'i a Thntra.The res are variad pa pa. The ;nanames as mes that are ameperson. for tantrikas an experton in the ninth :rs (and thus retanpupil, utqra.t: pa,are listed anslated berer 17.Here, asVairocana l person, we rmporary of i constantlV trines.Only ern Inclia tc'r rd to Vikra-

ma6ila. His teachers include most of the famous pandits of his time; he even is said to have gone to China.'l I have not mentioned all of the authors and translators of the Gane6a texts, but we now can draw certain conclusions. One point is that there was a small number of monks and adepts who introducecl the Ga4eSa literature to Tibet. In addition, these translators and teachers were among the most famous arrd important practiticlners of Thntric Buddhism in Tibet. T'he worship of Garre6awas cle.arlyan acceptedaspect of Buddhist teaching and doctrine of the time, and reflects practices at such important Indian monasteriesas Nalanda and VikramaSila.'aas well as Tantric teachings outside of Indiar,as in China and SoutheastAsia. A second point that relatesto the small number of authors and translators is that they were often corrnected,either in a teacher-pupil lineage or in a parallel process studying with the same teachers.Their desire to study with famous teacherskept them in constant peregrination, epitom i z e d b y A t i 6 a ' s t r i p t o S o u t h e a s tA s i a t o s t u d y w i t h D h a r m a k i r t i . W e should probably see here a desire to meet, to actually be in the presenceof, the honored teacher.We can assumc-that these authors knew one another's writings, and those on which they were based, regardlessof the dclct r i n e r l r s c h o o l t h e y p r o f e s s e d .A g a i n , C a n e 6 a ' sa c c e p t a n c ea m o n g t h i s m o s t I r i g h l y l e a r n e d a n d s o p h i s t i f a t e d g r o u p o f p r e e n . r i n e n tB u c l c l h i s t teachers helps us to understand that he was not a god tlf the periphery, but, by the eighth century, was a Buddhist deity of importance.

III. The Tianslations A. Tbxtsfrom thebKa

'gyur

'liailslntiotts (bKs of thc Prtnrourtccnrctrts There are two texts irr tlle 'gyur). is irr the format of a The first presented here, the GonapntihrdorTa, traditional Mahaydna sutra. The role Ganapati plays in this text is that of a mediator between Br"rddhistand rron-Buddhisttraditions, fbr by using the m n n t r a c o n t a i n e d i n t h e t e x t , r r o n - B u d c l h i s tc e r e m o n i e ' sc a n b e t r a n s formed into Buddhist ones. Tlre second text presented, the Mahagarurpati Thntrs,is clearly a collectionof various rites and descriptions of Ga4apati and must be a compilation. The text does not presentitself in the format of a traditional Buddhist Thntra, ancl it leavesout such characteristicfeaturcs as tlre "'Ihus have I once hearcl" at the be'ginning.Being containeclin the 'gyur, bKa' the presumed author of both texts is the Bucldha himseli, and no translatorsare menticlned.

tl

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242 ChristoaherWilkinson In the Indian language: Aryaga4apatihqdaya In the Tibetan language: 'Phags pn Tshogs kyi bDag po'i sNying po lln the English language: The Essenceof Ganapati'l Homage to all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas! Thus have I once heard: T h e B l e s s e dO n e w a s d w e l l i n g i n R a j a g r i h a t o g e t h e r w i t h a g r e a t community of 1,250monks and of Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas.At that time t h e B l e s s e dO n e s p o k c t o t h e v e r r e r a b l eA n a n d a : " O A n a n d a , t h e t a s k so f of Ga4apati-Ganeiaara will all be acanyone who comprehends the Esse,Tce complished. One's wishes are fulfilled by comprehendingit; and every mantrq will bring attalnment: "TnfulathalNamostutemahagannpatarle sualnl Ory kntakatol Msta malal Dara darnl Vidara uidaral Hana hnnal Grihna grihnal Dhaus dhaunl Bharyjahhanjal Starybhnstsmbhallarybhajambhal M