Abstract
A single Sanskrit commentary exists for the Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇatantra—the Padmāvatī of Mahāsukhavajra—the only palm-leaf witness of which is preserved in a late thirteenth-century manuscript in Kathmandu. The tantra is relatively late, unmentioned outside Nepal (and Tibet), and the only in-depth study to date examines only the first eight of its twenty five chapters. No study or edition of the Padmāvatī exists. Here we present the first edition and translation of a complete chapter, the sixth paṭala, a section dealing mainly with transgressive sexual practices. Some of the ideas and pragmatic details presented by the author, Mahāsukhavajra, are unique in Vajrayāna literature.
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References
Unpublished
Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇatantra — draft critical edition by Wiesiek Mical from (A) Royal Asiatic Society London, Hodgson no. 46, ff. 46 palm-leaf, incomplete, undated, ca. 14th c.; (B) National Archives Kathmandu 3-687 = Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project A 994/4, ff. 48 palm-leaf, complete, dated Nepālasamvat 547 = 1427 ce; (Gt) Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen, Xc 14/43-45, ff. 47 palm-leaf, incomplete, undated, perhaps 13th or 14th c.; and the Padmāvatī Ms.
Cittaviśuddhiprakaraṇa — (Baroda transcript) Oriental Institute Baroda, Acc. No. 13288, ff. 6 paper, incomplete, undated, modern.
Mahāmudrātilaka — (Ms) draft critical edition by Péter-Dániel Szántó from the codex unicus, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz Orientabteilung Hs. or. 8711, ff. 57 paper, complete, dated Nepālasamvat 947 = 1827 ce from an exemplar dated Nepālasamvat 324 = 1204 ce.
Padminī — (Ms) Buddhist Library Nagoya, Takaoka CA 17, ff. 49 paper, complete, dated Nepālasamvat 762 = 1642 ce.
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Grimes, S., Szántó, PD. Mahāsukhavajra’s Padmāvatī Commentary on the Sixth Chapter of the Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇatantra: The Sexual Practices of a Tantric Buddhist Yogī and His Consort. J Indian Philos 46, 649–693 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-018-9357-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-018-9357-3