Proto-Tantric elements in Buddhism
A Buddhist dhāraṇī (incantation), the Nilaṇṭhanāmahṛdaya
dhāraṇī, in Siddham Script with Chinese transliteration
Kushan sculpture of a yakṣiṇī (2nd century), Mathura region
Pre-tantric Buddhism contains elements which could be seen as proto-tantric, and which may have
influenced the development of the Buddhist Tantric tradition. The use of magical chants or
incantations can be found in the early Buddhist texts as well as in some Mahayana sutras.[76] These
magical spells or chants were used for various reasons, such as for protection, and for the generation
of auspiciousness.[77] Mahayana incantations are called dhāraṇīs. Some Mahayana sutras incorporate
the use of mantras, a central feature of tantric practice.
According to Geoffrey Samuel, sramana groups like the Buddhists and Jains were associated with the
dead. Samuel notes that they "frequently settled at sites associated with the dead and seem to have
taken over a significant role in relation to the spirits of the dead." To step into this realm required
entering a dangerous and impure supernatural realm from the Indian perspective. This association
with death remains a feature of modern Buddhism, and in Buddhist countries today, Buddhist monks
and other ritual specialists are in charge of the dead.[78] Thus, the association of tantric practitioners
with charnel grounds and death imagery is preceded by early Buddhist contact with these sites of the
dead.
Some scholars think that the development of tantra may have been influenced by the cults of nature
spirit-deities like Yakṣas and Nagas.[79] Yakṣa cults were an important part of early Buddhism. Yakṣas
are powerful nature spirits which were sometimes seen as guardians or protectors.[80] Yakṣas like
Kubera are also associated with magical incantations. Kubera is said to have provided the Buddhist
sangha with protection spells in the Āṭānāṭiya Sutta.[81] These spirit deities also included numerous
female deities (yakṣiṇī) that can be found depicted in major Buddhist sites like Sanchi and Bharhut. In
early Buddhist texts there is also mention of fierce demon like deities called rākṣasa and rākṣasī, like
the children-eating Hārītī.[82] They are also present in Mahayana texts, such as in Chapter 26 of the
Lotus Sutra which includes a dialogue between the Buddha and a group of rākṣasīs, who swear to
uphold and protect the sutra. These figures also teach magical dhāraṇīs to protect followers of the
Lotus Sutra.[83]
A key element of Buddhist Tantric practice is the visualization of deities in meditation. This practice is
actually found in pre-tantric Buddhist texts as well. In Mahayana sutras like the Pratyutpanna
Samādhi and the three Amitabha Pure land sutras.[84] There are other Mahāyāna sutras which contain
what may be called "proto-tantric" material such as the Gandavyuha and the Dasabhumika which
might have served as a source for the imagery found in later Tantric texts.[85] According to Samuel,
the Golden Light Sutra (c. 5th century at the latest) contains what could be seen as a proto-mandala.
In the second chapter, a bodhisattva has a vision of "a vast building made of beryl and with divine
jewels and celestial perfumes. Four lotus-seats appear in the four directions, with four Buddhas
seated upon them: Aksobhya in the East, Ratnaketu in the South, Amitayus in the West and
Dundubhīśvara in the North."[86]
A series of artwork discovered in Gandhara, in modern-day Pakistan, dating from about the 1st
century CE, show Buddhist and Hindu monks holding skulls.[87] The legend corresponding to these
artworks is found in Buddhist texts, and describes monks "who tap skulls and forecast the future
rebirths of the person to whom that skull belonged".[87][88] According to Robert Brown, these Buddhist
skull-tapping reliefs suggest that tantric practices may have been in vogue by the 1st century CE.[87]
