| Zusammenfassung: | The main focus in the research that has been conducted in this project lay in the text-critical analysis of the surviving Sanskrit works of the Hevajra tradition that is associated with the Indian mahāsiddha Saroruhavajra. The project comprises the critical edition of the texts, the first and careful analysis of the teachings contained therein and the annotated English translation. It is the firs... The main focus in the research that has been conducted in this project lay in the text-critical analysis of the surviving Sanskrit works of the Hevajra tradition that is associated with the Indian mahāsiddha Saroruhavajra. The project comprises the critical edition of the texts, the first and careful analysis of the teachings contained therein and the annotated English translation. It is the first, and to this day perhaps most detailed study of an entire transmission lineage of the Hevajra Cycle. Taking into account both Sanskrit and Tibetan primary sources, the outcome of this project lays out the textual basis for further research in this field of scholarship (keyword: "Grundlagenforschung", i.e. 'basic / fundamental research').
Apart from several improvements of the editio princeps of Saroruha's Hevajrasādhanopāyikā (HeSāU) that has been published in Dhīḥ vol. 36 (see part I), and apart from further refinements of the yet unpublished first edition of Rāhulagupta's Hevajraprakāśa (see part IV), two further editiones principes are provided in the outcome of this research, namely Jālandhari's Vajrapradīpā (see part II) and Bhadrapāda's Dveṣavajrasādhana (see part III). These editions of the Sanskrit texts are presented together with the semi-critical editions of their Tibetan canonical translations. The annotated English translations offer a first discussion of the manifold research problems and points of doubt. Further textual material, such as the Tibetan hagiographic account of Saroruha's life by Sa chen Kun dga' sñiṅ po (CE 1092-1158), his outline of the HeSāU and the Tibetan commentary of the HeSāU by his son bSod nams rtse mo (CE 1142-1182), as well as a preliminary edition of Saroruha's Śrīhevajrabhaṭṭārakasya Cakraviṃśatikāstotra are provided in the appendices of this work, hopefully facilitating further research of this tradition.
Saroruhavajra's Hevajra-Lineage :
In addition to this, and apart from promoting further research in the field of Buddhist studies by making the surviving texts of this important tradition of the Hevajra available to a broader audience, the results of this project partly reveal the underlying philosophical tenets of the authors and the soteriological methods employed in this tradition, including the integration of key concepts of abhidharma thought into the practice of the mantranaya. The results also shed first light on the tradition's differences from other lineages within the Hevajra Cycle, including the influences on and from other buddhist and non-buddhist tantric systems, most significantly the influence of key elements of the teachings of the Ārya-school of the Guhyasamāja System on this tradition of the Hevajra, but also its own influence on other tantric traditions such as on the practice of the Ekajaṭā.
The results further reveal important evidence of the succession of this transmi- ssion lineage (see The Authors, their Lives and Works) which, combined with the information from other sources such as the lineage histories from the lam 'bras tradition, allow us to carefully estimate the authors' lifetimes to the middle or late ninth century to eleventh century of the Common Era. |
