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300 Pages·2013·7.83 MB·English

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CONTENTS
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Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
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The Land of Kashmir
The Saivism of Kashmir and Kashmiri Saivism
Abhinavagupta and the Flowering of Trika Saivism

Tantra, Kashmiri Saivism and Kashmiri Society
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in the Eleventh Century

The Philosophy of Recognition and the Doctrine
Iof Vibration
JThe Doctrine of Vibration
Notes on Methodology and Synopsis of Contents
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Chapter I The Integral Monism of Kashmiri Saivism 33
Saiva Idealism
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Kashmiri Saiva Realism
AChapter II Light and Awareness: The Two Aspects 59
of Consciousness
Prakasa: The Light of Consciousness
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Self-Awareness and Consciousness
Awareness and the Integral Nature of the Absolute
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Chapter HI Spanda: The Universal Activity of Abnolutt 11
Consciousness
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Three Moments in the Vibration of Connciouimcss
The Conative Power of Consciousness
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The Cognitive Power of Consciousness
The Power of Action
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Chapter IV Siva and Sakti 99
Sankara
The Nature of Sakti
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Chapter V Sakti Cakra: The Wheel of Energies 117
The Wheel of Vamesvari
The Wheel of thDe Senses
Chapter VI The Divine Body and the Sacred Circle 139
of the Senses

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Chapter VII The Path to Liberation 163

The Means to Realisation
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No-Means (Anupaya)
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The Divine Means (Sambhavopaya)
The Empowered Means (Saktopaya)
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The Individual Means (Anavopaya)
Abbreviations 219
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Notes 221
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Bibliography 269
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Index 281
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Introduction
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The Land of Kashmir
The ancient Himalaya n kingdom of Kashmir is now part of the
province of Jammu and Kashmir situated in the extreme northwest of
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India. The heart of modern Kashmir is, as it was in the past, the wide
and fertile valley of t he river Vitasta. Set at an altitude of five thousand
feet, the valley's beautiful lakes and temperate climate nowadays attract
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tourists in large numbers during the summer months when temperatures
rise high into theJ forties Centigrade on the North Indian plains. Although
most of the population is at present Muslim, before the advent of Islam in
the thirteenth century, Kashmir enjoyed an unparalleled reputation as a
centre of leHarning amongst both Buddhists and Hindus. Kashmiris
excelled not only in religious studies but also in the secular fields of
Sanskrit literature, literary criticism and grammar as well as the sciences,
including medicine, astronomy and mathematics. They had a uniquely
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realistic sense of history clearly evidenced in Kalhana's twelfth century
chronicle of the kings of Kashmir, the Rqjataranginl, which is virtually
the only history of its kind in India.
ARemarkable as Kashmir has been as a seat of Hindu spirituality
and learning, it was no less so as a centre of Buddhism. Possibly
introduced into Kashmir as early as the third century B.C., Buddhism
had already developed there to such a degree by the first century of our era
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that the Kushan king, Kaniska, chose Kashmir as the venue of a major
Buddhist Council. It was a huge gathering, attended by more than five
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2 THE DOCTRINE OF VIBRATION
hundred Buddhist monks and scholars. The previously Puncodified
portions of the Buddha's discourses and the theoretical portion of the
canon (the Abhidharma) were codified and the rest extensively revised.
The entire early canon, the Tripifaka, was then inscribed on copper
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plates and deposited in a stupa. In the centuries that followed most forms
of Indian Buddhism flourished in Kashmir. Of the early schools the
Sarvastivada was particularly well developed. Similarly, the schools of
the Great Vehicle, both those of the Middle Way anRd the idealist Yogacara,
were taught and practiced extensively. Kashmir also produced many fine
Buddhist logicians in the line of Dirinaga and Dharmaklrti, amongst
whom Vinltadeva and Dharmottaracarya, who lived in the eighth century,
are the most famous. .
The borders of Kashmir at that time extended further west beyond
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the roads to Asia which ran through the Swat and Chitral valleys in
Gilgit. For this reason Kashmir was the first to make a substantial
contribution to the spread of Buddhism in Central Asia, which began
about the fourth century A.D. and travelled along these routes. Many
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Buddhists, attracted by Kashmir's reputation, came from distant lands
to learn Sanskrit and train as translators and teachers. One of the earliest
and most brilliant was Kumarajiva (334-413 A.D.). Born into an
aristocratic family of the C entral Asian kingdom of Khotan, he came to
Kashmir in his youth and learnt there the scriptures of the Great Vehicle
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from Bandhudatta. He then went to China, where he lived and worked
for the rest of his life, translating Buddhist scriptures. The Kashmiri

Buddhabhadra, his contemporary, did the same. Yoga teachers like
Dharmabhiksu attIracted a large number of Chinese and Kashmiri
students at the end of the fifth century when there was a growing foreign
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interest in Buddhist Yoga. It was also during this period that the Kashmiri
Buddhasena translated a major work of the idealist Buddhist Yogacara
school—theH Yogacarabhumi—into Chine.se for the first time. In
631 A.D., Hsiian Tsang, one of China's most famous Buddhist pilgrims,
came to study in Kashmir leaving us an account of his two-year stay
which eloquently testifies to Buddhism's popularity and influence.
TSuch was Kashmir's reputation that it was from here that Tibet
originally chose to receive its religion. The first king of Tibet, Srong-bcan-
sgampo, sent Thon-mi Sambhota to Kashmir during the reign of
ADurlabhavardhana (616 A.D.). He learnt Sanskrit from Devatltasimha
and returned to Tibet with a modified thirty-letter version of the
Kashmiri script.1 Kashmir continued to play a role in the transmission
of Buddhism from India into Tiber although other routes (particularly
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through Nepal) later became more important. By the eleventh century,
when the Kashmiri Saiva schools were reaching the peak of their
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Introduction 3
development, Kashmir was also, as Tucci says, "one of the plPaces where
Buddhism prospered most, even if not as state religion, certainly as the
home of the greatest scholars and exegetes of the time."2
The rich spiritual and intellectual climate of Kashmir helped to
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foster an important and far reaching development that affected every
aspect of Indian religious life, namely, Tantra. About the middle of the
first millennium of our era, Tantra began to assume a clearly defined,
although immensely varied, identity through Rthe emergence of vast
corpuses of sacred literature that defined themselves specifically as
Tantric. There can be no doubt, despite the fragmentary and as yet
poorly researched evidence, that Kashmir was an important centre of a
wide range of Tantric cults, both Hindu .and Buddhist. Many famous
Buddhist Tantric teachers lived in or near Kashmir at that time. Naropa
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and even Padmasambhava (who is said to have introduced Tantric
Buddhism into Tibet) sometimes figure in Tibetan sources as Kashmiris.3
Ua'tfiyana (Tibetan: U-rgyan), important as Padmasambhava's birth-
place and as a major centre of TDantric Buddhism and Hinduism, may
well have been located in the nearby Swat valley.
Both of Tantra's major Hindu streams, one centred on the worship
of Visnu and the other on Siva, evolved a bewildering number of Tantric
cults, some large others s mall. Kashmir contributed substantially to
these developments not only on the Saiva side but also on the Vaisnava.
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Indeed, the earliest known references drawn from Vaisnava Tantric
sources are found in the writings of Kashmiris.4 Nowadays the form of
Vaisnavism that looks to these scriptures as authoritative, namely, the
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Pancaratra, survives only in South India; however, the earliest Southern
teachers of this Jschool looked to Kashmir as one of their oldest seats of
learning and spiritual culture.5 But although the worship of Visnu,
whether performed according to the norms prescribed by the Tantras
or otherwisHe, was certainly an important feature of Kashmiri religious
life and was patronised extensively by the Hindu kings of the valley,
even so, Saivism remained, on the whole, the dominant form of Hinduism.
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The Saivism of Kashmir and Kashmiri Saivism
AWe know very little of the origins of Saivism in Kashmir, although
tradition testifies to its antiquity in this part of India. The written
records confirm that it has always occupied an important place in the
religious life of Kashmir. Thus Kalhana records (possibly from earlier
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chronicles) the existence of an already ancient temple dedicated to
Siva in emperor Asoka's time. Although this is hardly possible, as
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4 THE DOCTRINE OF VIBRATION
temples were not constructed in India as early as the third cenPtury B.C.,
this reference illustrates the then6 common Kashmiri belief in Saivisrrfs
ancient presence in Kashmir.7 Certainly the many newly constructed
temples, as well as the old ones renovated throughout the period covered
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in Kalhana's history, testify to Saivism's continuing popularity. In the
early ninth century A.D., when the first Kashmiri Saiva works were
written, there were numerous Saiva groups in the valley of Kashmir.
Amongst them were those that came to form a paRrt of what we nowadays
call Kashmiri Saivism of which the Spanda school, whose teachings
we are concerned with here, was the first development.
All these Saiva groups, diverse though they were, accepted the Saiva
Tantras (also known as Agamas) as their. scriptural authority. Some
groups would look to one section of the Agamas, others to another.
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They thus ordered themselves quite naturally into lineages of Tantric
masters who initiated disciples into the rituals and other practices of
their chosen Tantras. We know of the existence of these Tantric sub-
cultures not only from epigraphDic and other sources including other
Hindu scriptures, particularly the Puranas, but also from the Agamas
themselves. Although the Agamas are all considered to be divine
revelation and hence, in a sense, eternal, they do nonetheless reflect
the growth of these Saiva groups for they not only studied them but
also contributed to them. Thus, one way in which we can understand
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how these groups are related is to see how the Saiva Tantras have ordered
themselves in relation to one another. The brief account that follows
of the Saiva canon8 will hopefully serve to indicate in broad terms how
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the Saiva groups that have contributed to the formation of Kashmiri
Saivism are relaJted to Tantric Saivism as a whole. According to an
important system of classification we find in the Agamas themselves,
they can be divided into the following sections.
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Saivasiddhanta. The Agamas generally agree that there are twenty-eight
principal Siddhantagamas and about two hundred Saiva scriptures
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(called Upagamas) affiliated to them.9 All the main Agamas, and
many of the secondary ones, are still extant in South India, although
only a relatively small number have as yet been edited from the manuscript
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sources. The cults of these Agamas are largely concerned with the
worship of Sadasiva which is generally conducted in public temples and
is centred on the Linga, Sadasiva's phallic symbol. Descriptions of the
Ntemples, Linga and iconic forms of the gods and goddesses of the
Siddhanta constitute an important part of these Agamas. They also
deal extensively with the rituals related to them. These include the
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Introduction 5
regular daily rites as well as occasional ones such as coPnsecration
ceremonies and festivals. Other important rituals are those that concern
the initiation of the neophyte into this form of Saivism or the priesthood.
The Agamas are primarily concerned with ritual and devote relatively
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little space to philosophical matters or even yoga. Even so, the philo-
sophical standpoint of these Tantras can, broadly speaking, be said
to be a dualism of a more or less tempered form although not one
consistently maintained throughout them. ThRe homonymous philo-
sophical school inspired by these Agamas, however, ultimately developed
a well defined dualism, according to which there are three basic realities,
namely, Siva (pati\ the fettered soul (pasu) and the factors that bind
it (pdsa). The Kashmiri Saiva tradition. records that the founder of
dualist Saivism was called Amardaka. This name recurs in inscriptions
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and other sources as that of an important founder figure believed to have
lived in the eighth century. This Amardaka had predecessors and so
cannot really be said to have founded this branch of Saivism; even so,
he is important as the founder Dof a major Siddhanta monastic centre
(ma(ha). This centre, named Amardaka after its founder, was located
in Ujjain. Purandara, Amardaka's successor, also founded a Siddhanta
order, namely, the Mattamayura. This order was named after the
capital of the Calukya em pire in the Punjab where its headquarters
were located. A third important order was the Madhumateya founded
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by Pavanasiva to which belonged the royal preceptors of the Kalacuri
kings of Central India.

Siddhanta ascetics, full of missionary zeal, used the influence of
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their royal patrons to propagate their teachings in the neighbouring
kingdoms, especJially in South India. From the oldest capital of the
Calukyas, Mattamayura, they established monasteries in Mahara§tra,
the Konkan, Karnafaka, Andhra and Kerala. The Siddhanta flourished
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in the areas where it spread, until it was devastated by the Muslim
invasions, which started in the eleventh century, or supplanted by
other forms of Hinduism. It survived, however, in South India where
it changed its medium of expression from Sanskrit to Tamil in which
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form it is better known and persists to this day.10 Although Saiva-
siddhanta survives at present only in South India, we know that a
number of the earliest commentators of the Agamas and important
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authors of independent works expounding the philosophy of the
Siddhanta were Kashmiris.11 Monist Kashmiri Saiva12 authors quote
them with great reverence as their predecessors, although they do not
Nalways agree with them. There can be no doubt that the Siddhanta
greatly influenced Kashmiri Saivism which largely adopted it, reshaping
it on non-dualist lines.
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Bhuta and G&rwjla Tantras. These two groups of AgamasP have been
almost entirely lost. They are considered together as they appear to
have much in common. We know that both dealt with magical cures
(particularly of snakebite), exorcism of malevolent ghosts and spirits,
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the protection of children from such entities as well as the acquisition
of magical powers and other such matters. References to these two
groups is common in the Siddhantagamas, and Kashmiri Saivites also
knew of them although already at this time (viz., Rthe ninth century A.D.
onwards) they were clearly on the decline, at least in Kashmir.13
The VGmatantras. According to the classification we are following in this
account, each group of Agamas constit.utes a 'current' (srotas) of
scriptures spoken by one or other of Sadasiva's five faces. The Siddhanta
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belongs to the Upper current, spoken by the Upper face, while the
Bhuta and Garudatantras belong to the Western and Eastern currents.
The Vamatantras were spoken by the Northern face. This face, located
to the left of centre (which is inD the eastern direction), is that of the
left-hand current, not to be confused with the Tantric distinction
between 'left' and 'right-hand' paths.
The only Tantra belonging to this group that has been recovered
so far is the Vinasikhatan tra recently edited from just two Nepalese
manuscripts by Dr. T. Goudriaan.14 Although this group of Tantras is
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regularly mentioned in the primary sources when they refer to the
Saiva canon and its d ivisions, the cults associated with it seem to have
had little success in India and practically died out after the first millennium
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of our era. The dominant form of Siva in these Tantras appears to have
been TumburubJhairava.15 He is described as having four faces, each
one of which spoke one of the major Tantras of this group, namely, the
Tantra of the Severed Head (Sirascheda), the Tantra of the Crest of the
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Vina (Vinafikha), the Tantra of Delusion (Saipmohana) and the
Tantra of the Higher Law (Nayottara).16
These Tantras, and with them the cult of Tumburu, spread from
India to Southeast Asia sometime before the end of the eighth century.
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We know from a Cambodian inscription discovered at Sdok Kok Thorn
dated 1052 A.D. that these Tantras were known there at the time. This
inscription commemorates the history of a lineage of royal priests
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founded by Sivakaivalya who was the priest of Jayavarman II who
returned to Cambodia from exile in Java in 802 A.D.. At that time a
Brahmin called Hiranyadama taught the four Tantras to Sivakaivalya
Nand several rites described in them were performed for the benefit of
the king. We also find references to Tumburu in Sanskrit hymns and
fragments from Bali, some of which go back to an early period of Hindu
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Introduction 1
influence in Indonesia.17 The absence of further referenceP to these
Iantras and their cults in Southeast Asia seems to indicate that, as
happened in India, they did not survive much beyond the eleventh
century. Similarly, although the Vamatantras were known in Kashmir,
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monistic Kashmiri Saivites clearly preferred the Siddhantagamas and
the Bhairavatantras to which we now turn.
The Bhairavatantras. As their name suggestsR, the Bhairavatantras
were especially (but not exclusively) concerned with the worship of
Bhairava. Bhairava is an important form of Siva known and worshipped
throughout India. He is popular both in the literate Sanskrit tradition
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as well as in many non-literate vernacular traditions. Bhairava, whose
name literally means 'the Terrible One'R, is the 'wrathful', 'frightening'
form of Siva Who is 'peaceful' and 'auspicious'. Abhinavagupta, an
important Kashmiri Saiva teacher (see below), explains the popular
Tantric etymology of the word Bhairava as follows:
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1) Bhairava is He Who bears all things and is supported by the
universe, filling it and sustaining it on the one hand, while uttering
it or conceiving it on the other.18
2) Bhairava is He Who protects those frightened by the rounds
of rebirth.19
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3) Bhairava is the One born in the heart of those who, terrified
by transmigratory existence, call on Him for help.20

4) Bhairava is He Who arouses by His grace a fear of trans-
migration. I
5) Bhairava is He Whose light shines in the minds of those yogis
who are inteJnt on assimilating time (kalagrasa) into the eternal presence
of consciousness and thus exhaust the energy of time said to be the
driving force behind the machine of the galaxies.21
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6) Bhairava is the Lord of the powers of the senses whose shouting
(ravaria) frightens the souls in bondage.22
7) Bhairava is the Lord Who calls a halt to transmigration and
thus is very terrible.23
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There are countless forms of Bhairava, each with their own name.
A typical and widely-known form is that of Mahakalabhairava. He
Ais worshipped in major centres in India including Ujjain, Benares and
Kathmandu. He is the protector of these three cities. One could add,
incidentally, that Mahakala is also an important Buddhist god and as
such is the guardian of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. He is described
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as dark blue or black24 and fierce in appearance. He carries the skull
of the creator-god, Brahma, as penance for having cut off his head to
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