Journal of the

International Association
of Tibetan Studies

Issue 3 December 2007

ISSN 1550-6363

An online journal published by the Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library (THDL)

www.jiats.org
 Editor: Jos Ignacio Cabezn
Book Review Editor: Kurtis Schaeffer
Assistant Editors: Alison Melnick, Zoran Lazovic, and Christopher Bell
Managing Director: Steven Weinberger
Technical Director: Nathaniel Grove

Contents
Articles

A Look at the Diversity of the Gzhan stong Tradition (24 pages)

Anne Burchardi
Beyond Anonymity: Paleographic Analyses of the Dunhuang Manuscripts (23 pages)
Jacob Dalton
Emperor Mu rug btsan and the Phang thang ma Catalogue (25 pages)
Brandon Dotson
An Early Seventeenth-Century Tibeto-Mongolian Ceremonial Staff (24 pages)
Johan Elverskog
The Importance of the Underworlds: Asuras Caves in Buddhism, and Some Other
Themes in Early Buddhist Tantras Reminiscent of the Later Padmasambhava
Legends (31 pages)
Robert Mayer
Re-Assessing the Supine Demoness: Royal Buddhist Geomancy in the Srong btsan
sgam po Mythology (47 pages)
Martin A. Mills
Modernity, Power, and the Reconstruction of Dance in Post-1950s Tibet (42 pages)
Anna Morcom

Book Reviews

Review of Thundering Falcon: An Inquiry into the History and Cult of Khra brug,
Tibets First Buddhist Temple, by Per K. Srensen et al (5 pages)
Bryan Cuevas
Review of Tibetan Songs of Realization: Echoes from a Seventeenth-Century Scholar
and Siddha in Amdo, by Victoria Sujata (6 pages)
Lauran Hartley
Review of Holy Madness: Portraits of Tantric Siddhas, ed. Rob Linrothe and Review
of The Flying Mystics of Tibetan Buddhism, by Glenn H. Mullin (8 pages)
Serinity Young

ii
 The Importance of the Underworlds: Asuras Caves in
Buddhism, and Some Other Themes in Early Buddhist
Tantras Reminiscent of the Later Padmasambhava Legends
Robert Mayer
University of Oxford

Abstract: The story of Padmasambhava taming non-human females at the Asura

Cave at Pharping is well known. Much less widely known is the wider tradition of
Asuras caves as the entrances to Ptla, the magical underworlds of Asuras and
Ngas, a colorful and often eroticized and popular belief which played a prominent
role in early Indian and Chinese Buddhist tantras. This paper surveys these now
largely forgotten beliefs, and then proceeds to raise (but not answer) the question:
might further widely attested Kriytantra themes, such as treasure recovery, klas,
and water magic, have influenced the popular mythology of Padmasambhava?

Asuras Caves in Buddhism

This article will look at a set of practices deriving from popular Indian culture that
were once widely attested within Indian and Chinese Buddhism. However, perhaps
as a consequence of their aims and methods eventually beginning to appear
somewhat tangential to those of mainstream Vajrayna Buddhism as it evolved
over the last centuries of the first millennium CE, they seem to have ended up
somewhat marginal within Tibetan Buddhism, despite their survival in extant Bka
gyur texts. Sometimes known as attainment of Ptla (ptlasiddhi), these practices
were focused on gaining access to the subterranean kingdoms of the Asuras and
Ngas, which were often generically referred to as Ptla, and which the
adventurous could enter via any one of the many Asuras caves identified within
the sacral landscape. Once in Ptla, the yogin could gain such boons as longevity,
magical knowledge (vidy), fabulous material treasures, and, not least, extraordinary
pleasures, especially erotic ones.

Asuras Caves in the Dunhuang Text Tib J 644

Despite being somewhat marginalized in contemporary Tibetan Buddhism, we
still have substantial surviving evidence from Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese
Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, no. 3 (December 2007): 1-31.
www.thdl.org?id=T3102.
1550-6363/2007/3/T3102.
2007 by Robert Mayer, Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library, and International Association of Tibetan Studies.
Distributed under the THDL Digital Text License.
Mayer: The Importance of the Underworlds 2

sources that such practices were probably once more central. Some of the most
recently identified evidence in the Tibetan language can be found in a valuable
article recently published by Jacob Dalton.1 In this article, Dalton discusses the
probably tenth-century Dunhuang text Tib J 644, which describes inter alia the
three levels of holders of magical knowledge (vidydhara) associated with the
Tantric Buddhist vehicle of Kriytantra. Dalton writes,

According to this text, there are three vidydhara levels that can be attained
through the practice of the Kriytantras: the vidydhara of accomplishments (grub
pai rigs dzin), the vidydhara who dwells on the levels (sa la gnas pai rigs
dzin), and the spontaneously accomplishing vidydhara (lhun gyis grub pai rigs
dzin).2

It is the description of the second of these, the vidydhara who dwells on the
levels, that is relevant to this discussion. Here the text describes the Bodhisattva
Vajrapi appearing and granting attainments (siddhis) to the yogin, who then
proceeds to an Asuras cave, where an emanation of Vajrapi grants him a vision.
The yogin is then able to strike his foot into a rock, as though the rock were made
of dough. From the footprint comes a sacred flow, a spring with eight streams.
One of them flows to the south face of Mount Meru, and hence is called Avakara.
The seven others flow inside the Asuras cave. By bathing himself in this sacred
water, the practitioner becomes purified, and achieves attainments. This is how
the yogin achieves the accomplishment of a vidydhara who dwells on the levels.3
It is surely more a testament to the comparative marginalization of the practice
of attainment of Ptla within mainstream Tibetan Buddhism, and not a reason for
criticism of Dalton, that even such an erudite specialist in early Tibetan Buddhism
as he was initially unaware of what exactly these rites in Tib J 644 were referring
to.4 Hence Dalton limited himself to speculations surrounding their interesting
resemblance to well-known themes from the legends of Padmasambhava, notably
his stay in the Asura Cave at Pharping in Nepal. Yet a close examination of the
Tibetan text of Tib J 644 in its full context shows that it seems to be a reasonably
standard abstract presentation of doctrine, which is quite similar to descriptions of
attainment of Ptla as found in other Kriytantra texts in its structure, its
grammatical use of the third person to imply the yogin, and its content. So rather

1
Jacob Dalton, The Early Development of the Padmasambhava Legend in Tibet: A Study of IOL
Tib J 644 and Pelliot tibtain 307, Journal of the American Oriental Society 124, no. 4 (2004): 759-72.
2
Dalton, Early Development of the Padmasambhava Legend, 761.
3
de nas phyag na rdo rje gshegs nas/ dngos grub sbyin ba dang / a su rai brag phug du phyin pa
dang / de na phyag na rdo rjei sprul pa gcig bzhugs pai zhal mthong nas brag la rkang pa gcig brgyab
pa dang / zan la brgyab bzhin snang ngo / rjes de nas dam babs nas/ nang de na chu myig yan lag
brgyad dang ldan ba brgyad yod pa la/ gcig ni ri rab kyi lho ngos su rdol te chu myig rta rna zhes
byao/ bdun a su rai nang na bab pa la khrus byed cing bsgrub pa de/ sa la gnas pai rigs dzin ces
byao/ (Dunhuang Tibetan manuscripts held at the British Library, London: IOL Tib J 644, 2a.6-2b.1).
4
Despite their occasional appearance in Tibetan sources, topics like ptlasiddhi are not primarily
seen as the domain of Tibetologists or even of Sanskritic Buddhologists, but more of Indologists and
Sinologists. Our established traditions of academic compartmentalization that tends to inhibit
knowledge of popular Indian religions among Buddhologists can have drawbacks for tantric studies.
Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 3 (December 2007) 3

than representing an earlier version of the Padmasambhava story as such (a point

which I am certain Dalton now understands, even though his actual words are a
little ambiguous on this point), the passage more likely describes a now
long-forgotten generic Ptla-based ritual practice that many early Tantric Buddhists
might well have attempted.
In this paper, I wish to pick up where Dalton left off, and try to contextualize
the reference to the Asura cave in Tib J 644. Not only will this help us rediscover
a little about the largely forgotten Buddhist practice of Asura caves and attainment
of Ptla, but it also offers an opportunity to draw our attention to the noteworthy
but as yet seldom mentioned continuities between several prominent Kriytantra
practices5 and the later legends of Padmasambhava (unfortunately, we still have
rather little idea about the historical reality of Padmasambhava).

Asuras Caves in the Context of Buddhist Kriytantra

In fact, despite Tibetan Buddhisms comparatively meager interest in the subject,
Asuras caves feature surprisingly prominently in Indian mythology, magic, tantric
ritual, folklore, and cosmology, where they function as the entrances or gateways
to the subterranean paradises of immense beauty, wealth, and pleasure, often
enumerated as seven in number, and often generically called Ptla. It is within
these subterranean paradises that Asuras (along with Ngas and various other spirits
too) are believed to dwell. Ptla moreover became the focus of a substantial body
of magical practices in Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism alike. Asuras caves
serving as the gateway to Ptla are thus found in the epic literature, in tantric
scriptures, in magical texts, in tantric ritual manuals, and in narratives of many
kinds. More importantly for Tib J 644s presentation of the vidydharas of
Kriytantra, Ptla, its Asura inhabitants, and Asuras caves as Ptlas entrances
are also specifically found in several canonical Buddhist scriptures still extant in
Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese. In fact, as far as I am currently aware, they mainly
occur in the early Buddhist tantras, especially Kriytantra, such as the
Majurmlakalpa, or the *Kaikrodha-vajrakumra-bodhisattva-sdhana-vidhi
(Sheng chia ni fen nu chin kang tung tzu pu sa cheng chiu i kuei ching),6 and
the rya-vajra-ptla-nma-tantra-rja (phags pa rdo rje sa og gi rgyud kyi
rgyal po). I have not yet heard of significant references in later Buddhist tantric
genres, although it would of course not be at all surprising if they were to turn up
there occasionally. Despite these early tantric canonical references, Ptla and its
Asura inhabitants no longer seemed to play a very significant role in later Tantric

5
Traditional doxographical categories such as Kriy are well known to be inconsistent and full of
anomalies. For example, most of the substantial Dhra section in the dynastic catalogues of Lhan kar
ma and Phang thang ma were later reclassified by the Bka gyur codifiers as Kriytantras. However,
especially since these doxographical categories were of such importance to traditional authorities, I
cannot agree with those modern scholars who reject them as meaningless. For convenience, I use Kriy
here as a convenient shorthand for texts containing Buddhist esoteric materials in an earlier style. Such
usage avoids the need to coin my own neologism, and permits shorter sentences. I am aware that some
of what I describe also occurs in early texts that need not necessarily be traditionally classed as Kriy.
6
T1222a, K1355.
Mayer: The Importance of the Underworlds 4

Buddhism, and appear of little concern to modern Tibetan Buddhism. The words
and concepts sa og certainly still exist, largely with reference to Ngas, or
occasionally as a generic term for the place where Padmasambhava buries his
treasures,7 and the Asuric reference is also clearly not entirely forgotten but as
far as I know, Ptla is no longer a living concern of Tibetan tantric ritual, even
though attainment of Ptla might still persist in some old tantras and lists. The
most prominent Tibetan canonical sources for Ptla I have found so far are two
Bka gyur texts dedicated to the subject. One is the Phags pa rdo rje sa og gi
rgyud kyi rgyal po (rya-vajra-ptla-nma-tantra-rja),8 which in its main version
is a substantial text in twenty-five chapters purely devoted to attainment of Ptla;
and its long colophon cites no lesser a personage than the great Sa skya pa Pa i
ta Kun dga rgyal mtshan, helped by the Indian Sugatar. Mkhas grub rje classes
it as a Kriytantra of the vajra family, and explains that it came in two further
editions as well, one in thirteen chapters by Phags pa shes rab, the translator of
Zanskar (zangs dkar), and one in seven chapters by the monk Bya gdong ba can.9
The other is the Rdo rje sa og gi rgyud (Vajra-ptla-tantra)10 which is counted
by Mkhas grub rje as a Cary text of the vajra family, but which Bu ston had
viewed with suspicion.11 Little awareness of these is reflected in more recent
western Buddhological scholarship, although Davidson proposes the Sanskrit
reconstruction *asuraguh to describe rites he had encountered in the famous
Kriytantra root text, the Subhuparipcch.12 Comparative marginalization over
the course of time is of course true of a great deal of the magical materials found
in old texts such as the Majurmlakalpa, which itself is a large and somewhat
motley Indian compendium built up over a long period, closely resembling a Hindu
pura, and from which Tibetan Buddhism has tended to cherry-pick chosen useful

7
See for example the preamble to the Las byang of the gter ma cycle Chi med srog thig that is
associated with Zil gnon nam mkhai rdo rje, the Fifteenth Karmapa, and the late Bdud joms rin po
che. Here, words are put into the mouth of Padmasambhava: Bearing in mind sentient beings
wanderings in the degenerate (age), (I) filled the whole of the subterranean world with treasures
(snyigs groi sems can la dgongs te: sa og thams cad gter gyis bkang:; Zil gnon nam mkhai rdo rje,
with contributions from Karmapa XV and Bdud joms rin po che jigs bral ye shes rdo rje, Chi med
srog thig las byang rdo rjei phur pa yang gsang phrin las bcud dril gyi las tshe sgrub chi med srog
thig, in The Collected Writings and Revelations of H. H. Bdud-joms Rin-po-che Jigs-bral-ye-ses-rdo-rje,
vol. 14 [Pha] [Kalimpong: Dupjung Lama, 1979], 77). Yet I doubt any reference to the Ptlas of Asuras
and Ngas is intended here.
8
Sde dge 744, Stog 697, Peking 403, and Ulan Bator 767.
9
F. D. Lessing and Alex Wayman, Introduction to the Buddhist Tantric Systems (Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass, 1983), 129.
10
Sde dge 499.
11
Lessing and Wayman, Introduction to the Buddhist Tantric Systems, 207. There is also a prominent
reference to Ptla as a heading included in the Tibetan translation of Amarasihas Amarakoa, but
this is a famous Indian lexicographical work written around 450 CE and translated into many Asian
languages, rather than a Vajrayna treatise. This heading was cited by Mkhas grub rje (Lessing and
Wayman, Introduction to the Buddhist Tantric Systems, 79).
12
Ronald M. Davidson, Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement (New
York: Columbia University Press, 2002), 200.
Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 3 (December 2007) 5

items while often ignoring much of its plentiful magical materials.13 Ptla is
perhaps more a location within popular Indian Puric cosmologies rather than
within orthodox Buddhist cosmologies, and the attainment of Ptla itself is not
necessarily consistent with core Vajrayna concerns. Hence there might well have
been a learned Buddhist tendency to underemphasize or even expurgate references
to Ptla, as the process of reconciling and integrating the diverse Buddhist magical
repertoire proceeded over the centuries. I will cite some examples of Asuras caves
and Ptla from Buddhist Kriytantras shortly, but first I will briefly describe the
underlying cosmological ideas about Asuras and Ptla.

The Seven Paradisiacal Nether Worlds

Ptla and the other subterranean paradises have been written about quite often by
western Indologists, although I am not aware of any monographs dedicated
exclusively to the subject. Ptla is most frequently described in Puric cosmology,
and those who browse Puric literature are quite likely to be familiar with it from
its numerous mentions there. As one expects in anything Puric, the general idea
remains similar, even if specifics vary: for example, Ptlas paradises can either
be below the earth but above the hells of torment (narakas); or they can also be
below the narakas. Another variation is that they can be described either as
primarily the domains of Asuras, or of Ngas, or of both; and often of a variety of
other non-human spirits as well. A common pattern is that these subterranean
paradises are enumerated as seven in number. Deborah Soifer, in her study of the
avatars Narasiha and Vmana, describes them as follows:

The puras also enumerate seven worlds below the earth, variously called atalas
or regions of Ptla. These nether regions, not to be confused with the more
numerous hells or narakas, are the dwelling places of the Asuras, the demonic
elder brothers of the gods. In beauty and luxury these residences rival the cities
and palaces of the gods.14

Woodroffe, summarizing the cosmological sections of several puras, is more

specific:

Below the Hells are the seven nether worlds, Sutala, Vitala, Taltala, Mahtala,
Rastala, Atala, and Ptla, where, according to the Puras, dwell the Nga
serpent divinities, brilliant with jewels, and where, too, the lovely daughters of

13
The Majurmlakalpa has sometimes been described as a Buddhist pura. See, for example,
Ykei Matsunaga, On the Date of the Majurmlakalpa, in Tantric and Taoist Studies in Honour
of R. A. Stein, ed. Michel Strickmann, vol. 3 (Bruxelles: Institut Belge des hautes tudes Chinoises,
1985), 882: Because it [Majurmlakalpa] also includes mathematical tables, astrological methods
and royal genealogies, it embodies by and large the stylistic features of a pura, which is somewhat
anomalous in the Buddhist canon.
14
Deborah A. Soifer, The Myths of Narasiha and Vmana: Two Avatars in Cosmological Perspective
(New York: SUNY, 1991), 53-54.
Mayer: The Importance of the Underworlds 6

the Daityas and Dnavas [Asura maidens] wander, fascinating even the most
austere.15

But not all puras follow the sevenfold pattern. The Krma Pura, for
example, enumerates only four Ptlas: Mahtala, where the famous Asura Bali
dwells;16 Rastala, where Balis father the Asura Virocana dwells; Vitala, where
various Asuras such as Balis grandfather Prahlda live, as well as great Ngas
such as Jambhaka and Kambala; and the beautiful Taltala, where other Ngas
dwell (Krma Pura, Bhuvana Koa, 15-25).17 By contrast, the Garua Pura
does enumerate seven, but, in agreement with the Viu Pura,18 gives some of
them variant names: Atala, Vitala, Nitala, Gabhistamat, Mahkhya, Sutala, and
Ptla; it describes them as inhabited by Ngas and Rkasas (Garua Pura,
Bhuvana Koa, 1-3).19

How Did the Asuras End up Underground? A Hindu and a

Buddhist Kriytantra Version
Many might be more familiar with Asuras as rivals to the gods for possession of
the heavens, and hence as inhabitants of territories on the lower slopes of Meru or
in the oceans at its base, rather than in caverns below our continent of Jambudvpa.
Those who are more familiar with early medieval Hinduism will be equally aware
of a large and varied corpus of mythology Hindu, Buddhist, and Jaina alike
which places the Asuras firmly underground, beneath our feet. There are many
examples to choose from.
In Hindu mythology, one of the best known accounts of the Asuras being driven
underground occurs in the narrative of the dwarf avatar of Viu. The Asuras, lead
by the mighty Bali, took over the heavens from the gods. The king of the gods,
Indra, was distraught. Viu recovered heaven for the gods by cunning: taking the
form of a dwarf brahmin, he obtained the offer from Bali of just as much ground
as he could cover in three steps, so that he could do a sacrifice. Recovering his
cosmic form, he covered the entire triple universe in his three strides, but a deal is
a deal, and Bali still had to give him all the land he covered. Thus Viu vanquished
the Asuras, and banished them to Ptla far underground, to which region they
remain confined. The banishment of the Asuras to splendid confinement in Ptla

15
John Woodroffe (aka Arthur Avalon), Tantra of the Great Liberation (Mahnirvatantra) (New
York: Dover Publications, 1972), xxxvi-xxxviii.
16
For a detailed monographic study of this famous Asura still widely worshipped in South India, see
Clifford Hospital, The Righteous Demon: A Study of Bali (Vancouver: University of British Columbia
Press, 1984).
17
J. L. Shastri, Krma Pura (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1981), 294-95.
18
H. H. Wilson, The Viu Pura: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition, vol. 2 ( London:
Trbner & Co, 1865), 14.
19
J. L. Shastri, Garua Pura (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1978), 190.
Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 3 (December 2007) 7

is very old and occurs in virtually all occurrences of this popular story.20 There are
many other narratives, however.
A Buddhist version occurs in the well-known canonical Kriytantra scripture,
the Majurmlakalpa. Here, after losing heaven to the Asuras, Indra goes for
help not to Viu, but to the sage Kyapa, progenitor of both gods and Asuras.
Kyapa teaches Indra a long wrathful mantra to invoke the Bodhisattva Majur,
and as Kyapa intones it, Majur instantly appears, making the world shake,
and demonstrating that the mantra is presided over by all the Buddhas. Indra is
impressed, learns the mantra off by heart, and decides to use it just as Kyapa
advises. Worshipping Majur and reciting the mantra, Indra succeeds in defeating
the Asuras. They are banished to the subterranean paradises of Ptla forever, and
henceforth Indra carries an image of Majur on his banner.21

Asuras Caves as the Entrances to Ptla

One of the great advantages of the subterranean paradises is that they are far more
accessible to humans than are the heavens. The late Friedhelm Hardy devoted to
Ptla much of his chapter on cosmology, in his book The Religious Culture of
India.22 He wrote:

The nooks and crannies, the caves and cavities of earth are the openings into
splendid lower regions...In these underworlds (for which the generic term Patla
is frequently used) we encounter a wide range of other non-human beings...Such
apertures into Patla are found all over the earth unlike the inaccessible approach
to the heavens via Meru...Moreover, popular literature finds it easy to talk about
the underworld and its beings.23

Hardy continues with several lengthy narratives from Prakrit and Apabhraa
sources, which he describes as travelogues: the adventures of daring humans
who have entered into Asuras caves and gone to stay among the Asuras and Ngas
of Ptla, where endless wonders and miracles of the most marvelous kind are
encountered, and where esoteric knowledge and magical powers can be obtained
along with inconceivable wealth and sensual delights, especially of the erotic kind.
Hardy concludes:

Of interest here is not just the wider range of wonderful things to be found in
these underground realms (including vidy or magical sciences) or further
species of ogre-like beings..., but also the seemingly smooth transition from the

20
Hospital, The Righteous Demon, 118.
21
Majurmlakalpa 3: 662 [10]; Teun Goudriaan, My Divine and Human (Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass, 1978), 77-78.
22
Friedhelm Hardy, The Religious Culture of India: Power, Love and Wisdom (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1994).
23
Hardy, The Religious Culture of India, 31.
Mayer: The Importance of the Underworlds 8

world of man to those mysterious realms...this can be regarded as indicative of

how much the underworlds are regarded as part of the natural order.24

Asuras caves as the entranceways into Ptla also occur in Buddhist

Kriytantras. The *Kaikrodha-vajrakumra-bodhisattva-sdhana-vidhi25 is a
Buddhist Kriytantra believed to be of Indian origin, but now extant only in
Chinese.26 It gives us several good examples of Asuras caves. We read as follows:

Furthermore, if someone desires to dwell in the palace of the Asuras and experience
pleasures, he should go to the entrance of the cave of the Asuras and make an
akua (hook, elephant goad) with rushes. He should recite the Vajrakumra
mantra seven times to empower this hook, elephant goad, and then revolve it to
the right in the air near the entrance. By just reciting the mantra, he will make it
open...27
There is another rite. If the mantrin recites the mantra one hundred thousand times
in front of an Asura cave that his companions have already entered, the mantrins
who have previously entered the cave will emerge and welcome him, and then
lead him inside as far as as the palace of the Asuras...28
The root mantra of Vajrakumra is: namo ratnatrayya nama caa vajra paye
mahyakasenpataye tadyath o kai h pha svh. Furthermore, there is
a second root mantra specifically to open up the palace of the Asuras: namo
ratnatrayya nama caa vajra paye mahyakasenpataye tadyath o
dhuna vidhuna kai krodha sarva [?]yantrai h...29
Now I shall explain the standing mudr to open the gates to the Asuras cave.
The mantrin should stamp on the ground quickly, walk joyfully, leap
ferociously...This mudr is the best of all mudrs, and it is able to break open all
the bolts of the Asuras cave.30

24
Hardy, The Religious Culture of India, 34.
25
T1222a; K1355.
26
Stephen Hodge, with contributions from Luke Lau, trans., *Kaikrodha Vajrakumra Bodhisattva
Sdhana Vidhi (unpublished translation from the Chinese [London: 1989]). I am greatly indebted to
Luke Lau and Stephen Hodge for their extraordinarily generous help in translating this text from the
Chinese for me in 1989; Luke Lau first made a preliminary translation, which Stephen Hodge then
completed. I am also most grateful to Ronald Davidson for the citation locations within T1222a, and
for improving the Sanskrit renderings of the Chinese text. Hodge has expressed some uncertainty about
the title of the text, since the first element, Ka ni (= chia ni), remains obscure. The online version of
Lancasters catalogue simply gives the Sanskrit title as Vajrakumra-tantra, while the Chinese title
given there is Sheng chia ni fen nu chin kang tung tzu pu sa cheng chiu i kuei ching (
). Less complete versions of the same text also seem to exist in the canon. The
translation into Chinese is attributed to Amoghavajra, who came with Vajrabodhi to Lo-yang in 720
and died in 774. Note that the title is translated differently yet again in Ershier zhong dazangjing
tongjian (Beijing, 1997), where it is given as rya-kin-krodha-vajrakumra-bodhisattva-siddhi-
kalpa-stra (thanks to Matthew Kapstein for this information). Among these various alternatives, I am
staying with Hodges rendering for now, since it seems the most reliable so far, especially in the way
it takes account of the evidence from the mantras within the text.
27
T1222a.21.102b28-102c2; Hodge, *Kaikrodha, 1.
28
T1222a.21.103b4-b6; Hodge, *Kaikrodha, 3.
29
T1222a.21.104a17-b13; Hodge, *Kaikrodha, 5.
30
T1222a.21.105c26-106a3; Hodge, *Kaikrodha, 6.
Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 3 (December 2007) 9

Gaining entry to Ptla via its entry points of Asuras caves is clearly one of
the major concerns of this text, and the second root mantra to gain entry to the
Asuras palace (which is deeper within the cave) precedes a long list of branch
mantras subsequent to the two root mantras. Although dedicated to Vajrakumra,
many of the texts rites are attributed to Vajrapi with the phrase Thus taught
the Bodhisattva Vajrapi. Likewise, the main mantra (mlamantra) is a variant
of the Vajrapi mantra as commonly used throughout Kriytantra texts. It is
Vajrapi of course who figures in IOL Tib J 644; while another similarity this
text shares with IOL Tib J 644 is its enumeration of various vidydhara levels
(again common to many Kriytantra texts), but here these do not have the same
names as in the Dunhuang text.
Within his excellent introduction to Asuras caves and attainment of Ptla in
Chinese Tantrism,31 R. A. Stein has pointed out several more passages from the
Chinese canon that describe gaining entry into Asura caves, with all the usual
ramifications of Vajrapi, longevity, awaiting Maitreya, enjoying Asura maidens,
finding treasures, and so on and so forth.32
Extant Indian Buddhist texts also have rites to enter Ptla, for example the
Majurmlakalpa.33 Likewise Sdhanaml 172, dedicated to a form of Kurukull,
enumerates the attainment of Ptla as one of the eight attainments listed.34 No
doubt more such references will turn up, if scholars eventually turn their attention
to the mass of largely forgotten magical rites long buried in the early Buddhist
tantras.

Why Do Vidydharas Want to Go to Ptla?

One of the main attractions of Ptla is pleasure. Returning from a visit to Ptla,
the sage Nrada is said to have declared that he had found it much more delightful
than Indras heaven (Viu Pura V).35 In particular, the loveliness of the Asura
and other non-human maidens is emphasized, and having sexual intercourse with
them is one of the main objectives of those (usually male) adventurers who visit
Ptla, as, for example, in Sdhanaml 172 cited above.
The Majurmlakalpa expresses such sentiments in a verse: those Buddhist
yogins accomplished in mantras and desirous of sexual intercourse with supernatural
women can invoke all kinds of Asura or other supernatural females by using their
mantras, and dwell with them in Ptla for the duration of a complete kalpa. Then,

31
R. A. Stein, Grottes-Matrices et Lieux saints de la desse en Asie orientale (Paris: EFEO, 1988),
especially 23 ff.
32
Stein, Grottes-Matrices et Lieux saints, 27. Steins main citations are as follows: [1] Taish 901,
k.5, 833b and k.6, 837b; [2] Taish 1096, 413c; [3] Taish 1097, 425 b-c; [4] Taish 1246, Taish
1248, 327a.
33
Majurmlakalpa, 572, cited in Goudriaan, My Divine and Human, 103.
34
Sdhanaml, ed. B. Bhattacharya (Baroda: Gaekwads Oriental Series, 1925), 2:350; see also
lxxxv-vi.
35
H. H. Wilson, The Viu Pura: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition (London: Trbner
& Co, 1865), 2:14-15.
Mayer: The Importance of the Underworlds 10

when Maitreya finally arrives, they will hear his dharma and become enlightened.
But those who have subjugated Asura women this way should henceforth never
even touch a human woman.36 The Majurmlakalpa itself has numerous rites
and mantras to procure non-human females in this way.37
The *Kaikrodha-vajrakumra-bodhisattva-sdhana-vidhi has very similar
rites. Having forced entry by using the mantras and gestures using the akua
made from rushes as prescribed (see above), the vidydhara encounters the
following scene:

Within the Asuras cave, a great mass of fire will arise and all the male and female
Asuras will burn within it while shrieking and wailing with terror. Each one of
the female Asuras will reveal themselves and say to the mantrin, Noble one!
Please come into our cave and enjoy yourself as you will! When he has gained
entrance, he will be able to remain there for the duration of a kalpa, enjoying
heavenly delights (sukha).38

Another more complex passage is even more explicitly sexual. After gaining
entrance to an Asura cave, and hoping to progress from there towards the actual
Asura palace, the yogin should perform various rites, including the recitation of
the mantra of Vajrakumra. At one stage, the following happens:

Then the Goddess Sarasvat and the female Asuras together with their attendants
will come forth from the cave, and going up to the yogin they will speak as follows:
Finally, we will serve you. The mantrin should not accept, but he should speak
with a wrathful voice like thunder and recite the mantra further. The Asura maidens
will become confused and demented, and undressing, will make their bodies
naked...39

Another theme in the literature on visiting Ptla is the quest for immortality,
often in a more alchemical sense. As David White reports, the entire Indian
alchemical tradition (rasyana) is attributed in its origins to the Asuras: Vysas
commentary on Yoga Stra 4.1 cites the Asura realms as the locus for the
immortality-conferring botanicals, and this view is repeated by the ninth-century
luminary Vcaspati Mira, who mentions that initiation into Indian alchemical
tradition is given by alluring Asura damsels.40 In the Mahbhrata, the head priest
of the Devas, Bhaspati, has to practice an elaborate deception on the chief sage
of the Asuras, Kvya Uanas, in order to wrest from him the secrets of alchemical
immortality.41 As a consequence, and in recognition of its de facto founder being
the Asura Kvya Uanas, medieval Indian alchemy designated the perfectly

36
Goudriaan, My Divine and Human, 103, citing Majurmlakalpa, 572.
37
Goudriaan, My Divine and Human, 101-3.
38
T1222a.21.102c2-c6; Hodge, *Kaikrodha, 2.
39
T1222a.21.103b15-b18; Hodge, *Kaikrodha, 3.
40
David Gordon White, The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medieval India (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1991), 58-59.
41
White, The Alchemical Body, 285-86.
Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 3 (December 2007) 11

accomplished alchemist a kavi. Likewise, some Bengali ayurvedic physicians are

still called kavirj to this day, for similar reasons.42
Wealth and wisdom are other reasons to visit Ptla. In the Jaina sources cited
by Hardy, the visitors to Ptla encounter not only pleasures eight times greater
than those found in the heavens, including stunning Asura damsels, but also
treasure chests43 and magical sciences or vidy.44
But purer and more academic motives are attributed to the great Madhyamaka
philosopher Bhvaviveka, who, according to Hsan-tsang, went to dwell in Ptla
among the Asuras until the coming of Maitreya Buddha. Hsan-tsang reports that
Bhvaviveka did this so that he could live long enough to be able to address
particularly troubling doctrinal questions directly to Maitreya; here, no mention is
made of alluring Asura maidens. Nevertheless, Hsan-tsangs account mentions
Bhvaviveka gaining entrance to the Asura kingdoms using a procedure entirely
similar to the Kriytantra sources quoted in this article: Vajrapi is invoked,
mantras and mustard seeds are thrown at a rock face to make it open, a crowd
watches the whole operation, and some of them accompany Bhvaviveka into the
Asuras cave.45 I am not aware of similar accounts regarding Bhvaviveka from
Tibetan sources, so I am not sure if they might have contributed to Sa pas interests
in attainment of Ptla. However, a quite early Central Asian Silk Route Mahyna
cult of suspended animation to await Maitreya is certainly reported, perhaps based
on a similar account found in very much earlier sources still that describe the great
meditator Mahkyapa.46

The Waters of Ptla

Waters are of course another special feature of Ptla, as one would expect from
the homeland of the Ngas (in almost all accounts, Ptla is the domain par
excellence of both Asuras and Ngas). According to the traditional etymology,
Ptlas very name derives from the fact that it is well-watered: patanti alam >
ptla.47 In other accounts, the heavenly Ganges exists in Ptla and can be
summoned up to earth from there.48 In addition, the cosmology of Mount Meru
includes the idea of miraculous flows of heavenly waters or juices flowing down
from its sides all the way to earth and beneath; our earthly gold, for example, is
the dried residue of the rose-apple juice seeping down from the heavenly rose-apple

42
White, The Alchemical Body, 286.
43
Hardy, The Religious Culture of India, 33-34.
44
Unfortunately, Hardy chooses not expand on these magical sciences, and I lack the resources and
time to pursue them in his primary sources.
45
Stein, Grottes-Matrices et Lieux saints, 26. See also Malcolm David Eckel, To See the Buddha: A
Philosophers Quest for the Meaning of Emptiness (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), 11-13.
46
John Jrgensen, Inventing Hui-neng, the Sixth Patriarch: Hagiography and Biography in Early
Chan (Leiden: Brill, 2005), 231-32.
47
Gail Hinich Sutherland, The Disguises of the Demon: The Development of the Yaka in Hinduism
and Buddhism (New York: SUNY, 1991), 40.
48
Hardy, The Religious Culture of India, 175.
Mayer: The Importance of the Underworlds 12

fruits on Merus peak. Perhaps this cosmology, together with the pervasive
understanding of Ptla as well-watered and opulent, explains the occurrence of
the Avakara springs connected with Meru in IOL Tib J 644. The myth of the
dwarf avatars three steps overcoming the Asura Bali that I mention above certainly
develops the theme of sacred and magical waters from Meru flowing into Ptla;
in many cases, this became an important integral part of the myth of the Asuras
banishment to Ptla, since it is through the higher of his three steps that Viu
makes these ritually most significant sacred waters flow down for the very first
time.49 In the Padma Pura 6.267, to take one example, the sacred stream flowing
down the face of Meru separates into three different streams, one of which becomes
Gag (i.e., the human worlds Ganges), and another of which flows directly into
Ptla where it could be enjoyed by Bali, who, despite being an adharmic Asura,
had nevertheless shown exemplary devotion to his conqueror, Viu. In the Asura
realms, the sacred river is called Bhogavat. A third branch of the same stream
flows into the Gods realms, where it is called Mandakin.50 Needless to say, such
waters confer great purification and attainment.

Conclusions
Some conclusions:
Firstly, Buddhism, like the other Indian religions, has had a long and sometimes
significant relation to Ptla.
Secondly, while it seems that the comparatively early texts we now call
Kriytantra once considered Ptla an important topic, that was no longer so much
the case in subsequent Indian and Tibetan Tantric Buddhism: my hunch is that
Ptlas non-standard doctrinal and cosmological bases caused it to be increasingly
sidelined as Vajrayna Buddhism emerged as a fully developed tradition (which
process might also have coincided with a similar falling away of interest in Ptla
within other Indian traditions).
Doctrinally, attainment of Ptla, at least in its rawest form, seems to propose
spending an entire kalpa secluded in the company of delightful Asura maidens,
until Maitreya comes, thus postponing all serious practice of dharma until that
time. It says nothing about the immediate realization of emptiness and compassion.
Mainstream Vajrayna by contrast emphasizes the perception of this very world
we are born into as the pure maala of a Buddha, to be realized through direct
perception of its emptiness. Such a realization empowers the bodhisattva to act
for the benefit of others. Hence the temporary flight from this world and the
postponement of realization suggested by attainment of Ptla seems tangential to

49
Often, the waters descend from Vius foot breaking the shell of the Cosmic Egg surrounding the
universe; sometimes, the waters descend from Brahms bathing of Vius foot as it arrives in the
highest heavens. This can sometimes become an important cosmogonic account of the birth of the
Ganges; as it is, for example, in the Padma Pura 6.267 cited above. aiva cosmogonic accounts will
of course prefer to say that Gag flows down from ivas head.
50
Hospital, The Righteous Demon, 133-34.
Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 3 (December 2007) 13

Vajrayna notions of the innate purity of all phenomena, and shows little awareness
of more fully developed Vajrayna skillful means. Little wonder it gained scant
scholastic attention in later Indian and Tibetan Vajrayna, despite Sa pas apparent
interest.
Cosmologically, Buddhism is often not very definite about Asuras. In earlier
Buddhism, there were quite possibly only five realms or paths for rebirth
(paca-gataya), rather than the six now enumerated (a-gataya), because the
Asuras were not counted as a separate realm;51 indeed, some modern enumerations
continue to have only five realms or paths. Moreover, Vasubandhu did not specify
the precise location for Asuras in his Abhidharmakoa,52 although Kongtrul does
present a stric source that specifies that Asuras live in crevices of Mount Meru
below the water level.53 Buddhist sources not infrequently prefer to locate Ngas
predominantly in oceans, rather than in a subterranean underworld, although they
can also live in a subterranean underworld, especially beneath anthills, and their
splendid wealth is certainly mentioned in a similar vein to the Puric accounts.
Although there are certainly some Buddhist patterns that do not contradict the
Puric placement for the Asuras, we are left with the impression that the
consistently prominent mention of Asuras as a significant and distinct class of
beings and their unvarying placement in Ptla is much more Puric than Buddhist.
What is clear is that only a few ill-understood echoes of the old belief still
survive in Tibet.54 I have not heard, for example, that there is any contemporary
Tibetan understanding of the Asura Cave at Pharping as an entry to Ptla, even
though there is some possible evidence that such an understanding might well once
have been attached to that place. For example, there is certainly a surviving oral
tradition of sacred subterranean waterways linking Pharping with distant holy
places and springs, which is suggestive of Ptla.55

51
Jikido Takasaki, An Introduction to Buddhism, trans. Rolf Giebel (Tokyo: Th Gakkai, 1987),
131.
52
Jamgn Kongtrul, The Treasury of Knowledge, book 1, Myriad Worlds (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2003),
115.
53
Jamgn Kongtrul, Myriad Worlds, 113, 115.
54
It is not clear to me how the Ptla cult fared in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is not impossible
that the Chinese dragon could represent to some degree a hybridized form including both Nga and
Asura; and there is certainly an awareness of the idea of Ptla in Southeast Asia, although I know
little more than that. A recent study by Julius N. Tsai (Julius N. Tsai, Opening up the Ritual Casket:
Patterns of Concealment and Disclosure in Early and Medieval Chinese Religion, Material Religion
2, no. 1 [2006], 38-66) portrays a vigorous cult in medieval Daoism of the discovery of caskets containing
sacred texts, heavenly mandates, and other items that sometimes bear striking resemblance to the
Tibetan gter ma tradition, but I am not sure exactly how this cult in Daoism relates to the rather similar
ones in Chinese Buddhism as described by Michel Strickmann and others (see for example Michel
Strickmann, The Consecration Stra: A Buddhist Book of Spells, in Chinese Buddhist Apocrypha,
ed. Robert E. Buswell [Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1990], 75-118). I am also not yet clear
how either of these Chinese treasure cults connect with the Indic ideas of Ptla.
55
Rather less conclusively, some of the more extensive accounts within the Tibetan phur pa literature
on Padmasambhavas taming of goddesses at Pharping seem to invoke typically Puric cosmological
categories in describing those goddesses habitats as oceans of milk, wine, ghee, and butter. See Robert
Mayer: The Importance of the Underworlds 14

Padmasambhava and Kriytantra

What bearing might the Ptla cult have on Padmasambhava? The popular
hagiographies indicate that Padmasambhava went to the Asura Cave at Pharping
more to use it as a generalized power place, rather than as a specific entry point
for him to visit Ptla. There seems to be no immediate direct connection.
Nevertheless, there are certainly several noteworthy parallels between the
Padmasambhava legends and some typically Kriytantra beliefs, including those
of the Ptla type, that mostly have not up till now been remarked, as far as I am
aware. How exactly these parallels connected to the historical Padmasambhava,
or to his legend, is difficult to say with any precision. At the moment, I feel there
can be little doubt that the historical Padmasambhava was a major teacher of
Mahyoga, as the Dunhuang Thabs zhags commentary, IOL Tib J 321, so eloquently
suggests.56 Yet Padmasambhava probably existed within a cultural environment
in which Kriytantras were still very influential indeed. Of course, categories of
tantric doxography are also often rather loose and even inconsistent, so that
categories such as Kriy and Mahyoga can have considerable overlaps: Mahyoga
grew within the milieu of and upon the basis of earlier traditions including
Kriytantra, and therefore the later traditions still have much common ground with
the earlier traditions. One must also consider that late Dunhuang texts such as
Pelliot 44 clearly portray Padmasambhava as an exponent of all levels of tantra,
from Kriy up to Ati although the significance of such terms was more flexible
and varied in the tenth century than it became in later years.57 The situation is still
quite hard to assess accurately (I have some speculative hypotheses that I might
suggest elsewhere), but it is important not to read excessive specific significances
into these resemblances; on the contrary, it is better to understand them as indicating
a more general truth.
Let us look within the contents of the *Kaikrodha-vajrakumra-bodhisattva-
sdhana-vidhi, a text substantially devoted to the Ptla cult, to get some examples
of themes that resonate with the later Padmasambhava legend:
[1] There is in this particular text, of course, a central focus on the wrathful
deity Vajrakumra, a name very well known in Tibet as the proper name of
Vajraklaya, one of the chosen yi dam deities of Padmasambhava and the most
important of all Rnying ma pa yi dams. However, the appearance of the deity here
is not identical to the later Tibetan or Mahyoga forms. The main difference is that
the Tibetan Mahyoga forms are normally presented as kplika deities with the
trademark kplika adornments of skulls, khavgas, cemetery ash, and so forth,58

Mayer, A Scripture of the Ancient Tantra Collection: The Phur-pa bcu-gnyis (Oxford: Kiscadale
Publications, 1996), 128ff.
56
Dunhuang Tibetan manuscripts held at the British Library, London: IOL Tib J 321. Cathy Cantwell
and I are currently engaged in a four year AHRC-funded research project on this text.
57
Dunhuang Tibetan manuscripts held at the Bibliothque nationale, Paris: Pelliot tibtain 44.
58
These kplika adornments are linked in the Dharmastra literature to the legal penances for
Brahmins who commit murder: banished to a graveyard, and becoming ritually impure, they must wear
Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 3 (December 2007) 15

which are generally linked with later strata of tantra. This Vajrakumra, by contrast,
is of the pre-kplika Vajrapi type, with snakes to show his control over Ngas
and flames to emphasize his wrath, but lacking the specific kplika insignia (even
if some human skulls and bones are employed in some of his rites). In fact, in this
text, Vajrakumra is explicitly understood as a form of Vajrapi, which is an
identification less often made for Vajrakumra in the Tibetan Mahyoga literature.
Thus in the instructions on how to paint him, the text tells us:

The figure of Vajrakumra stands alone, arising out of the waves of the ocean.
He should be the colour of vairya, of robust appearance, having six arms with
strong shoulders. His face has three eyes which are red. He wears a jewelled crown
on his head. His eye teeth are thrust out and bite on his lower lip, while his
eyebrows are wrinkled in anger. Furthermore, a jewelled mountain should be
painted in the ocean. The figure has his right leg on this jewelled mountain, resting
on a beautiful lotus and his left leg is submerged in the water up to his knee. His
first right hand holds a three-pronged vajra as though about to throw it. The second
right hand holds a mace, and his third right hand holds an axe. His first left hand
grasps a club, his second left hand makes a gesture of warning, and his third left
hand holds a sword. He has one great snake slung from his shoulder diagonally
around his torso, and he also has all kinds of poisonous snakes as armlets and
bracelets. He also has a jewelled necklace, earrings, and his hair is bound [with
ribbons]. His waist is encircled three times with one large snake. The rear of his
body is surrounded with light and tongues of blazing fire, and flashes of lightning
shoot out from these flames.59

Elsewhere in the text, he is described as dark blue in color. The several references
to the sea and maritime products in the text and the ascription of its Chinese
translation to Amoghavajra are thought by some to indicate a South Indian
provenance for this deity, while the Tibetan Vajrakumra is more likely North
Indian. Yet both this deity and the later Mahyoga versions are both krodha deities
of roughly the same general type, and both primarily act as subjugators of spirits
of all kinds, and of demonic forces. As the text explains at the outset, those who
do the practice of Kaikrodha Vajrakumra

will be able to subdue demons, eliminate those with false views who revile the
true dharma, and destroy such people as the icchntikas within the country. The
power of the mantra will cause them to direct their minds to goodness. Poisonous
insects and plants will not harm them. Mantrins of other groups will not be able
to harm their practicehe will be able to gain access to treasures (nidhi), break
the sealed doors of the Asuras, dry up rivers, and stop the flow of water.60

only an animal skin skirt, they must carry with them at all times the leg of the bed (literally, khavga)
of their victim, and they must eat out of his skull as their only bowl. This image of the Brahmin penitent
lies at the heart of much tantric imagery, both aiva and Buddhist.
59
T1222a.21.106a22-b5; Hodge, *Kaikrodha, 7.
60
T1222a.21.102b15-b20; Hodge, *Kaikrodha, 1.
Mayer: The Importance of the Underworlds 16

The control over water also occurs elsewhere in the text, a theme well-attested
for Padmasambhava,61 and throughout the text there are also numerous rites to kill,
subdue, and terrify enemies of every kind, both human and non-human, very much
as Padma did in the legends. Some of these employ a kla, the favored instrument
of Padmasambhava. The text advises:

Go to a cemetery and make a figure of your atru (enemy). Take a human bone
from a cemetery and make a kla and bind it with red thread. Stab the figure of
your enemy with this in its heart and [that person] will immediately die.62

Further on, almost the same rite seems to be repeated:

There is another rite if you desire to vanquish an enemy (atru). Take some human
bone and make a kla with it. Then either paint or sculpt an image of that person
and reciting the mantra 108 times to empower the kla, drive it into his heart and
he will be vanquished.63

And again:

There is another rite if you wish to overcome an enemy and make them die. Take
some wood left from a cremation and make a kla with it. Anoint it with ground
purple sandalwood, and wind some thread you have got from a cemetery around
the kla. Then drive it into the head of the image of your enemy as before. Your
enemy will then die.64

[2] There is a substantial concern with discovery of treasure (gter ma, nidhi),
one of the most important aspects of the Padmasambhava legend. As the text
explains right at the outset, in the first paragraph after the setting of the scene
(nidna), by reciting the mantra 600,000 times, and performing various other rites,
the yogin will be able to gain access to treasures (nidhi).65 This is clearly one of
the main advantages of gaining entry to Ptla, as understood in this text. At another
point, it is explained that

61
Hodge, *Kaikrodha, 2, 12. See Pasang Wangdu and Hildegard Diemberger, dBa bzhed: The
Royal Narrative Concerning the Bringing of the Buddhas Doctrine to Tibet (Vienna: Verlag der
sterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2000), 14 for a discussion of Padmasambhavas close
involvement in controlling waters in the Dba bzhed. Bu ston also mentions Padmasambhavas feats
with water, including reversing the Tsang po River, and taking the silver urn in which the Tibetan king
kept his fresh hair-washing water, and miraculously introducing the washing waters of the gods into
it. See Bu-ston Rin-chen-grub, The History of Buddhism in India and Tibet, trans. E. Obermiller, 2nd
ed. (Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1986), 190. This feat of substituting the kings washing water with
water from the gods might well represent an ancient Buddhist tradition of showing siddhi: Pali traditions
maintain that being capable of obtaining the refreshing waters from Lake Anotatta, in which the gods
themselves bathe, was a feat traditionally held to represent the very ultimate demonstration of siddhi.
See G. P. Malalasekera, Dictionary of Pli Proper Names (London: Published for the Pali Text Society
by Luzac & Co, 1960), 96-99.
62
T1222a.21.107c29-108a2; Hodge, *Kaikrodha, 10.
63
T1222a.21.108c27-c29; Hodge, *Kaikrodha, 12.
64
T1222a.21.109a1-4; Hodge, *Kaikrodha, 13.
65
Hodge, *Kaikrodha, 1.
Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 3 (December 2007) 17

There is also a rite for those who desire to acquire treasure (nidhi). Do not select
a particular [astrological] season, day or hour, and it is not necessary to maintain
the discipline. In the vicinity of the treasure, the mantrin should raise one foot
and recite the mantra. Turning around to the right, he should gaze towards all the
four directions and take possession of the area (sma-bandha) [use this method
also when preparing the great maala]. Carefully raising one foot, he should
recite the mantra 108 times. If the guardians of the treasure obstruct him, then
they will be burnt in a mass of fire. They will come screaming to the mantrin and
bow before him, vanquished. The mantrin should say to them, Open this treasure
store and give me all that is therein to me! They will then open it and give
everything to the mantrin. If they are mean-spirited and do not give it to him, then
he should say, Brahm, Nryaa, Mahevara, the warrior goddesses and Durga
will come and crush your treasure store. You give it to me quickly! If you do not
do so, the wrathful Vajrakumra will destroy all of your family! When they have
heard what he has said, they will all obey, and say to him, Noble One! Come
and take what you will, we will not hinder you! Then he should say to them,
You may open the store yourselves and give it to me! They will then immediately
open the treasure store and give him the treasure respectfully.66

There are yet further elaborate nidhi rites in this text.67 Interestingly, one of
them embeds the recovery of treasure into a list of impressive attainments that
culminates in the most soteriological kind:

If you desire to accomplish the most excellent result, you should go to the seashore
during the waxing phase of a lunar [first, fifth, or ninth] month, and make a stpa
out of mud and gravel, and place the prattya verse [that is, the Dharmakya
arra verse] inside the stpa. Place the image [of Vajrakumra as described
above] in front of the stpa. You should mix water with porridge and eat it. Take
sticks of arka wood and smear them with ghee, and then throw them into a homa
fire. Recite the mantra 100,000 times. When you have finished, the ground will
move and your body will become transformed and you will fly up and become
Lord of the Tuita Heaven. If the surrounding ground flickers with fire, then you
will become Lord of the Four World Rulers. If rain falls from a great cloud, all
the treasures hidden in the ground will burst forth at once. If rays of golden light
appear everywhere, then you will be transformed by them and become a
bodhisattva. You will live for one kalpa and nobody will be so powerful that they
can injure you. If you see the bodies of all beings giving out rays of light, then
you will gain realization of all the Buddhas Teachings of the Three Ways and
attain bodhicitta. If the image and the stpa emit rays of light, then you will
become lord of all vidydharas. If light rays fill the ten directions, then you will
see the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, and all things you desire, whether mundane
or supra-mundane, will be fulfilled68

Yet most of the nidhi rites are more mundane:

66
T1222a.21.102c7-c20; Hodge, *Kaikrodha, 2.
67
Hodge, *Kaikrodha, 7, 10, 12.
68
T1222a.21.106b24-c6; Hodge, *Kaikrodha, 7-8.
Mayer: The Importance of the Underworlds 18

There is another rite if you wish to locate hidden treasure. Get some yogurt from
a yellow cow, a snake skin and shark oil, as well as some arka wood and cotton.
Make a lamp with these things. Recite mantras to empower it, and then light it
at night near the place where there is treasure. You will know the amount of the
treasure that is there by the size of the flame. If you need to expel the gods who
guard the treasure and other obstructors, take a slab of rock or pebble or some
mustard seeds or some empowered water and cast it at the treasure. The obstructor
on the treasure will withdraw. If you suspect there is a large Nga there, this will
also leave.69

In fact, as far as I am currently aware, most scriptural Tantric Buddhist nidhi

rites are found in Kriytantras see, for example, the Vajraekhara Stra or
Chin-kang-ting ching, Fascicle 3, Chapter 4;70 or, for an Indian example, the
Majurmlakalpa.71 In accordance with the wider Indian treasure cult, beyond
the confines of Buddhism, in which entire works such as the Nidhidarana of Rma
Vjapeyin were devoted to treasure recovery, not to mention the countless nidhi
rites found in diverse types of Hindu texts and often connected with Ptla,72 the
treasure in these Kriytantras is of course usually more material than textual.
However that does not necessarily contradict the developed Rnying ma pa treasure
practice, within which the recovery of straightforward material wealth, sacred
elixirs, and various valuable objects have all along been very significant, occuring
throughout Rnying ma history alongside the better-known text revelation.73 One
should add, even if the Buddhist Kriytantra texts emphasize treasures of magic
powers and material treasures, the several famous Mahyana texts on treasure
(nidhi) studied by Paul Harrison do emphasize textual discoveries
(dharmanidhna),74 in terms reasonably similar to those of the tantras, and quite
strikingly similar to the more developed Tibetan treasure tradition. Both these
types of Buddhist treasure narrative, the tantric and the stric, entered Tibetan
translation simultaneously in the early translation period. To be more specific,
unmistakable precursors of the magical particulars for treasure recovery are richly
attested in many Kriytantra texts, including those that we know were translated
into Tibetan from early on; while doctrinal and historical explanation and
justification both for nidhis concealment, and for the manner of its concealment
and recovery, are found expounded at great length and in very great detail indeed
in the Tibetan translation of the Pratyutpanna-buddha-samukhvasthita-samdhi-

69
T1222a.21.107b27-c3; Hodge, *Kaikrodha, 10.
70
Rolf Giebel, Two Esoteric Sutras (Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research,
2001), 79-80.
71
Mayer, A Scripture of the Ancient Tantra Collection, 84.
72
Mayer, A Scripture of the Ancient Tantra Collection, 82-89.
73
Mayer, A Scripture of the Ancient Tantra Collection, 87.
74
Paul Harrison, Mediums and Messages: Reflections on the Production of Mahyna Stras,
Eastern Buddhist 25, no. 1 (2003): 125.
Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 3 (December 2007) 19

stra,75 a famous and philosophically lofty Mahyna text cited by Kamalala in

the Bhvankrama that he specially wrote for Tibet; as in the Sarvapuya-
samuccaya-samdhi-stra, that is cited on the topic of such text revelation by
ntideva in his iksamuccaya.76 Perhaps this is why the Rnying ma treasure
cult so obviously came to combine elements from the exciting magic of the Asura

75
Paul M. Harrison, The Samdhi of Direct Encounter with the Buddhas of the Present: An Annotated
English Translation of the Tibetan Version of the Pratyutpanna-Buddha-Samukhvasthita-Stra
(Tokyo: The International Institute for Buddhist Studies, 1990).
76
Harrison, Mediums and Messages, 125. As I suggested in my article of 1994, any explanation
of Tibetan gter ma that fails to take into account these more universal and Indic treasure motifs will
probably prove inadequate: the canonical descriptions of gter ma need to be factored into any analysis
of the complex social-historical and cultural situation of post-dynastic Tibet to get a complete picture
(Robert Mayer, Scriptural Revelation in India and Tibet: Indian Precursors of the gTer-ma Tradition,
in Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the 6th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies,
Fagernes, 1992, vol. 2 [Oslo: Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture, 1994], 542).
Unfortunately, a more recent work by Davidson (Tibetan Renaissance, 210 ff) shows little if any
awareness of these important Mahyna stras, nor of the several studies made of them by Paul Harrison
(Paul M. Harrison, The Tibetan Text of the Pratyutpanna-Buddha-Samukhvasthita-Stra [Tokyo:
The International Institute for Buddhist Studies, 1978]; Harrison, Samdhi of Direct Encounter with
the Buddhas of the Present; Harrison, Mediums and Messages). Likewise, Davidson shows little or
no awareness of the highly popular cults of Asura caves, Ptla, and treasure recovery mentioned here.
The net result is that Davidsons account fails to understand the continuities between treasure recovery
in Tibet and elsewhere. For example, Davidson writes that the distinction between sa gter and dag
snang is a relatively modern formulation created in Tibet, that is nowhere to be seen in earlier texts
(Ronald M. Davidson, Tibetan Renaissance: Tantric Buddhism in the Rebirth of Tibetan Culture [New
York: Columbia University Press, 2005], 213). In fact, precisely this distinction is made in the early
period Tibetan translation of the Pratyutpanna-buddha-samukhvasthita-samdhi-stra, where
Chapter 3 describes an unmistakable prototype for dag snang, and Chapter 13 describes an unmistakable
prototype for sa gter (Harrison, Samdhi of Direct Encounter with the Buddhas of the Present, 31-44
and 96-108). Likewise it is made in the early period Tibetan translation of the Sarvapuya-samuccaya-
samdhi-stra; and also in the renowned stra by ntideva, the iksamuccaya (Harrison, Mediums
and Messages, 123-29). It is likely that a thorough search will locate other Mahyna sources as well.
These Mahyna texts also describe a third process of text recovery, pratibhna, that resembles the
later Tibetan dgongs gter, which is indigenously distinguished from sa gter and dag snang alike. Again
unaware of the Indic sources, Davidson also writes that in Tibet local deities and Klu are gradually
replaced by kins as the normative gter ma protectors, as a result, he believes, of a progressive
attempt at Indianization of what he seems to see as the indigenously Tibetan gter ma tradition (Davidson,
Tibetan Renaissance, 217-18). In other words, Davidson assumes that having local deities and Ngas
as gter ma protectors was non-Indic. Yet it is the Indian Mahyna Pratyutpanna-buddha-
samukhvasthita-samdhi-stras Chapter 13 that specifies local deities and Ngas (klu) as the
protectors of the text-containing sgrom bu that the Buddha has had buried in the earth. Likewise, the
entire Asura cave and Ptla tradition so prevalent in the Indian Kriytantras is by definition posited
on Ngas (klu) and Asuras as the main treasure protectors (in China they become dragons), not on
kins. Incidentally, in the same passage, Davidson comprehensively misconstrues my 1994 paper
on gter ma (Davidson, Tibetan Renaissance, 212). I took pains to locate the Indic precedents as merely
one factor (at that time still largely unknown) among many in the construction of the Tibetan gter ma
tradition, something to be factored into Snellgroves interesting sociological idea (David L. Snellgrove,
Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: Indian Buddhists and Their Tibetan Successors [Boston: Shambhala, 1987]),
2:396ff). I analyzed the unique Tibetan transformation of the Indic gter ma precedents as broadly
analogous to the Tibetan construction of the sprul sku system of incarnate lamas on the basis of imported
Indic Buddhist beliefs (Mayer, A Scripture of the Ancient Tantra Collection, 533, 541-42). Davidson
however misquotes me as claiming Indian antecedents to be the only significant factor in the development
of gter ma. One further point of my 1994 article was to correct Michael Ariss at the time still influential
characterization of the basic structuring concepts of gter ma as largely derived from indigenous Tibetan
shamanism (Michael Aris, Hidden Treasures and Secret Lives [London and New York: Kegan Paul
International, 1989], 53-63).
Mayer: The Importance of the Underworlds 20

cave and Ptla hunt for treasure, pleasure, and supernatural powers, with high-brow
Mahyna scriptural orthodoxy, together forming a particularly attractive package,
becoming quite irresistible after being thoroughly integrated with Tibetan mythic
history and imperial memory.
One could likewise point to other similarities between the *Kaikrodha-
vajrakumra-bodhisattva-sdhana-vidhi and the later Mahyoga Vajraklaya-
Vajrakumra and Padmasambhava tropes, including the taking of supernatural
women as consorts,77 elaborate rites for the taming of Rkasas to become ones
servants,78 an extremely wrathful maala for protection from enemies containing
the goddess Ekaja/Ekajat with Vajrakumra (she is Vajrakumras main consort
of liberation in the Mahyoga traditions),79 and the attainment of extreme longevity
or immortality while remaining in a supernatural location filled with dangerous
spirits (cf. Padmasambhava in the Copper Colored Mountain [zangs mdog dpal
ri]).80
Yet I do not believe any of these, nor even all of them together, need to indicate
any direct connection with the Padmasambhava story, unless some further quite
unexpected evidence comes to light that directly links the *Kaikrodha-
vajrakumra-bodhisattva-sdhana-vidhi with Padmasambhava and Nepal. Rather,
on available evidence, I believe they collectively point to a much more general
conclusion: that in assessing the life and times of the historical Padmasambhava,
as well as the growth of the Padmasambhava legends, and moreover in assessing
the growth of early Vajrayna in Tibet in general, we should try not to leave out
of our calculations the fact that Kriytantra and the other lower tantras were
culturally significant traditions at the time that Buddhism first became established
in Tibet.81 Hence their various mythologies and preoccupations could naturally
attach to the person of Padmasambhava, even if he was himself in all probability
also an early teacher of Mahyoga and maybe more, in addition to being
knowledgeable in earlier tantric traditions. Moreover the lower tantras contributed

77
Hodge, *Kaikrodha, 3.
78
Hodge, *Kaikrodha, 2, 8.
79
Hodge, *Kaikrodha, 9.
80
Hodge, *Kaikrodha, 2.
81
Some (notably Davidson, Tibetan Renaissance, 64-65 and 385) have taken an extremely conservative
view of tantra translations in the Imperial period, limiting this to none beyond the thirteen texts
mentioned in the Lhan kar ma. Perhaps such absolute certainty is premature. The combined evidence
of what we know about Tibetan-ruled areas adjoining Kashmir (for a useful review of several sources,
see Cristina Scherrer-Schaub, Enacting Words: A Diplomatic Analysis of the Imperial Decrees [bkas
bcad] and their Application in the sGra sbyor bam po gis pa Tradition, Journal of the International
Association of Buddhist Studies 25, nos. 1-2 [2002]: 263-340, 271ff); the development of the Sgra
sbyor bam bo gnyis pa (see Scherrer-Schaub, Enacting Words, 263-340); the Sba bzhed/Dba bzhed;
Bu stons Chos byung (see A. Herrmann-Pfandt, The Lhan kar ma as a Source for the History of
Tantric Buddhism, in The Many Canons of Tibetan Buddhism, ed. Helmut Eimer and David Germano,
129-49, PIATS 2000: Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the Ninth Seminar of the International Association
for Tibetan Studies, Leiden 2000 [Leiden: Brill, 2002]); the Phang thang ma and Lhan kar ma; what
we know about contemporaneous Indian and Chinese Buddhisms; and the Dunhuang finds might
also suggest otherwise.
Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 3 (December 2007) 21

towards and influenced the development of later tantrism, to a degree rather greater
than is commonly analyzed by most modern scholars, even if they remain in most
cases vaguely aware of this situation. In short, it is not at all impossible that the
largely hidden, oblique and indirect cultural imprint of these lower tantras on
the fully developed Rnying ma pa tradition as we now know it, with its
Padmasambhava legends, its Vajraklaya-Vajrakumra popular yi dam, and its
treasure traditions, is in truth more interesting than we usually choose to recollect.
It is all too easy to become somewhat beguiled by the later Rnying ma pa rhetoric
of exclusive reliance on the three inner or higher yogas of Mah, Anu, and Ati,
and ignore the sometimes interesting materials thrown up by the earlier lower
tantras (but Matthew Kapstein has been a distinguished exception to this trend).
In that respect, even scholars of the more developed and systematized Rnying ma
pa must welcome the works of scholars like Ariane Macdonald, David Snellgrove,
Tadeusz Skorupski, Stephen Hodge, and now also Steven Weinberger, who have
all contributed towards opening up for Tibetanists this very useful field of
knowledge of the earlier tantras.
Mayer: The Importance of the Underworlds 22

Glossary
Note: glossary entries are organized in Tibetan alphabetical order. All entries list
the following information in this order: THDL Extended Wylie transliteration of
the term, THDL Phonetic rendering of the term, English translation, equivalents
in other languages, dates when applicable, and type.

Ka
Wylie Phonetics English Other Dates Type
klu lu Term
Kha
Wylie Phonetics English Other Dates Type
mkhas grub rje Khedrupj Person
Ga
Wylie Phonetics English Other Dates Type
grub pai rigs dzin drupp rikdzin vidydhara of Term
accomplishments
dgongs gter gongter Term
sgra sbyor bam bo Drajor Bampo Nyipa Text
gnyis pa
sgrom bu drombu treasure casket Term
Cha
Wylie Phonetics English Other Dates Type
chos byung Chjung Text
chi med srog thig Chim Soktik Doxographical
Category
Nya
Wylie Phonetics English Other Dates Type
rnying ma Nyingma Organization
rnying ma pa Nyingmapa Organization
Ta
Wylie Phonetics English Other Dates Type
gter ma terma treasure San. nidhi Term
Tha
Wylie Phonetics English Other Dates Type
thabs zhags Tapzhak Text
Da
Wylie Phonetics English Other Dates Type
dag snang daknang Term
bdud joms rin po che Djom Rinpoch Person
rdo rje sa og gi rgyud Dorj Saokgi Gy San. Vajra-ptla- Text
tantra
Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 3 (December 2007) 23

Pa
Wylie Phonetics English Other Dates Type
pa i ta kun dga Pendita Knga Person
rgyal mtshan Gyeltsen
sprul sku trlku Term
Pha
Wylie Phonetics English Other Dates Type
phur pa purpa Term
phags pa rdo rje sa Pakpa Dorj Saokgi San. rya-vajra- Text
og gi rgyud kyi Gykyi Gyelpo ptla-nma-
rgyal po tantra-rja
phags pa shes rab Pakpa Sherap Person
phang thang ma Pangtangma Text
Ba
Wylie Phonetics English Other Dates Type
bu ston Butn Author
bya gdong ba can Jadongwachen Person
dba bzhed Wazh Text
sba bzhed Bazh Text
Tsa
Wylie Phonetics English Other Dates Type
tsang po Tsangpo Term
Za
Wylie Phonetics English Other Dates Type
zangs dkar Zangkar Zanskar Place
zangs mdog dpal ri Zangdok Pelri Copper Colored Place
Mountain
zil gnon nam mkhai Zilnn Namkh Dorj Person
rdo rje
Ya
Wylie Phonetics English Other Dates Type
yi dam yidam Term
La
Wylie Phonetics English Other Dates Type
las byang Lejang Title
Sa
Wylie Phonetics English Other Dates Type
sa skya pa Sakyapa Organization
sa gter sater Term
sa pa Sapen Person
sa la gnas pai rigs sala nep rikdzin vidydhara who Term
dzin dwells on the levels
Ha
Wylie Phonetics English Other Dates Type
lhan kar ma Lhenkarma Text
Mayer: The Importance of the Underworlds 24

lhun gyis grub pai lhngyi drupp spontaneously Term

rigs dzin rikdzin accomplishing
vidydhara
Sanskrit
Wylie Phonetics English Sanskrit Dates Type
Abhidharmakoa Text
Amarakoa Text
Amoghavajra Person
hook; elephant goad akua Term
rya-kin- Text
krodha-
vajrakumra-
bodhisattva-siddhi-
kalpa-stra
Asura Term
*asuraguh Term
Avakara Term
a region of Ptla atala Term
Ati Doxographical
Category
Bali Deity
Bhvankrama Text
Bhvaviveka Person
Bhogavat Term
bodhicitta Term
Bodhisattva Term
Brahm Deity
brahmin Term
Bhaspati Deity
Cary Doxographical
Category
kin Term
Daitya Term
Dnava Term
deva Term
Dhra Doxographical
Category
dharma Term
Dharmakya arra Text
textual discoveries dharmanidhna Term
Dharmastra Term
Durga Deity
Ekaja Deity
Ekajat Deity
Gabhistamat Place
Ganges Gag River
Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 3 (December 2007) 25

Garua Pura Text

homa Term
icchntika Term
Indra Deity
Jambhaka Deity
Jambudvpa Place
kalpa Term
Kamalala Person
Kambala Deity
Kaikrodha Deity
Vajrakumra
*Kaikrodha- Text
vajrakumra-
bodhisattva-
sdhana-vidhi (Chi.

Sheng chia ni fen

nu chin kang tung
tzu pu sa cheng
chiu i kuei ching)
kplika Term
Kyapa Deity
kavi Term
kavirj Term
Kvya Uanas Deity
leg of the bed khavga Term
kla Term
Kriy Doxographical
Category
Kriytantra Doxographical
Category
krodha Term
Krma Pura Text
Kurukull Deity
Madhyamaka Organization
Mah Doxographical
Category
Mahbhrata Text
Mahkyapa Person
Mahkhya Place
Mahtala Place
Mahyna Organization
Mahyoga Doxographical
Category
Mahevara Deity
Maitreya Deity
Mandakin Term
Mayer: The Importance of the Underworlds 26

maala Term
Majur Deity
Majurmlakalpa Text
mantra Term
mantrin Term
mudr Term
main mantra mlamantra Term
Nga Term
hells of torment naraka Term
Nrada Deity
Narasiha Deity
Nryaa Deity
nidna Term
Nidhidarana Text
Nitala Place
Padma Pura Text
Padmasambhava Person
five realms or paths paca-gataya Term
of rebirth
Ptla Place
attainment of Ptla ptlasiddhi Term
patanti alam Term
Prahlda Deity
pratibhna Term
Pratyutpanna- Text
buddha-
samukhvasthita-
samdhi-stra
prattya Term
pura Term
Rkasa Term
Rma Vjapeyin Person
Rastala Place
Indian alchemical rasyana Term
tradition
Sdhanaml Text
Samantabhadra Deity
Sarasvat Deity
Sarvapuya- Text
samuccaya-
samdhi-stra
attainment siddhi Term
sma-bandha Term
stpa Term
Subhuparipcch Text
Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 3 (December 2007) 27

Sugatar Person
heavenly delights sukha Term
Sutala Place
stra Term
six realms or paths a-gataya Term
of rebirth
ntideva Person
stra Term
enemy atru Term
iksamuccaya Text
iva Deity
Taltala Place
tantra Term
Tuita Heaven Place
Vcaspati Mira Person
vairya Term
vajra Term
Vajrabodhi Person
Vajraklaya Deity
Vajrakumra Deity
Vajrapi Deity
Vajraekhara Stra Text
(Chi.
Chin-kang-ting
ching)
Vajrayna Doxographical
Category
Vmana Deity
Vasubandhu Person
magical knowledge; vidy Term
magical sciences
holders of magical vidydhara Term
knowledge
Virocana Deity
Viu Deity
Vitala Place
Viu Pura Text
Vysa Person
Yoga Stra Text
yogin Term
Chinese
Wylie Phonetics English Chinese Dates Type
Dunhuang Place
Ershier zhong Text
dazangjing tongjian
Hsan-tsang Person
Mayer: The Importance of the Underworlds 28

Lo-yang Place
Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 3 (December 2007) 29

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