Re-making, Re-marking, or Re-using? Hermeneutical Strategies and Challenges in the Guhyasamāja Commentarial Literature
Issue: Vol 33 No. 1-2 (2016)
Journal: Buddhist Studies Review
Subject Areas: Religious Studies Buddhist Studies
DOI: 10.1558/bsrv.31645
Abstract:
This paper presents a case study in the exegesis of Buddhist tantric literature by examining a segment of the corpus of Guhyasamāja literature and, in doing so, addresses both emic and etic approaches to the hermeneutics of tantric texts. On the most basic level, we discuss the mechanisms for interpreting statements within the root tantra internal to the exegetical tantric literature itself, as exemplified by Candrakīrti’s ‘Brightening Lamp’ (Pradīpoddyotana) commentary and the extensive sub-commentary by Bhavyakīrti. On another level, however, these same exegetical moves can be viewed in terms of the ideas ‘re-use’ and reformulation of the root text, and how they shape the understanding of the role and function of tantric commentary.
Author: Paul G. Hackett
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