An Overview of Tantra and Related Works

This anthology contains works that will be of primary interest to those interested in the literature of the Vajrayana, or Tantra. The nature and content of Buddhist Tantric literature, and how it resembles and differs from non-Buddhist Tantra, are discussed by Sachen Kunga Nyingpo (1034-1102) in his Overview of Tantra. There are more specialized accounts in the opening section to his Pearl Rosary Tika: A Commentary on the Sri Cakrasamvara Mula Tantra, a work of 397 Tibetan pages of which I have translated twenty five pages. These are the pages that describe the transmission and literary concerns of interest to general readers. The section that remains to be translated is a detailed, word by word, commentary on the Samvara Tantra itself, suitable for a more detailed study. Readers looking for a clear description of the place of sexuality in Buddhist Tantra will find the sources here translated attractive.