The Problem of the Complier of the Vajrapādasārasaṃgrahapañjikā and the Beginning of the Kālacakra Circle

Abstract

The emergence and propagation of the Kālacakratantra doctrine was a great event in the latter phase of Indian Buddhist history. Standing against antinomian trends that dominated some Buddhist groups in those days, the flag bearers of that doctrine brought some new systems into the Vajrayāna world, which consisted of tantra-oriented bhikṣus and lay yogins.

A commentary on the Hevajratantra named Vajrapādasārasaṃgrahapañjikā (Pañjikā, hereafter) was compiled based on the basic philosophy of the Kālacakratantra circle. First, this paper examines the problem of the complier of that text (Some believe that the Pañjikā was composed by Nāropa). Secondly, it discusses the period of the appearance of the Kālkacakra group. As the contemporary Italian scholar Claudio Cicuzza says, if the Laghutantraṭīkā written by Vajrapāṇi, one of the Cakrasaṃvaratantra commentaries, upon which the Pañjikā is based, and to which it refers several times, was the earliest text of the Kālacakra doctrine, it is highly plausible that a new system of organizational principles (an integrated system of bhikṣu-supremacism and meritocracy) was introduced into the Vajrayāna by Vajrapāṇi through group-oriented practices (caryā) such as the gaṇacakra. Furthermore, the appearance of the ritual called vīrabhojya, the sisterhood ritual of the gaṇacakra, can be ascribed to Vajrapāṇi himself.