Differences in Trailokyavijaya’s Victory over Śiva and Indra in the Guhyamaṇitilaka

Abstract

There has been a great discussion about Hindu deities in the scriptures of tantric Buddhism. The story of Trailokyavijaya’s victory over Śiva is explained in most of the texts identified as Yoga-tantra texts, included the eighteen assemblies of the Vajraśekhara cycle. Some studies have suggested that 7th and 8th century Indian Tantric Buddhism was strongly hostile to Śiva in light of this story.

However, the attitude they have taken to Hindu deities other than Śiva is unclear because there are few related matters in the scriptures of the Vajraśekhara cycle. In this paper, I examine the story of Trailokyavijaya’s victory over Śiva and Indra in the Guhya­maṇi­tilaka, overlooked in previous studies, in order to elucidate the Tantric Buddhists attitudes toward Indra. As a result, it became clear that a moderate response was taken toward Indra. This fact leads to the conclusion that not all Hindu deities were hated in all cases by Tantric Buddhists at that time.