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The Catuṣpīṭhatantra (“The Tantra in Four Chapters”) is one of the earliest tantras of the yoginīs, a group of scriptures that teaches highly esoteric practices. Its popularity began in the 9th century and we know of at least three commentaries on the text. The main deities are all female, headed by Jñānaḍākinī. The text teaches a rich variety of subjects, both exoteric—a novel way of reckoning time and a system of divination based on it, healing snake-bite, weather control, oblations into fire and water—and esoteric—realizing emptiness, the symbolism of ritual objects, attaining supernatural powers, and the yogic way of dying (the famous practice of Phowa; this is the earliest tantra to teach this subject). Our translation is based on the commentator Bhavabhaṭṭa, an author who was popular at Vikramaśīla Monastery.

The Elucidation of the Intention Tantra (sandhivyākaraṇa-nāma-tantra) is an explanatory tantra—questions and answers about the root tantra—for the Guhysamāja tantra, it is said that this explanatory tantra reveals and explains the meaning of the root tantra that is concealed in words that have an indirect meaning and which cannot be interpreted directly. It is said to present a special and unique way of commenting on the Guhyasamāja Tantra.

The Tantra Purifying Evil Destinies is a Yogatantra oriented towards the performance of funerary rituals, translated in the eighth century and currently extant only in Tibetan. Of the two translations in the Kangyur, this is the earlier one. It is notable for its frame story involving a god who has fallen into hell unexpectedly. After a request from Indra and other gods, the Buddha reveals that the god can be saved if rituals are performed on his behalf. The text then teaches numerous maṇḍala rites, homa sacrifices, and other rituals. With their help, the god is finally restored to heaven and the Buddha reveals the reason for his downfall, namely, severe transgressions from an earlier lifetime. The tantra employs ritual techniques common to the Yogatantra class but is distinct in its emphasis on rituals to benefit others—such as the dead—rather than sādhana practices for self-cultivation. Despite the similarity in purpose and structure of the two translations, there are substantial differences between them. In particular, this version features the maṇḍala for which the tantra is best known, a five-buddha array centering on Sarvavid Vairocana, a form of Vairocana unique to this tantra.

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This text is among the 15 Yogatantras preserved in the Tibetan Kangyur. Yoga Tantras are an important class of tantras that, historically speaking, had a tremendous impact on the later developments in tantric doctrine and practice, making their study important both in their own right and also as a vehicle for understanding other tantras, as well. This particular text brings important elements from the Prajñāpāramitā literature into a tantric context. It includes a description of empowerment rituals as well as many short sādhanas for the buddhas and bodhisattvas in its maṇḍala. As this tantra contains passages similar to a number of other texts in the Kangyur, it exhibits an exciting instance of intertexuality among canonical texts.

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These two texts are classified as Yoga Tantras and are said to focus on wisdom, rather than skillful means. They represent an important period in the development of Vajrayāna Buddhism, when the mahāsiddha or “great adept,” was beginning to have greater impact on the development of Buddhist meditation, ritual, art, culture, and institutions throughout India and the broader Buddhist world. The seeds of the most advanced and most important meditation traditions in Tibetan Buddhism are present in these texts. Nurtured through early Buddhist mahāsiddhas and enhanced through the direct instructions of their gurus and teachers, these texts eventually grew and blossomed into the complete Vajrayāna tradition.

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These two texts are classified as Yoga Tantras and are said to focus on wisdom, rather than skillful means. They represent an important period in the development of Vajrayāna Buddhism, when the mahāsiddha or “great adept,” was beginning to have greater impact on the development of Buddhist meditation, ritual, art, culture, and institutions throughout India and the broader Buddhist world. The seeds of the most advanced and most important meditation traditions in Tibetan Buddhism are present in these texts. Nurtured through early Buddhist mahāsiddhas and enhanced through the direct instructions of their gurus and teachers, these texts eventually grew and blossomed into the complete Vajrayāna tradition.

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The Book of Supplements is a reference work that provides additional detail, in the form of enumerated lists and question-and-answers with the Buddha, to the topics covered in the main Vinaya texts. Important topics discussed include how monks and nuns can enter into a spiritual apprenticeship with a teacher, and how this relationship can be ended if it is not productive or even harmful. Scholars are very interested in The Book of Supplements because it has no direct parallel in the Pāli and Chinese vinayas and is therefore regarded as a key to understand the unique development of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya which was transmitted to and practiced in Tibet.

This text is classified as a Yogatantra. The teacher of this tantra is Vairocana but the rituals also focus on the Buddha Vajrasattva. This latter part of the tantra is longer and consists of 44 chapters that together comprise the second, third, and fourth sections of the larger work. As such, although it is called the “Chapter on Mantras” it covers many additional instructions. First, a lengthy description is given of the benefits that arise from the practice of the perfection of wisdom as taught in the first part of the tantra. In the remainder of the tantra, the Buddha Vajrasattva emanates the maṇḍalas taught earlier in the text and he teaches in great detail about their connected rituals.

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This text introduces in a full form the tantric practice of the five enlightenments. All the buddhas gather and guide the bodhisattva to experience the nature of his own mind, and develop that realization through a series of visualizations combined with the repetition of mantra, and they bestow initiation on him. This five-step practice culminates in the bodhisattva’s perfect enlightenment in the form of a fully awakened buddha-body. The text goes on to describe multiple sets of maṇḍalas, rituals, achievements, and the activities. In addition, this text presents the seminal Buddhist tantric narrative of the bodhisattva Vajrapāṇi’s subjugation of Maheśvara (aka Śiva).

The Padminī by Ratnarakṣita (ca. 1150–1250), two hundred pages long, isthe most important and largest commentary on the Saṃvarodayatantra, one of the yoginī tantras. It was composed in Sanskrit during the author’sstay in Tibet, and happens to be the only commentary on this tantra still available in Sanskrit. The author comments on the root text word by word, and also elaborates on a range of topics pertaining to the yoginī tantras and Buddhism in general. The commentary could have been intended to facilitate the study of these topics by Tibetan monks.

Sovereign Tantra in Four Parts (Catuṣpīṭhatantra, Rgyud Gdan bzhi) is linguistically one of the most enigmatic scriptures of its kind. Fortunately, Bhavabhaṭṭa's commentary, An Aide-memoire (Smṛtinibandha, Dran pa’i rgyumtshan), has survived in both Sanskrit and Tibetan translation. Without this text, many of the tantra's mysteries would remain inaccessible. Bhavabhaṭṭa, a renowned 10th-century scholar active at the Vikramaśīla university, offers a detailed, clear, and authoritative treatment of the text. His commentary was highly influential, remaining in use at his monastery even two centuries later. Bhavabhaṭṭa’s broader project involved commenting on the key yoginītantras of his time, including the Vajraḍākatantra and the Herukābhidhāna/Laghuśaṃvara, the latter being his most developed work. His interpretations were likely regarded as the definitive commentaries on these complex and significant scriptures.

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