Goddess of the Week : Tara ( In Hindu and Buddhist Tantarism )

[Guest guest]

This discussion was held sometime back when we were discussing about

Chinnamasta.

 

Sankarruku

"It is accepted by most scholars that MAA CHINNAMASTHA was originally

a Buddhist god who was later adapted into the Hindu tradition. This

is evident both from her Gayatri and mantra, which refer to her as

Vajra Vairochani. However some of the Hindu Tantras refer to her only

as Prachanda Chandika and give the Mantra also without referring to

her as Vajra Vairochani."

 

Nora55_1999

"I dont understand this part. I always have this impression that

Buddhist emerged from the Hindu tradition. How does the Hindus

adapted a Buddhist Goddess?"

 

Sankarruku

" Vajra Vairochani and Prachanda Chandika are the principal names of

MAA CHINNMASTHA. Vajra is a principal adjective in the Buddhist

Tantra tradition, which is also known as Vajrayana. So the name

Vajra Vairochani occurring both in the Gayatri and the Mantra

indicate that she is Buddhist in origin. In some of the Hindu Tantras

she is referred to as Prachanda Chandika and in those Tantras the

Mantra does not contain the name Vajra Vairochani. In the Hindu

iconography she stands on Rati and Kama and wears a snake as a sacred

cord where as these elements are absent in Buddhist Iconography.

 

About Buddhist Goddesses coming to Hindu tradition MAA TAARA is the

prime example. But most of the Hindus do not consider Buddhism to be

different from Hinduism. We worship in Buddhist temples. Lord Buddha

is considered an avatara of Vishnu. Especially Vajrayana the Buddhist

Tantric tradition of Tibet is very close to Hindu Tantras. Sometimes

we say this is according to Chinachara tradition that is tradition

from China. Some scholars say such traditions are from Mongolia.

Hinduism has taken on a lot of good ideas from Buddhism especially

the concept of Ahimsa."

 

There are several hindu scholars such as Shankaranarayanan dispute

this claims. He firmly believe that these Goddess especially

Chinnamasta are Vedic in Origin.

 

However Gudrun Buhnemann from University of Wisconsin-Madison, have

written an intresting article entitled : The Goddess Mahacinakrama-

Tara ( Ugra Tara ) in Buddhist and Hindu Tantarism which set to prove

based on textual evidences of how the goddess descriptions

particularly Mahacinakrama- Tara ( Ugra Tara ) in the Buddhist

Sadhana are being incorporated into the Hindu Sadhana.

 

http://imp.lss.wisc.edu/~gbuhnema/tara.pdf

 

Om Parashaktiye Namaha