DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.649#0074
THE KALA CHAKRA SYSTEM. 49
centuries of Christianity, but the present Hindu ritual
seems to him not to date back beyond the tenth cen-
tury; about at the same time the Tantras were pro-
bably introduced also into the Buddhist sacred literature.
Their modern origin is proved by the statement of the
Tibetan autorities respecting the appearance of the Dus
kyi khorlo system, which makes the deliverance from
metempsychosis dependent upon the knowledge of the
Tantras. So at least says Padma Karpo, a Tibetan Lama,
who lived in the sixteenth century, in his description
of these doctrines. "He who does not know the Tan-
trika principles and all such, is a wanderer in the
orb of transmigration and is out of the way (path)
of the supreme triumphator, Sanskrit Bhagavan Vajra-
dhara."1 Another and indirect proof of their recent
origin is the fact, that there are much fewer works on
Tantrika principles existing in the Chinese language:
had the Chinese Buddhist pilgrims who travelled in India
still during the seventh century a.d. found such treatises
(had they existed at all, they would soon have become
acquainted with them), they would certainly have brought
them home in order to have them translated into the
Chinese language; and then, also, in this particular branch
the Chinese Buddhist literature would be richer than the
Tibetan, whilst the reverse is actually the case. Besides,
it is also reported, that the most expert Indian magicians,
or Tantrists, did not exist till after the travels of the
1 The claim that Sakyamuni is their original author, is undoubtedly in-
admissable, both on account of their style and contents, as well as of histori-
cal dates.
4
centuries of Christianity, but the present Hindu ritual
seems to him not to date back beyond the tenth cen-
tury; about at the same time the Tantras were pro-
bably introduced also into the Buddhist sacred literature.
Their modern origin is proved by the statement of the
Tibetan autorities respecting the appearance of the Dus
kyi khorlo system, which makes the deliverance from
metempsychosis dependent upon the knowledge of the
Tantras. So at least says Padma Karpo, a Tibetan Lama,
who lived in the sixteenth century, in his description
of these doctrines. "He who does not know the Tan-
trika principles and all such, is a wanderer in the
orb of transmigration and is out of the way (path)
of the supreme triumphator, Sanskrit Bhagavan Vajra-
dhara."1 Another and indirect proof of their recent
origin is the fact, that there are much fewer works on
Tantrika principles existing in the Chinese language:
had the Chinese Buddhist pilgrims who travelled in India
still during the seventh century a.d. found such treatises
(had they existed at all, they would soon have become
acquainted with them), they would certainly have brought
them home in order to have them translated into the
Chinese language; and then, also, in this particular branch
the Chinese Buddhist literature would be richer than the
Tibetan, whilst the reverse is actually the case. Besides,
it is also reported, that the most expert Indian magicians,
or Tantrists, did not exist till after the travels of the
1 The claim that Sakyamuni is their original author, is undoubtedly in-
admissable, both on account of their style and contents, as well as of histori-
cal dates.
4