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Tantric Theravada (also, "Esoteric Southern Buddhism") is a term used to refer to certain Tantric practices, views and texts within Theravada Buddhism. L.S. Cousins defines this tradition as "a type of Southern Buddhism which links magical and, ritual practices to a theoretical systematisation of the Buddhist path itself."〔Cousins, L.S. (1997), "(Aspects of Southern Esoteric Buddhism )", in Peter Connolly and Sue Hamilton (eds.), Indian Insights: Buddhism, Brahmanism and Bhakd Papers from the Annual Spalding Symposium on Indian Religions, Luzac Oriental, London: 185-207. ISBN 1-898942-153〕 One specific kind of Tantric Theravada is termed the Yogāvacara tradition and this kind of esoteric Buddhism is most widely practiced today in Cambodia and Laos and in the pre-modern era was a major Buddhist current in Southeast Asia. In the west, the study of Tantric Theravada was pioneered by professor François Bizot and his colleagues at the École française d'Extrême-Orient with a particular focus on the material found at Angkor.〔Crosby, Kate;Tantric Theravada: A Bibliographic Essay on the Writings of Francois Bizot and others on the Yogavacara-Tradition. Cardiff University, Contemporary Buddhinn, Vol. I, No. 2, 2000.〕 ==History== Historically, the Buddhists of Abhayagiri vihāra in Sri Lanka are known to have practiced Tantric Vajrayana and Mahayana〔 and this might have had an influence on Southeast Asia through their missionary work in Java. Ari Buddhism was a form of Buddhism practiced in the Mon kingdoms of Burma which also contained Tantric elements borrowed from India and local Nat (spirit) and Nāga worship. In many of Bizot's works there is some suggestion that the Buddhism of the Mon may have influenced the later Yogāvacara tradition. It is also possible that Southeast Asian Buddhism was influenced by the practice of Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism which flourished in Southeast Asia during the time of the Khmer Empire.〔 According to Lance Cousins, it is also possible that 'Tantric Theravada' developed within the "orthodox" Mahavihara tradition of Sri Lanka, citing the 5th century Buddhist scholar Buddhagosa's mention of secret texts (''gulhagantham'') as well as other textual evidence from the Pali commentaries. Cousins concludes that "It is quite possible that present-day esoteric Buddhism contains ideas and practices deriving from more than one of these sources. Nevertheless it is certainly premature to assume that it has its origins in unorthodox circles."〔 The Tantric Buddhist Yogāvacara tradition was a mainstream Buddhist tradition in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand well into the modern era. An inscription from Northern Thailand with tantric elements has been dated to the Sukhothai Kingdom of the 16th century. Kate Crosby notes that this attestation makes the tantric tradition earlier than “any other living meditation tradition in the contemporary Theravada world.”〔Kate Crosby, Traditional Theravada Meditation and its Modern-Era Suppression Hong Kong: Buddha Dharma Centre of Hong Kong, 2013, ISBN 978-9881682024〕 During the reign of Rama I, the Thai Yogāvacara master Kai Thuean (1733-1823) was invited to Bangkok to be head of the meditation tradition there and was later made Sangharaja (head of the religious community) by Rama II of Siam in 1820.〔 In Sri Lanka, a revival of Buddhist meditation in the 1750s saw a proliferation of Yogāvacara teachings and texts by Thai monks from the Ayutthaya Kingdom, one of which is the ''Yogāvacara's manual''.〔Kate Crosby, Andrew Skilton, Amal Gunasena (2012), The Sutta on Understanding Death in the Transmission of Boran Meditation From Siam to the Kandyan Court, Journal of Indian Philosophy, 40 (2), 177-198.〕 Monks of the Siam Nikaya practiced these teachings and established several monasteries around Kandy. As late as the 1970s, Yogāvacara practices such as the rapid repetition of ''Araham'' were recorded in Sri Lanka.〔 The decline of the Tantric currents in Theravada Buddhism began with the rise of the reformed Buddhist modernism in the 19th century, particularly the Dhammayuttika Nikaya established by King Rama IV (1851–1868) of the Thai Rattanakosin Kingdom in 1833, which was imported into Cambodia as it was a protectorate of the kingdom.〔 In establishing the Dhammayuttika Nikaya, Rama IV emphasized the use of the Pali Canon as the main authority for monastic practices and also attempted to remove all superstitious and folk religious elements.〔(Ratanakosin Period ), Buddhism in Thailand, Dhammathai - Buddhist Information Network〕 The textual tradition followed by this reform movement was that of the Sri Lankan Mahavihara school (which itself dates from a set of 12th century reforms) which took the works of the 5th century scholar Buddhagosa as representing the orthodox interpretation and thus saw other Buddhist practices as unorthodox.〔 The reforms tightened monastic discipline and led to a decline in the practices and production of texts which were not in line with Dhammayuttika Nikaya orthodoxy. When Cambodia came under the rule of the French Empire, the French continued this policy of suppressing pre-reform Cambodian Buddhism. In spite of this, traditional Tantric practices survived in rural areas. The devastation of Cambodian religion by the Khmer Rouge and religious repression in Communist Laos also had a heavy toll on these traditions.〔 Tantric Buddhist influences can be seen in the practices and views of the modern Thai Dhammakaya movement 〔Williams, Paul; Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations, 327.〕〔Mettanando Bhikkhu (1999), Meditation and Healing in the Theravada Buddhist Order of Thailand and Laos, Ph.D. thesis, University of Hamburg.〕 as well as in certain South Asian religious practices such as the use of protective tattoos and amulets, the singing of protective Gathas (e.g. ''Jinapañjara Gāthā''), Thai astrology and the invocation of spirits and ghosts (such as Somdej Toh and Mae Nak).〔McDaniel, Justin Thomas. The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk: Practicing Buddhism in Modern Thailand.〕 Today, tantric magicians and tantric forest monks are most prevalent in the banks of the Mekong in Cambodia and Laos and are believed to have magical powers, the divine eye and the ability to communicate with spirits. They practice Kasina meditation, mantra recitation, and ascetic practices (dhutanga). Thai forest monks such as Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo were also influenced by the tantric practices as is exemplified by his text "The Divine Mantra."〔Ajaan Lee (2006), (The Divine Mantra )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tantric Theravada」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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