Olga Serbaeva describes how the Jayadrathayāmala envisaged magically discovered nidhi (treasure) as an integral part of its soteriological program. Tantric texts dedicate special chapters to the search for nidhi (treasures). The vision of hidden treasures is considered to be a siddhi (supernatural ability) that occurs after many thousand rounds of mantra repetition, and other rituals. Generally, nidhi is considered material treasures, i.e. gold, precious stones, and any other objects related to becoming wealthy. In JY, there is a strong link between nidhi and Kubera, and a particular form of Kālī, called Nidhīśvarī or Kuberajananī, from JY.4.54, once propitiated, bestows the treasures to the sādhakas. Another aspect, closer to the visionary nature of the experiences leading to finding treasures, shall allow us to bring in the JY materials on the altered states of consciousness, where the visionary switch happens in particular conditions after particular auditive and physical forerunning signs. We shall discover how nidhi fits among other consciousness-altering practices such as āveśa/svasthāveśa, khorika, prasena. The prescriptive JY shall be compared to the flowery Kathāsāritsāgara, a text recompiled by Somadeva in the late 11th century Kashmir, reusing some contemporary tantric references and materials. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/
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Olga Serbaeva describes how the Jayadrathayāmala envisaged magically discovered nidhi (treasure) as an integral part of its soteriological program. Tantric texts dedicate special chapters to the search for nidhi (treasures). The vision of hidden treasures is considered to be a siddhi (supernatural ability) that occurs after many thousand rounds of mantra repetition, and other rituals. Generally, nidhi is considered material treasures, i.e. gold, precious stones, and any other objects related to becoming wealthy. In JY, there is a strong link between nidhi and Kubera, and a particular form of Kālī, called Nidhīśvarī or Kuberajananī, from JY.4.54, once propitiated, bestows the treasures to the sādhakas. Another aspect, closer to the visionary nature of the experiences leading to finding treasures, shall allow us to bring in the JY materials on the altered states of consciousness, where the visionary switch happens in particular conditions after particular auditive and physical forerunning signs. We shall discover how nidhi fits among other consciousness-altering practices such as āveśa/svasthāveśa, khorika, prasena. The prescriptive JY shall be compared to the flowery Kathāsāritsāgara, a text recompiled by Somadeva in the late 11th century Kashmir, reusing some contemporary tantric references and materials. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/
Nāgas and relic treasures in the Mahāvaṃsa (Oxford Treasure Seminar Series)
Tibetan Graduate Studies Seminar
41 minutes
1 year ago
Nāgas and relic treasures in the Mahāvaṃsa (Oxford Treasure Seminar Series)
Kristin Scheible uncovers the hidden role of nāgas in defining Buddhist treasures and explores their surprising significance in safeguarding sacred relics through early texts Much of the literature on nāgas in Indian Buddhist monasticism has focused on their rain-making and monastery-protecting duties. However, early Buddhist texts are full of narratives about nāgas serving the Buddha, dharma, and saṅgha by guarding in their subterranean palaces a variety of specifically Buddhist treasures. For example, nāgas played exactly this role in an important Pāli Buddhist text from Nāgārjuna’s roughly contemporaneous and neighbouring Sri Lanka, the Dīpavaṃsa. The fifth century Mahāvaṃsa enhances the depiction of nāgas as hoarders and valuers of treasures. Scheible argues that nāgas were not background characters in the Pāli Buddhist imaginaire around Nāgārjuna’s time; by stealing, hoarding, and venerating various types of sacred relics of the Buddha in their nāgaloka they in fact define what a treasure is.
Tibetan Graduate Studies Seminar
Olga Serbaeva describes how the Jayadrathayāmala envisaged magically discovered nidhi (treasure) as an integral part of its soteriological program. Tantric texts dedicate special chapters to the search for nidhi (treasures). The vision of hidden treasures is considered to be a siddhi (supernatural ability) that occurs after many thousand rounds of mantra repetition, and other rituals. Generally, nidhi is considered material treasures, i.e. gold, precious stones, and any other objects related to becoming wealthy. In JY, there is a strong link between nidhi and Kubera, and a particular form of Kālī, called Nidhīśvarī or Kuberajananī, from JY.4.54, once propitiated, bestows the treasures to the sādhakas. Another aspect, closer to the visionary nature of the experiences leading to finding treasures, shall allow us to bring in the JY materials on the altered states of consciousness, where the visionary switch happens in particular conditions after particular auditive and physical forerunning signs. We shall discover how nidhi fits among other consciousness-altering practices such as āveśa/svasthāveśa, khorika, prasena. The prescriptive JY shall be compared to the flowery Kathāsāritsāgara, a text recompiled by Somadeva in the late 11th century Kashmir, reusing some contemporary tantric references and materials. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/
