The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2531 page)

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Authors: John Bowker

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
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(
Perfection
of Wisdom), (Mah
)ratnak
a (found mainly in 5th-cent. Chinese translations, s
tras which seem to be a compendium of Mah
y
na teaching), Buddh
vata
saka (see
AVATA
SAKA
for an example), and Mah
sa
nip
ta (a diverse collection showing an interest in
magic
).
The addition of Tantric texts represents the last stage of the Buddhist canon. They are now divided into four groups:
(i) Kriy
tantra, describing relatively obvious and accessible rituals;
(ii) Cary
tantra, more advanced ‘outer ritual’ and the beginnings of ‘inner yoga’;
(iii) Yogatantra, the workings of ‘inner yoga’ in meditation and trance;
(iv) Anuttarayogatantra, esoteric rituals, often concerned with the workings of sexual symbolism, accessible only to the initiated

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