desirable for all readers of this book. So we record here—in
mere outline, and, therefore, more often than not undetailed
and incomplete—the following complementary matter concerning Tantricism.
In the preliminary instructions, the Bardo Thödol makes reference to the vital-force or vital-airs, which, following the Tantras, may be described as follows:
The Vital-Force (Skt. Prāṇa).—The human principle of consciousness, the Knower, clothes itself, when incarnate, in five sheaths (Skt. Koṣḥa), which are: (1) the physical-sheath (Anna-maya-koṣḥa); (2) the vital-sheath (Prāṇa-maya-koṣḥa); (3) the sheath in which resides the ordinary human consciousness (Mano-maya-koṣḥa); (4) that of the subconsciousness (Vijñāna-maya-koṣḥa); and (5) that of the all-transcending blissful consciousness of Reality (Ānanda-maya-koṣḥa).
In the vital-sheath resides the vital-force (Skt. prāṇa) divided into ten vital-airs (vāyu, derived from the root va, 'to breathe'
chief groups of Tantras, one Hindu, the other Buddhist. The Hindu Tantra is generally cast in the form of a dialogue between the god Shiva, as the Divine Guru, and his Shakti Pârvati, often in their wrathful forms as Bhairava and Bhairavi. In the Buddhist Tantra, these purely Hindu deities are replaced by Buddhist deities, Buddhas and their Shaktis, or by gods and goddesses. One characteristic of both classes of Tantras is that usually they are based upon the Yoga Philosophy. Which of the two classes is older is a disputed question; but the oldest Tantras are probably far older than European critics (who have placed their origin well within the Christian era) have thought. Some Tantras are indisputably quite modern. According to orthodox Hindus, the Tantras are of Vedic origin, and designed to serve as the chief Scriptures for this age, the Kali Yuga. Some Buddhists claim a purely Buddhist origin for the Tantras. The Hindu view is, however, the commonly accepted view. As encyclopaedias of the knowledge of their times, the Tantras are very numerous. Some are concerned with the nature of the cosmos, its evolution. and dissolution; the classification of sentient beings and of the various heavens, hells, and worlds; the divinely instituted rules governing human relations and conduct; the numerous forms of worship and spiritual training, ceremonial rites, meditation, yoga, duties of kings, law, custom, medicine, astrology, astronomy, magic; and, in short, the whole cycle of the sciences of the East. In so far as the Bardo Thödol is a ritual based upon Yoga, and has for its chief matter the science of birth, death, and rebirth, interwoven with descriptions of the various states of existence and beings peopling the universe, and teaches of the ways of obtaining salvation, it is a Tantric work, although, strictly speaking, not a Tantra. For detailed knowledge concerning the Tantras, the student is referred to Principles of Tantra, Part I, by Arthur Avalon (London, 1914).
