What does Tantra mean in Buddhism?

Chinese Buddhist sects. Also known as esoteric teachings, secret teachings, yoga esoteric teachings, Vajrayana, mantra, etc. This sect is named because it practices the three tantric yogas (responses) according to the principles of governance and attains siddhi (achievement).

Origin

In the last period of Buddhism in India, Esoteric Buddhism was prevalent, and its scriptures were collectively called Tantra. Esoteric Buddhism is based on the ideas of the Mahayana Madhyamaka and Yogacara schools as its theoretical premise. In practice, it is characterized by highly organized mantras, rituals, deity worship, etc. Promote the oral recitation of mantras ("word secrets"), hand seals (hand gestures or body postures, "body secrets"), and mind visualization ("mind secrets"). The correspondence between the three secrets can lead to instant Buddhahood. In addition, during his practice, he built a mandala (mandala, meaning "round and full") and arranged it with Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Esoteric Buddhism became an independent ideological system and sect. It is generally believed that it was after the establishment of the Mahavairocana Sutra and the Vajra Sutra in the mid-7th century. It was first spread in southwestern India and the Deccan Plateau, and later spread to south India and northeastern India. With Chaojie Temple as the center, it gained rapid development with the support of the Polo Dynasty. The Mahavairocana mainly describes the basic teachings of Esoteric Buddhism, various rituals and practices, and methods of making offerings. The "Vajra Crown Sutra" uses the Great Sun Tathagata as the receiving body to promote the "five wisdoms revealed by the five Buddhas". The so-called "five wisdoms revealed by the five Buddhas" are the wisdom of the Dharma Realm of the Central Buddha, the Great Sun Tathagata, and the great round mirror wisdom of the Eastern Ako Tathagata. , the wisdom of equality of the Tathagata Precious Born in the south, the wisdom of wonderful observation of the Tathagata Infinite Life in the west, and the wisdom of achievement of the Tathagata Amitabha in the north. The most important among them is the wisdom of the body of the Dharma Realm. Except for the wisdom of the body of the Dharma Realm, the other four wisdoms are transformed by consciousness only, adopting the idea of ??"transforming consciousness into wisdom" of the Yogacara school. After the appearance of the Vajra Sutra, esoteric Buddhism was called Vajrayana. Later, another branch was divided from the Vajrayana called the Co-nascent Vehicle or the Easy-to-Practice Vehicle. The classics of this school are mostly written in Bengali and other local languages. Many of them are songs passed down by the teacher. They advocate the theory of the four bodies of the Buddha (Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, Responsibility Body and Innate Body), and promote that the self is "innate" (nature). The nature is not the purpose of realization, but in practice the role of mentors and secret rituals are valued. After the Islamic armies of the Turkic tribe in West Asia invaded the South Asian subcontinent in the 11th century, the Kalachakra religion appeared in the esoteric religion. Some scholars believe that the Kalachakra religion is the co-birth vehicle. They preach that reality is as fleeting as the wheel of time. "Prajna and convenience are two and the same." Only by believing in the original Buddha, the absolute being of the universe, can we be freed from the delusion of the world. In addition, it promotes the idea of ??Shambhala, the ideal country of Buddhism. Shortly after the emergence of Kalachakra, the Buddhist temples in China and India were completely destroyed by the invading armies, and Buddhism disappeared in India.