Some more:
1. Robinson
I've been in touch with Marnia Robinson and she tells me she may have taken her quote from Yolin and Phelan's 'Sex and Yoga' (1967). It was only 50p on Amazon so I've got that on the way. My prediction is that, if it's in there, they took it from either van Gulik or Joseph Campbell, and probably didn't reference it.
2. Stevens #1
I've finally located a copy of John Stevens's '
Lust for Enlightenment', which has been helpful. In that he writes:
External Quote:
...women are worshiped unconditionally in the Buddhist tantras—one text declares openly, "Buddhahood resides in the female sex organs..."
I'd seen that before, but I didn't know his sources. These are given as:
External Quote:
Dasgupta, Introduction to Tantric Buddhism, pp. 102ff., and R. H. van Gulick, Sexual Life in Ancient China (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1974), p. 342.
So van Gulik appears again, along with one of the three sources van Gulik cites. Yet they're both secondary sources, and Stevens' bold assertion that a specific scripture "declares openly" is seemingly done so on faith, and is no help in telling us which text, if, indeed, there is one.
Still, following his lead to
Dasgupta, which I hadn't looked at till now, I find something enlightening, if a little complex:
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In the Subhāṣita-Saṁgraha we find a discussion as to whether Buddhahood is to be attained only through Prajñā or only through Upāya. The answer is that Buddhahood is to be attained neither through Prajñā alone nor through Upāya; but if the essence of both Prajñā and Upāya becomes of the same nature - if the two become inseparably connected - become united into one, then and then only a Sadhaka becomes entitled to the highest reality which is at once enjoyment and liberation.
In a nutshell, he seems to be saying that the Buddhist ideals of compassion (upāya or karuṇā) and wisdom (prajñā or śūnyatā), seen as the two attributes which must be both fully developed and brought into perfect union in order to attain enlightenment, were symbolised in tantras such as the HV with imagery of the "yogin" (sprititual practitioner) and the "great woman, goddess, or even vulva" respectively. Their "union" is that which leads to Buddhahood. One without the other won't do the trick.
Like both van Gulik and de La Vallée-Poussin,
he references Bendall - but this time he supplies a page number, which leads us to the relevant passage:
External Quote:
idānīm vicāryate | prajñayā kevalayā kim buddhatvaṁ syān na ced upāya-mātra-karmeṇā'pi | ucyate ce'da, na kevalaṁ prajñā-mātrena buddhatvaṁ nā'py upāya-mātreṇa, kintu yadi punaḥ prajño-pāya-lakṣaṇau samatā-svabhāvau bhavataḥ etau dvayā-bhinna-rūpau bhavataḥ ekākārau bhavataḥ tadā bhukti-mukti iti.
- Bendall's Edition, p. 32
In this passage - which Dasgupta has rendered slightly differently to Bendall; perhaps with the benefit of a further half-century of scholarship - we find two of the seven instances of "
buddhatvaṁ" in Bendall's transcription; and, I imagine, what could, at a stretch, be most closely associated with "
buddhatvaṃ yoṣidyonisamāśritam", if "
prajñā" is considered equivalent to "
yoni".
I think it's difficult to make a case for this, though, and I therefore question why van Gulik referenced Bendall when he wrote that "most texts state that [the merging of
prajñā and
upāya] must [take place] with a real woman, stating plainly that 'Buddha-hood resides in the female organ,'" followed by the quote from de La Vallée-Poussin's earlier work, which is not referenced.
Could it be that van Gulik also errs here, quoting de La Vallée-Poussin and confusing this with Bendall, due to de La Vallée-Poussin citing Bendall in ERE (above)? There, though, he is not quoting "
buddhatvaṃ yoṣidyonisamāśritam", but rather directing the reader to Bendall's description of "the maithuna rites" - and, of course, de La Vallée-Poussin first mentions "
buddhatvaṃ yoṣidyonisamāśritam" several years
before Bendall's transcription of the
Subhāṣita-Saṁgraha; so we know this is not the source for his reference.
Perhaps most likely is that van Gulik read "
buddhatvaṃ yoṣidyonisamāśritam" in ERE, saw the reference to Bendall, and figured that by citing Bendall directly he was 'shortcutting' to the original source.
3. Back to the Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇatantra
Further evidence for de La Vallée-Poussin having made an error can perhaps be found by reading the verses in the CMT surrounding 10.24:
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10.25-10.28
"In order to destroy the wickedness of the world,
The son of Māyādevī, the wise teacher
Abandoned his 84,000 wives
And his entire harem
And went to the bank of Nairañjanā.
He manifested the accomplishment of a buddha
By turning away the advancing Māra,
But this was not so from the perspective of the absolute truth.
This was not so, since it was in the female quarters that the Buddha,
Experiencing pleasure in the company of Gopā, became accomplished.
It is from the union of the vajra and the padma
That true pleasure is derived.
Awakening is attained through pleasure,
And there is no pleasure in being separated from women."
10.32-10.33
Then the blessed lady Prajñāpāramitā said,
"Who is that blessed one, the son of Māyādevī, and who is Gopā?"
The blessed lord said: "I am the son of Māyādevī,
Who has now become Caṇḍaroṣaṇa.
And you are the blessed lady Gopā,
In the form of Prajñāpāramitā."
Explanation: Following the assertion that "Caṇḍaroṣa-hood is found in the yoni" (10.24, where the suffix
-padam is equivalent to -atvam), we hear of "the son of Māyādevī" abandoning his harem and going to the River Nairañjanā, where he attains enlightenment - not, as tradition has it, by transcending desire, but through the hitherto unrevealed experience of uniting with a woman, Gopā (10.31 explains why this was kept secret).
Caṇḍaroṣaṇa then reveals that he is "the son of Māyādevī", and that Prajñāpāramitā, his consort, is "Gopā" - both, presumably, reincarnated.
Notes:
- Māyādevī - the Buddha's mother, Māyā
- Nairañjanā - a river now known as the Lilajan or Falgu, located at Bodh Gaya, traditional site of the Buddha's enlightenment
- Māra - demon who tempted Buddha just before his enlightenment (really our own internal desires)
- Gopā - another name for Buddha's wife, Yaśodharā
- vajra - thunderbolt, diamond, upāya - or, as is clearly meant here, penis
- padma - lotus, prajñā, vagina
Taking all this into account, we see that Caṇḍaroṣaṇa - in his own head, at least, and according to the text - is synonymous with "Buddha", and that "caṇḍaroṣapadaṃ" is therefore equavalent to "buddhatvam".
dLVP's "buddhatvaṃ yoṣidyonisamāśritam" is therefore a misinterpretation of chapter 10, verse 24 of the CMT.
Further evidence for his misinterpretation, and his source being the CMT, is found in comparing his writing in ERE (
above) - "Śākyamuni conquered Buddhahood by practicing the Tantrik rites in the harim" - to more modern translations, which state that "the son of Māyādevī abandoned his harem, and found enlightenment with his wife."
4. Stevens #2
Back to Stevens and his writing on the Tachikawa-Ryu - as quoted in the OP - where I can now see his sources:
External Quote:
Texts such as Yoshinshū, Sangai Isshin-ki, and Hōkyōshū Sangen Menjū, and the following modern studies: G. Mizuhara, Jakyō Tachikawa Ryū (Kyoto: Toyama Shobō, 1968); S. Moriyama, Tachikawa Jakyō to sono Shakaitekina Haikei no Kenkyū (Tokyo: Shikano-en, 1965); R. Sasama, Sei no Shūkyō (Tokyo: Daiichi Shobō, 1988); and T. Utagawa, Shingon Tachikawa Ryū no Hihō (Tokyo: Tokuma Books, 1981).
I also notice that the wikipedia entry for the Tachikawa-Ryu has been expanded, and now includes the text for the so-called 'Sutra of Sacred/Secret/Great Bliss' (or 'Sutra Proclaiming the Secret Method Enabling a Man and a Woman to Experience the Bliss of Buddhahood in This Very Body').
The only source I can find for this sutra, however, is in a semi-fictional book written by Stevens. I have doubts, therefore, about its legitimacy.
I'm chasing that one up, just for satisfaction, but, ultimately, I don't think it's related to de La Vallée-Poussin's quote.
5. Stevens #3
His take on the opening of the GS/HV, to add to the above: "Thus I have heard: When the Buddha was reposing in the vagina of his consort he delivered this discourse..." (his ellipsis)
6. Paper
It occurs to me that there's the basis for an academic paper in all of this; I therefore feel it necessary to point out that I've made errors along the way, and hope these will be looked at. I called Stevens "Stevenson" in the OP. I wrongly concluded that Japanese sex cannibals were the source for the quote. I've missed half the diacritics from the Sanskrit. Thoughts have been developed and superceded. And all the quotes will need double checking - which ought to go without saying, in such a thread.
7. Documents
I made
a google drive documents folder for anyone who's interested in easy access to all these texts.
8. Guhyasamājatantra
Chapter 18 of the GST - also known as the Samajottara - seems related. The text of verse 125 states:
External Quote:
nānyopāyena buddhatvaṃ tasmād vidyām imāṃ varām
There is no other means to Buddhahood than with [the teacher's] best consort.
So the sentiment isn't unique to the CMT - but, on current information, I do think this is the most likely source for dLVP's quotation.
