Review of Jacob P. Dalton, Conjuring the Buddha: Ritual Manuals in Early Tantric Buddhism By Carole Cusack

https://www.academia.edu/164834378/Review_of_Jacob_P_Dalton_Conjuring_the_Buddha_Ritual_Manuals_in_Early_Tantric_Buddhism?email_work_card=title The introduction of tantric texts, which likely emerged in India in the seventh century, “changed the face of religious practice across Asia” (p. 1) according to Jacob P. Dalton. The primary focus was complex and elaborate rituals; these featured innovative myths, new gods, unfamiliar cosmologies, and elaborate practices involving secrecy, hierarchy, and transgression. Tantric texts come in sundry forms, with the ritual manual especially prevalent; sādhanās covering ritual transformations, kalpas covering ritual spaces, and vidhis covering initiations, for example. This book focuses on ritual manuals in Tibetan discovered in Cave 17 near Dunhuang, a city in northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. Despite mostly dating from the tenth century, these texts reflect ritual changes from late eighth century India. ...