Followers of Vajrayāna often call it the “third turning of the Wheel of Dharma,” the idea being that Vajrayāna is the culmination of the previous two “turnings” (Theravāda and Mahāyāna, respectively). Historically, there is some truth to this view, as Vajrayāna emerged much later than those earlier sects. Sometime around the third century CE, Vajrayāna teachings arose in India and spread throughout the Buddhist world, eventually disappearing in Theravāda lands and having only a brief heyday in China. However, Vajrayāna came to dominate the Himalayan region (Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, etc.) and found a ready welcome in Japan, where it is called Shingon (lit. “true word”) and remains a major school of Buddhism.
Vajrayāna evinces no doctrinal break from Mahāyāna (it freely draws upon Mādhyamika, Yogācāra, and Tathāgatagarbhateachings) but reflects the infusion of practices from various Indian movements as well as the indigenous Himalayan religion of Bon. Because Vajrayāna flourishes...
Bibliography
Driver, T. F. (2006). Liberating rites: Understanding the transformative power of ritual. Charleston: BookSurge.
Gay, V. P. (1979). Freud on ritual: Reconstruction and critique. Missoula: Scholars.
Kapstein, M. (1997). The journey to the golden mountain. In D. S. Lopez Jr. (Ed.), Religions of Tibet in practice (pp. 178–187). Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Lhalungpa, L. P. (Trans.). (1977). The life of Milarepa. Boston: Shambhala.
Mitchell, D. W. (2007). Buddhism: Introducing the Buddhist experience (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Powers, J. (2007). Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism (2nd ed.). Ithaca: Snow Lion.
Reece, R. (2006). The psychology of Buddhist tantra. Ithaca: Snow Lion.
Rinpoche, K. (1995). Secret Buddhism: Vajrayana practices. San Francisco: ClearPoint.
Rinpoche, P. (1998). The words of my perfect teacher (trans: The Padmakara Translation Group) (Rev. ed.). Boston: Shambhala.
Robinson, R. H., Johnson, W. L., & Thanissaro, B. (2005). Buddhist religions: A historical introduction (5th ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
Shaw, M. (1994). Passionate enlightenment: Women in tantric Buddhism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Thompson, J. M. (2006). Buddhism. In L. W. Bailey (Ed.), Introduction to the world’s major religions (Vol. 3). Westport: Greenwood.
Winnicott, D. W. (2005). Playing and reality. London: Routledge Classics.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Thompson, J. (2020). Buddhism’s Vajrayāna: Rituals. In: Leeming, D.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24348-7_9347
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24348-7_9347
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-24347-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-24348-7
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences