While the tantric Buddhism found in the Indian and Tibetan traditions is increasingly recognized, in East Asia tantric Buddhism remains largely unknown. This collection brings together twelve key essays on tantric Buddhism in East Asia, drawn from sources that are not commonly available. The collection is organized into four sections: China and Korea, Japan, Deities and Practices, and Influences on Japanese Religion.

Payne's work, which brings together in one place a "critical mass" of scholarship, will create a sea change in the understanding of the history of East Asian Buddhism and Tantra.

Praise & Reviews

"Although Vajrayana has eclipsed the other vehicles in publications on Tibetan Buddhism, the opposite is true of tantra in East Asia. Very little has been written about the Chinese, Korean, and Japanese tantric traditions, and they remain virtually unknown in the West. Tantric Buddhism in East Asia, edited by Richard K. Payne, introduced the varieties of tantric Buddhism in East Asia, from the earliest translations of Indian tantric texts into Chinese to the Japanese traditions of Shingon and Shugendo. Payne's introduction addresses questions surrounding the definition of fundamental terms such as "tantra" and "Vajrayana" and the history of their interpretation in the West. The ten essays in the volume represent a half-century of scholarship previously available only in hard-to-find journals. Beyond bringing the esoteric Buddhism of East Asia out of the shadows, this publication will raise fruitful questions about the way tantra has been defined and classified in its travels across cultures and times."—Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Journal