The Art of Imagination at the Intersection of Pramāṇa and Samaya: Normative Epistemology and Tantric Ethics in Early Philosophical Vajrayāna

The practice of Vajrayāna is predicated on a worldview different from that which frames classical Buddhist teachings, such as the Four Noble Truths. While classical theory and praxis are structured by the inexorability of dissatisfaction, suffering, and the like, the theory and practice of Vajrayāna is, on the other hand, organized around the tantric view of purity. Buddhist thinkers in Tibet, most especially those associated with Tibet’s Nyingma (rnying ma) or Old School of Buddhism, have produced a rich and understudied current of tantric philosophy advancing the authority, validity, and rationality of the tantric view. To wit, this paper, the first in a series on philosophical Vajrayāna, examines the text, Establishing Appearance as Divine (Snang ba lhar bsgrub pa) by Rongzom (fl. 11th–12th c.). It is our earliest documented instance of a Tibetan “tantric pramāṇa”—that is, an approach characterized by the philosophical integration of exoteric philosophical thought and esoteric ritual and ideology. As such, and in contrast to more narrowly focused studies of Tibetan ritual or Tibetan philosophy, this paper details the form, content, and context of Rongzom’s tantric pramāṇa or epistemological discourse in terms of both classical epistemology and Buddhist Tantra. This study thus sheds light on the relationship envisioned between ritual and philosophy in traditions of Vajrayāna. In concluding remarks, after a survey of the role of pramāṇa in Vajrayāna practice traditions, this paper argues that, in classic vāda-śāstra style, the purpose of Establishing Appearance as Divine is less about the supposed perspicacity of propositional and epistemological logic and “right view” than it is about authorizing the ideology behind a practical epistemology of samaya.