Inner Tantras

The Inner Tantras are the final three divisions in the ninefold division of practice according to the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. They comprise the Mahayoga, Anuyoga and Atiyoga. This system divides the whole of the Buddhist path into three divisions of three and is in contrast to the division of the Sarma, or New Translation schools (Gelug, Kagyu and Sakya) which use a fourfold division. The three divisions of the Inner Tantra correspond roughly to the highest category of tantras of the New Translation schools, there known as Anuttarayoga Tantra.

The three divisions of the Inner Tantras are:

• Mahayoga
• Anuyoga
• Atiyoga also known as Dzogchen or the Great Perfection.

Other schools call them "Father Tantras" (Wyl. pha rgyud), "Mother Tantras" (Wyl. ma rgyud) and "Non-Dual Tantras" (Wyl. gnyis med kyi rgyud) Among other factors, the three divisions differ in terms of the emphasis they place on the generation stage and completion stage of tantric practice. The Mahayoga emphasizes the generation stage, Anuyoga the completion stage and Atiyoga the synthesis and transcendence of both. In ’The Dark Red Amulet: Oral Instructions on the Practice of Vajrakilaya’ Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal and Palden Sherab describe the differences as being ‘’Mahayoga focuses on establishing the entire universe as the mandala of the deities. Anuyoga focuses on actualising the vajra body...’’ and ‘’Atiyoga focuses on revealing one’s own primordial awareness wisdom’’.

As well as being differentiated in terms of emphasis in practice, the three categories of Inner Tantra are also textual categories, with lists of texts assigned to each category; for which see the individual articles for each section.

References

Dudjom Rinpoche, The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals and History, Wisdom Publications, second edition, 2002, ISBN 978-0-86171-199-4.

See also

• Outer Tantras
• Vajrayana