Despite the rapid spread of Buddhism -especially the esoteric system of Tantra, one of its most popular yet most misunderstood forms--the historical origins of Buddhist thought and practice remain obscure. This groundbreaking work describes the genesis of the Tantric movement in early medieval India, where it developed as a response to, and in some ways an example of, the feudalization of Indian society. Drawing on primary documents--many translated for the first time -from Sanskrit, Prakrit, Tibetan, Bengali, and Chinese, Ronald Davidson shows how changes in medieval Indian society, including economic and patronage crises, a decline in women's participation, and the formation of large monastic orders, led to the rise of the esoteric tradition in India that became the model for Buddhist cultures in China, Tibet, and Japan.

Indian Esoteric Buddhism, Ronald Davidson, Columbia University Press, paperback, 2002, 400 Pages, $38.00

Ronald Davidson earned his Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies in 1985, specializing in Indian Yogacara philosophical problems. He is Professor of Religious Studies. His primary area of research is in the domain of tantric Buddhism (Vajrayana, Mantrayana, Mantranaya), especially in medieval India and early Tibet. His books include Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002), Tibetan Renaissance: Tantric Buddhism in the Rebirth of Tibetan Culture (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005); Ronald M. Davidson and Christian K. Wedemeyer, eds. Tibetan Buddhist Literature and Praxis: Studies in its Formative Period, 900-1400 (Leiden: Brill Academic, 2005); Steven D. Goodman and Ronald M. Davidson, eds. Tibetan Buddhism: Reason and Revelation (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1992); and Ronald M. Davidson, ed. Wind Horse: Proceedings of the North American Tibetological Society (Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press, 1981).