It appears that the Vajrayana path emerged from the 1st Century after Christ through the Mahasiddhas. My point of view is that both before and after his resurrection Jesus also was a Mahasidda. Mahasiddha means "Supreme Magic User". Phenomena like "Flying, rising from the dead, walking on water etc. is associated with all Mahasiddhas. Doing these things without proper motivation usually results in death. So, unless you are doing this for the benefit of all beings, usually you die within two weeks.
Third turning of the wheel
Vajrayana can also be seen as the third of the three "turnings of the wheel of dharma":[8]- In the first turning Shakyamuni Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths at Varanasi in the 5th century BC, which led to the founding of Buddhism and the later early Buddhist schools. Details of the first turning are described in the Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta. The oldest scriptures do not mention any further turnings other than this first turning.
- The Mahayana tradition claims that there was a second turning in which the Perfection of Wisdom sutras were taught at Vulture's Peak, which led to the Mahayana schools. Generally, scholars conclude that the Mahayana scriptures (including the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras) were composed from the 1st century CE onwards.[a]
- According to the Vajrayana tradition, there was a third turning which took place at Dhanyakataka sixteen years after the Buddha's enlightenment. Some scholars have strongly denied that Vajrayana appeared at that time,[8] and placed it at a much later time. The first tantric (Vajrayana Buddhist) texts appeared in the 3rd century CE, and they continued to appear until the 12th century.[2]
Sutrayana and Vajrayana
Vajrayana can be distinguished from the Sutrayana. The Sutrayana is the method of perfecting good qualities, where the Vajrayāna is the method of taking the intended outcome of Buddhahood as the path.Paramitayana and Vajrayana
According to this schema, Indian Mahayana revealed two vehicles (yana) or methods for attaining enlightenment: the method of the perfections (Paramitayana) and the method of mantra (Mantrayana).[15]The Paramitayana consists of the six or ten paramitas, of which the scriptures say that it takes three incalculable aeons to lead one to Buddhahood. The tantra literature, however, claims that the Mantrayana leads one to Buddhahood in a single lifetime.[15] According to the literature, the mantra is an easy path without the difficulties innate to the Paramitayana.[15] Mantrayana is sometimes portrayed as a method for those of inferior abilities.[15] However the practitioner of the mantra still has to adhere to the vows of the Bodhisattva.[15]
Philosophical background
Tibetan Buddhist Rongzom Chokyi Zangpo (1012–1088) held that the views of sutra such as Madhyamaka were inferior to that of tantra, as Koppl notes:By now we have seen that Rongzom regards the views of the Sutrayana as inferior to those of Mantra, and he underscores his commitment to the purity of all phenomena by criticizing the Madhyamaka objectification of the authentic relative truth.[16]
Characteristics of Vajrayana
A Buddhist ceremony in Ladakh.
Goal
The goal of spiritual practice within the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions is to become a Bodhisattva (i.e. attainment of a state in which one will subsequently become a Buddha—after some further reincarnation), whereas the goal for Theravada practice is specific to become an arhat (i.e. attain enlightenment with no intention of returning, not even as a Buddha).In the Sutrayana practice, a path of Mahayana, the "path of the cause" is taken, whereby a practitioner starts with his or her potential Buddha-nature and nurtures it to produce the fruit of Buddhahood. In the Vajrayana the "path of the fruit" is taken whereby the practitioner takes his or her innate Buddha-nature as the means of practice. The premise is that since we innately have an enlightened mind, practicing seeing the world in terms of ultimate truth can help us to attain our full Buddha-nature.[17]
Experiencing ultimate truth is said to be the purpose of all the various tantric techniques practiced in the Vajrayana. Apart from the advanced meditation practices such as Mahamudra and Dzogchen, which aim to experience śūnyatā, the empty nature of the enlightened mind that can see ultimate truth, all practices are aimed in some way at purifying the impure perception of the practitioner to allow ultimate truth to be seen. These may be ngöndro "preliminary practices" or the more advanced techniques of the tantric sādhanā.
Motivation
As with the Mahayana, motivation is a vital component of Vajrayana practice. The Bodhisattva-path is an integral part of the Vajrayana, which teaches that all practices are to be undertaken with the motivation to achieve Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.end quote from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajrayana#Place_within_Buddhist_tradition
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