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  IJTS Vol. 1, No. 1
August 1995

  Editorial Note
  The Unique Position...
   1. The Concept of...
   2. The Spanda and...
   3. Conclusion...
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The Unique Position of the Spanda School
Among the Others of the Trika System of Kazmir
 
by Enrica Garzilli

3. Conclusion.

  1. The concept of spanda links all texts and is the core of all these texts.
  2. They have also their common birth from the ZivasUtra-s which is a revealed text but not an Agama. Even if spanda had already been present in previous Tantra-s, -- but, then, what concept in India is absolutely new? Indian literature is often commentary on and re-elaboration of the preceding -- this concept was the focus of all the texts, the birthplace of subsequent texts.
  3. In all these texts there is the recognition of the means of realization: the chapters of the ZivasUtra-s, and therefore of the SpandakArikA-s, etc. are divided according to means of realizations.
  4. There is also the lack of any predetermined external ritual such as initiation, bath, purification through the fire, etc. All these facts, and the common philosophical base, rightly assign a unique place to the Spanda school, even if it was never categorized as a separate school.

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Bibliographic Abbreviations

BU       : BhAvopahAra of CakrapANinAtha (KSTS 1918.
           Edition and English translation by E. Garzilli,
           The BhAvopahAra of CakrapANinAtha. A Sanskrit
           Hymn to Ziva (11th-12th Century A.D.), Supplemento
           n. 74 agli Annali - vol. 53 (1993), fasc. 1, IUO,
           Napoli 1993)
IUO      : Istituto Universitario Orientale
IPK      : IzvarapratyabhijJAkArikA of Utpaladeva (see IPVV)
IPVV     : IzvarapratyabhijJAvivRtivimarzinI of
           Abhinavagupta (KSTS 1938-43)
JRASB    : Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bombay
KSTS     : Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies
MVV      : MAlinIvijayavArtika of Abhinavagupta (KSTS 1921) 
PrHR     : PratyabhijJAhRdaya of KSemarAja (KSTS 1911)
PTLV     : ParAtriMzikAlaghuvRtti of Abhinavagupta (KSTS
           1947)
PTV      : ParAtrtriMzikAvivaraNa of Abhinavagupta (KSTS
           1918)
ZD       : ZivadRzTi of SomanAnda (with VRtti of Utpaladeva,
           KSTS 1934)
ZS       : ZivasUtra of Vasugupta (with VimarzinI of
           KSemarAja, KSTS 1911)
ZSV      : ZivasUtra of Vasugupta with VimarzinI of
           KSemarAja
SK       : SpandakArikA of Vasugupta or KallaTa (with
           NirNaya of KSemarAja, KSTS 1925)
SN       : SpandakArikA with the NirNaya of KSemarAja
SSaM     : SpandasaMdoha of KSemarAja (KSTS 1917).
           Edition and Italian translation by E. Garzilli,
           Lo SpandasaMdoha di KSemarAja. Traduzione dal
           testo originale sanscrito del XII sec. d. C.,
           Supplemento n. 59 agli Annali- vol. 49 (1989),
           fasc. 2, IUO, Napoli 1989) 
SvT      : Svacchandatantra (with Uddyota of KSmarAja, 4
           Volumes, first reprint, Delhi, Sanskrit Gian
           Sansthan, 1986)    
SvTU     : Svacchandatantra with Uddyota of KSemarAja
TA       : TantrAloka of Abhinavagupta (with Viveka of
           Jayaratha, 12 Volumes, KSTS, 1918-1938)
TS       : TantrasAra of Abhinavagupta (KSTS 1918)

Endnotes

73 As Abhinavagupta explains in the TS (pp. 2-4), liberation (mokSa) is due to knowledge that suppresses ignorance (ajGAna), that is the cause of bondage (to the external word, to saMsAra). The nature of ignorance is twofold, mental (buddhigata) and original or innate (paurUSa). While the first kind of ignorance has its nature a lack of certainty and a certainty opposed to truth, the nature of the original ignorance, made by contracted light (saMkucitaprathA), is dualizing thought (vikalpa). The fundamental cause of saMsAra is just this kind of ignorance.
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