Over the past twenty years, Jacob P. Dalton has made significant contributions to the study of Tibetan Buddhist tantric literature. Working initially from the trove of Tibetan tantric Buddhist manuscripts preserved at Dunhuang, Dalton expanded to explore the tantras transmitted during the early dissemination (snga dar) of Buddhism in Tibet and the origin narratives preserved within this literature. In Conjuring the Buddha, Dalton builds upon his past work and makes a serious contribution to the study of tantric Buddhist ritual literature and the early history of tantric Buddhist traditions.
The field of tantric studies has tended to focus on the central scriptures of tantric traditions, the tantras and their commentaries. The far more numerous ritual manuals preserved by tantric traditions have tended to be ignored, perhaps due to the belief that they are derivative, expanding on the ritual passages found in the tantras themselves. One of Dalton's...
