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NOBUYOSHIYAMABECONSECRATION
Consecration has been broadly defined as “an act or
ritual that invests objects, places, or people with reli-
gious significance, often by way of power and holiness”
(Bowker, p. 234). In terms of Buddhism, consecration
has been characterized as a ritual that transmutes an
image or a STUPAfrom a mundane object into the na-
ture of a Buddha (Bentor 1997). Consecrated objects
include not only images and stupas, but representa-
tional paintings, books, and other objects. Abhiseka,
the Sanskrit term ordinarily translated as “consecra-
tion,” expands this signification to include KINGSHIP
(rajabhiseka) and designates the act or ritual specifi-
cally as one of sprinkling or anointing with sacred wa-
ter. This entry deals with the ritual techniques for
sanctifying objects that figure specifically in Buddhist
devotional practice, in particular images and stupa-
enshrined relics, to the exclusion of sacred places such
as monasteries and revered personages such as monks
and kings. Furthermore, even though water lustration
features prominently in consecration rituals, this essay
broadens the meaning of abhisekabeyond the act of
anointing to include various techniques and devices by
which these objects are sacralized, making them pow-
erful and auspicious both for what they symbolize or
represent and what they become via the act of conse-
cration. For example, a consecrated BUDDHA IMAGEsi-
multaneously both representsand isthe living presence
of the Buddha, while an unconsecrated image merely
symbolizes the Blessed One.
An image of the Buddha or a Buddhist saint be-
comes an iconin the sense that it partakes of the sub-
stance of that which it represents by means of a
consecration ritual. By contrast, a bodily relic of the
Buddha ( ́ars lradhatu) by its inherent nature partakes
of the Buddha’s very substance. Consequently, a stupa
becomes an icon when it enshrines a relic, and a relic
may be placed inside a Buddha image for the same pur-
pose. A bodily relic so employed serves as one of the
means by which Buddha images and stupas are conse-
crated. The Chinese practice of venerating the mum-
mified body of an eminent monk can be seen as the
ultimate expression of such iconization, the complete
fusion of an image of a saint and relic-body.
As different signs or material artifacts of use and
association—footprint, bodhi tree, alms bowl, image,
and even book—came to signify the presence of the
absent (“parinirvanized”) Buddha, so various ritual
techniques evolved for instilling them with the pres-
ence and power of the Buddha. Not surprisingly, the
primary signs were associated with the most important
venues of devotional practice, namely, stupa enshrined
relics and Buddha images. Throughout Buddhist Asia
from India to Japan, stupas, pagodas, and image halls
became major features of that part of the monastic com-
plex referred to as the “Buddha’s dwelling place” (bud-
dhavasa), complementing the “monk’s dwelling place”
(san ̇ghavasa). As these terms suggest, the monastery
served and continues to serve not only as a place where
monks pursue the paths of meditation and study but
participate in devotional practices as ritual func-
tionaries. One of the ritual acts performed by monks
that is central to venerating the Buddha (buddhapuja)
includes consecrating icons.Making the Buddha present
Not surprisingly, all consecration rituals throughout
Asia are not the same. They reflect different Buddhist
traditions as well as the particular cultures in which
they flourished. Although no one ritual fits all cases,
there are commonalities. Preeminently, Buddha im-
ages and relics as well as other material artifacts asso-
ciated with the Buddha make the Buddha available to
a particular time and place. In doing so they serve as
the Buddha’s functional equivalent or double, espe-
cially in ritual contexts.
The Kosalabimbavannana(The Laudatory Account
of the Kosala Image), a thirteenth-century Pali Sin-
halese text, describes how the image functions as the
Buddha’s double. Like the better known Mahayana
version of the story associated with King Udayana, the
Buddha’s absence becomes the occasion for the con-
struction of an image of the Blessed One. In the Pali
rendition, King Pasenadi of Kosala pays the Buddha a
visit only to find him away on a journey. When the
Buddha returns the following day, the king lamentsCONSECRATION