Second, one cannot escape the obvious emphasis
on the senses that pervades Tantric practice. Sight is
both stimulated and used by a number of multi-
colored props, offerings, and ritual implements, and
by the mandala (a graphic representation that in part
maps out the ritual and any internal processes of med-
itation). The sense of smell is stimulated by the fre-
quent use of incense and flowers. The ear is involved
through recitation and through the focusing of the rit-
ual and the meditation on specific ritual formulas and
“mystical” formulas (mantras) and syllables (bljas).
The third characteristic is less palpable. Tantric
liturgical-meditative events are often presumed to de-
pend on or to induce an inner sensory process in the
practitioner. This process is sometimes called “visual-
ization,” since instructions often ask the meditator to
“see” something in his or her heart or mind. This ob-
ject is to be retained in the mind for a prescribed time,
to the exclusion of everything else, and serves some of
the functions of the kasina.
Although some Western observers have questioned
the meaning of these instructions, it seems clear that
the practitioner is being asked to view something in
the mind. Whether this is at all possible is not as crit-
ical as understanding that many people think it is pos-
sible. Once the picture is in the mind one can look at
it, view it, and contemplate it; or one can become one
with the object.
The inner process is also called sadhana,and it may
be construed as a “realization” because it implies that
the vision is, or should be made to become, something
that is real or that can be appropriated or incorporated
into one’s person. The meditator, for instance, is asked
to perceive mentally, in his own heart, the first vowel,
A,which gradually turns into the orb of the moon. In
the middle of this moon he should see a lovely blue lo-
tus. On the filaments of this lotus he will see the spot-
less orb of a second moon, upon which appears the
yellow seed-syllable (blja) Tam ̇.Thereupon, the med-
itator sees rays of light issuing from this yellow seed-
syllable, and this mass of rays destroys the darkness of
the world’s delusions, illuminates all the endless
worlds that exist in the ten directions, and gathers the
numberless, measureless families of buddhas and bo-
dhisattvas from the whole universe, bringing them be-
fore the meditator.
Such visualizations often lead to meditations of the
insight type that we have seen before: The mental pic-
ture of a buddha, for instance, is examined by asking
questions regarding the substantiality of the image, and
of the buddha it represents.The evocation of deities in contexts that shade off
from simple invocation to visualization, and from
apotropaic and propitiatory prayer to meditations of
identity, was especially popular among Tibetan Bud-
dhists. It is sometimes called deity yogain the West, in
accordance with a free English translation of the Ti-
betan term lha’i mgnong rtogs(“realization” or “actu-
alization” of the deity). In a deity-yoga sadhana, the
meditator invokes and visualizes the physical appear-
ance (including shape, sound, and smell) of his or her
own meditation deity (the chosen or assigned object of
meditation), which is also the person’s main protective
deity, the “chosen” tutelary deity (yi dam; Sanskrit,
istadevata). As a step into higher meditations the prac-
tice is indistinguishable from a basic sadhana, but as a
devotional practice it is perhaps the most popular of
all meditations in circles that follow Tibetan traditions
of meditation. A meditation of this type is the nyungne
(bsnyung gnas), which is especially popular among the
laity and is devoted to the bodhisattva of compassion,
Avalokites ́vara. This ritual meditation is usually carried
out during the days celebrating the birth, enlighten-
ment, and death of the Buddha. The nyungneis a two-
day fasting retreat for laypersons, led by a monk.
Although the primary objective appears to be strength-
ening the vows and precepts of the bodhisattva and the
invocation of Avalokites ́vara’s compassionate assis-
tance, the model for the liturgy is still that of a deity-
yoga sadhana inviting the bodhisattva to make himself
present before and inside the meditator.Another form of Tantric practice, a syllable or a full
phrase (of the mantra genre), recited aloud or mum-
bled, becomes the focus for the development of con-
centration and insight. These Sanskrit syllables often
represent sacred presences, and by extension embody
and therefore invoke and appropriate them (that is,
fuse or exchange the identities of meditator and deity).In Japanese Tantric practice, as modeled, for in-
stance, in the Shingon tradition, the syllable hrlis taken
to represent the name, person, and presence of
AMITABHA. When the syllable is drawn or recited, the
believer presumes that the Buddha Amitabha has been
invoked or, better yet, that he is present. The set of all
syllables, and therefore of all buddhas, bodhisattvas,
and deities, is contained in the primary vowel sound
A.This syllable is regarded as the origin and essence
of all syllables, and hence of all language and every-MEDITATION