294 CHAPTER ELEVENhigh Tantric patron deities subsumed under the five families ofBuddhas (see
Section 6.3.2); and <;lakinis (see Section 6.3.4). To this list were added the
"Lords;' fierce patron deities of the particular monastery or school, who had
their own special rituals that had to be practiced twenty hours every day by a
monk especially assigned to the task in a small, dark, grotesquely decorated
room. If these rituals were not carried out, the Lord would turn against the
monastery.
As we mentioned previously, any socially approved form of Tantrism must
be based on socially approved forms of motivation. Thus each time the central
ritual was performed, it was bracketed by mantras representing the Three Sa-
cred Things: awakening bodhicitta and contemplation of emptiness before-
hand, and dedication of merit afterward. One standard list of the steps in the
awakening bodhicitta stage included mantras for homage, offering, confession
of sins, rejoicing in the merit of others; an entreaty that the deity reveal the
Dharma; a prayer that the deity not pass away into nirvar:ta; and dedication of
one's own merit. The "contemplation of emptiness" stage was a mantra refer-
ring to emptiness; while reciting it, the practitioner was supposed to reflect, if
ever so briefly, on the proper meaning of the concept. In this and all the other
steps in the ritual, the practitioner was to develop speed and accuracy not only
in the repetition of the mantra and the performance of the mudras, but also in
the processes of visualization and contemplation that were supposed to ac-
company them, thus engaging his entire body, speech, and mind in the ritual
world. In the case of the Three Sacred Things, these steps repeatedly made
real to the practitioner the principle that compassion and wisdom should un-
derlie his exercise of ritual power.
The ritual proper was the process of generation, which involved three
steps: visualization of the deity's mar:t<;lala, abandonment of one's own world
and identity so as to assume the deity's identity through the power of the
mantra, and recollection of purity (see Section 11.2.2). The assumption of the
deity's identity, or "pride," was crucial in that one could not expect to control
the' deity's power unless one "became" the deity. The recollection of purity-
another reference to emptiness-was essential for returning to the emptiness
from. which the deity had sprung so that one could make contact with
the source from which all things come, and thus be able to exercise power
over them.
Next, the element of choice came into the ritual, for one could decide
what to do with one's acquired power. A traditional text lists two basic uses
for ritual power, extraordinary and ordinary. The one extraordinary use is the
attainment of the Innate Union of Clear Light and Emptiness, which is ac-
complished through the process of perfection. Various texts explain this stage
in different ways, depending on how much emphasis they place on physical
yoga or the analytical insight needed for the proper apprehension of empti-
ness. Essentially it was a process whereby one coerced one's way into the deity's
awareness of emptiness-called its knowledge body, as opposed to its mantra
body assumed in the process of generation-and so immersed oneself in the
emptiness of Awakening.