TANTRIC BUDDHISM (INCLUDING CHINA AND JAPAN)attainment of wordly success depends on rituals. The progress of the adept
towards Buddhahood, i.e. towards final liberation from the bonds of ignorance
and powerlessness in the whirl of sa111sara, is likewise at every stage intimately
connected with ritual acts of one kind or another.
To this one may perhaps object that the rupture de niveau, the transfer to a
higher plane of being to which the adept aspires, after all requires an internal
siidhana, an interior process of realization in the form of certain meditational
practices. But while perfectly true, this only serves to stress the ritualistic char-
acter of tantricism; for not only are the meditational excercises preceded by
rituals, but even the interior sadhana itself proceeds according to a ritualistic
pattern. In fact, external ritual and internal sadhana form an indistinguishable
whole, and this unity finds its most pregnant expression in the form of the
ma{J(iala, the sacred enclosure consisting of concentric squares and circles drawn
on the ground and representing that adamantine plane of being on which the
aspirant to Buddhahood wishes to establish himself. The unfolding of the tantric
ritual depends on the maw;lala; and where a material maiJQala is not employed,
the adept proceeds to construct one mentally in the course of his meditation^11.
The form and function of the ma{JQala have been authoritatively described by
G. Tucci^12 , to whom the reader is referred. Here the following only will be
stressed: the ritual of the ma{J<;iala, whether conceived of in internal or external
terms, takes the form of a series of initiations, i.e. of ritual acts par excellence,
serving to prepare the adept for the attainment of Buddhahood, the goal to which
not only tantric, but indeed all Buddhism aspires. It will therefore be well to
examine more closely the tantric ritual of initiation (seka or abhi$eka). In this
connection we have at our disposal three texts which give a relatively full and
coherent account of the successive initiations, viz. the Sekoddesa(lkii (ST) of
Na<;Iapada, edited by M. E. Carelli, the Hevajrasekaprakriyii (HSP), edited and
translated by L. Finot, and the first eight chapters of the Cm:uJama-
hiiro$m;atantra (CMT), edited and translated by C. S. George.
Before we proceed to examine these initiations, a brief discussion of the term
abhi$eka will be in order. It is derived from the root sic-"to pour out, sprinkle,
soak". It is commonly used for the act of impregnation, and perhaps retains this
connotation in those cases where the abhi~eka involves a hieros gamos. Seka or
abhi~eka is thus basically an "aspersion", and this idea is never lost. "As exter-
nally one washes away exterior dirt with water, so one sprinkles water for the
washing away of ignorance; it is thus called a sprinkling" (AVS p. 36)^13. More
concisely, HVT II.iii.l2 states: "Thereby one is sprinkled, that is to say cleansed
- hence the word seka is employed". Because of the sacred character of the
aspersion, the word "baptism" has been used to translate seka^14 ; however, as this
term is obviously heavily loaded with Christian connotations, it does not seem
quite suitable. Another reason for rejecting it, is that the various stages of
abhi~eka do not, in fact, always include aspersions; and if water is not employed,
it seems rather inappropriate to speak of baptism. One might employ the term
"initiation", as this is beyond doubt what the abhi~eka in fact is^15 ; but this has