A CRITICAL TANTRISMnegating and overcoming each of the successive stages of our mind through the
observation of essencelessness (Siinyatii ~11:). This is the direction of self
benefit (!3 fU, sviirtha or svahita) of improving the wisdom of enlightenment
(prajiiii $t;5= ), which is the universal matrix of the ultimate reality and is at the
same time innate within us.
The latter is the direction of the universal compassion ( ~71.!,) emanating from
the centre of the world. This universal compassion is reflected within our indi-
vidual minds and is realized by our personal exertions (upiiya :J:]~) for the
benefit of others (fUft!!., pariirtha or parahita).
The current from the circumference to the centre is nothing but the stratum
A' and the current opposite to this is the stratum A' abovementioned. Prajiiii
(~;5=), the wisdom for self benefit (§fU), and upiiya (:JJ~), the actual exertion
for the benefit of others ( fUft!!) through compassion (~ff!;) meet within each of
us who make up the world of Vairocana. In other words, we can become the
component parts of the world of Vairocana only on the condition that these two
elements i.e. prajiiii and upiiya are indivisibly united in our individual existence
to form our minds directing toward enlightenment (bodhicitta ~:f:ll!-C..'). Here is
presented the most fundamental axiom:
'prajiiii plus upiiya is bodhicitta'.This was the essential axiom through the course of the development of Tantric
ideas. Tantric Buddhists interpreted literally the metaphor prevalent in
Mahayana Buddhism, which compares prajiiii to the mother and upiiya to the
father of a buddha. They represented the innate bodhicitta with the mixture of
menstrual fluid and semen which is originated through the sexual union of the
mother (prajiiii) and the father (upiiya).
They should have been able to attain enlightenment easily and quickly only
by making the symbolized bodhicitta (the mixture of menstrual fluid and semen)
ascend through the spinal vein (niit;li-) of their bodies i.e. Avadhiiti to the topmost
nerve centre (cakra) thought to be situated on the uppermost part of the head. So
far as the Tantric logic is concerned, because that which is to be symbolized and
the symbol itself are one and the same, when the symbolized bodhicitta attains
to the topmost cakra of great pleasure (Mahiisukha-cakra), having been pro-
moted through the symbolized process of attaining enlightenment, that is, the
vein Avadhiifi, enlightenment should be realized thereupon.
Here, we notice the critical tum which divides Tantrism from Mahayana
Buddhism. At the moment when they replaced upiiya (:1JfJ!), direct exertions
based on compassion ~)Q; ), with another symbol such as semen, they passed
over the ridge to the slope ofTantrism. For a follower of the Vairocaniibhisam-
bodhi-siitra, it was inconceivable at all to symbolize upiiya, manipulate it
through physical or sexual yogic practice and consequently dissolve the basic
principle of Mahayana Buddhism.
Thirdly, in this long quotation from the Vairocaniibhisambodhi-siitra, we find