1052 richard k. payne
extend beyond what we might consider to be the practical aspects of
construction to include such fundamental issues as finding an appro-
priate teacher (Tanemura 2004, 16–42). This suggests that the text was
written at least in part as a guidebook for the lay sponsor of the new
monastery as well as a ritual manual for the teacher (ācārya) who then
is in charge of the balance of the construction.
The brief ritual sequence from the Shingon homa described above
has its direct corollaries in the structure of the Kriyāsaṃgraha’s
ritual activities. Tadeusz Skorupski (2002, 7) summarizes these, indi-
cating that
the main purpose of the rituals performed is to transform the monas-
tic ground, the monastic building, and its images into a perfect abode
inhabited by Buddhist deities. The ritual master transmutes the site into
the vajra-ground and dissolves into it the nature of emptiness and bud-
dhahood. Similarly, the foundations of the monastery are permeated
with the Vajradhātu maṇḍala, and special arrangements are devised
for the gods of the traidhātuka, men, and, surprisingly, for the pretas.
The guardian gods of the ten directions, the planets as deities, and all
the other deities are brought in and engaged to invest their respective
powers for the benefit of the monastery, and indeed for the benefit of
the whole world. The monastic building is transformed into a perfect
maṇḍ̣ala palace fully protected by a host of fierce deities distributed on
all sides.The transmutation of the monastic building into a mandala through
the emplacement of deities is directly comparable to the creation of the
altar for the homa.
As suggested elsewhere, continuities of ritual culture do not fol-
low unilinear paths, but are rather more like a catalytic process that
may proceed in a variety of directions simultaneously. Hence, another
example of the pervasion of tantric conceptions within construction
rites is provided by contemporary Nepalese practices. Slusser (1982,
129) emphasizes the religious significances of all construction in the
Kathmandu Valley:
Even in such seemingly secular matters as raising a farmhouse or dig-
ging a well, construction is hemmed with the same sanctions and rituals
that accompany the building of a temple. The differences are essentially
of degree, not kind.Slusser notes the ritual continuity of Newar construction rituals with
their Indian forebears, referring specifically to the fact that “Elabo-
rate rituals such as those laid down in the Indian gṛhasūtras (rules