86 charles d. orzech and henrik h. sørensen
in the Akanisṭha palace at the summit of the universe as set out in ̣
the Mahāvairocanābhisaṃbodhi sūtra and the Sarvatathāgata- tattva-
saṃgraha, with master and disciple taking the roles of Mahāvairocana
and Vajrasattva (in the MVS) or Mahāvairocana and Vajradhātu (in
the STTS). The samaya vows are thus realized through ritual practice
as the disciple replicates Siddhartha’s enlightenment.
The practice itself employs mudrās, mantras, and mandalas—body,
speech, and mind—the “devices” through which the Buddha trans-
forms beings. Amoghavajra put it succinctly:
As for the three secrets, the first is the secret of body: as in the making
of mudrās when inviting the sages of the assembly. The second is the
secret of speech: as in the secret recitation of the mantras wherein the
syllables are clearly distinguished and without error. The third is
the secret of mind: as in dwelling in the resonant unity of yoga, contem-
plating bodhicitta as a pure white lunar disk. (T. 1665.32:574b13–16).^39It is the simultaneous fully integrated use of gesture (mudrā), mantra,
and visualization (mandala) that makes this practice distinctive, and
this integration is repeatedly emphasized.^40
The deployment of these devices involves more than simple con-
templation of the symbols of the Buddha’s salvific power ( jiachi ;
adhiṣthānạ ). The devices themselves empower and transform. They
are not mere models of the Buddha’s power. Rather they function as
sacraments to produce that power when deployed properly by the dis-
ciple. The ritual process of abhisekạ can be seen, therefore, as a tech-
nology for the reproduction of Buddhas. It’s rhetoric is the rhetoric
of birth and genealogy.^41 It is also a technology for the production of
a particular social body (those who have undergone abhisekạ ), and of
a particular individual body.^42 This body is none other that the body
of a buddha in his world, capable of wielding salvific and supernormal
powers producing worldly and transcendent benefits.
(^39) The Chinese phrase rendered “dwelling in the resonant unity of yoga” (zhu yuqie
xiangying ) has a connotation that the process of yoga not only involves
“unity” but the proper response (xiangying) between a sign or deity and the mind.
(^40) For a brief introduction to the role of visualization see Copp, “Visualization,” in
this volume.
(^41) For a discussion of the metaphors of the womb in the abhiṣeka sequence see Abé
1999, 136–141.
(^42) An analogy might be the way that ballet is the technology for the reproduction of
certain kinds of dancers, and its practice a discipline that produces distinctive physical
and social bodies.