8. HOMA
Richard K. Payne and Charles D. OrzechOverview and Structure
In addition to understanding the doctrinal bases upon which the eso-
teric traditions of Buddhism developed, we also need to know what
they were doing—that is, what practices they employed that serve to
delineate the esoteric forms of Buddhism. Indeed, some scholars have
argued that for the most part tantric doctrine was not unique, and
that it was the tantric ritual technology that demarcates the tradition
(Sharf 2002). The idea of esoteric Buddhism comprising a set of cults
employing related ritual practices is useful in this regard, using the
technical meaning of the term “cult” and not its popular, derogatory
connotation.
Aside from the use of rituals such as homa in esoteric cults, ritual
practices per se have their own history, the study of which can provide
an important complement to doctrinal and art historical approaches
of scholarship on the history of tantra. Rituals are very slow to change
and thus provide a different temporal horizon. While the cult of some
particular deity might arise and pass away in a relatively short time,
practices such as homa are more continuous over time. In order to
more deeply understand processes of religious change and adaptation,
therefore, the history of ritual can provide an understanding of one of
the most stable elements in those processes.
Because homa is found across the tantric world (for example, see
Brunner-Lachaux 1963), it provides an important tool by which com-
parative studies may be advanced. Given the similarities in the per-
formance of homa, it also challenges how sectarian boundaries are
defined. What does it mean to say that Hindu and Buddhist tantra
are different, if they employ the same practices? While Western reli-
gious studies focus almost exclusively on beliefs as markers of distinct
religious identities, this presumption is based on the unique historical
development of Western religious studies. More generally, although
ritual studies require further development as an historical discipline,
they have the potential to add further nuance to our understanding
of history. In just the same way that art history provides additional