. esoteric buddhism in the tang 277
the great bodhisattvas and the various devas who controlled the wind,
rain, and other natural forces; abhiṣeka and its levels (T. 848.18:11b–
12b; T. 1796.39:613a–c, 617a, 625a, 674c–675a); the performance of
homa (T. 848.18:42c25–44a8; T. 1796.39:779a–782c21); and the mean-
ing of mantra.^60
Broadly speaking, the MVS can be divided into an introductory
chapter and the remaining chapters. The narrative core of the scripture
is the discourse between Mahāvairocana and Vajrapāṇi, and, as Hodge
(2003) observes, this discourse revolves around answers to two ques-
tions: What is perfect enlightenment, and how is it achieved?^61 The first
chapter presents three approaches to these questions that originate in
the Mahāyāna: meditation to see the mind as it really is, to eliminate
the epistemological mistake of identifying reality with phenomena,
and techniques for understanding types of delusion. From chapter two
onward the MVS provides ritual answers to these questions. These take
the form of preliminary practices (both inner and outer) ranging from
the purification of the practitioner and site to practicing various types
of “visualization,” the application of those practices that result in the
attainment of union, and then the use of various attainments for a
variety of communal and personal needs.^62 Following the prescriptions
of the text, the discourse between Mahāvairocana and Vajrapāṇi is
enacted ritually by master and disciple.
In short, the MVS codifies the cosmic order, and lays out the ritual
technology to become its lord. The path detailed here also asserts a
genealogy and process different from the one mediated through the
teaching of Śākyamuni and handed down through his discourses and
disciples. Rather, through the use of the “three mysteries” ( ), or
“secrets,” of body (mudrā; shen ), speech (mantra; kou ), and mind
(samādhi; yi ) the initiate ritually replicates Mahāvairocana’s body,
speech, and mind; and through the ritual of abhiṣeka one becomes a
living icon, Buddha Mahāvairocana.^63 In other words, the disciple does
(^60) The introduction in Hodge 2003 to his translation of the The Mahāvairocana-
abhisaṃbodhi Tantra is useful, as is Abé 1999, 131–41.
(^61) Hodge 2003, 30.
(^62) For a discussion helpful in understanding the coherence of these ritual elements
see Hodge 2003, 29–40. 63
This is especially clear in the Commentary (Darijing shu ), T.
1796.39:607c10–12. On the “three secrets” or “three mysteries” (san mi ) see Lü
Jianfu 1995, 97–99, 242–44; Mikkyōdaijiten, 839b–840b; and Amoghavajra’s Putixin
lun ( ), T. 1665.32:574b13–16. Esoteric