painted on the image or the eye lightly scratched with
a needle; regardless of its form, however, it is by open-
ing an image’s eyes that it becomes a living cult icon.
The ritual process that transforms mere image to
iconic Buddha substitute imprints the Buddha’s story
on the image. Narratives play an equally important role
in the transformation of other material artifacts into
representations of the Buddha and Buddhist saints.
Stupa enshrined relics dot the map of the Buddha’s
itinerary throughout greater Asia: The generous dis-
tribution of HAIRrelics, predictions of the future dis-
covery of bone relics by righteous monarchs, and
footprints embedded in stone and earth witness to the
continuing presence of the Buddha. Stories associated
with these events figure prominently not only in the
creation of sacred sites but in annual reconsecration
and renewal ceremonies.
That a corporeal relic may be inserted into a Bud-
dha image and images may be enshrined in a stupa to-
gether with relics points to the belief that both serve
as living Buddha icons. As further evidence of this be-
lief, image consecration rituals in northern Thailand
may include the insertion of a set of internal organs
made from silver into the image. When a cavity in the
back of the sandalwood image brought to Japan by the
Japanese Buddhist pilgrim Chonen (938–1016) and
enshrined at Seiryoji in Kyoto was opened up in 1954,
it was found to contain a similar set of internal organs
made from silk.
Buddhahood requires extraordinary mental and
physical attainments. Consequently, instilling these
miraculous qualities into the image figures promi-
nently in consecration rituals. In northern Thailand,
the Buddha image consecration suttainfusing mental
and spiritual perfections (parami) into the image is re-
cited, monks reputed to have achieved higher states of
mental awareness and power are said to “pour” (phae)
them into the consecrated images while seated in med-
itation around the bodhimanda.In the Tibetan tradi-
tion sadhanameditation techniques are at the core of
the consecration (rab gnas) of images and stupas.
Elaborate visualization procedures involve several
stages: dissolving the object to be consecrated into
emptiness; visualizing the chosen Buddha (yi dam)
out of emptiness; inviting this Buddha and its visual-
ized form into the image; transforming them into
nonduality; and finally transforming nondual empti-
ness into the original appearance of the image. (Ben-
tor 1997).
Consecration as dharmicization
On the night of his enlightenment, the Buddha per-
ceived the cause of suffering and the path to its cessa-
tion. This awakening resulted in penetrating the
illusions that obscure understanding the nature of things
(dharma) as ANITYA(IMPERMANENCE) and causally co-
arising and interdependent (PRATITYASAMUTPADA). In
short, the terms buddhaand dharmaare mutually in-
clusive; buddhahood necessitates dharmicization. Con-
sequently, stupas, images, and other signs of the Buddha,
such as the bodhi tree, represent the dharma as well, re-
calling the statement attributed to the Buddha, “Who-
ever sees me, sees the dharma.” Consecration rituals,
therefore, not only Buddhacize objects, they also
dharmicize them.
Dharmicization as a function of consecration ritu-
als takes several different forms. Copies of sutras and
other texts may be placed in larger than life-size im-
ages or stupas during consecration rituals. This prac-
tice contributed to the “cult of the book” as a material
relic of the Buddha, especially in the Mahayana tradi-
tion. Evidence for the practice of magically infusing the
formula of dependent origination (“Those dharmas
which arise from a cause/the tathagata has declared
their cause/and that which is their cessation/thus the
great renunciant has taught”) into images ad stupas ex-
ists from the second century C.E. and continues to the
present as a pan-Buddhist practice. In the Tibetan tra-
dition, ATISHA(982–1054) refers to the mantric use of
this formula in consecration rituals, and it is currently
employed in conjunction with mirror divination in
Chinese and Korean Buddha image consecrations.
Other Buddhist traditions employ signature sutras as
a central feature of image consecration. In the Japan-
ese NICHIREN SCHOOLit is believed that placing the
LOTUS SUTRA (SADDHARMAPUNDARIKA-SUTRA)be-
fore an image during its consecration guarantees that
it will become a Buddha of pure and perfect teaching
(Stone).
In Southeast Asia elaborate techniques developed
for dharmacizing Buddha images and stupas. In north-
ern Thailand the construction of a Buddha image or a
stupa included attaching dharmic yantras(diagrams)
to it, and in Cambodia implanting dharmic marks
(Sanskrit, laksana; Pali, lakkhana) plays a central role
in the consecration of a Buddha image. The officiating
monk touches various parts of the body of the image
while chanting Pali phrases (DHARANI), thereby creat-
ing a dharmic body of doctrinal concepts correspond-
ing to the bodily parts of the image. This transmutationCONSECRATION