TANTRIC BUDDHISM (INCLUDING CHINA AND JAPAN)is itself luminosity (vijii.anarp ca prabhasvaram), and it is the same Luminosity
which is the source of all phenomenal existence - the world emerges from it as
suddenly and spontaneously as a fish jumps out of the water of a river (PK
V .31 ). Thus there is ultimately no difference between the experience of the
luminosity of the consciousness and the experience of identity with the world;
but there is, nevertheless, a clear tendency to connect this luminosity with the
highest of the bodily cakras, the Lotus of Great Bliss situated in the head. For
this cakra, Luminosity sometimes (as in M) functions as a synonym^153 • Thus
Luminosity, identified both with Simultaneously-arisen Joy (M 2.2) and with the
mind (citta) (33.4)^15 \ is said to be "hidden in the body" (18.2), and the relative
Thought-of-Enlightenment is said to "contain the cause of Luminosity" (18.4).
This experience of sahaja may be interpreted within a broader phenomeno-
logical context.
In his book Mysticism and Philosophy (London 1961), W. T. Stace has sug-
gested that the following seven points are common to all or at least most
"mystical" experiences, which he for purposes of classification divides into the
two basic types of"extrovertive" and "introvertive"^155 :
Extrovertive mystical states- Unifying vision-all things
perceived as One. - The One permeates all things
as "life", "consciousness", etc.
Introvertive mystical states- Unitary consciousness, void of
conceptual or sensuous content. - Non-spatial, non-temporal
Common to both types- Sense of objectivity or reality.
- Blessedness, peace, etc.
- Feeling that what is apprehended is sacred.
- Paradoxicality.
- Alleged to be ineffable.
If we accept these criteria as valid and sufficient to identify an experience as
"mystical"^156 , it will immediately appear that the experience of sahaja, of
Simultaneously-arisen Joy, is a typical example of a "mystical" experience, and,
consequently, that tantric Buddhism, which with all its ritualistic paraphernalia
only serves to clear the ground, so to speak, for the Simultaneously-arisen Joy,
may be characterised as "mysticism". The importance of this conclusion is
obvious, for in spite of its many "exotic" traits, tantric Buddhism immediately
becomes more readily intelligible when it has been established that it is nothing
but another variant of a universal and fundamental aspect of man's religious
experience.
We may note that the experience of sahaja -whether this term or synony-
mous terms like Great Bliss, Buddhahood, etc. are used - is both extrovertive
and introvertive. It is extrovertive, everything being seen as One -"there is only