TANTRIC BUDDHISM (INCLUDING CHINA AND JAPAN)advocated ideally in the Tattvasarhgraha-tantra was tentatively realized through
sexual practice with the yogin "is who actually existed at the time.vi. The 'critical' or precarious character ofSamvara TantrismAccording to the Tantric way of thinking, the formula of the quick attainment of
enlightenment was thus brought into practice successfully by incorporating the
practical cogency of the cult of sma~:iina. The ultimate truth should have been
realized through the sexual yoga practised in the group of yoginls (yoginl-
cakra); there should have been nothing left to be done. Nevertheless, they dared
go beyond it.
These Tantrlsts of smasiina were still at least half Buddhist; and this self-
consciousness ofMahayanic Buddhists prevented them from staying exclusively
on the slope ofTantrism. To the truth practically realized, they added, according
to their own original system of consecration (abhiseka l'i]J{ ), a fourth consecra-
tion (caturthiibhiseka) of the Hevajra-tantra, an aphorismic truth which would
seem unnecessary from the Tantric view of the truth. Consequently, they were in
need of substantiating this aphorismic truth. However, the Tantric method was
not applicable to this purpose. At this time, they reached a stage in which they
had to judge the truth or falsehood of the Tantric logic of yoga itself on a basis
other than that of Tantric practice.
They had no choice but to have recourse to the difficult practice ( JIHr) to
substantiate the logic of the easy attainment of the ultimate truth (£fi). Actu-
ally, they tried to substantiate the logic of meditation by the antithetical practice
of pilgimage in the stage of the Sarhvarodaya-tantra^10 subsequent to the
Hevajra-tantra.
During the short lapse of time between the Hevajra-tantra and the Sarhvaro-
daya-tantra, the earliest of the Sarhvara literature, the system of twenty-four
plthas of ten classes was very quickly organized. The followers of the Sarhvara
Tantrism actually pilgrimaged, at least in its early stage, to these plthas located
in various parts of the Indian subcontinent with the consciousness that they were
advancing along the genuinely Mahayanic process of the ten stages of the bod-
hisattva (dasabhiimi ~ifl-1-":l.lb) successively.
However, this system of external plthas (biihyapltha) was immediately reor-
ganized th!"ough the Tantric logic of symbolization as an internal, physical
system (adhyiitmapltha) homologous with the system of external plthas. Con-
sequently, the internal system replaced the actual, difficult practice of making a
pilgrimage and allowed practicers to attain the goal easily and quickly through a
physical yogic practice.
From the point of view of the forms of mm:uj,alas, the mal)gala of the
Hevajra-tantra, in its essential part, that is, the inner circle consisting of five
yogin'is closely follows the form of the mal)gala of the Tattvasarhgraha-tantra;
that is the plain white circle containing no differences of brightness within. This
type of ma1Jgala indicates the religion of sitting meditators (yogin), and in fact,