A CRITICAL TANTRISMthe follower of the Hevajra-tantra was fundamentally a meditator. However, as
it had become obvious that the logic of yoga, or the logic of the religion of the
meditators, could only be proved by the antithetical practice of pilgrimage, the
sitting meditator of the Hevajra-tantra rose to his feet and went on a pilgrimage.
Subsequently, the follower of the Sarizvarodaya-tantra came to be an alternating
practicer of both pilgrimage and meditation. This fact is reflected in the form of
the complete Sarizvara-mmp.jala of sixty-two deities, which is composed of two
concentric parts: the inner circle of a meditator practising yoga with five cjiikinls
in rotation (saiiciira) and the outer twenty-four pilgrims coupled with their
female partners.
The Sarizvara-mm:zcjala of this form looks very similar to the ma!Jcjala of the
Vairocaniibhisarizbodhi-siitra which is also composed of two parts: the central
circle of complete brightness, the sphere of those who have already attained the
ideal, and the outer circle of those who are in the process of attaining the ideal
increasing in brightness from the outer layers to the inner layers. In view of this
then, were the two antithetical elements of Tantric Buddhism, viz. the
Mahiiyanic idea of accumulating merits through difficult practices and the
Tantric logic of quickly uniting the individual with the ultimate reality through
the easy practice of yoga, or the religion of walking pilgrims and the religion of
sitting meditators, harmonized in the Sarizvara Tantrism? To this question, we
are not able to give an affirmative answer.
It was not until the theory of the internal plthas (adhyiitmapltha) was com-
pleted in the Vajracjiika-tantra that the twenty-four couples of cjiikas and cjiikinzs
were introduced to the ma!Jcjala of the Sarizvarodaya-tantra. Until this point, the
ma!Jcjala of the Sarizvarodaya-tantra, being very similar to the ma!Jcjala of the
Hevajra-tantra, had not been able to reflect the pilgrimage aspect of its cult,
which was later to be manifested in the outer circle of the Sarizvara-ma!Jcjala of
sixty-two deities. In the Vajracjiika-tantra, each of twenty-four cjiikinzs, who are
at the same time nothing other than veins (niicji) rest on each of twenty-four
pzthas, the twenty-four parts composing a human body, are respectively coupled
with their male partners. These twenty-four couples are then classified into three
groups located in the sky, on the earth and under the earth, viz. the circle of mind
(citta-cakra), the circle of speech (viik-cakra) and the circle of body (kiiya-
cakra). These three totally constitute the substance of the ultimate reality.
Since the outer circle of the Sarizvara-ma!Jcjala is the result of the Tantric idea
of the theory of the internal pzthas and is equipped with all the necessary con-
ditions to guarantee the homology of the individual existence with the ultimate
reality, it is sufficient unto itself as a basis of Tantric practice and allows one
attain the ultimate truth easily and quickly just as the inner circle had done
through an alternative method. Therefore, in spite of the fact that the Sarizvara-
maiJcjala looks harmonious in its form, it involves an internal discrepancy
between its inner and outer circles both of which can work independently of
each other.
This internal discrepancy of the Sarizvara-mm:zc}ala indicates the 'critical' or