TANTRIC BUDDHISM (INCLUDING CHINA AND JAPAN)ultimate reality (dharmakiiya lt;.ft, literally, the body of truth), and the latter the
buddha enjoying the fruit of all the meritorious deeds he has accumulated
(sambhogakiiya ¥&~ c, the body of enjoyment).
The first thing we notice in this long quotation from the introductory section
of the Vairocaniibhisambodhi-siitra is that, the whole mwp;lala and its centre are
indicated with one and the same word "Vairocana". Here, we notice a tendency,
if unconscious, common in every system of mw;cjala, to represent the whole
maf]cfala and its centre as the same. This state of affairs must have been taken as
a condition of enlightenment.
In the Vairacaniibhisambodhi-siitra, this identity of the entirety and its centre
occurs only when one successfully arrives at the centre of the mar:zcjala after ful-
filling all the necessary stages of the process of attaining enlightenment over the
long period of 'the three great uncountable aeons' c:::.!!m1fitJ:!;;I;i)). In the
Hevajra-tantra, this condition of sameness is retained though in a reversed
manner. In the case of the Hevajra-tantra, the whole maf}cjala is occupied by
one and only deity Hevajra. Therefore, if one homologously imitates Hevajra
through the sexual yoga with the group of five yoginls (yoginl-cakra ), represent-
ing the substance of the maf]cjala, he can become identical with the whole
maf]cjala and can attain enlightenment in one moment.
Secondly, within this quotation, we notice the image of the double-layered
world. Using the constituent words of the full title of the Vairocaniibhisam-
bodhi-siitra, viz. Mahiivairocaniibhisambodhivikurvitiidhi${hiinavaipulyasiitra-
indrariijii niima dharmaparyiiya <~li~mlnlt19l!hi$~1m1if.£!i!), the structure of
the world is expressed as follows:
The world is composed of two strata: the world of natural existences (A) and
the world of vikurvm:za (iii$~) (A') placed upon these natural existences
(adhi${iina :Imtif). Vikurvaf]a (~$~),the miraculous transformation of all merits
thus accumulated occurs at the critical moment of the abhisambodhi cm~-W:) of
Vairocana. A and A' meet within every individual existence which in
itself constitutes the entire world in its capacity as a particle of it.
There, bodhisattvas such as Samantabhadra etc. (A) saw "the people of the
same appearances" as Samantabhadra etc. (A') acting for the benefit of the
living being in the world. Each individual is called an "ornament" Olf.@) as long
as A and A' are indivisibly united within him. Those great people
such as Sru-:1antabhadra etc. well understand this state of being. This is indicated
by the expression "they did not imagine that they had entered into the body, the
speech and the mind of the Lord Vairocana, nor did they imagine that they had
come out of them".
The world of Vairocana is composed of two currents flowing in opposite
directions: one from the circumference to the centre and the other from the
centre to the circumference. The former is the direction of wisdom(~-) which
realizes itself through the voluntary, subjective efforts of individuals to promote
themselves toward the centre of the world, viz. enlightenment (abhisambodhi
m~ft). Our minds are to be improved through our own efforts of incessantly