TANTRIC BUDDHISM (INCLUDING CHINA AND JAPAN)"0 son of a noble family! How can you attain the highest and complete
enlightenment, you who are enduring all kinds of difficult deeds C'*rr)
without knowing the truth of all the tathiigatas?"The bodhisattva, recovering self-consciousness and coming back from the
trance, asks the tathiigatas the way to attain the truth and the proposition of the
truth itself as follows:
bhagavantas tathiigatii iijiiiipayata katham pratipadyiimi hidrsam
tattvam i ti I I
"0 Reverend Lord! Tell me, how and what kind of truth shall I
attain?"^36All the tathiigatas, accordingly, teach him the so-called 'five-stepped process
of attaining enlightenment (paiiciikiiriibhisambodhi-krama 1Lf§Jjl(;.,!l]'W!,). The
bodhisattva practises as he was taught and attains the highest and complete
enlightenment on the spot and becomes Vajradhatu Tathagata (~JilliJ!!-~ll).
Here we notice that the Mahayanic ideal of strenuous effort C'rr ), which had
been proposed by the Vairocaniibhisambodhi-siitra, was surpassed by the awak-
ening words abovementioned. Thus, the Tantric ideal of quick attainment of
enlightenment through the easy practice (~IT) of yoga was declared on the
basis of a clear methodical consciousness.
The method of attaining "the truth of all the tathiigatas", that is, the ultimate
truth is shown here, and the bodhisattva Sarvarthasiddhi actually attained the
ultimate truth by this method. Therefore, we can observe the ultimate truth itself
and the method of attaining the truth in his 'five-stepped process of ataining
enlightenment'.
Each of five steps constituting the whole process are composed of the follow-
ing three factors:
a a step of instruction for observing the truth given by all the tathiigatas.
b a mantra (mystical spell) which can be substituted for (a).
c Sarvarthasiddhi's perception of the truth shown in a concrete, symbolic
figure as the result of (b).
For example, the passage which corresponds with the first step, viz. so-called
'piercing into the mind of enlightenment' (~~'§ftliH,,) is described as follows:evam ukte sarvatathiigatiis tam bodhisattvam ekaka1Jthenaivam iihub I
pratipadyasva kulaputra suncittapratyave/cyal)asamiidhiinena prakr-
tisiddhena rucijaptena mantrel}eti II
Om cittaprativedham karomi I I
atha bodhisattvab sarvatathiigatiin evam iiha I iijiiiitam me bhaga-
vantas tathiigatiib svahrdi candramal}daliikiiram pasyiimi P^7