TANTRIC BUDDHISM (INCLUDING CHINA AND JAPAN)a buddha, he made himself the nucleus of "the adamantine sphere", and made "the
adamantine sphere" which had existed as dynamis or as an ideal or possible being
actual in its tum as the Vajradhiitu-mm:u;lala composed of five tathiigatas or five
families of tathiigatas. "The adamantine sphere" or the universal buddha
Mahavairocana perpetually exists pervading the whole universe, but it is not
significant for us until it actualizes itself as a mmJc;iala visible to us. 5,670,000,000
years subsequent to Sakyamuni, Maitreya Buddha will appear on earth, make
himself Vairocana, the centre of the world of reality, and thereby cause the world
of reality, the universal buddha Mahavairocana to shine forth. Similarly, innumer-
able buddhas will appear on the earth (Jambudv!pa) one after another, and Vairo-
cana will continue shining at the centre of the universe. We also in our tum, after
completing the process of accumulating two kinds of merits over the period of
the three great uncountable aeons, will appear on earth as buddhas and cause the
world of reality to shine forth. Therefore, everyone of us is responsible for the
existence of the world of reality and is requested to continue incessantly both
moral and intellectual efforts for the sake of others and ourselves.
This romantic interpretation is not untenable. In fact, the thousand buddhas of
this aeon (bhadrakalpa Jij;l]) are waiting for the time when they will attain
enlightenment and make the whole mm)dala shine forth as the centre of the
world of reality. On the other hand, however, a completely new method of
attaining enlightenment is also presented here. The Mahayanic ideal of attaining
enlightenment through difficult deeds has been rejected by the awakening words
abovementioned (seep. 199), the meaning of which is as follows:
"If you do not know the truth of the universe, you can not attain
enlightenment even thought you complete the entire process of accu-
mulating merits over the three great uncountable aeons."One can attain enlightenment not by accumulating merits but by realizing the
ultimate truth which was revealed as the fifth mantra of the five-stepped process
of attaining enlightenment (.li;f§nll::llfU). Sakyamuni's actual attainment of
enlightenment was not a result of the completion of the entire process of accu-
mulating merits, but rather a result of the practice of the five-stepped process of
attaining enlightenment. His accumulation of merits had nothing to do with his
attainment of enlightenment structurally. In the Tattvasamgraha-tantra, an indi-
vidual existence is requested structurally to do nothing more than provide the
mouth which recites mantras, the mind which imagines symbolic figures and the
hands which bind finger-postures (mudrii ffi~). The ultimate reality had already
appeared at "the pavillion with the pinnacle of adamantine jewel" on the top of
Mt. Sumeru as the Vajradhiitu-mal)c;iala of thirty-seven deities.
The Tattvasamgraha-tantra mentions four kinds of mudriis, viz. mahiimudrii
Cffi), that is, the thirty-seven deities expressed in pictures or statues, samaya-
mudrii ( =.t:tm f'IJ ), the hand-postures expressing these deities by assuming the
emblems of each of them, dharmamudrii (~f'IJ), that is, the mantras or syllables