Buddhism : Critical Concepts in Religious Studies, Vol. VI

A CRITICAL TANTRISM

grounds. Thus, the methodical completion of the idea of quick attainment of
enlightenment in the Tattvasmitgraha-tantra resulted in 'religious vacuity'. This
'vacuity' caused strong anxiety, and this anxiety in tum drove them to another
extreme; the extreme Numinose ofthe heretical cult of cemetery (smm:ana). This
provided a psychological strain through the hideous, sanguinary and horrible
cults of a cemetery filled with a putrid smell, as well as the strong physiological
stimuli of the sexual yogic practice experienced in the group of bewitching
yogin"is. Thus they established the religion of the Hevajra-tantra, the character-
istics of which were fully indicated in the above quotation.
In this quotation, the five families comprising the Vajradhatu-maf}(iala have
been replaced with the group of five mudras or yogin"is (fig. 4).
Now, "the adamantine sphere" appears not in the lofty, imaginary region of
the Akanistha heaven but on earth as a group of yogin"is with which one can
unite oneself actually through sexual yogic practice. The one and only God
Hevajra who is sexually united with the group of five yogin"is is nothing other
than the dharmakaya (fi*-:!lt, the body ofthe ultimate reality) ofVairocana who is
himself the aggregate of the five families of the Vajradhatu-maf}(iala as well as
the one and only being subsuming the whole maf}(iala. A buddha in the
dharmakaya form, constituting both the whole of the maf}(iala and the centre of
the maf}(iala, as was referred to in the Vairocanabhisambodhi-siitra and the
Tattvasamgraha-tantra in idea only, actually appeared on the earth as the
demonic God Heruka, alias Hevajra.
The group of yogin"is has decisive reality. It is nothing other than the female
principle prajiia and in this quotation it is regarded as tathata (!li:~ll). It is a new,
real matrix in which enlightenment is realized certainly on psychological and
physiological grounds. Therefore, as is indicated by the axiom 'prajiia plus
upaya is bodhicitta' (seep. 180), the God Hevajra, who is by himself the male
principle upaya, is realized as the ultimate reality bodhicitta as long as his is
united with these yogin "is. A practicer who regards himself as Hevajra, visiting a
group of these yoginls in a place of cemetery and practising sexual yoga with
them, attains enlightenment on the spot.

Fig. 4

The Vajradhatu~mandala

compoHd of five h~-ilies

of

the TathasaWagraha-tanlra

8

Group of yoginls (yoginf-cakra)

of

the Hevajra-lanlra