TANTRIC BUDDHISM (INCLUDING CHINA AND JAPAN)In the Tattvasarhgraha-tantra, the enlightenment should be possible for
anyone, regardless of their personal qualifications or abilities, if only they enter
into the maf)gala. In the Hevajra-tantra, it has become possible for one to enter
into the maQ{iala actually. Thus, a concrete method to realize the ideal of the
quick attainment of enlightenment declared in the Tattvasarhgraha-tantra was
presented in the Hevajra-tantra.ii. The fourth consecration: the critical turn of the Hevajra-tantra
In the Hevajra-tantra, which synthesized the Tantric logic of yoga declared in the
Tattvasarhgraha-tantra and the cult of cemetery, Tantrism developed to its apex.
Though it was a clever device of the author of the Hevajra-tantra to identify the
group of yoginls with the Vajradhatu-maQ{iala, the matrix of enlightenment,
when, following the Mahayanic tendency within himself, he regarded each of the
five yogin Is or mudras as completely identical with the corresponding families of
the Vajradhatu-maQ{iala, he betrayed, if not consciously, the Tantric logic of
symbolism. When we say, according to the Tantric way ofthinking, "if a symbol
A symbolizes B, A is identical with B" or "when A represents a group B, A is
identical with the whole B", it is tacitly understood that A and B are objectively
different. Therefore, when the author of the Hevajra-tantra attempted to symbol-
ize the Vajradhatu of five families by a group of yoginls or mudras, he should
have been contented with the fact that a yogin! or a mudra and a family of the
Vajradhatu are different from one another and that the former is only a symbol or
a representative of the latter. For example, in the first pada of the verse 5 of the
above quotation, viz. "vajrarh l)ombl bhaven", :Oombl should have remained dif-
ferent from the Vajra-family of the Vajradhatu serving merely as a representative
of or a substitute for the latter as was indicated by Snellgrove's reconstruction
"Vajre l)ombl bhaven". The author of the Hevajra-tantra, however, went beyond
himself and regarded :Oombl one and the same with the Vajra-family. When he
did, though perhaps not consciously, he no longer placed entire confidence in the
Tantric logic of symbolism. He removed the distinction between :Oombl and the
Vajra-family so as to emphasize their essential identity, and through this unneces-
sary identification he made the relation between the symbol and the symbolized
something metaphorical or conventional. It could be assumed that this identifica-
tion of mudras and the families of the Vajradhatu was an accidental slip of the
pen. However, the same tendency of taking the efficacy of symbolism only as
metaphorical or conventional can be found in the system of consecration peculiar
to the Hevajra-tantra; that is, the fourth consecration. Consecration is the most
essential cult for a Tantrist.
In the Hevajra-tantra, the system of consecration is composed of following
four kinds of consecrations:
1 acarya-abhi~·eka (j\p]IVJ~ffl]J'{, consecration to become a master)
2 guhya-abhi!feha (~M~it]J'{, the secret consecration)