Buddhism : Critical Concepts in Religious Studies, Vol. VI

A CRITICAL TANTRISM

The Sain.vara-mar;z4ala of SJxty-two de1ties

East

Fig. 5

These qiikas or heroes ( vlra) constituting the outer circle of the SarizvaramalJ-
qala were originally pilgrims in the process of purifying themselves. Therefore,
the outer circle composed of three layers in the region which corresponds to the
outer nine layers of the mal}qala of the Vairocaniibhi-sarizbodhi-siitra (fig. 1) or
the outer circle (B) of fig. 2 which is the region of people who are on the process
of accumulating merits.
The inner circle of the mal}dala of the Vairocaniibhisarizbodhi-siitra was
adopted by the Vajradhiitu-mal}qala of the Tattvasarizgraha-tantra (see fig. 2).
The Hevajra-tantra adopted the Vajradhiitu-mal}qala replacing the five families
of the former with five yoginls. The inner circle of the Sarizvara-mal}qala is
simply the mal}qala of the Hevajra-tantra; and now we find that the outer circle
of the mal}qala of the Vairocaniibhisarizbodhi-siitra which had been rejected by
the Tattvasarizgraha-tantra was restored here as the outer circle of the Sarizvara-
malJqala (fig. 6).
In the Sarizvara-mal}qala, the inner circle is the mal}qala of the religion of
sitting meditators and the outer circle is the mal}qala of the religion of pilgrims.
The form of the Sarizvara-mal}qala apparently suggests that the two antithetical
elements of Tantric Buddhism, viz. the Mahiiyiinic ideal of difficult deeds and
the Tantric logic of the quick attainment of enlightenment were successfully