TANTRIC BUDDHISM (INCLUDING CHINA AND JAPAN)He should drink urine as he likes
placing his mouth on the Bhaga, and
placing it on the anal lotus, he
should eat feces as he likes.
There should not be even a slight
disgust, otherwise Success [siddhi] would
be ruined. This diet is the best,
eaten by all Buddhas. [ 4. I 00]Other portions of text refer to the taking in of other substances so that all five of
our middle terms are used in contexts that seem to be "twilight language." We
note that there is more than the parallel to establish these words as saf{ldhii. In
addition, the mention of siddhi or "success" in yoga establishes the necessary
yogic context. And since the Tantra at this point is most likely explaining what
follows upon the "Insight Initiation," this yoga is established within the Steps of
Completion which contain that rite.^37 We are not obliged, however, to take the
Tantra's mention elsewhere of being "soiled with stools and urine" as saf{ldhii-
bhii$ii, since the context of these words refers only to punishment for violating a
certain vow (1. 30). Also, we can observe here a striking feature of saf{ldhii-
bhii$ii, namely, that its actual ambiguity of meaning is carried by words which
of themselves seem anything but ambiguous; above, the meaning seems much
too clear! But if all of this establishes the problematic likelihood that both sides
of the equations in the Hevajra list are "twilight," the Cal)gamaharo~ana crowns
the problem with this statement:^38
In front of him, looking him in
the face, she should pinch him
on the chest. She should speak
to him in this way: "Eat my
Vairocana!Drink the water of Ak~obhya!" [6. 50]This reads like saf{ldhii-bhii$ii, and the context is stated explicitly to be the Steps
of Completion. Yet it is the expansion material that we have analyzed as a kind
of commentary which is being used as saf{ldhii words, and it is now the com-
mentarialliterature-according to the translator's notes-which "explains" that
we have to do here with faces and urine! Thus, we have seen all three terms of
the equation "musk" = "urine" = Alcyobhya open to use in "twilight language."
Additional problems arise from examination of the context of the saf{ldhii list
of words in the Hevajra and from a look at related materials provided by Snell-
grove in notes and appendix. Since we are examining closely, we pause here in
the analysis to give our translation of Hevajra Tantra 2. 3. 53-67 based upon the
Sanskrit and Tibetan of Snellgrove's edition and a translation from the Tibetan