. the tji lecture hall statue mandala 981
I do not suggest specific “plans” or “models” for interpreting the Lec-
ture Hall in these discussions of several visual and spatial parallels to
practice and practitioners, but rather a loosely knit body of references
and signifiers—spatial, visual, somatic, and conceptual—that would
have informed the activities of the makers and users of the hall.
As for the dense program of statues and in a traditional space—
seemingly at odds—a comparison of the designs of the ritual practice
area in any early Abhiṣeka hall with the Lecture Hall altar reveals an
interesting similarity. The three primary groups of five statues on the
Lecture Hall altar may be seen as both locative and symbolic parallels
to the disposition of space and icon function in a ritual hall. That is,
each of the altar’s three statue groups—the fierce Myōō Bosatsu, the
comparatively benign Godai Bosatsu, and the central Five Wisdom
Buddhas—correspond, respectively, to the Diamond and Womb man-
dalas with platforms, and the central space, often used for goma rites.
(That goma remains are beneath the center of the altar deepen our
interest.) Thus, the Lecture Hall altar imitates—re-enacts—a mandala
abhiseka space. The intention of the altar, thus interpreted, is mandala ̣
activity that addresses particular levels of understanding gained by its
multiple audiences, and their expectations.
In keeping with the goals of ritual practice, and arising from the
specific metaphorical schema and visual constituents of the Shingon
mikkyō Buddhist tradition in Japan, the forms, representations, and
ideas of the esoteric worship hall and icons may each be understood
to exist as ontological equals of a dynamic nexus that includes the uni-
verse of divinities, the practitioner, ritual, and image. The Tōji Lecture
Hall participates in such a nexus, one that draws upon the representa-
tional, performative, and imaginary spaces called mandalas.