1048 richard k. payne
contrast these practices with those of tantric Buddhism. These seven
instances—abhiseka, homạ , feeding hungry ghosts, ritual identification,
interiorization of ritual, integral ritual technology, and extraordinary
language, to which others could be added^10 —indicate the character of
the continuities between Indian tantric Buddhism, with its roots in
Vedic ritualism, and East Asian tantric Buddhism, which interacted
with local traditions and followed its own course of development. We
turn now to a specific instance that exemplifies this continuity: con-
struction rites.
Building Rites
At the very end of the Shingon Soku Sai goma manual is a short sec-
tion entitled “Ritual for Creating the Altar.” The text explains that
When starting a new hearth, after sitting down, it is proper to perform
the following ritual prior to the universal homage.
[1] First, hoe mudrā and mantra. Vajra fist, thumbs and index fingers
extended straight.
Mantra twenty-one times: oṃ nikhana vasudhe svāhā (oṃ dig
the earth svāhā)
[2] Next: mudrā and mantra to empower the clay. Two hands in
añjali. The two ring and two index fingers are bent so that the
two phalanges of each are pressed together. The two thumbs are
extended straight and withdrawn from the index fingers so as to
form a shape like a mouth.
Mantra twenty-one times: oṃ amṛta udbhava hūṃ phaṭ svāhā
(oṃ nectar producing hūṃ phaṭ svāhā)
[3] Next: the “great thunderbolt wheel” (mahāvajra cakra) mudrā
and mantra.
[4] The class of various deities: The thirty-seven deities who are
requested to come down to the altar are each represented by a seed
syllable (bīja mantra). Note this single representation is used as a
support for practice. (The thirty-seven deities are Mahāvairocana,
Aksobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitāyus, and Amoghasiddhi, ̣
together with the thirty-two deities of the Vajradhātu Mandala.)
[5] The devas of the world: The twelve devas, together with the seven
celestial lights and the twenty-eight lunar mansions.Here in this ritual element, rarely used but still retained within pres-
ent-day standard Shingon ritual manuals, the historical continuity of
(^10) For example, skull imagery and skull magic is another instance of continuity
between Indian and East Asian tantra. See Gray 2006.