of "Vajra" so dear to Tāntrik Buddhists, while the unreformed sects consider him to be Samantabhadra, that is, the celestial son of Vairocana. And the Ādi-Buddha is not considered wholly inactive or impassive, for he is frequently addressed in prayers and hymns.
Ṣākya Muni is the fourth of the Mānushi or human Buddhas of this age, and his Dhyāni Buddha is Amitābha, and his corresponding celestial Bodhisat is Avalokiteṣvara, the patron-god of Lamaism, who is held to be incarnate in the Grand Lāma.
The extreme development of the Tāntrik phase was reached with the Kāla-cakra, which, although unworthy of being considered a philosophy, must be referred to here as a doctrinal basis. It is merely a coarse Tāntrik development of the Ādi-Buddha theory combined with the puerile mysticisms of the Mantra- yāna, and it attempts to explain creation and the secret powers of nature, by the union of the terrible Kāli, not only with the Dhyāni Buddhas, but even with Ādi-Buddha himself. In this way Ādi-Buddha, by meditation, evolves a procreative energy by which the awful Samvharā and other dreadful Dākkini-fiendesses, all of the Kāli-type, obtain spouses as fearful as themselves, yet spouses who are regarded as reflexes of Ādi-Buddha and the Dhyāni Buddhas. And these demoniacal "Buddhas," under the names of Kāla-cakra, Heruka, Achala, Vajra- vairabha,[1] etc., are credited with powers not inferior to those of the celestial Buddhas themselves, and withal, ferocious and bloodthirsty; and only to be conciliated by constant worship of themselves and their female energies, with offerings and sacrifices, magic-circles, special mantra-charms, etc.
These hideous creations of Tāntrism were eagerly accepted by the Lāmas in the tenth century, and since then have formed a most essential part of Lāmaism; and their terrible images fill the country and figure prominently in the sectarian divisions.
Afterwards was added the fiction of re-incarnate Lāmas to ensure the political stability of the hierarchy.
Yet, while such silly and debased beliefs, common to the Lāmas of all sects, determine the character of the Tibetan form of the doctrine, the superior Lāmas, on the other hand, retain much of the higher philosophy of the purer Buddhism.
- ↑ Compare with the Pancha Rakshā, and see chapter on pantheon, pp. 353 and 363.
