Vajrayogini: Her Visualization, Rituals, and Forms (Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism) by English Elizabeth

Author:English, Elizabeth [English, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wisdom Publications
Published: 2013-02-07T16:00:00+00:00

A hint in our texts suggests that our Cakrasaṃvara-based bali rituals may be appropriating the tasting of nectar rite, and thus joining two independent rites together. In the Cakrasaṃvarabalividhi, the rite of tasting nectar requires the yogin to generate an imaginary bowl in which he will visualize various substances transforming into the nectarized offering. Because the independent bali ritual also requires a bowl for the food offerings, the text then prescribes the generation of a second—but now strictly unnecessary—offering bowl (also GSS16 cited n. 490: dvitīyaṃ balibhājanam ). Śāśvatavajra perhaps attempts to accommodate this problem with a remark that justifies the “transferral” of the nectar from the first bowl into the bowl generated for the bali (balisvīkārārtham) . If the bali ritual has appropriated the rite of tasting nectar, the reasons for it are clear. The relationship between the two rites is close, and the tasting of nectar is itself a type of bali offering. It is particularly well suited to the bali offerings in the Cakrasaṃvara tradition, in that it describes an imaginary food offering resulting in great bliss, to be offered within the context of internalized meditative performance. Moreover, it describes a handy means of purifying offerings that in our tradition are composed of transgressive substances, and of transforming them into nectar fit for the gods.

vv. 59–60

The first step in the rite of tasting nectar is the preparation of a hearth, whereon the food offerings may be cooked, purified, and turned into nectar. First, raging flames are generated from the combination of wind and fire, represented by their elemental symbols and the syllables yaṃ and raṃ (v. 59). Above this, a hearth (cullikā; v. 60b) is then fashioned from three heads arranged like the base of a tripod; these are produced (in our tradition) from the syllable kaṃ. 491 On top rests a skull bowl generated from āḥ, as the cauldron. 492 (See fig. 34.)

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