by Donald Lopez
Each of the mendicants, with utmost devotion, received their relics and conveyed them to their locations. Before they entered their provincial borders, they had each household repeatedly cleanse the area of filth and evil. Clergy and common folk, men and women, all descended on the city to greet the relics coming from afar. Incumbent governors and their subordinates jammed the road to escort them along. The entire fourfold saṅgha decorously and solemnly came to make offerings, bringing with them jewelled parasols, banners, lotus pedestals and palanquins, Buddha tents and Buddha carriages, piles of incense, bowls of aromatic flowers and all manner of music. Each took in hand incense and flowers, which he or she lit and scattered accordingly. They circumambulated the relics and sang verse praises, the Brahma-tones of which were exceedingly melodious. According to the Āgama sūtras, when the rites were performed for escorting the relics [of the Buddha] into the city of Kuśinagara, people flocked from far and near, gathering there like billowing clouds and mist. Even among the blind, lame, old and infirm there was none who did not come crawling on hands and knees.
The mendicants [who escorted the relics] chanted the following words before the great fourfold saṅgha: ‘Endowed with boundless loving-kindness, a bodhisattva will chop his bones to pieces out of pity for [suffering] sentient beings. With this ideal in mind, the Exalted One [the emperor] has ordered that we distribute these relics so that the whole world may together lay a foundation for goodness.’ They went on to quote passages from the sūtras and use various techniques in order to admonish and instruct the crowd, bringing it to such tender sorrow that their tears fell like rain. Their hearts focused and their palms joined in adoration, the entire assembly knelt down with the right knee to the ground. The mendicants then read aloud the following litany of contrition: ‘I, the said emperor, having received the bodhisattva precepts and become a disciple of the Buddha, do reverently declare before all the buddhas, all the dharma, and all the saṅgha of saints and worthies throughout the three times and the ten directions that I serve as lord and father to the multitudes [of this realm] solely through the grace of the three jewels. Thinking to pursue bodhi [enlightenment] together with the people at large, today I wish to distribute these relics and erect pagodas for them in the different provinces. My hope is that we may all be able to cultivate good karma and together reap the marvellous fruit [of buddhahood]. On behalf of this humble disciple, the empress, the imperial princes and all descendants of the royal households, the officials of the inner and outer courts, all sentient beings throughout the hidden and manifest realms of the dharmadhātu, and all creatures who are enmeshed in the eight calamities of the three lower destinies, we now offer confession and perform ritual circumambulation. We reverently invite the eternally abiding buddhas, the most profound dharma-treasury of the twelve-fold canon, and the lordly bodhisattvas, saints and worthies to descend to this sanctuary and bear witness to the fact that your disciple confesses and repents on behalf of all living beings.’
Thereupon they performed prostrations and received the three refuges, all in accordance with proper ritual procedure. The mendicants again declared: ‘The emperor, disciple of the Buddha in the bodhisattva precepts, universally on behalf of all living beings, confesses the ten sorts of evil deed that he has committed since beginningless time, whether perpetrated by himself, urged on others, or enjoyed vicariously. Through the influence of such sins, one will fall into the realms of the hells, animals, or hungry ghosts. If reborn as a human, one’s life-span will be short and plagued with illness. One will be lowly, impoverished and twisted by depraved views, with no way to relieve oneself of the burden of affliction and deluded thinking. Having now been graced with the Tathāgata’s compassionate light, I have awakened for the first time to the nature of those myriad sins. Filled with heartfelt remorse, my dread knows no cease. Standing in the presence of the three jewels, I confess and repent. I reverently receive the Buddha’s sun of wisdom, and pray that it may eliminate them for ever. From this life up to final attainment of buddhahood, I vow never again to commit such sins as these.’
When the grand assembly heard these words, they felt exceedingly compassionate, exceedingly joyful, exceedingly remorseful and exceedingly fearful. They were etched into their hearts and engraved on their bones. Those who, in spontaneous acts of charity, gave away their wealth, clothing and personal property or who cut off their hair were too numerous to count. Daily they sponsored vegetarian feasts, held rites of veneration and repentance, and held ceremonies for receiving the precepts. They pledged forever after to cultivate good and put an end to their evils, praying in life after future life and generation after generation to always be a subject of the great Sui [Dynasty]. Regardless of whether they were young or old, Chinese or foreigner, they all made this vow. Even beggars, hunters, rogues and thieves willingly yielded to thoughts of goodness. When the relic was ready to be placed into its casement, the grand assembly circumambulated around it, choked with emotion. The mendicants lifted the jewelled pitcher on high and carried it about, displaying it to the fourfold assembly. Every person who raised his eyes to look at it closely saw it glisten with radiant light. They called out and wept in joy, the sound echoing like thunder. The heavens and earth manifested anomalies in response to it. Every place the relics were installed it was like this. Indeed, the true body [of the Buddha] has manifested, and these divine stūpas will always remain. When the world reveres and takes refuge in this field of blessing, the benefits will be inexhaustible.
On the morning when the stūpas were erected the emperor was in the courtyard of Daxing Hall at Daxing Palace. He stood facing west, jade sceptre in hand. He had images of the buddhas installed and greeted some three hundred and sixty-seven monks, who came from Daxingshan Monastery with pennants, canopies, incense, flowers, hymns and orchestral music, and took up their places in the great hall of the palace. The emperor burned incense and offered prostrations, after which he descended to the eastern gallery, where he personally led some one hundred civil and military officials in observance of a vegetarian feast. At that time, word of the event spread from the inner palace and eastern palace throughout the wards of the city. Passed onward by myriad boats and carts, aristocratic households and common populace everywhere turned to practise holy dharma.
When the assembly of monks first arrived at the palace, the emperor ordered that a tight cordon be formed to the left and right of them, so that they might be counted. From the time they entered the Xianyang Gate to their ascending the hall steps, the monks were counted some three times over. But they kept coming up with one man extra. The emperor spotted a strange-looking monk with an unusual kāsaya cloak, who kept saying to his left and right, ‘I am deeply disturbed that another has been installed [in my place], so I have departed.’ When they went to count the group again, the monk with the unusual-looking kāsaya had disappeared. This occurred right at the time when the relics were being transported. The emperor said, ‘Today the Buddha’s dharma is revived. There are sure to be divine responses.’ Soon after, memorials and reports came in from location after location, and it was just as he predicted.
Translated by Daniel Stevenson from Daoxuan’s Guang hongming ji, T 2103, vol. 52, pp. 213b25–214b20.
23
THE CONSECRATION OF A BUDDHA IMAGE
One of the most common objects of veneration in Buddhism is an image of the Buddha, whether it be in the form of a statue or a painting. Such images, however, are not considered suitable for veneration unless they have been consecrated. Ceremonies of consecration are thus among the most important, and the most commonly performed, rituals in the Buddhist world. Despite their wide variety, the rituals share a common purpose: to make the physical representation become what it represents. Thus, in consecration ceremonies in northern Thailand, monks recite the biography of the Buddha to the image of the Buddha being consecrated, focusing on his path to enlightenment, his achievement of enlightenment, and the extraordinary states of knowledge he attained. The consecrated i
mage of the Buddha thus is not a symbol of the Buddha but, effectively, is the Buddha, and there are numerous stories of images speaking to their devotees.
Consecration rituals may be simple or complex; the latter require ritual manuals that explain how the ceremony is to be performed. The passage below contains selections from a typical Tibetan manual that provides instructions for consecrating both images and stūpas. It was written by the famous scholar of the Sa skya sect of Tibetan Buddhism, Grags pa rgyal mtshan (1147–1216). It is a rich work that assumes a knowledge of tantric practice; only the major components of the ritual can be explained here.
The consecration of the image or stūpa is a process of transformation, and the person performing the consecration (usually a group of monks or lamas) must first be transformed, by each visualizing himself as a buddha (called ‘a heroic being alone’, that is, one without a consort or retinue). This is called ‘self-generation’. Next, the image to be consecrated must be purified by dispelling any negative forces that may surround it. There are various ways of accomplishing this, but it is considered to be especially effective to use a wrathful approach, in which a powerful protective deity (called here ‘the wrathful one’) is summoned to frighten away any and all obstacles, often described as demons. The wrathful one is extolled with a hymn of praise (section 2). Next the image or stūpa is bathed.
Buddhist statues and stūpas are typically depositories of relics. These may include a bone, a tooth or other remnant from the cremation of a saint; the hair, fingernail, robe or begging bowl of a famous monk, or rolls of paper printed with mantras (often wrapped around a spool). One of the most common phrases to be printed on such rolls is the famous summary of the Buddha’s teaching: ‘Of those things that have causes, the Tathāgata has shown their causes. And he has also shown their cessation. The great renunciate has so spoken.’ Regardless of what the relic is, it is generally held that in order for the statue or the stūpa to be an object of veneration, it must contain the physical remnant of the enlightened being’s body: a part of that body, something that touched that body, or words (in the physical form of writing) that emanated from that body. The next stage of the ceremony is thus the depositing of the relics (section 4). With this step completed, the consecration proper can begin.
In order for the object to be transformed from the inanimate to the animate object, from the profane to the sacred, from the mundane to the supramundane, its true nature and ultimate purity must be revealed. Thus, the persons performing the rite, each still visualizing himself as a buddha, go for refuge to the three jewels and declare their dedication to achieving buddha-hood for the sake of all beings (section 5). They then recite the mantra oṃ svabhāvaśuddhāḥ sarvadharmāḥ svabhāvaśuddho ’ham, which means, ‘Naturally pure are all phenomena, naturally pure am I’, at which point the object to be consecrated dissolves into emptiness, the ultimate nature of reality. Through a series of steps, it will now emerge out of emptiness into a material form, but in a consecrated state. If an image is being consecrated, one is to imagine a maṇḍala with buddhas, one in each of the cardinal directions and one in the centre. If one is consecrating a stūpa or temple, after it dissolves into emptiness one imagines the buddha Vairocana, who then dissolves, and the stūpa or temple reappears, but now filled with imagined buddhas and bodhisattvas. But the buddhas of the maṇḍala and the buddhas in the stūpa or temple are only imagined; the next step is to invite the real buddhas to come from their abodes and enter their imagined doubles. Thus (in section 7), the actual buddha or buddhas who are to inhabit the image are requested to come from their buddha-lands and fuse with the physical object. At the conclusion of a series of gestures that suggest both invitation and entrapment, the buddha is asked to enter the image with the words, ‘Just as when all the buddhas came from Tusita Heaven they entered the womb of Queen Māyā, so may the protector always reside here together with this image.’ When he does so, he is sealed inside. The image is then conferred initiation and given offerings. This is followed by the ceremony of the opening of the eyes; in the case of images, the eyes of the image are often painted in at this juncture. The buddha is then implored to remain in the image.
The main consecration ceremony complete, additional concluding ceremonies are performed. These are called ‘enthronement ceremonies’; the image, or stūpa, or text, having been transformed into a suitable object of veneration, now receives that veneration. If it is a statue of a monk, one pretends to shave his head with a golden razor. If it is a statue of a buddha or bodhisattva, one pretends to comb his hair. Coloured strings are tied to the object and extended into the hands of those performing the ceremony, serving as a conduit of blessing. The ceremony concludes with mantras, music and song.
1. Self-generation: When you complete the maṇḍala, turn yourself into the I-principle of a heroic being alone: this is called self-generation…. The short sādhana [meditation rite] of Vajrasattva is appropriate here.
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2. Purification: The purification of an image or stūpa consists of peaceful purification, half-peaceful half-wrathful purification and wrathful purification. For the wrathful purification fumigate with fragrant gum resin, strike [the obstructions] with white mustard seeds, and threaten them with other weapons. Invite the immeasurably wrathful ones with the following words:
hūṃ You are enlightened wisdom, a light blazing like the fire [at the end] of the aeon, consuming all the dark realms of ignorance and desire; you have overcome all hatred and fears of the lord of death. Great Hero, wearing a tiger skin, a mark of a hero, subduer of the enemy, oppressor of the rakṣasas who lead astray, the king of knowledge, the wrathful one, may you remain here. You are invited for the sake of subduing those who lead astray. May you come for the sake of sentient beings and [partake of] these offerings.
By reciting the following praise, interwoven with mantras, the obstructions will be expelled.
hūṃ Prostrations to the assemblage of blazing great wrathful ones who, not abandoning the worldly way of action, by skilful means appear from the continuous state of non-duality, the emptiness of phenomena, as the body of the frightening one. Prostrations to you who, without wavering from the peaceful, continuous state of enlightened wisdom, possessing voracious, fearsome outlook and costumes, roaring voices which resound like a thousand thunders, bring under control everything without remainder. Prostrations to you who demonstrate the drama of the supreme, enlightened wisdom, who carry various threatening weapons in your hands, who are adorned with poisonous snakes, who totally overcome the great, poisonous, afflicting emotions. Prostrations to you who reside amidst a fire like the conflagration [at the end] of an aeon, in the hero posture with one leg stretched and the other drawn back, staring with wide-open eyes blazing like the sun and the moon, burning a host of obstructions. Prostrations to you, the wrath king who subdues a host of obstructions, whose great ferocity blazes as brightly as the fire at the end of times, whose scowls of wrathfulness seem to emit a thousand lightnings, whose fangs are bare, whose furious voice roars as the sound of a thousand thunders. hūṃ Prostrations to you who call out the frightening sound of hūṃ, who overcomes all obstructions without remainder, the deity who bestows all accomplishments, the enemy of the obstructions. Praise to you.
3. Bathing: [The offerings conclude with the recitation of the following verse from Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra (2.11)]:
To the tathāgatas and their offspring I offer a bath with many precious vases filled with fragrant water, pleasing and excellent, to the accompaniment of plentiful songs and instrumental music.
4. Depositing relics: In general, there are four types of relics: (a) bodily relics, (b) bodily relics the size of mustard seeds, (c) hairs and nails, called relics of the garb, (d) dhāraṇīs [long mantras] called relics of the dharmakāya…. Deposit these relics inside the image or stūpa.
5. Announcing the consecration:
Having prostrated to all the buddhas, the blessed ones, who are endowed with in
numerable and inconceivable great marvels, I go for refuge. May all of them consider me. For the sake of all sentient beings, I shall consecrate a receptacle of the three precious ones. By the power of that, I shall relieve all sentient beings. I shall liberate [them] from the great abyss of cyclic existence. I shall defeat all the opposing and misleading forces. I shall clear all turmoils of afflicting emotions bound by the dispositions of sentient beings. I shall break down the mountain of pride of sentient beings. I shall uproot the tree of rebirth of sentient beings. I shall smash into dust the sun of the lord of death. I shall clear the darkness of ignorance. I shall guide the faithless, antagonists and those holding wrong views into the right views and transform them into believers. I shall reverse the river of karma. I shall dry the ocean of existence. I shall light the lamp of dharma. I shall show the path to enlightenment. I shall lead to patience and calm. I shall strive to the top for the bliss of meditative concentration. I shall extinguish the host of fires of desire. I shall demolish the sharp weapon of hatred. I shall guide to truth. I shall calm the whirling of jealousy. I shall untie the knot of avarice. I shall appease all suffering. I shall enter the city of great bliss and fearlessness and abide there. Therefore, may you bestow and grant me supreme accomplishments of activity, and, at the same time, may you bestow as well on the entire assemblage.