The Encyclopedia of World Religions

. V ,

close, and the student believes that obedience to that mentor is essential. The guide may assign the student a particu lar figure from the mandala who represents his personal buddha-nature or ideal and transmits its secrets to him. The novice then, by reciting that figure’s mantra, making its mudra, and visualiz ing its form as portrayed in sacred art, endeavors more and more to identify with it and recognize it as his own true nature. In some cases the figure’s union with the female wisdom has been enacted by rituals of the Tantric type, but more often in Buddhist Vajrayana the union has been mental and meditative. Undoubtedly the best-known classic work of Vajrayana Buddhism is the B ARDO T HODOL (Tibetan “Book of the Dead”). A guide to the after-death journey, it vividly exemplifies key aspects of Vajray ana. On that pilgrimage, the traveler encounters the buddhas of the central Vajrayana mandala, in both peaceful and terrifying aspects, and must rec ognize in them his own true nature. He will do so if he has practiced visualization and so realizes he has, as it were, put them there by his own mind. Vajrayana ultimately depends on an idealistic or “mind-only” philosophy, which says that human beings create their own world, and their own heaven and hell, out of their minds, through their desires, fears, angers, and moments of enlighten ment; this is the final meaning of the peaceful and terrifying buddhas. Vajrayana Buddhism, especially in its Tibetan form, has become increasingly popular in the United States and other Western countries. This popularity is partly due to the influence of the

Vajrayana Buddhism Literally, the “thunderbolt or diamond vehicle,” an esoteric or partly secret school of B UDDHISM , forming the basis of Mongo lian and T IBETAN RELIGION and the Shingon school of J APANESE RELIGION , among other expressions. It arose in the sixth and seventh centuries C . E . within Indian Buddhism as the Buddhist form of T ANT RISM . Fundamentally, Vajrayana emphasizes the presence of the Buddha-nature, that is, the pure principle realized by a B UDDHA at his enlighten ment, in all beings here and now. Enlightenment for all is just a matter of recognizing that inner natural power and presence. This, according to Vajrayana, can be achieved by various ritual and experiential means, especially MANTRA , MUDRA , and visualization MEDITATION . Vajrayana recognizes a great number of “cos mic” buddhas and BODHISATTVAS beyond the “histor ical” Buddha. They represent centers of conscious ness within and beyond the individual that can be activated to help in the quest for enlightenment. These beings are usually arranged in mandalas, or significant patterns. In Vajrayana, the mascu line buddha and bodhisattva figures are often por trayed embracing a female figure, who represents wisdom. The figures can also appear in peaceful or terrifying forms, indicating different aspects of their nature; however, both are ultimately good and the contemplation of both leads to ultimate enlightenment, though by different psychological dynamics. A further characteristic of Vajrayana is the importance it places on the role of a GURU or spir itual guide, called a LAMA in Tibet. Typically the bond between a student and the guide is very

463 S