Empowerment

The tradition & historical record

In Vajrayāna Buddhism, an empowerment or consecration (Sanskrit: abhiṣeka, lit. ablution; sprinkling) is an esoteric initiation or transmission of secret teachings performed by a tantric guru (vajracharya) to a student in a ritual space containing the mandala of a Buddhist deity. The initiation is traditionally seen as transmitting a certain spiritual power (Sanskrit: adhiṣṭhāna, Tibetan: jinlap, sometimes translated as "blessings") which allows the tantric yogi to reach enlightenment swiftly or to attain other yogic accomplishments. Many tantric practices are commonly said to be secret, and are only to be revealed after ritual initiation. Other tantric practices may be openly known, but are only considered to be effective after being initiated into the proper mandala which corresponds to a specific practice. The secrecy of teachings was often protected through the use of allusive, indirect, symbolic and metaphorical language (twilight language) which required interpretation and guidance from a teacher. The teachings may also be considered "self-secret", meaning that even if they were to be told directly to a person, that person would not necessarily understand the teachings without proper context or initiation. In this way, the teachings are "secret" to the minds of those who are not following the path with more than a simple sense of curiosity. ¹

Traditionally, there are three requirements before a student may begin a tantric practice: ¹

The ritual empowerment (Tib. wang) A reading of the text by an authorized holder of the practice (Tib. lung) The oral instruction on how to perform the practice (Tib. thri) ¹

To practice tantric yoga, it is considered necessary to receive a tantric empowerment (Skt. abhiṣeka; Tib. wang) from a qualified tantric master (Vajracarya, "vajra master"). The Sanskrit term abhiṣeka refers to ritual bathing or anointing. Mipham states that empowerment produces the view of mantra in one's being and that this is the basis for the practice of Vajrayana. According to Mipham, ¹

empowerment is the indispensable initial entry point for the practice of mantra. The reason for this is that the profound empowerment ritual produces a sudden manifestation of the ground maṇḍala that dwells primordially within oneself. This refers to the indivisible truths of purity and equality, which are very difficult to realize. Kongtrül defines empowerment as "what makes the [student's] mind fully ripened by planting the special seeds of the resultant four dimensions of awakening in the aggregates, elements, and sense fields of the recipient." It is also associated with the conferral of authority, in this case, someone is authorized to cultivate the tantric path. Empowerment includes introducing the student to a specific mandala (which may be made from flowers, colored powders, grains, paint and a mental mandala). One is not allowed to practice tantra without having received the particular empowerment. Some simpler mantra methods, such as reciting the mani mantra, are open to all however. In Unsurpassed Yoga Tantra, the ritual procedure generally includes four "wangs" (though it may include more, depending on the system): ¹

The Vase (bumpa) empowerment, which is for purification. ¹

the "reading transmission" of sutrayana texts, in which the entirety of the text is read aloud from teacher to student. a similar Vajrayana empowerment that involves the transference of spiritual power from master to augment or refine that of the disciple through the recitation of scripture or song. This oral transmission defines Vajrayana and Ngagpa traditions and provides them with their nomenclature. ¹

Trhi is the oral instruction and explanations on how to meditate or practice. ¹

In Dzogchen tradition, direct introduction is called the "Empowerment of Awareness" (Wylie: rig pa'i rtsal dbang, pronounced "rigpay sall wahng"), a technical term employed within the Dzogchen lineages for a particular lineage of empowerment propagated by Jigme Lingpa. This empowerment consists of the direct introduction of the student to the intrinsic nature of their own mind-essence, rigpa, by their empowering master. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Abhiṣeka (Buddhism)”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Empowerment is ritual in Vajrayana Buddhism, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 1 external register, which can be verified through the citation. ²