Buddhist tantric practitioners embrace the liminal status of the human body to manifest divine identity. In piercing to the pith of human embodiment, the tantric practitioner reconfigures the shape and contours of his/her reality. This article investigates the evolution of one particular technique for piercing to the pith of the body on Tibetan soil, a ritual practice known as body mandala [lus dkyil Skt. deha-man. d. ala]. In particular, it uncovers a significant shift of emphasis in the application of the Guhyasamaja body mandala practice initiated by champions of the emerging Gandenpa [Dga' ldan pa] or Gelukpa [Dge lugs pa] tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, Tsongkhapa (1357-1419) and Mkhas grub rje (1385-1438). This article reveals some of the radical implications of ritual exegesis, ranging from the socioreligious aspects of securing prestige for a tradition to the ultimate soteriological goals of modifying the boundaries between life and death and ordinary and enlightened embodiment.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/626108 |
| Date | 18 September 2017 |
| Creators | Dachille, Rae |
| Contributors | Univ Arizona, Coll Humanities, Dept Religious Studies & Class & East Asian Studi |
| Publisher | MDPI AG |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article |
| Rights | © 2017 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. |
| Relation | http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/8/9/189 |
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