Account of a mantra practice and

discussion thereon
The below account is mainly for mantra-theorists and practitioners in the circle but certain points
might interest others who are in the know. Certain things will left unstated, which can be
understood between the lines by such sAdhaka-s. While the practice under discussion is a
nAstika one its deeper links will not be lost to Astika mantravAdin-s.
The worship of AkAshagarbha is specified in the charyA layer of the tAthAgata tantra-s. Its
practice belongs to the texts of the mahAvairochanAbhisaMbodhi tantraM family. This class of
texts was transmitted to the chIna-s by the tAntrika-s (vajrabodhi of kA~NchIpuraM and
amoghavajra) who journeyed to the Tang court to perform rituals for the emperors. From there it
was transmitted to Japan. In 717 CE, the illustrious kShatriya mantravAdin shubhakara-siMha
revealed to the chIna-s a new mantra-vidhi for AkAshagarbha that was supposed to confer the
siddhi of extraordinary hearing, memory and vision on to the sAdhaka. In 718 CE a Japanese
mantra-sAdhaka, Doji, obtained dIkSha in this vidhi directly from shubhakara-siMha (whose
portrait is preserved in Japan) and transmitted it to the island. In around 796 CE the Japanese
genius kUkai learned the vidhi from a mantravAdin and became an ubasoku (Skt: upAsaka) of
this mantra practice. He assiduously practiced this in isolation on the Pacific coast by scaling the
cliff of Mount tairyU in awa and the cape of muroto in tosa. As result he is supposed to have
attained the remarkable vision of AkAshagarbha that eventually led him to found the shingon
tradition in Japan and eventually compose an enormous tAntrika work titled himitisu mandara
jUjUshinron (Ten abiding stages of the mind according to the secret maNDala-s). Those
familiar with Japanese mantra tradition inform us that this a very well-developed paddhati for
mantra practice. Not surprisingly, this vidhi of AkAshagarbha, known to the Japanese as the
kokUzO bosatu nOman shogan saishOshin dhAraNI gumonji hO, which is a close translation
of the Chinese translation produced by shubharakara-siMha in 717, has an important place in
their tAntrika practice.
It is an arduous practice like several other related nAstika and Astika mantra practices aimed at
obtaining siddhi-s and cannot be easily performed by aspirants. An account of its performance in
1955 CE is given by the great Japanese mantravAdin, professor taikO yamasaki. Before going
into his account we shall consider the mantra of AkAshagarbha used in this practice:

The Japanese record it as:

nObO akyashakyarabaya OM Ary kyamAri bori sowaka ||
Which is a distortion of the original saMskR^ita form:
namo AkAshagarbhAya OM Arya kAmAri maulI svAhA ||
This mantra is from the paddhati of shubhakara-siMha [Footnote 1] and is not found in the
complex yantra recorded in the mahAvairochana sUtra as preserved by chIna-s (lost in bhArata).
There it is:
[namaH samantabuddhAnAM] AkAsha-samatAnugata vicitrAmbaradhara svAhA ||
An interesting point to note is that the Japanese have changed some of the original instructions to
shubhakara-siMhas vidhi in order suit their practice. This illustrates how rituals change as they
are adapted by new practitioners in different settings. In shubhakara-siMhas instruction the
sAdhaka used a sealed vial of milk symbolizing the amR^ita of mantra-siddhi. After
performance of the akAshagarbha-vidhi the milk vial was opened and the way in which the milk
had fermented was used to indicate the degree of success of the sAdhana. In Japan as milk was
not commonly known due the lactose-intolerance of the Easterners this process was omitted. The
original vidhi also specified the use of a sphaTika mAlA, but the Japanese found that to oheavy
to use and replaced it with a mAlA made from the wood of the beautiful Torreya nucifera pine.
The original Indian version of the rite was performed at a more relaxed pace with 10800
repetitions of the mantra every day for 100 days, with daily japa sessions of about 5 hours,
reaching a count of 1080000 at the end. The Japanese practice is half that with 21600 repetitions
per day in two sessions totaling to 10 hours. This practice is typically initiated by the sAdhaka at

the brahma muhUrta (~3.00 AM) while he has withdrawn into isolation.The practitioner also
limits his salt intake before the performance and during the performance does not eat after noon.
Thus, this kind of sAdhana cannot be undertaken by any one except those in best physical
condition. The ritual hall itself is open so that the sAdhaka can glimpse the stars. On the eastern
side there is a wall with an opening in the middle to see the the stars and the eastern horizon (this
is the reason we hear of kUkai performing it high in the mountains). On the wall a picture of
AkAshagarbha is hung which is covered by a white cloth except at the time of the sAdhana.
Immediately below the painting, a maNDala of AkAshagarbha, along with the rest of the
pantheon of the mahAvairochanAbhisaMbodhi texts, carved in wood, specified in the paddhati
of shubhakara siMha is kept on an wooden four-legged stool. An oil lamp is placed in front of it
which is keep burning through the rite. In Japan such meditation halls exist in a few places,
including at a temple at the original place where kUkai had performed his sAdhana.
The core of the sAdhana involves the meditation of AkAshagarbha in the disc of the planet
Venus even as it seen above the eastern horizon. The right is done such that the last day
corresponds to a solar or lunar eclipse with the number of days of sAdhana counted backwards.
The practice itself begins with a pUja of AkAshagarbha in Venus just before it rises in the East.
Then he draws two pails of water for ritual use. With water from one of the buckets he performs
Achamana with the purificatory visualization. Then he prepares the offerings and enters the ritual
arena wearing a white mask over his nose and mouth. In the hall he bows to the image of
AkAshagarbha and lifts the white screen with a special stick while seated in the svastikAsana.
Thereafter, he performs pa~nchA~Nga nyAsa while visualize being absorbed by AkAshagarbha
followed by the other deities of the maNDala. Then he utters a mantra on the water and sprinkles
it over the maNDala and the floor. Then he displays dhUpa and invokes a kavacha of the
maNDala deities. Thereafter, he meditates on his unity with AkAshagarbha as depicted in the
image and invokes the deity into the maNDala. Then he uses the ritual water specified for the
deity to wash his feet, rings the bell and makes the five-fold offerings. He worships the
tathAgata-s thereafter and performs a sarvA~Nga nyAsa and digbandha. This done he gets into
the core ritual visualizing AkAshagarbha in the rising Venus, while doing japa with his
akShamAla. He conceives a white disc on the chest of the deity in which the arNa-s of the
mantra appear. He meditates on the mantra thus flowing from the deity emitting a golden hue
and entering himself through the crown of his head, exiting via his mouth and reentering the
deity via his feet. This cycle is kept throughout the ritual. However, in the last round the he
performs the dharmadhAtu pravesha meditation in which he conceives the white disk with the
mantrArNa-s expanding to occupy the entire universe and then contracting back to the original
size. After this he concludes the ritual with the with the initial maNDala vidhi and the japa of the
mantra of mahAvairochana and the other primary deities of the maNDala. Then after stuti-s and
stotra-s he performs the digvimochana and upasthAna of the deity.
taikO yamasakis first person account of the ritual gives some important points: He mentions that
early in his sAdhana he suffered from physical pain in the legs and back that eventually gave
way to a tranquil clarity. He also experienced non-dual consciousness, and described this
experience in no different terms than the various sAdhaka-s who have been there before. He also
mentions intense hallucinatory experiences that he states could have shaken anyone with a
weaker physique or mental constitution. He mentions a vivid vision in which a mantravAdin
appeared and offered him a secret mudra, but he did not get distracted as that could have

completely ruined his sAdhana. Interestingly, he notes that shubhakarasiMha had a similar
experience while performing this sAdhana in which he was tempted with a mantra for
invisibility. This is what is implied in certain tAntrika texts which talk of siddhi-s which can
distract as also in the classical yoga tradition. At the end yamasaki attained siddhi from his
sAdhana as mentioned in the texts of his tradition.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Footnote 1: This mantra while for bauddha devatA has elements of a shaiva mantra kAmArI
and maulin being epithets of shiva. A bauddha informed me that the correct bauddha saMskR^ita
form was actually:
namo AkAshagarbhAya OM Arya kamala-maulI svAhA ||
or
namo AkAshagarbhAya OM Arya kamalI maulI svAhA ||
Where he is perceived as having a lotus garden or lotus diadem. This is consistent with taikO
yamasakis interpretation of the mantra. It is possible that the conversion of Astika-s to the
nAstika fold in bhArata led to reinterpretation of it using more familiar shaiva epithets or that
originally shaiva epithets were reinterpreted in a nAstika form. A mantra-theorist might ponder
upon how a grossly mispronounced mantra might still confer siddhi upon a prAchya sAdhaka.