DESCRIPTION
The final session of this course focuses on the concept of adhiṣṭhāna (’empowerment’). The term adhiṣṭhāna is used in several ways throughout the history of Buddhsim. In the sūtra traditions, when those other than the Buddha, such as Subhūti, explain the Dharma it is said to be only by the ‘power of the power’ (adhiṣṭhāna), and throughout the Avataṃsaka Sūtra the bodhisattvas recite their gathas (poems) by way of empowerment. Related to this, there are also descriptions of bodhisattvas having visionary experiences of buddhas appearing before them and being ‘empowered’ through a mystical exchange of lights. These events are then ritualized and performed by practitioners in ‘empowerment ceremonies.’
Primary Reading
Chapter Eight of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra: ‘Establishing a Site of Awakening’
Suggested Reading
Oda, Ryuko. Kaji: Empowerment and Healing in Esoteric Buddhism. Kinkeizan Shinjo-in Mitsumonkai Publishing, 1992.
Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. Kalachakra Tantra Rite of Initiation for the Stage of Generation. Edited, translated and introduced by Jeffrey Hopkins. Wisdom Publications, 1991.