Encyclopedia of Buddhism Volume One A -L Robert E. Buswell

C ONSECRATION
Hattori, Masaaki, ed. and trans. Dignaga, on Perception, Being
the Pratyaksapariccheda of Dignaga’s Pramanasamuccaya
from the Sanskrit Fragments and the Tibetan Versions. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 1968.
Kritzer, Robert. Rebirth and Causation in the Yogacara Abhidharma.
Vienna: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische
Studien, Universität Wien, 1999.
Schmithausen, Lambert. A layavijñana: On the Origin and the
Early Development of a Central Concept of Yogacara Philosophy.
Tokyo: International Institute for Buddhist Studies,
1987.
CONSECRATION
NOBUYOSHI YAMABE
Consecration has been broadly defined as “an act or
ritual that invests objects, places, or people with religious
significance, often by way of power and holiness”
(Bowker, p. 234). In terms of Buddhism, consecration
has been characterized as a ritual that transmutes an
image or a STU PA from a mundane object into the nature
of a Buddha (Bentor 1997). Consecrated objects
include not only images and stupas, but representational
paintings, books, and other objects. Abhiseka,
the Sanskrit term ordinarily translated as “consecration,”
expands this signification to include KINGSHIP
(rajabhiseka) and designates the act or ritual specifically
as one of sprinkling or anointing with sacred water.
This entry deals with the ritual techniques for
sanctifying objects that figure specifically in Buddhist
devotional practice, in particular images and stupaenshrined
relics, to the exclusion of sacred places such
as monasteries and revered personages such as monks
and kings. Furthermore, even though water lustration
features prominently in consecration rituals, this essay
broadens the meaning of abhiseka beyond the act of
anointing to include various techniques and devices by
which these objects are sacralized, making them powerful
and auspicious both for what they symbolize or
represent and what they become via the act of consecration.
For example, a consecrated BUDDHA IMAGE simultaneously
both represents and is the living presence
of the Buddha, while an unconsecrated image merely
symbolizes the Blessed One.
An image of the Buddha or a Buddhist saint becomes
an icon in the sense that it partakes of the substance
of that which it represents by means of a
consecration ritual. By contrast, a bodily relic of the
Buddha (śarlradhatu) by its inherent nature partakes
of the Buddha’s very substance. Consequently, a stupa
becomes an icon when it enshrines a relic, and a relic
may be placed inside a Buddha image for the same purpose.
A bodily relic so employed serves as one of the
means by which Buddha images and stupas are consecrated.
The Chinese practice of venerating the mummified
body of an eminent monk can be seen as the
ultimate expression of such iconization, the complete
fusion of an image of a saint and relic-body.
As different signs or material artifacts of use and
association—footprint, bodhi tree, alms bowl, image,
and even book—came to signify the presence of the
absent (“parinirvanized”) Buddha, so various ritual
techniques evolved for instilling them with the presence
and power of the Buddha. Not surprisingly, the
primary signs were associated with the most important
venues of devotional practice, namely, stupa enshrined
relics and Buddha images. Throughout Buddhist Asia
from India to Japan, stupas, pagodas, and image halls
became major features of that part of the monastic complex
referred to as the “Buddha’s dwelling place” (buddhavasa),
complementing the “monk’s dwelling place”
(saṅghavasa). As these terms suggest, the monastery
served and continues to serve not only as a place where
monks pursue the paths of meditation and study but
participate in devotional practices as ritual functionaries.
One of the ritual acts performed by monks
that is central to venerating the Buddha (buddhapu ja)
includes consecrating icons.
Making the Buddha present
Not surprisingly, all consecration rituals throughout
Asia are not the same. They reflect different Buddhist
traditions as well as the particular cultures in which
they flourished. Although no one ritual fits all cases,
there are commonalities. Preeminently, Buddha images
and relics as well as other material artifacts associated
with the Buddha make the Buddha available to
a particular time and place. In doing so they serve as
the Buddha’s functional equivalent or double, especially
in ritual contexts.
The Kosalabimbavannana (The Laudatory Account
of the Kosala Image), a thirteenth-century Pali Sinhalese
text, describes how the image functions as the
Buddha’s double. Like the better known Mahayana
version of the story associated with King Udayana, the
Buddha’s absence becomes the occasion for the construction
of an image of the Blessed One. In the Pali
rendition, King Pasenadi of Kosala pays the Buddha a
visit only to find him away on a journey. When the
Buddha returns the following day, the king laments
178 E NCYCLOPEDIA OF B UDDHISM