![From Abhisheka To Panchamrutha](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/From_Abhisheka_To_Panchamrutha.jpg)
Abhisheka () means "bathing of the divinity to whom worship is offered." It is a religious
rite Rite may refer to:
* Ritual, an established ceremonious act
* Rite of passage, a ceremonious act associated with social transition
Religion
* Rite (Christianity), a sacred ritual or liturgical tradition in various Christian denominations
* Cath ...
or method of prayer in which a devotee pours a liquid offering on an image or
murti
In the Hindu tradition, a ''murti'' ( sa, मूर्ति, mūrti, ) is a devotional image such as a statue, or "idol" (a common and non-pejorative term in Indian English), of a deity or saint. In Hindu temples, it is a symbolic icon. Thus ...
of a God or Goddess. Abhisheka is common to
Indian religions
Indian religions, sometimes also termed Dharmic religions or Indic religions, are the religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent. These religions, which include Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism,Adams, C. J."Classification of ...
such as
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
,
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
and
Jainism
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current ...
.
Hinduism
An abhiṣeka is conducted by priests by bathing the image of the deity being worshipped, amidst the chanting of
mantra
A mantra (Pali: ''manta'') or mantram (मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit, Pali and other languages believed by practitioners to have religious, ma ...
s. Usually, offerings such as
milk
Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. Immune factors and immune ...
,
yogurt
Yogurt (; , from tr, yoğurt, also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial Fermentation (food), fermentation of milk. The bacteria used to make yogurt are known as ''yogurt cultures''. Fermentation of sugars in t ...
,
ghee
Ghee is a type of clarified butter, originating from India. It is commonly used in India for cooking, as a traditional medicine, and for religious rituals.
Description
Ghee is typically prepared by simmering butter, which is churned from c ...
, honey,
panchamrita
Panchamrita (, lit. ''five s'') is a mixture of five foods used in Hindu as well as Jain worship and puja and Abhiṣeka It is often used as an offering during pooja post which it is distributed as prasad.
There are regional variations in t ...
,
sesame oil
Sesame oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from sesame seeds. The oil is one of the earliest-known crop-based oils. Worldwide mass modern production is limited due to the inefficient manual harvesting process required to extract the oil. O ...
,
rose water
Rose water ( fa, گلاب) is a flavoured water made by steeping rose petals in water. It is the hydrosol portion of the distillate of rose petals, a by-product of the production of rose oil
Rose oil (rose otto, attar of rose, attar of rose ...
,
sandalwood
Sandalwood is a class of woods from trees in the genus ''Santalum''. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades. Sandalwood oil is extracted from the woods for us ...
paste may be poured among other offerings depending on the type of abhishekam being performed. This rite is routinely performed in
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
temples. A ''
Rudrābhiṣeka'' or abhiṣeka of
Rudra
Rudra (; sa, रुद्र) is a Rigvedic deity associated with Shiva, the wind or storms, Vayu, medicine, and the hunt. One translation of the name is 'the roarer'. In the Rigveda, Rudra is praised as the 'mightiest of the mighty'. Rud ...
is performed on
lingam
A lingam ( sa, लिङ्ग , lit. "sign, symbol or mark"), sometimes referred to as linga or Shiva linga, is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu god Shiva in Shaivism. It is typically the primary ''murti'' or devotional im ...
s. A
Kumbhabhishekam
''Kumbhabhishekam'', also known as ''Samprokshanam'' is a Hindu temple ritual that is believed to homogenize, synergize and unite the mystic powers of the deity. It is part of the consecration ceremony of Hindu temples. ''Kumbha'' means the Hea ...
is a consecration ritual for a Hindu temple.
Buddhism
Vajrayana Buddhism
![Name List of Abhiseka](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Name_List_of_Abhiseka.jpg)
In
Vajrayana Buddhism
Vajrayāna ( sa, वज्रयान, "thunderbolt vehicle", "diamond vehicle", or "indestructible vehicle"), along with Mantrayāna, Guhyamantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, are names referring t ...
or
Mantrayana Buddhism, one enters into the path of Vajrayana Buddhism by receiving the four stages of tantric
empowerment
Empowerment is the degree of autonomy and self-determination in people and in communities. This enables them to represent their interests in a responsible and self-determined way, acting on their own authority. It is the process of becoming strong ...
s, or abhisheka: the vase abhisheka, secret abhisheka, prajnajnana abhisheka, and word abhisheka.
In Vajrayana Buddhism, an abhiṣeka can be a method for performing
pointing-out instruction
The pointing-out instruction () is an introduction to the nature of mind in the Tibetan Buddhist lineages of Mahāmudrā and Dzogchen. In these traditions, a lama gives the pointing-out instruction in such a way that the disciple successful ...
s, a way to offer blessings of a lineage to participants, or it can be an
empowerment
Empowerment is the degree of autonomy and self-determination in people and in communities. This enables them to represent their interests in a responsible and self-determined way, acting on their own authority. It is the process of becoming strong ...
to begin a particular meditation practice.
This
empowerment
Empowerment is the degree of autonomy and self-determination in people and in communities. This enables them to represent their interests in a responsible and self-determined way, acting on their own authority. It is the process of becoming strong ...
ritual is present in
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...
as well as in
Chinese Esoteric Buddhism
Chinese Esoteric Buddhism refers to traditions of Tantra and Esoteric Buddhism
Vajrayāna ( sa, वज्रयान, "thunderbolt vehicle", "diamond vehicle", or "indestructible vehicle"), along with Mantrayāna, Guhyamantrayāna, Tantrayā ...
and in
Shingon Buddhism
Shingon monks at Mount Koya
is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks such as Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra.
K ...
.
The abhiṣeka was originally used as a consecration rite. Water from the
four oceans was poured out of golden jars onto the head of royalty. It was used during a monarch's
accession ceremony and also his
investiture
Investiture (from the Latin preposition ''in'' and verb ''vestire'', "dress" from ''vestis'' "robe") is a formal installation or ceremony that a person undergoes, often related to membership in Christian religious institutes as well as Christian k ...
ceremony.
Tantric Buddhism
The abhiseka rite (wangkur) is a prelude for initiation into mystical teaching. There are four classes of abhiseka, each being associated with one of the four
Tantra
Tantra (; sa, तन्त्र, lit=loom, weave, warp) are the esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism that developed on the Indian subcontinent from the middle of the 1st millennium CE onwards. The term ''tantra'', in the Indian ...
s. They are ''master consecration'', ''secret consecration'', ''knowledge of prajna'', and ''the fourth consecration''.
[
]
Shingon Buddhism
The in Shingon Buddhism
Shingon monks at Mount Koya
is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks such as Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra.
K ...
is the initiation rite used to confirm that a student of esoteric Buddhism has now graduated to a higher level of practice. The kanji
are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...
used literally mean "pouring from the peak", which poetically describes the process of passing on the master's teachings to the student. The rite was popular in China during the Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
, and Kūkai
Kūkai (; 27 July 774 – 22 April 835Kūkai was born in 774, the 5th year of the Hōki era; his exact date of birth was designated as the fifteenth day of the sixth month of the Japanese lunar calendar, some 400 years later, by the Shingon sec ...
, founder of Shingon, studied there extensively before introducing this rite to the Japanese Buddhist establishment of the time. A separate initiation rite exists for the general public called the , and symbolizes their initiation into esoteric Buddhism. This rite is generally only offered at Mount Kōya
is a large temple settlement in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan to the south of Osaka. In the strictest sense, ''Mount Kōya'' is the mountain name ( sangō) of Kongōbu-ji Temple, the ecclesiastical headquarters of the Kōyasan sect of Shingon Budd ...
in Wakayama Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 944,320 () and has a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture ...
in Japan, but it can be offered under qualified masters and under proper auspices outside Japan, albeit very rarely.
The Shingon rite utilizes one of the two Mandala of the Two Realms
The Mandala of the Two Realms (Traditional Chinese: 両界曼荼羅; Pinyin: ''Liǎngjiè màntúluó''; Romanji: ''Ryōkai mandara''), also known as the Mandala of the Two Divisions (Traditional Chinese: 両部曼荼羅; Pinyin: ''Liǎngbù màn ...
, depending on the occasion. In esoteric ritual, after the student receives the samaya
The samaya (, Japanese and , J: ''sanmaya-kai'', C: ''Sān mè yē jiè''), is a set of vows or precepts given to initiates of an esoteric Vajrayana Buddhist order as part of the abhiṣeka (empowerment or initiation) ceremony that creates a bon ...
precepts, the teacher of the esoteric Buddhism assumes the role of the teacher, usually Mahavairocana Buddha, while the master and student repeat specific mantras in a form of dialogue taken from esoteric Buddhist sutras. The student, who is blindfolded, then throws a flower upon the Mandala that is constructed, and where it lands (i.e. which deity) helps dictate where the student should focus his devotion on the esoteric path. From there, the student's blindfold is removed and a vajra
The Vajra () is a legendary and ritual weapon, symbolising the properties of a diamond (indestructibility) and a thunderbolt (irresistible force).
The vajra is a type of club with a ribbed spherical head. The ribs may meet in a ball-shape ...
is placed in hand.
Jainism
''Abhisheka'' in Jainism means the ritual of consecration of the image of Jina.
Cultural examples
*In the ''Mahavairocana Sutra
Vairocana (also Mahāvairocana, sa, वैरोचन) is a cosmic buddha from Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. Vairocana is often interpreted, in texts like the '' Avatamsaka Sutra'', as the dharmakāya of the historical Gautama Buddha. In E ...
'', Mahavairocana Buddha reveals the Mandala of the Womb Realm
In Vajrayana Buddhism, the Womb Realm ( sa, garbhakoṣadhātu, Traditional Chinese: 胎蔵界; Pinyin: ''Tāizāngjiè''; Romanji: ''taizōkai'') is the metaphysical space inhabited by the Five Compassion Buddhas. The Womb Realm is based on the ...
to Vajrasattva
Vajrasattva ( sa, वज्रसत्त्व, Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་སེམས་དཔའ། ''Dorje Sempa'', short form is རྡོར་སེམས། ''Dorsem'', Монгол: Доржсэмбэ) is a bodhisattva in the Maha ...
and teaches the rites that relate to the Womb Mandala which are known as, and an example of, ''abhiṣeka''.
*In Hinduism, the god Rama
Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...
performed abhiṣheka after installing a jyotirlinga in Rameswaram
Rameswaram (; also transliterated as Ramesvaram, Rameshwaram) is a municipality in the Ramanathapuram district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is on Pamban Island separated from mainland India by the Pamban channel and is about 40 kil ...
which is now the Ramanathaswamy Temple
Ramanathaswamy Temple (''Rāmanātasvāmi Kōyil'') is a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Shiva located on Rameswaram island in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is also one of the twelve Jyotirlinga temples. It is one of the 275 Paadal Pe ...
.
See also
* Awgatha
An ''Awgatha'' (ဩကာသ; from Pali: ''okāsa''), sometimes known as the ''common Buddhist prayer'' is a formulaic Burmese Buddhist prayer that is recited to initiate acts of Buddhist devotion, including obeisance to the Buddha and Buddhist mon ...
* Buddhābhiṣeka
Buddhābhiseka ( pi, buddhābhiseka; sa, buddhābhiṣeka) refers to a broad range of Buddhist rituals used to consecrate images of the Buddha and other Buddhist figures, such as bodhisattvas.
Terms
Buddhābhiseka is known a number of different ...
* Puja (Buddhism)
Devotion, a central practice in Buddhism, refers to commitment to religious observances or to an object or person, and may be translated with Sanskrit or Pāli terms like ''saddhā'', ''gārava'' or ''pūjā''. Central to Buddhist devotion is th ...
* Puja (Hinduism)
''Puja'' ( sa, पूजा, pūjā, translit-std=IAST) is a worship ritual performed by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains to offer devotional homage and prayer to one or more deities, to host and honor a guest, or to spiritually celebrate an event. ...
* Puja (Jainism)
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...
* Rājyābhiṣeka
The rājyābhiṣeka is a late Vedic ceremony of coronation. It also refers to anointing government officials, particularly heads of state, at the time of taking power or to mark a signal achievement.
See also
*Abhiṣeka
*Rajasuya
* Coronation of ...
* Abhi
Abhi (Devanagari अभि) is a preposition in Sanskrit, also found in Pali, Bengali, Assamese and Hindi. Today, it remains a productive element in forming names.
Origin
The first reference to the word "Abhi" is found in the ancient Hindu sacre ...
(Sanskrit preposition, and element of the word "Abhisheka")
References
Citations
Sources
*
Further reading
*
*
*Abe, Ryuichi (1999). "The Weaving of Mantra: Kukai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse". Columbia University Press.
*Ferm, Virgilius (1945). ''An Encyclopedia of Religion''. New York: Philosophical Library, 1945.
*Hakeda, Yoshito S. (1972). ''Kūkai and His Major Works''. Columbia University Press.
*Hayward, Jeremy (2008) ''Warrior-King of Shambhala: Remembering Chögyam Trungpa''. Boston: Wisdom.
{{Authority control
Buddhist rituals
Puja (Hinduism)
Jain practices
Sanskrit words and phrases