The

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

term adhiṣṭhāna (; ; ''kaji''; ''àtíttǎan'') is the name for blessings or inspiration that a Buddhist may receive from a

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in ...

guru Guru ( ; International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''guru'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian religions, Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: tr ...

. The Sanskrit term has various meanings in

Mahayana Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main ex ...

and

Vajrayana ''Vajrayāna'' (; 'vajra vehicle'), also known as Mantrayāna ('mantra vehicle'), Guhyamantrayāna ('secret mantra vehicle'), Tantrayāna ('tantra vehicle'), Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, is a Mahāyāna Buddhism, Mahāyāna Buddhis ...

Buddhism, and can also mean the raised base on which a temple stands. In

East Asian Buddhism East Asian Buddhism or East Asian Mahayana is a collective term for the schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism which developed across East Asia and which rely on the Chinese Buddhist canon. These include the various forms of Chinese, Japanese, Kore ...

, adhiṣṭhāna is one of the sources for the concept of a Buddha's " other-power", an idea which is central to

Pure Land Buddhism Pure Land Buddhism or the Pure Land School ( zh, c=淨土宗, p=Jìngtǔzōng) is a broad branch of Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhism focused on achieving rebirth in a Pure land, Pure Land. It is one of the most widely practiced traditions of East Asi ...

Nomenclature, orthography and etymology

''Adhiṣṭhāna''(''m'') is a term with multiple meanings: seat; basis; substratum; ground; support; and abode. The Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary Online holds the following semantic field for ''adhiṣṭhāna'': # ounstanding by, being at hand, approach # standing or resting upon # a basis, base # the standing-place of the warrior upon the car # a position, site, residence, abode, seat # a settlement, town, standing over # government, authority, power # a precedent, rule # a benediction (Buddhism) Francesca Fremantle gives an etymology of Sanskrit ''adhiṣṭhāna'' and Tibetan ''jinlap'': "The Sanskrit word literally means "standing over" and conveys ideas of taking possession, dwelling within, presence, protection, and sovereignty. The Tibetan literally means "an engulfing wave or flood of splendor and power." Dan Martin opines that the Chinese term for adhiṣṭhāna influenced the Tibetan:

Vajrayana

Tibetan Buddhism

Tsultrim Allione Lama Tsultrim Allione (born Joan Rousmanière Ewing in 1947) is an American author and teacher who has studied in Tibetan Buddhism's Karma Kagyu lineage. She has been recognised by two different Tibetan Buddhist lamas as an emanation (a form of re ...

points out that in

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, D ...

adhistana blessings are an important part of the

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 successfully ...

received from the

and lineage. Receiving these blessings is dependent on the student having proper motivation, aspiration and intentionality (

bodhicitta In Mahayana Buddhism, bodhicitta ("aspiration to enlightenment" or "the thought of awakening") is the mind ( citta) that is aimed at awakening (bodhi) through wisdom and compassion for the benefit of all sentient beings.Dayal, Har (1970). ''T ...

) and sufficient "devotion" (Sanskrit:

bhakti ''Bhakti'' (; Pali: ''bhatti'') is a term common in Indian religions which means attachment, fondness for, devotion to, trust, homage, worship, piety, faith, or love.See Monier-Williams, ''Sanskrit Dictionary'', 1899. In Indian religions, it ...

). These blessings may be received from the student's

during

initiation Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformatio ...

, from the

yidam A ''yidam'' or ''iṣṭadevatā'' is a meditational deity that serves as a focus for meditation and spiritual practice, said to be manifestations of Buddhahood or enlightened mind. Yidams are an integral part of Vajrayana, including Tibeta ...

during

deity yoga The fundamental practice of Vajrayana and Tibetan tantric practice, Tibetan tantra is deity yoga (''devatayoga''), a form of Buddhist meditation centered on a chosen deity or "cherished divinity" (Skt. ''Iṣṭa-devatā,'' Tib. ''yidam''). Thi ...

, or simply from being in the presence of holy objects such as a

stupa In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...

or the

śarīra Śarīra is a generic term referring to Buddhist relics, although in common usage it usually refers to pearl or crystal-like bead-shaped objects that are found among the cremation, cremated ashes of Buddhist spiritual masters. Relics of the B ...

, "relics", kept inside them. These objects are held to emanate or incite ''adhiṣṭhāna'' "blessings, grace" within the

mindstream Mindstream (Pali: ''citta-santāna'', Sanskrit: ''citta-saṃtāna;'' Ch: ''xin xiangxu'' 心相續) in Buddhist philosophy is the moment-to-moment continuum of sense impressions and mental phenomena ( citta), which is also described as continui ...

and experience of those connected to them.

Stream of blessings

In the Indo-Himalayan lineages of Vajrayana, where traditions of

Tantra Tantra (; ) is an esoteric yogic tradition that developed on the India, Indian subcontinent beginning in the middle of the 1st millennium CE, first within Shaivism and later in Buddhism. The term ''tantra'', in the Greater India, Indian tr ...

were introduced in the first wave of translations of Sanskrit texts into

Old Tibetan Old Tibetan refers to the earliest attested form of Tibetan language, reflected in documents from the adoption of writing by the Tibetan Empire in the mid-7th century to the early 9th century. In 816 CE, during the reign of Tibetan King Sadnaleg ...

from the 8th century onwards, the term chosen by the community of

lotsawa Lotsawa () is a Tibetan title used to refer to the Nyingma's ''Ancient Translation School'' of 108 Tibetan translators, which include Vairotsana, Rinchen Zangpo, Marpa Lotsawa, Tropu Lotsawa Jampa Pel and many others. They worked alongside In ...

"translators", which importantly is one of the most concerted translation efforts in documented history, chose to render adhiṣṭhāna as . This metaphorical usage of "stream, wave, thread, continuum" is reinforced in philosophy with the

doctrine and its relationship to tantric

sādhanā ''Sādhanā'' (; ; ) is an ego-transcending spiritual practice in Indian religions. It includes a variety of disciplines in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions that are followed in order to achieve various spiritual or ritual objectives. ...

, where it is used in visualizations and invocations, particularly in relation to the Three Vajras of

Padmasambhava Padmasambhava ('Born from a Lotus'), also known as Guru Rinpoche ('Precious Guru'), was a legendary tantric Buddhist Vajracharya, Vajra master from Oddiyana. who fully revealed the Vajrayana in Tibet, circa 8th – 9th centuries... He is consi ...

and depicted in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist and

Bon Bon or Bön (), also known as Yungdrung Bon (, ), is the indigenous Tibetan religion which shares many similarities and influences with Tibetan Buddhism.Samuel 2012, pp. 220–221. It initially developed in the tenth and eleventh centuries but ...

iconography such as representations of the

Adi-Buddha The Ādi-Buddha (, Ch: 本佛, Jp: honbutsu, First Buddha, Original Buddha, or Primordial Buddha) is a Mahayana Buddhist concept referring to the most fundamental, supreme, or ancient Buddha in the cosmos. Another common term for this figure is ...

and Tapihritsa. Martin Mills, in a modern political and power-relations dissection of ''jinlap'' in relation to hierarchical structures of the

Gelug file:DalaiLama0054 tiny.jpg, 240px, 14th Dalai Lama, The 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Kalachakra ceremony, Bodh Gaya, Bodhgaya (India) The Gelug (, also Geluk; 'virtuous' ...

, a Sarma (second-wave) school, holds that: An example of this sādhanā is described in ''The Prayer of Inspiration'' known as "''The Falling Rain of Blessings''" (gsol 'debs byin rlabs char 'bebs) (from the Yang Zab Nyingpo).

Shingon Buddhism

Shingon Buddhism is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asian Buddhism. It is a form of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism and is sometimes called "Tōmitsu" (東密 lit. "Esoteric uddhismof Tō-j ...

, an extant non-Himalayan school of Vajrayana, practices involving mantras, mudras, and visualisation exercises aim at achieving ''

honzon , sometimes referred to as a Gohonzon ( or ), is the enshrined main image or principal deity in Japanese Buddhism. The buddha, bodhisattva, or mandala image is located in either a temple or a household butsudan. The image can be either a statue ...

kaji'' or union with the deity. According to Shingon priest Eijun Eidson: Minoru Kiyota identifies three kinds of adhiṣṭhāna in the theory and practice of

: #

mudra A mudra (; , , "seal", "mark", or "gesture"; ) is a symbolic or ritual gesture or pose in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. While some mudras involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers. As well as being spiritual ges ...

, the finger sign #

dhāraṇī Dharanis (IAST: ), also known as (Skt.) ''vidyās'' and ''paritas'' or (Pal.) ''parittas'', are lengthier Buddhism, Buddhist mantras functioning as mnemonic codes, incantations, or recitations, and almost exclusively written originally in Sanskri ...

, secret verses #

yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

, through meditation practices. The term ''adhiṣṭhāna'' is also used to describe the transformative power of the

. According to D. T. Suzuki:

Cucumber blessing

The cucumber blessing () is an ''adhiṣṭhāna'' practised at Shingon Buddhist temples in

summer Summer or summertime is the hottest and brightest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, daylight hours are the longest and darkness hours are the shortest, with day ...

. In a cucumber blessing meeting, the

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

and believers together pray that they can pass the season of hot summer in good health like fresh

cucumber The cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the family Cucurbitaceae that bears cylindrical to spherical fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.Cucumber blessing at Shinkoin Temple, Kyoto
(in Japanese)

Kūkai , born posthumously called , was a Japanese Buddhist monk, calligrapher, and poet who founded the Vajrayana, esoteric Shingon Buddhism, Shingon school of Buddhism. He travelled to China, where he studied Tangmi (Chinese Vajrayana Buddhism) und ...

, the founder of Shingon Buddhism, is said to have initiated this practice of blessing.

References

External links

Kaji
{{TibetanBuddhism Buddhist devotion Shingon Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism Blessings