The Cult of Tara

72 MAGIC AND RITUAL IN TIBET
minute." This is just a simple visualization, however, compared with
those called for in most rituals, which give the process called "deep
contemplation of the subtle," here referring to the subtle deities
that must be pictured in the various places of one's body, "filling
one's whole body with the mandala" to "empower the senses" of the
divinity one has become. One of the most detailed of these visualizations—actually
rather a contemplative tour de force—is found
in a ritual of Guhyasamaja performed at the Tantric College at
Trashilhunpo. 101
First the body is visualized as literally a divine
mansion, the mandala in which the practitioner (now in divine form)
will array the subtle deities:
Before and behind my body, to the right and left, are the four
sides of the mandala; my mouth and nose, anus and penis, are
the four gates; the five-colored winds of my five knowledges—the
steeds of my constructs—are the five-tiered walls; my tongueperception
is the jeweled border, my intestines the net, my sinews
the half net, my portion of semen the half-moons, my eye perception
the mirrors, my nose perception the flower garlands, my
tongue the bells, my body the yak tails, my ear and body perceptions
the flags and silken streamers on the balconies; my calves,
thighs, upper and lower arms are the eight pillars, my stomach the
flask within the mandala, my ears the vajra-marked half-moons
in the intermediate directions; my five aggregates, purified, are
the five colors of the mandala; my secret place, navel, heart, and
tip of my nose are the four gateways, my eyes the wheels, my
mind perception the deer and my nose the flags that decorate the
gateways; my mind is the lotus in the middle—and in this way
all the parts of my body become the various parts of the divine
mansion.
The practitioner then fills this body mandala with the thirty-two
subtle deities, visualizing them as quickly as he reads aloud the
textual description:
From the top of my head to the hairline a white OIVE (essence
of the aggregate of form) transforms into white Vairocana, adorned
on his crown with Aksobhya, his three faces white, black, and red,
holding in his three right hands a wheel, a vajra, and a white
lotus, and in his three left hands a bell, a gem, and a swoid.
From my hairline to my throat a red AH (essence of the aggregate
of conception) transforms into red Amitabha, adorned on
his crown with Aksobhya, his three faces red, black, and white,
holding in his three right hands a lotus, a vajra, and a wheel.and in
his three left hands a lotus bell, a gem, and a sword.