The Cult of Tara

WORSHIP 119
Except for these (rather important) complications, the four major
classic schemas of the Process of Generation may be easily seen in
the accompanying table. And Tsongk'apa concludes his discussion
of these systems by saying: "These are the noteworthy classifications
of the Process of Generation: if one examines a ritual with these as a
basis, one will know whether the main points of this first Process
are complete or not." 178
In all these dry and scholarly analyses we may yet see the hand
of magical symbolism. The emotional power of sexual imagery is
harnessed to the magic of identity, and we can perceive the direction
the correspondences will take: the processes of birth are homologized
to the creation of the deity and the achievement of Buddhahood.
The body of the yogin contains all these within it, and it is in
this high ritual of the monastic cult—with its preliminary pattern of
five realizations and its manifold correspondences—that we find
the greatest elaboration of magical analogy. There are, indeed, any
number of variations upon the basic outline, especially in the generation
of the symbolic being; a few schools—notably the Arya tradition
of commentary on the Guhyasamaja cycle—depart sometimes
radically from our scheme. But all these variations share the same
basic structure and an essential core of magical correspondences,
which Tsongk'apa analyzes after a lengthy discussion of individual
differences and which he correlates not only with death, birth, and
bardo but also with the individual events of the path to Buddhahood.
11 might be well to review briefly the standard sequence of Bodhisattva
Stages over which the Vehicle of the Mantra grants magical
control, and which require in the Vehicle of the Perfections three
"incalculable eons" to traverse: 179
1) On the Stage of the "Beginner" the aspirant strives to acquire
his stocks of merit and knowledge: this is equivalent to the
"Path of Accumulation." This Stage extends from the first
thought of enlightenment through the contemplative growth of
faith and wisdom, until the experience of "warmth," the first
signpost of success in meditation.
2) On the Stage of "Practicing with Conviction" the Bodhisattva
cultivates the four "aids to penetration," beginning with the
experience of "warmth," through "climax," "acceptance," and
finally the "highest event in the world." This is equivalent to the
"Path of Preparation," whereon these meditative experiences