The Abhiṣeka of the Yogin: Bodily Practices and the Interiorization of Ritual in Medieval Japan

Mentions of a “yogic abhiṣeka” abound in documents of the medieval period (11th–16th centuries). Much material that bears the name of this consecration, from liturgical procedures to certificates of transmission and plans of ritual space, has been preserved in temples archives, regardless of their affiliation to one or the other Esoteric lineage. Yet a "yogin initiation" does not appear among the types of advanced initiations presented by the monks who introduced Esoteric Buddhism to Japan in the ninth century, nor is it listed in early ritual collections compiled in the eleventh century. It seems to have emerged suddenly in the ritual landscape of Japan in the medieval period, raising questions about its content and canonical basis, as well as the purpose it fulfilled. Was it one of the many accessory rituals that were devised in the medieval period to sanction the legitimacy of one or the other Esoteric sub-lineages? Or was it a new advanced initiation befitting the monastic elite? This study is a first attempt to reconstruct its history and its procedures and assess its significance in medieval Japan. Drawing on a range of sources, pub- lished and unpublished, from major temples and medieval archives, it explores the main features of the ritual and their connection to other initiatory practices of the Tantric tradition developed in Japan as well as on the Asian continent.