and Buddhism alike such words as Tantra and tantric acquire a special sense and imply the worship of the divine energy in a female form called by many names such as Kali in the former, Tara in the latter.  This worship which in my opinion should be called Saktism rather than Tantrism combines many elements:  ancient, savage superstitions as well as ingenious but fanciful speculation, but its essence is always magic.  It attempts to attain by magical or sacramental formulae and acts not only prosperity and power but salvation, nirvana and union with the supreme spirit.  Some of its sects practise secret immoral rites.  It is sad to confess that degenerate Buddhism did not remain uncorrupted by such abuses.

It is always a difficult and speculative task to trace the early stages of new movements in Indian religion, but it is clear that by the eighth century and perhaps earlier the Buddhism of Bihar and Bengal had fallen a prey to this influence.  Apparently the public ritual in the Viharas remained unchanged and the usual language about nirvana and sunyata was not discarded, but it was taught that those who followed a certain curriculum could obtain salvation by magical methods.  To enter this curriculum it was necessary to have a qualified teacher and to receive from him initiation or baptism (abhisheka).  Of the subsequent rites the most important is to evoke one of the many Buddhas or Bodhisattvas recognized by the Mahayana and identify oneself with him.[298] He who wishes to do this is often called a sadhaka or magician but his achievements, like many Indian miracles, are due to self-hypnotization.  He is directed to repair to a lonely place and offer worship there with flowers and prayers.  To this office succeed prolonged exercises in meditation which do not depart much from the ancient canon since they include the four Brahma-viharas.  Their object is to suppress thought and leave the mind empty.  Then the sadhaka fills this void with the image of some Bodhisattva, for instance Avalokita.  This he does by uttering mystic syllables called bija or seed, because they are supposed to germinate and grow into the figures which he wishes to produce.  In this way he imagines that he sees the emblems of the Bodhisattva spring up round him one by one and finally he himself assumes the shape of Avalokita and becomes one with him.  Something similar still exists in Tibet where every Lama chooses a tutelary deity or Yi-dam whom he summons in visible form after meditation and fasting.[299] Though this procedure when set forth methodically in a mediaeval manual seems an absurd travesty of Buddhism, yet it has links with the early faith.  It is admitted in the Pitakas that certain forms of meditation[300] lead to union with Brahma and it is no great change to make them lead to union with other supernatural beings.  Still we are not here breathing the atmosphere of the Pitakas.  The object is not to share Brahma’s heaven but to become temporarily identified with a deity, and this is not a byway of religion but the high road.