The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c9.s2.8

c9.s2.8

The Sādhanas being most important for the study of Buddhist iconography it is necessary to give a general idea of the contents of the Sādhana or the detailed process through which spiritual eminence or Siddhi is obtained. For this purpose a summarised translation of an elaborate Sādhana in the Sādhanamālā is given here. But before proceeding to translate the Sādhana it may be emphasized that it is a purely psychic process for the realisation and visualisation of the deity with whom the worshipper is asked to identify himself. The Sādhana in all cases is prescribed for the realisation of some god or goddess according to a fixed procedure laid therein.