Question about "secrecy" or "esoteric teachings" in Buddhism

[Mdg137]

Hello all, please forgive my use of quotations in the title, they are there simply because I do not know what the correct terminology is.

While I do not study the more esoteric aspects of Buddhism (I.E., Vajrayana practices from Tibet or East Asia, as well as complex meditative techniques in other Mahayana branches), I do exist in this broader Buddhist ecosystem and I sometimes come across a piece of art that is clearly from the more esoteric side of Buddhism. The most common examples are Mandalas, but there are also statues from Tibetan traditions that I was gifted from a dharma friend who unfortunately had to give them up before moving. He practices Chan Buddhism for reference.

As I understand it, esoteric teachings are passed from student to teacher, and the relationship between the student and the teacher is most important in these traditions. I don't know the details, but I do know that the devotion of a student to their teacher when they are learning the esoteric teachings is important because absolute trust is necessary for guidance through things like tantric rituals. Furthermore, embarking on esoteric study can be dangerous because the student may delve into techniques they are not ready for yet, physically or mentally.

All of this is to say, I have also heard that Mandalas are focused on in some of these rituals, and that sometimes, showing them to people who are not initiated is a bad idea for the person viewing them. Furthermore, I don't want to disrespectfully tread where I am not meant to, so to speak. I know that there is a lot of colonial appropriation of Tibetan and East Asian art in the west, and that sometimes we see things that were never meant to be viewed by us.

So I want to ask if this is true: Should I not be looking at images of Mandalas at all, since their function can be to aid in these advanced practices? Are there some which are safe/respectful for the public to gaze at and some which are not? How does one differentiate between the two?

Please forgive my ignorance on this subject, I understand how the above questions can sound superstitious upon reading them. I am a Shin Buddhist, which is just about as far in terms of approach from Vajrayana as you can get. However, being a Shin Buddhist, I find images like the Taima Mandala (famous Japanese Mandala of Amida Buddha and Sukhavati) to be very inspiring and beautiful. But I don't know whether I should even be looking at it, let alone if I should have an image of it in the house. This is why I put the quotes in the title too: Are these images "secret" in any sense? If they are, I would respect that secrecy. I also know that intent is a big factor here, and I know that my intention is to respect the Dharma, so I know I don't have anything to fear, but I just want to know in this particular instance how to best respect the Dharma I guess.

Many thanks to you all
Gassho

[Johnny Dangerous]

It’s up to you really, and depends on the artwork. There are definitely some images that are more ‘secret’ than others.

Yes, you can see all kinds of stuff today that perhaps shouldn’t be so easy to view, but the idea that it’s cultural appropriation responsible for that is not accurate at all IME. Nepal has whole industries that create *cough* ‘authentic Tibetan Thsngkas”.

Anyway, even within Tantric traditions there is debate on appropriateness of certain images in public, I’d say that if the art inspires you or your practice it’s probably fine.

The Taima Mandala is not a Tantric image anyway, as far as I could find. Not everything using the the term “mandala” is necessarily an image related to secret practices, and in fact very many will not be.

[Zhen Li]

Even for various Vajrayāna traditions, it depends a lot upon the tradition. Much of what is prohibited to look upon in Tibetan Buddhism can be shown to the uninitiated in Newar Buddhism—but not everything, such as any images in the agaṃ chem̐ on the third floor of vihāras. I think in Newar Buddhism, it depends more on how the image is used—if it's used in actual ritual practice, it is hidden. Still, vajracāryas might sell mass or specialist-produced versions of the same images in their shops without them being consecrated. In Shingon, the ryōkai mandara are shown in publicly accessible temples, but in initiation rituals, they are hidden from the eyes of the initiant until they have selected a deity by dropping a flower on them—whether this means it would be prohibited to others to see those particular mandaras, I am not sure.

As for the Taima Mandara, as Johnny mentioned (and also as far as I could glean), I never heard of any secrecy with this. I also never heard of any initiation using it. It is not a mandala in the normal sense, in as much as it is an illustration of the Contemplation Sutra, with every scene, visualisation, grade, and feature of the Pure Land depicted (some in humorous ways). From what I understand, it was originally weaved by a nun at Taima Dera to aid meditation as described in the sutra. Meditating on the successive elements is a sure-fire way of attaining birth, and several accounts of this happening exist. Now, I think people use it mainly as a guide to illustrate the sūtra; with the Pure Land reading group I hosted recently, some of us tested out meditation on the sūtra after viewing the mandala and had a very nice experience.

One thing I found is that the mandala only kind of gets your foot in the door with the visualisations. As the Contemplation Sutra says, if you begin these visualisations, the rest of the elements naturally fall into place. In this sense, you can say that the Taima Mandara is a different kind of initiation—initiation by viewing. After viewing, Amida can do the rest of the work in the way a deity in a vajrayāna maṇḍala might be able to after being initiated into their maṇḍala. However, viewing it is not a condition of birth by any means, while the maṇḍala may be a sine qua non element of other practices.

[Mdg137]

Thank you both for your responses, this alleviates my worry a lot. I suspected that the Taima Mandala was not used in anything esoteric, but I wanted to be sure. I'm also surprised that these replicas are being sold from people in the regions they come from, but I guess that makes sense. When I said colonial appropriation I meant more of the kind where colonizers came and took artifacts and brought them back to Europe/America for display in museums. To be honest, I wouldn't know enough about the modern day trends of appropriating Tibetan culture in the west to comment, though I'm sure there is some instance of it here.

Regardless, many thanks for alleviating my worries. Zhen Li, I am very heartened to hear of your group's positive results regarding visualization. I had always stayed away from it, recalling Honen's quote about how the leaf he held in Kamakura would always be more real than the ones he visualized in the Pure Land. Perhaps that is true, but maybe I threw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak.

Gassho

[Zhen Li]

Regardless, many thanks for alleviating my worries. Zhen Li, I am very heartened to hear of your group's positive results regarding visualization. I had always stayed away from it, recalling Honen's quote about how the leaf he held in Kamakura would always be more real than the ones he visualized in the Pure Land. Perhaps that is true, but maybe I threw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak.

Hōnen's words on this matter and the visualisations are both skilful means at the end of the day. As Shandao's commentary makes clear, the point is Nembutsu, and vocal utterance is easier for people in this Dharma age. For sure, visualisation isn't for everyone, but I think it serves a nice purpose. If anything, it helps to internalise the sūtra's contents.