In section One, firstly, the author uses the independent gancakra manuals found in the Tibetan Tripitaka as research materials and investigates the basic relationship between gancakra and abhiseka. The initiation, giving entrance permission to the esoteric Buddhist World to applicants, is called the abhiseka ritual. Like the ganacakra, abhiseka is a complex ritual composed of many embedded rituals. Neither of these two rituals includes the other because abhiseka is the initiation ritual for disciples, or non-initiates, and ganacakra is the assembly of the circle of initiates. Applicants offer ganacakra to the elders by assuming the expenses of the ritual, giving the applicants the accumulation of merits. The elders consider them to have been awarded initiation. Secondly, the author considers the cases in which ganacakra ritual was integrated into the sequence of mandalavidhis after the establishment of the fourfold abhiseka system in Buddhist tantric circles. After the accumulation of tantric merits, applicants are allowed to receive kalasa-abhiseka, the first stage initiation. Then applicants offer ganacakra to their guru and elders before advancing to guhya-abhiseka, or the second stage initiation. This pattern continues until the applicants receive the catur-abhiseka, or the fourth stage initiation. In this way, mandalavidhi is the largest tantric ritual complex. The two cases investigated in this section were categorized as “ganacakra as the way toward abhiseka.”
Section Two discusses the other side of gancakra, a ritual for initiates after receiving abhisekas. Firstly, applicants who have received abhiseka, and now have full membership in esoteric Buddhist circles and become a vajracarya, donate the ganacakra to their guru and tantrist colleagues with gratitude. Secondly, tantrists who violate the tantric code (samaya) must hold the ganacakra. These cases of offering ganacakra were categorized as “ganacakra for initiates afterabhiseka.” In conclusion, the author summarizes the above-mentioned analyses and proposes a cyclical model, in which receiving abhiseka and donating ganacakra functioned as the motivations and goals respectively for progressive tantric practitioners.
