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PRAJÑĀJÑĀNĀBHIṢEKA

From Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia
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prajñājñānābhiṣeka. (T. shes rab y e shes ky i dbang). In Sanskrit, lit., “knowledge of the wisdom empowerment,” with wisdom (PRAJÑĀ) here referring to a tantric consort. It is the third of the four empowerments or initiations employ ed in the ANUTTARAYOGATANTRAs, the other three being the vase empowerment

(KALAŚĀBHIṢEKA) and the secret empowerment (GUHYĀBHIṢEKA) that precede it, and the fourth empowerment (CATURTHĀBHIṢEKA), which follows it. Having received the vase empowerment, in the secret empowerment the disciple ingests a drop of fluid (called BODHICITTA) that results from the sexual intercourse of his

master and a consort. In the knowledge of the consort empowerment, the disciple engages in sexual union with the same consort, resulting in increasing levels of bliss, which is said to result as a drop (BINDU) that ascends through the central channel (AVADHŪTĪ). Although later monastic

exegetes would interpret these empowerments symbolically, it appears that they were originally practiced as the tantric systems developed in India, and they continued to be practiced among certain groups of adepts in Tibet.


Source

The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism by Robert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr.