ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the relationship between the individual and society, through an examination of practitioners' ritual engagement with tantric Buddhist deities. Drawing from Durkheim, it argues that these deities can be thought of as collective representations and suggests that they are therefore a focus and a repository for social energies. The chapter examines the constitution of the individual, and explores the transformations, within the body and consciousness, that are related to practices of deity yoga, and the attainment, or realization of, the subtle illuminated body. It discusses an exploration of consorts that suggests that there is a dynamic relationship between their depiction as symbolic representations and their human counterparts. The chapter argues that an exploration of altered states of consciousness has important implications for the understanding of this dynamic. It explores tantric practitioners' engagements with Buddhist deities, proposing that they can be understood in terms of an exchange of emotional energy between the individual and society.
