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Handbook on Viewing Buddhist Statues
A totally wonderful
book. Many images
shown on this page
were scanned from
this book; Japanese language only; 192 pages; 80 or so
color photos. By author Ishii Ayako.
Click here to
buy book at Amazon
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THIS IS A SIDE PAGE
RETURN TO MAIN MYO-O PAGE
Fudo Myo-o (Fudō Myō-ō, Fudou Myou-ou)
Other common spelling: FUDOO, OFUDOSAN, FUDO-SAMA
Mystic Esoteric Name = Jouju Kongo
(Japanese Pronunciations)
Origin = India
Last Update: Sept. 10, 2006
Added Kaihougyou -- the 1000-Day
Circumambulation Devoted to Fudo
Fudo - Jyorakuji Temple
Kamakura Period
Courtesy Handbook by Ishii Ayako
Guardian of People Born in
the Zodiac Year of the Rooster
Who is Your Buddhist/Zodiac Patron Deity?
Sanskrit & Chinese Spellings & Translations
Japanese Spellings & Translations
English Translations
Kings of Light, Kings of Luminescent Wisdom,
Kings of Mystic Knowledge
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 Fudo is a personification of Dainichi Nyorai, and the best known of the Myo-o, who are venerated especially by the Shingon sect of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism. Fudo converts anger into salvation; has furious, glaring face, as Fudo seeks to frighten people into accepting the teachings of Dainichi; carries "kurikara" or devil-subduing sword in right hand (representing wisdom cutting through ignorance); holds rope in left hand (to catch and bind up demons); often has third eye in forehead (all-seeing); often seated or standing on rock (because Fudo is "immovable" in his faith). Fudo is also worshipped as a deity who can bring monetary fortune.
Sanskrit Seed
KAN (Japanese pronunciation)
Name: Acala-vidyaraja (Sanskrit)
The God of Fire; Acalanatha means "Immovable"
Fudo Mantra in Japanese
Myo-o is the Japanese term for Sanskrit "Vidyaraja," a group of warlike and wrathful deities known in English as the Mantra Kings, the Wisdom Kings, or the Knowledge Kings. Myo-o statues appear ferocious and menacing, with threatening postures and faces designed to subdue evil and frighten unbelievers into accepting Buddhist law. They represent the luminescent wisdom of Buddhism, protect the Buddhist teachings, remove all obstacles to enlightenment, and force evil to surrender. Introduced to Japan in 9th century, the Myo-o were originally Hindu deities that were adopted into Esoteric Buddhism to vanquish blind craving. They serve and protect the various Buddha, especially Dainichi Buddha. In most traditions, they are considered emanations of Dainichi, and represent Dainichi's wrath against evil and ignorance. In Japan, the Myo-o group is worshipped mostly by the Shingon Sect of Esoteric Buddhism, but among the individual Myo-o, the one named Fudo is widely venerated throughout Japan. In Japan, Fudo is also worshipped as a deity who can bring monetary fortune.
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 ESOTERIC
BUDDHISM
IN JAPAN
The teachings of Esoteric Buddhism are mystical and hard to understand, and require a high level of devotion and austerity to master. Elaborate and secret ritual practices (utilizing mantras and mudras and mandalas) are used to help partitioners develop and realize the eternal wisdom of the Buddha. This form of Buddhism is not taught to the general public, but is confined mostly to Buddhist believers, priests and those far along the path toward enlightenment. Esoteric Buddhism's main practitioners in Japan were Priest Kukai (774 - 835 AD) and Priest Saicho (767 - 822 AD). Kukai, also called Kobo Daishi, founded the Shingon Sect of Esoteric Buddhism, while Priest Saicho founded the Tendai Sect. In the Esoteric sects, the Myo-o protect Buddhism and force its outside enemies to surrender. Today, the Myo-o are revered mainly by the Shingon sect, which emphasizes the Great Sun Sutra (Maha-vairocana Sutra) and worships Dainichi Buddha as the Central "All-Encompassing" Buddha. Indeed, the Myo-o are forms of Dainichi, and represent Dainichi's wrath against evil and ignorance.
 GODAI MYO-O, FIVE GREAT KINGS. In contrast to the saintly images of the Buddha and Bodhisattva, images of the Myo-o are ferocious and menacing, for their threatening postures and facial expressions are designed to subdue evil spirits and convert nonbelievers. They are often depicted engulfed in flames, which according to Buddhist lore, represent the purification of the mind by the burning away of all material desires. They carry vicious weapons to protect believers and subdue evil. Among Myo-o sculptures, the "Godai Myo-o" (the grouping called the "Five Great Kings") is the most prevalent; among individual Myo-o, the most widely venerated and prevalent in Japan is Fudo "The Immovable." This group of five serve the Buddha, while another group of eight (Jp. = Hachidai Myo-o) serve the Bodhisattva. In both groups, Fudo is their chief.
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FUDO ICONOGRAPHY. Fudo Myo-o is the central deity in all Myo-o groupings, and in artwork is positioned in the center. Fudo is a personification of Dainichi Buddha, and is the best known of the Myo-o. Fudo converts anger into salvation, and is nearly always shown with a furious, glaring face, for Fudo seeks to frighten people into accepting the teachings of Dainichi. Fudo carries the "kurikara" or devil-subduing sword in right hand (used to smite the wicked; also represents wisdom cutting through ignorance). In the left hand, Fudo holds a rope (lasso) to catch and bind up the wicked. Fudo often has a third eye in the forehead (all-seeing), and is frequently shown seated or standing on a rock (because Fudo is "immovable" in his faith). Fudo's left eye is often closed, and the teeth bite the upper lip; alternatively, Fudo is shown with two fangs, one pointing upward and other pointing downward. Fudo's aureole is typically the flames of fire, which according to Buddhist lore, represent the purification of the mind by the burning away of all material desires. In some Japanese sculpture, Fudo is flanked by two attendants, Kongara Douji and Seitaka Douji. In Japan, he is also worshipped as a deity who can bring monetary fortune (see below).
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Fudo: Carving Available for Online Purchase
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MONEY-WASHING FUDO. The Zeniarai Benten Shrine in Kamakura City is devoted to the goddess Benzaiten. At this shrine, believers "wash" their money in water to make it reproduce and increase. But there is another deity, known as Fudo Myou-ou, who can work the same miracle in Japan. This money-washing tradition is easy to understand for Benzaiten. She is the Japanese goddess (Hindu origin) of fortune, and shrines/temples devoted to her are always located near water (river, pond, lake, ocean). She is closely associated with dragons and serpents (Sanskrit = NAGA), who guard treasure. But why Fudo? His real symbol is fire. His aureole is almost always the flames of fire. He is also the central object of veneration for "GOMA," a Japanese fire ceremony still popular today in which defilements are symbolically burnt away. So why would people wash money under Fudo's protection? Because he washes away impurities? Maybe, perhaps, because drawings of Fudo show him standing on a rock rising from the sea -- for example, the drawing at Daigoji Temple (Kyoto) and the famous 1282 AD drawing by Shinkai of Fudou standing on a rock rising from the sea. Moreover, Kurikara, a dragon wound around a sword, may appear in paintings of Fudo. Also, both Kurikara and Fudo are found often near ascetic practice places, such as small waterfalls. Perhaps this is the reason. For more details on this topic, see the Fudo Money Washing Page by Gabi Greve (outside link).
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Fudo: Carving Available for Online Purchase
Hachidai Douji 八大童子
Text Courtesy of JAANUS
http://www.aisf.or.jp/~jaanus/deta/h/hachidaidouji.htm
Visit above JAANUS link for photos of the eight. Literally "Eight Great Youths." Eight attendants of either Monju Bosatsu 文殊 or, more commonly, Fudou Myouou 不動明王. The eight attendants of Fudou (Fudou Hachidai Douji 不動八大童子) are described in the HACHIDAI DOUJI HIYOU HOUBON 八大童子秘要法品, and their names are:
- Ekou Douji 慧光童子
- Eki Douji 慧喜童子
- Anokudatsu/Anokuta Douji 阿耨達童子
- Shitoku Douji 指徳童子
- Ukubaga Douji 烏倶婆か童子
- Shoujou Biku 清浄比丘
- Kongara douji 矜羯羅童子
- Seitaka douji 制た迦童子
In artistic representations Fudou is generally shown either alone or flanked by Kongara and Seitaka to create the Fudou Triad (fudou sanzon 不動三尊). There are few examples of him accompanied by all eight of these attendants. A fine set of wooden figures, six of which are attributed to Unkei 運慶 (?-1223), is preserved at Kongoubuji 金剛峯寺 (Mt. Kouya 高野, Wakayama prefecture). Another set, carved by Kouen 康円 in 1272, is housed at Kannonji 観音寺 in Tokyo. Noteworthy examples of polychrome paintings of Fudou accompanied by these eight attendants include those kept by the Agency for Cultural Affairs (originally from Mt. Kouya; 13c) and at Choufukuji 長福寺 (Okayama prefecture; 14c). <end JAANUS quote>
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Quoted from story by Catherine Ludvik in the Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 33/1 (2006) entitled:
"In the Service of the Kaihogyo Practitioners of Mt. Hiei, The Stopping-Obstacles Confraternity (Sokusho ko) of Kyoto."
Pages 115-142
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Kaihougyou
回峰行 (かいほうぎょう)
1000 Day Circumambulation
Devoted to Fudo Myoo
Known more fully as the Sennichi Kaihougyou (千日回峰行), or "one-thousand-day circumambulation." An arduous meditative practice of Tendai monks in which they walk around Mt. Hiei and its environs for one thousand days reciting the mantra of Fudo Myo-o, the central deity of the Kaihougyou. Mt. Hiei is home to the syncretic Tendai shrine-temple multiplex, located in Shiga Prefecture, near Kyoto. The term "HOU" in Kaihougyou refers to Mt. Hiei.
Writes scholar Catherine Ludvik, adjunct professor at the Stanford Japan Center in Kyoto: "The kaihougyou (kaihogyo) consists in walking around the sacred space of Mt. Hiei along a set course, stopping to worship at numerous sites along the way, including temple halls, shrines, graves, peaks, forests, trees, mounds, stones, waterfalls, ponds, and water sources, by forming mudras and reciting mantras.....to Fudo Myoo. The 1000-day practice is divided into one-hundred-day segments and can be completed over a period of seven years.
During the first three years, each year consisting of one hundred days of walking, the course extends over 7.5 ri 里 (1 ri = approx. 30 kilometers) and includes some 260 worship stops. During the next two years (4th & 5th years), two hundred days each, the same route is followed. During the sixth year, the course is extended to 15 ri over one hundred days. During the seventh year, it is extended further still to 21 ri over one hundred days, as the practitioner circumambulates both Mt. Hiei and Kyoto (Kyoto Oomawari 京都大廻り), followed by a final segment of one hundred days along the 7.5 ri route around the mountain."
Professor Ludvik says in the same article: "The kaihogyo is often called a 'walking meditation' (hokou zen 歩行禅) and interpreted as a form of the constant-walking samadhi (jougyou zanmai 常行三昧), one of the four types of meditation (shishu zanmai 四種三昧) practiced in Tendai. In spirit, it is traced back to the Never Disparaging (Joufugyou 常不輕) Bodhisattva of the Lotus Sutra, who went about paying obeisance to monks and layment alike as future buddhas. In the kaihogyo, reverence is extended to all of nature, including every tree and blade of grass, for they too are endowed with Buddha nature. While those who complete this practice are believed to be living buddhas, the kaihogyo is in fact a bodhisattva practice, wherein the Gyouja (the practitioner 行者) stop short of attaining buddhahood in this life so as to continue to help all sentient beings."
 Sokushou Kou 息障講
Stopping-Obstacles Group
In her article, Ludvik discusses the probable origins of the "stopping-obstacles confraternity," an organization of individuals who devotedly serve the practitioner and act as guides through the Kyoto portion of the circumambulation. Writes Ludvik:
"The Sokushou-kou appears to derive its name from a temple in the western foothills of Mt. Hira in Shiga Prefecture known as Katsuragawa Sokushou Myou-ou-in 葛川息障明王院, an important center of Tendai mountain asceticism since the Heian period (794-1185). The temple was established by the founding figure of the Kaihougyou, the Tendai monk Souou 相応 (831-918), who performed ascetic practices in this area. When Fudo Myo-o appeared to him in a waterfall, Souou jumped in to embrace him, and, finding a log of a katsura 葛 tree, enshrined it. Tradition has it that from this log of katsura he carved three images of Fudo, worshipped today at Katsuragawa Sokushou Myou-ou-in, the temple he established near the waterfall, at Mudouji 無動寺, the temple he set up on Mt. Hiei, and at Isakiji 伊崎寺 in Shiga Prefecture." < end quotes from Catherine Ludvik in the Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 33/1 (2006) >
Spellings Using Unicode Fonts
- Kaihōgyō 回峰行 -- abbrv. name for 1000-day-circumambulation
- Sennichi Kaihōgyō 千日回峰行 -- 1,000 day circumambulation
- Samādhi -- lit. intent contemplation, perfect absorption, the union of meditator with object of meditation
- Gyōja 行者 -- the practitioner
- Kyōto ōmawari 京都大廻り -- great circumambulation of Kyoto
- Jōgyō Zanmai 常行三昧 -- type of meditation practice
- Jōfugyō 常不輕 -- Never Disparaging Bodhisattva of Lotus Sutra
- Hokō zen 歩行禅 -- walking meditation
- Fudō Myō-ō -- the mantra king, wisdom king, wrathful emanation of Dainichi Nyorai
- Sokushō kō 息障講-- the stopping-obstacles confraternity
- Katsuragawa Sokushō Myōō-in 葛川息障明王院 -- name of temple in foothills of Mt. Hira
- Sōō 相応 -- Tendai monk who founded the Kaihōgyō
- Mudōji 無動寺 -- name of temple on Mt. Hiei
FUDO, WATERFALLS, & PILGRIMAGES
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BELOW TEXT
Quote from NichirensCoffeeHouse (outside link). Myo-o, The Knowledge Kings, The Vidyarajas. These esoteric deities are the kings of mystic knowledge who represent the power of the Buddhas to vanquish blind craving. They are known as the the kings of mystic knowledge because they wield the mantras, which are the mystical spells made up of Sanskrit syllables imbued with the power to protect practitioners of the Dharma (Buddhist Law) from all harm and evil influences. The Vidyarajas appear in terrifying wrathful forms because they embody the indomitable energy of compassion which breaks down all obstacles to wisdom and liberation.
Quote from "Buddhism: The Flammarion Iconographic Guide"
by Louis Frederic (ISBN 2-08013-558-9)
Chiefly represented in Japan, Fudo Myo-o, by his mystic name Joju Kongo, "the eternal and immutable diamond," is the chief of the five great kings of magic science.
SIDE NOTES: Some also say Fudo is the Hindu God "Shiva." Flames in background said to represent the purification of the mind. In Kamakura (Japan), Fudo is enshrined at Jouju-in 成就院 and Myou-ou-in 妙院. Others say flame behind Fudo originated from the vomit of the mythical Karura.
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