Japanese Buddhist pantheon
Encyclopedia
The Japanese Buddhist Pantheon designates the multitude (the Pantheon
) of various Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and lesser deities and eminent religious masters in Buddhism
. A Buddhist Pantheon exists to a certain extent in Mahāyāna
, but is especially characteristic of Vajrayana
Esoteric Buddhism, including Tibetan Buddhism
and especially Japanese Shingon Buddhism
, which formalized it to a great extent. In the ancient Japan
ese Buddhist Pantheon, more than 3,000 Buddhas or deities have been counted, although nowadays most temples focus on one Buddha and a few Bodhisattvas.
Early
, pre-sectarian Buddhism
had a somewhat vague position on the existence and effect of deities. Indeed, Buddhism is often considered atheistic on account of the fact that it denies the existence of a creator god and human responsibility to him/her. However, nearly all modern Buddhist schools accept the existence of gods of some kind; the main point of divergence is on the influence of these gods. Of the major schools, Theravada
tends to de-emphasize the gods, whereas Mahayana
and Vajrayana
do not.
The rich Buddhist Pantheon of northern Buddhism ultimately derives from Vajrayana
and Tantrism. The historical devotional root of pantheistic Buddhism seem to go back to the period of the Kushan Empire
. The first proper mention of a Buddhist Pantheon appears in the 3-4th century Guhyasamāja, in which five Buddhas are mentioned, the emanations of which constitute a family:
By the 9th century under the Pala
king Dharmapala
, the Buddhist Pantheon had already swelled to about 1,000 Buddhas. In Japan, Kūkai
introduced Shingon Esoteric Buddhism and its Buddhist Pantheon, also in the 9th century.
s and eminent religious people.
A famous statue group, the mandala
located at Tō-ji
temple in Kyōto
, shows some of the main elements and structure of the Buddhist Pantheon. The mandala was made in the 9th century and offered to Kūkai
. A duplicate was brought to Paris
, France
, by Emile Guimet at the end of the 19th century, and is now located in the Musée Guimet.
Japanese Buddhism incorporated numerous Shintō deities in its pantheon and reciprocally. Japanese Shingon also has other categories, such as the Thirteen Buddhas
. Zen Buddhism however clearly rejected the strong polytheistic conceptions of orthodox Buddhism.
(Japanese: Dainichi Nyorai, 大日如来), the supreme Buddha. Each of the four remaining Buddhas occupies a fixed cardinal point. Each of them are a manifestation of Buddha-hood, and are active in different world-periods in which they manifest themselves among Bodhisattvas and humans.
These "Dhyani Buddhas" form the core of the Buddhist pantheistic system, which developed from them in a multiform way. At the Musée Guimet, the five Buddhas are surrounded by protective Bodhisattvas. There is also a multitude of other Buddhas, such as Yakushi
, the Buddha of medicine.
Sometimes, five main "Matrix" Bodhisattvas are determined (五大菩薩), grouped around a central Bodhisattva, Kongō-Haramitsu (金剛波羅蜜菩薩) in the case of Tōji
Temple.
Beyond these five main Bodhisattvas, there is a huge quantity of other Bodhisattvas, all beings who have postponed enlightenment for the benefit of helping mankind.
and Brahmanical tradition.
Beyond the five principal kings, numerous other Wisdom Kings exist with a great variety of roles.
. They are aiming to reach Nirvana eventually however, and therefore endeavour to help Buddhism and its devotees. According to Buddhist cosmology, adopted from Indian cosmology, the deities live in the Three World and are positionned hierarchically according to their position in respect to the cosmic axis of Mount Sumeru. High above the mount resides Brahma
, on the summit reside the Thirty Three Gods with Indra
as their king, at half-height reside the God Kings of the Orient, and at the bottom inferior deities.
Numerous deities are included in the Buddhist Pantheon.
The term Ten (天) is the equivalent of the Indian Deva
and designated the higher divinities from the Four Heavenly Kings
up. The term Jin (神) designated lower-level deities.
The Four Heavenly Kings
are an important part of these deities.
divinities (kami
) were also present in the Japanese islands, although they had no iconography
. The shuijakushin category is specific to Japan and provides for the incorporation into Buddhism of these Shintō kami.
The Buddhist term "Gongen
" (権現, "Avatar
" (meaning the capability of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to change their appearance to that of a Japanese kami to facilitate conversion of the Japanese) thus came into use in relation to these gods. Shintō deities came to be considered as local appearances in disguise of foreign Buddhas and Bodhisattvas (. Thus numerous Shinto
figures have been absorbed as Buddhist deities. This was also sometimes reciprocal, as in the case of Buddhist Benzaiten
and Shinto kami Ugajin
.
This syncretism was officially abolished by the establishment of the Meiji Emperor in 1868 and the Shinto and Buddhism Separation Order
(神仏分離令, also 神仏混淆禁止 Shinbutsu Konkō Kinshi).
, are the subject of a devotion equivalent to that of the Buddhas or Bodhisattvas. Some have also acquired the qualities of protective spirits, such as Battabara protector of the baths, or Fudaishi, protector of monastical librairies. The list of these religious men comprises men from the "Three Countries" where Buddhism was born and then prospered along the Silk Road
: India
, China
, Japan
. The Sixteen Arhats
, saint men who were predecessors or disciples of the Buddha, are also part of this category.
Pantheon (gods)
A pantheon is a set of all the gods of a particular polytheistic religion or mythology.Max Weber's 1922 opus, Economy and Society discusses the link between a...
) of various Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and lesser deities and eminent religious masters in Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
. A Buddhist Pantheon exists to a certain extent in Mahāyāna
Mahayana
Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...
, but is especially characteristic of Vajrayana
Vajrayana
Vajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle...
Esoteric Buddhism, including Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...
and especially Japanese Shingon Buddhism
Shingon Buddhism
is one of the mainstream major schools of Japanese Buddhism and one of the few surviving Esoteric Buddhist lineages that started in the 3rd to 4th century CE that originally spread from India to China through traveling monks such as Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra...
, which formalized it to a great extent. In the ancient Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese Buddhist Pantheon, more than 3,000 Buddhas or deities have been counted, although nowadays most temples focus on one Buddha and a few Bodhisattvas.
History
Early Buddhism
The term Early Buddhism can refer to:* Pre-sectarian Buddhism, which refers to the Teachings and monastic organization and structure, founded by Gautama Buddha....
, pre-sectarian Buddhism
Pre-sectarian Buddhism
The term pre-sectarian Buddhism is used by some scholars to refer to the Buddhism that existed before the various subsects of Buddhism came into being. Other terms that have been used to refer to this first period of Buddhism are: the earliest Buddhism, original Buddhism and the Buddhism of the...
had a somewhat vague position on the existence and effect of deities. Indeed, Buddhism is often considered atheistic on account of the fact that it denies the existence of a creator god and human responsibility to him/her. However, nearly all modern Buddhist schools accept the existence of gods of some kind; the main point of divergence is on the influence of these gods. Of the major schools, Theravada
Theravada
Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...
tends to de-emphasize the gods, whereas Mahayana
Mahayana
Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...
and Vajrayana
Vajrayana
Vajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle...
do not.
The rich Buddhist Pantheon of northern Buddhism ultimately derives from Vajrayana
Vajrayana
Vajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle...
and Tantrism. The historical devotional root of pantheistic Buddhism seem to go back to the period of the Kushan Empire
Kushan Empire
The Kushan Empire originally formed in the early 1st century AD under Kujula Kadphises in the territories of ancient Bactria on either side of the middle course of the Oxus in what is now northern Afghanistan, Pakistan, and southern Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.During the 1st and early 2nd centuries...
. The first proper mention of a Buddhist Pantheon appears in the 3-4th century Guhyasamāja, in which five Buddhas are mentioned, the emanations of which constitute a family:
By the 9th century under the Pala
Pala Empire
The Pāla Empire was one of the major middle kingdoms of India existed from 750–1174 CE. It was ruled by a Buddhist dynasty from Bengal in the eastern region of the Indian subcontinent, all the rulers bearing names ending with the suffix Pala , which means protector. The Palas were often described...
king Dharmapala
Dharmapala of Bengal
Dharama Pala was the second ruler of the Pala Empire of Bengal region in the Indian Subcontinent. He was the son and succeessor of Gopala , the founder of the Pala Dynasty. He greatly expanded the boundaries of the Pala Empire founded by his father and made the Palas the most dominant power in...
, the Buddhist Pantheon had already swelled to about 1,000 Buddhas. In Japan, Kūkai
Kukai
Kūkai , also known posthumously as , 774–835, was a Japanese monk, civil servant, scholar, poet, and artist, founder of the Shingon or "True Word" school of Buddhism. Shingon followers usually refer to him by the honorific titles of and ....
introduced Shingon Esoteric Buddhism and its Buddhist Pantheon, also in the 9th century.
Hierarchial structure of the Buddhist pantheon
The Buddhist Pantheon in Japanese Buddhism is defined by a hierarchy in which the Buddhas occupy the topmost category, followed in order by the numerous Bodhisattvas, the Wisdom Kings, the Deities, the "Circumstancial appearances" and lastly the patriarchPatriarch
Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy. This is a Greek word, a compound of πατριά , "lineage, descent", esp...
s and eminent religious people.
| Level | Category | Japanese nomenclature Japanese language is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an... |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Buddhas | |
| Level 2 | Bodhisattvas | |
| Level 3 | Wisdom Kings | |
| Level 4 | Deities Deva (Buddhism) A deva in Buddhism is one of many different types of non-human beings who share the characteristics of being more powerful, longer-lived, and, in general, living more contentedly than the average human being.... |
|
| Level 5 | Circumstantial appearances Gongen During the era of shinbutsu shūgō , in Japan a During the era of shinbutsu shūgō (religious syncretism of kami and buddhas), in Japan a During the era of shinbutsu shūgō (religious syncretism of kami and buddhas), in Japan a ( was believed to be a Japanese kami which was really just the local... |
|
| Level 6 | Religious men |
A famous statue group, the mandala
Mandala
Maṇḍala is a Sanskrit word that means "circle". In the Buddhist and Hindu religious traditions their sacred art often takes a mandala form. The basic form of most Hindu and Buddhist mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point...
located at Tō-ji
To-ji
is a Buddhist temple of the Shingon sect in Kyoto, Japan. Its name means East Temple, and it once had a partner, Sai-ji . They stood alongside the Rashomon, the gate to the Heian capital. It is formally known as which indicates that it previously functioned as a temple providing protection for the...
temple in Kyōto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
, shows some of the main elements and structure of the Buddhist Pantheon. The mandala was made in the 9th century and offered to Kūkai
Kukai
Kūkai , also known posthumously as , 774–835, was a Japanese monk, civil servant, scholar, poet, and artist, founder of the Shingon or "True Word" school of Buddhism. Shingon followers usually refer to him by the honorific titles of and ....
. A duplicate was brought to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, by Emile Guimet at the end of the 19th century, and is now located in the Musée Guimet.
Japanese Buddhism incorporated numerous Shintō deities in its pantheon and reciprocally. Japanese Shingon also has other categories, such as the Thirteen Buddhas
Thirteen Buddhas
The Thirteen Buddhas is a purely Japanese grouping of important Buddhist deities, particularly in the Shingon sect of Buddhism. The deities are, in fact, mostly not Buddhas at all, but also include bodhisattvas and Wisdom Kings...
. Zen Buddhism however clearly rejected the strong polytheistic conceptions of orthodox Buddhism.
Level 1: Buddhas (Nyorai-bu)
Five Wisdom Buddha
The five Wisdom Buddhas (五仏) are centered around VairocanaVairocana
Vairocana is a celestial Buddha who is often interpreted as the Bliss Body of the historical Gautama Buddha; he can also be referred to as the dharmakaya Buddha and the great solar Buddha. In Sino-Japanese Buddhism, Vairocana is also seen as the embodiment of the Buddhist concept of shunyata or...
(Japanese: Dainichi Nyorai, 大日如来), the supreme Buddha. Each of the four remaining Buddhas occupies a fixed cardinal point. Each of them are a manifestation of Buddha-hood, and are active in different world-periods in which they manifest themselves among Bodhisattvas and humans.
| Fukūjōju Nyorai Amoghasiddhi Amoghasiddhi is one of the Five Wisdom Buddhas of the Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism. he is associated with the accomplishment of the Buddhist path and of the destruction of the poison of envy. His name means He Whose Accomplishment Is Not In Vain. His Shakti/consort is Tara, meaning Noble... (north) |
||
| Amida Nyorai Amitabha Amitābha is a celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism... (west) |
Dainichi Nyorai Vairocana Vairocana is a celestial Buddha who is often interpreted as the Bliss Body of the historical Gautama Buddha; he can also be referred to as the dharmakaya Buddha and the great solar Buddha. In Sino-Japanese Buddhism, Vairocana is also seen as the embodiment of the Buddhist concept of shunyata or... (principal deity) |
Ashuku Nyorai Akshobhya In Vajrayana Buddhism, Akṣobhya is one of the Five Wisdom Buddhas, a product of the Adibuddha, who represents consciousness as an aspect of reality... (east) |
| Hōshō Nyorai Ratnasambhava Ratnasambhava is one of the Five Dhyani Buddhas of Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism. Ratnasambhava's mandalas and mantras focus on developing equanimity and equality and, in Vajrayana buddhist thought is associated with the attempt to destroy greed and pride. His consort is Lochana and his mount is a... (south) |
These "Dhyani Buddhas" form the core of the Buddhist pantheistic system, which developed from them in a multiform way. At the Musée Guimet, the five Buddhas are surrounded by protective Bodhisattvas. There is also a multitude of other Buddhas, such as Yakushi
Bhaisajyaguru
Bhaiṣajyaguru , formally Bhaiṣajyaguruvaidūryaprabharāja , is the buddha of healing and medicine in Mahāyāna Buddhism. Commonly referred to as the "Medicine Buddha", he is described as a doctor who cures suffering using the medicine of his teachings.-Origin:...
, the Buddha of medicine.
Level 2: Bodhisattvas (Bosatsu-bu)
Bodhisattvas are personages who are on the point of entering Buddhahood but postpone doing so in order to help other beings attain enlightenment. Bodhisattvas are paragons of compassion in Mahayana Buddhism. In the Buddhist Pantheon, besides the past and future Buddhas, there are numerous Bodhisattvas as well.Sometimes, five main "Matrix" Bodhisattvas are determined (五大菩薩), grouped around a central Bodhisattva, Kongō-Haramitsu (金剛波羅蜜菩薩) in the case of Tōji
Toji
Tōji can refer to:* Tō-ji, a temple in Kyoto, Japan.* Dongzhi in pīnyīn is the 22nd solar term in the traditional East Asian calendar.* The job title of a Japanese sake brewer - Sake#Tōji....
Temple.
| Miroku Maitreya Maitreya , Metteyya , or Jampa , is foretold as a future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. In some Buddhist literature, such as the Amitabha Sutra and the Lotus Sutra, he or she is referred to as Ajita Bodhisattva.Maitreya is a bodhisattva who in the Buddhist tradition is to appear on... (north) |
||
| Kannon (west) |
Kongō-Haramitsu (principal deity) |
Fugen Samantabhadra Samantabhadra , is a bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism associated with Buddhist practice and meditation. Together with Shakyamuni Buddha and fellow bodhisattva Manjusri he forms the Shakyamuni trinity in Buddhism... (east) |
| Monju Manjusri Mañjuśrī is a bodhisattva associated with transcendent wisdom in Mahāyāna Buddhism. In Esoteric Buddhism he is also taken as a meditational deity. The Sanskrit name Mañjuśrī can be translated as "Gentle Glory"... (south) |
Beyond these five main Bodhisattvas, there is a huge quantity of other Bodhisattvas, all beings who have postponed enlightenment for the benefit of helping mankind.
Level 3: Wisdom Kings (Myōō-bu)
The Wisdom Kings (Vidyârâjas) were initially divinities of Esoteric Buddhism but were then later adopted by Japanese Buddhism as a whole. These Gods are equipped with superior knowledge and power that give them influence on internal and external reality. These Kings became the object of personification, either peaceful in the case of female personifications, and wrathful in the case of male personifications. Their aggressivity expresses their will to get rid of negative forces in devotees and in the world. They are therefore an expression of the Buddha's compassion for all beings.Five Wisdom Kings
The Five Wisdom Kings (五大明王) are emanations of the Buddhas and protect them. They are usually represented as violent beings. They represent the ambivalent in nature, and seem to derive from ancient YaksaYaksa
Yaksa or Yaksha may refer to:* Yaksha , nature-spirit in Hindu, Jainishm, and Buddhism* Yaksha Kingdom, ancient kingdom in Indian epic literature* Yakkha, also called "Yaksa-sh"...
and Brahmanical tradition.
| Kongō-Yasha (north) |
||
| Daiitoku (west) |
Fudō-Myō (principal deity) |
Gosanze (east) |
| Gundari Gundari Kuṇḍali Vidyarāja or Amṛtakuṇḍalin, ch: 軍荼利明王, Jūntúlì míngwáng; ja: 軍荼利明王, Gundari Myōō) is one of the five major Wisdom Kings in Buddhism. He is the dispenser of Amrita, the celestial nectar of immortality.Kuṇḍali is a manifestation of Ratnasambhava.... (south) |
Beyond the five principal kings, numerous other Wisdom Kings exist with a great variety of roles.
Other Wisdom Kings
Many more Wisdom Kings also exist with numerous functions. In general, the Wisdom Kings are viewed as the guardians of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.Level 4: deities (Ten-bu)
Gods, although benefiting from an exceptional longevity, nevertheless are submitted to the cycle of rebirths, and remain outside of the world of enlightenment and NirvanaNirvana
Nirvāṇa ; ) is a central concept in Indian religions. In sramanic thought, it is the state of being free from suffering. In Hindu philosophy, it is the union with the Supreme being through moksha...
. They are aiming to reach Nirvana eventually however, and therefore endeavour to help Buddhism and its devotees. According to Buddhist cosmology, adopted from Indian cosmology, the deities live in the Three World and are positionned hierarchically according to their position in respect to the cosmic axis of Mount Sumeru. High above the mount resides Brahma
Brahma
Brahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all human beings are descended. In the Ramayana and the...
, on the summit reside the Thirty Three Gods with Indra
Indra
' or is the King of the demi-gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology. He is also the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall.Indra is one of the chief deities in the Rigveda...
as their king, at half-height reside the God Kings of the Orient, and at the bottom inferior deities.
Numerous deities are included in the Buddhist Pantheon.
The term Ten (天) is the equivalent of the Indian Deva
Deva (Buddhism)
A deva in Buddhism is one of many different types of non-human beings who share the characteristics of being more powerful, longer-lived, and, in general, living more contentedly than the average human being....
and designated the higher divinities from the Four Heavenly Kings
Four Heavenly Kings
In the Buddhist faith, the Four Heavenly Kings are four gods, each of whom watches over one cardinal direction of the world.The Kings are collectively named as follows:...
up. The term Jin (神) designated lower-level deities.
The Four Heavenly Kings
Four Heavenly Kings
In the Buddhist faith, the Four Heavenly Kings are four gods, each of whom watches over one cardinal direction of the world.The Kings are collectively named as follows:...
are an important part of these deities.
Level 5: circumstantial appearances (Suijakushin)
Although divinities are considered to be subjects to the law of impermanence, Buddhism nevertheless considers that men should place themselves under their protection. When Buddhism entered Japan in the 6th century numerous ShintōShinto
or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...
divinities (kami
Kami
is the Japanese word for the spirits, natural forces, or essence in the Shinto faith. Although the word is sometimes translated as "god" or "deity", some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term...
) were also present in the Japanese islands, although they had no iconography
Iconography
Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
. The shuijakushin category is specific to Japan and provides for the incorporation into Buddhism of these Shintō kami.
The Buddhist term "Gongen
Gongen
During the era of shinbutsu shūgō , in Japan a During the era of shinbutsu shūgō (religious syncretism of kami and buddhas), in Japan a During the era of shinbutsu shūgō (religious syncretism of kami and buddhas), in Japan a ( was believed to be a Japanese kami which was really just the local...
" (権現, "Avatar
Avatar
In Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....
" (meaning the capability of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to change their appearance to that of a Japanese kami to facilitate conversion of the Japanese) thus came into use in relation to these gods. Shintō deities came to be considered as local appearances in disguise of foreign Buddhas and Bodhisattvas (. Thus numerous Shinto
Shinto
or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...
figures have been absorbed as Buddhist deities. This was also sometimes reciprocal, as in the case of Buddhist Benzaiten
Benzaiten
Benzaiten is the Japanese name for the Hindu goddess Saraswati. Worship of Benzaiten arrived in Japan during the 6th through 8th centuries, mainly via the Chinese translations of the Sutra of Golden Light, which has a section devoted to her...
and Shinto kami Ugajin
Ugajin
is harvest and fertility kami of Japanese Mythology. Ugajinis represented both as a male and a female, and is often depicted with the body of a snake and the head of a bearded man, for the masculine variant, or the head of a woman, for the female variant. In Tendai Buddhism Ugajin was...
.
This syncretism was officially abolished by the establishment of the Meiji Emperor in 1868 and the Shinto and Buddhism Separation Order
Shinbutsu Bunri
The term in Japanese indicates the forbidding by law of the amalgamation of kami and buddhas made during the Meiji Restoration. It also indicates the effort made by the Japanese government to create a clear division between native kami beliefs and Buddhism on one side, and Buddhist temples and...
(神仏分離令, also 神仏混淆禁止 Shinbutsu Konkō Kinshi).
Level 6: religious men (Kōsō・Soshi)
Buddhism has also created an iconography for the saint men who assisted to its diffusion. These are historical beings, although some legendary elements can be attached to them. Some, such as Kōbō-Daishi, the founder of Shingon BuddhismShingon Buddhism
is one of the mainstream major schools of Japanese Buddhism and one of the few surviving Esoteric Buddhist lineages that started in the 3rd to 4th century CE that originally spread from India to China through traveling monks such as Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra...
, are the subject of a devotion equivalent to that of the Buddhas or Bodhisattvas. Some have also acquired the qualities of protective spirits, such as Battabara protector of the baths, or Fudaishi, protector of monastical librairies. The list of these religious men comprises men from the "Three Countries" where Buddhism was born and then prospered along the Silk Road
Silk Road
The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...
: India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. The Sixteen Arhats
Sixteen Arhats
The Sixteen Arhats are a group of legendary Arhats in Buddhism; holy men who were predecessors or disciples of the Buddha. The Sixteen Arhats are particular popular in Zen Buddhism, where they are treated as examples of behaviour...
, saint men who were predecessors or disciples of the Buddha, are also part of this category.