Zaō Gongen
Zaō Gongen ( Japanese 蔵 王 権 ) is one of the most important deities of the Japanese syncretistic religion of Shugendō . It is considered a manifestation ( Avatar = gongen 権 現 ) of three Buddhist deities: the historical Buddha Shaka-nyorai ( 釈 迦 如 来 ), Avalokiteshvara (Kannon Bosatsu, 千手 観 音 ) and Maitreya (Miroku Bosatsu, 弥勒 菩薩 ), d. H. of the Buddhas of the past, present and future. Zaō Gongen is also the protective deity of the holy mountain Kimpu (Kimpusen, 金 峰山 ). Other variants of the name are Kongō Zaō Gongen ( 金剛 蔵 王 権 現 ) and Kongō Zaō Bosatsu ( 金剛 蔵 王 菩薩 ).
origin
Zaō Gongen is a deity who appeared in Japan during the Heian period . The 11/12. According to the legend of the Kimpusen Temple ( Kinpusen-ji 金峯 山寺 ) in Yoshino ( Nara Prefecture ), the ascetic En no Gyōja , who lived in the 7th century, went to Mount Kimpu for help in saving living beings and for containment to ask of demons and evil. Thereupon the three above mentioned Buddhist deities showed themselves to him, who fused to the figure of the Avatar Zaō and gave En no gyōja magical powers. According to other legends, Kshitigarbha (Japanese Jizō Bosatsu) first appeared, but was rejected because of its pronounced mildness. Other deities followed, all rejected until Zao Gongen showed himself in his angry form.
Appearance
The statues and pictures of the sometimes dark blue colored Zaō Gongen show a close relationship to the "kings of light" ( myōō , 明王 ) with the angry facial expression and standing head of hair, with the right hand ready to strike, holding a vajra and the right leg raised to kick of Buddhism. The left hand on the hip is shaped into the "sword mudra" ( tōin , 刀 印 , also tōken-in , 刀 剣 印 ). He is belted with a lion skin around the waist. In this form he drives out the demons of the universe. Some depictions show flames behind his back as a symbol of his wisdom, which burns all evil.
Zaō Gongen in the Meiji period
During the Meiji Restoration , many places of worship of the Zaō Gongen were transferred to Shintō shrines and renamed in the course of the establishment of the State Shintō and the separation of Buddhism and Shintō ( Shinbutsu Bunri ) operated for this purpose . So from the temple Zaō Daigongen-sha ( 蔵 王 大 権 現 社 ) in the Zaō Mountains (Zaō Rempō, Miyagi Prefecture / Yamagata Prefecture ) the shrine Kattamine Jinja ( 刈 田 嶺 神社 ). And in several steps the deity worshiped there changed from the Buddhist-eclectic Zaō Daigongen to the Shintō deity Ame no mikumari no kami ( 天水 分神 ). The remaining monks were henceforth Shinto priests. The Kimpusen temple in Yoshino, in turn, still the most important place of Zaō worship today, was closed for several years, then subordinated to the Buddhist Tendai school , from which it later broke away.
Important places of Zaō worship
- Kimpusen-ji , Yoshino, Nara Prefecture ( 金峯 山寺 )
- Nyoirin-ji, Yoshino, Nara Prefecture ( 如意輪 寺 )
- Ishizuchi-san ( 石 鎚 山 ). The mountain itself is known as Zaō Gongen
Mantras ( Shingon )
- Zaō Gongen: On bakiryu sowaka ( オ ン バ キ リ ュ ソ ワ カ )
- Kongō Zaō Gongen: On basara kusha aranja un sowaka ( オ ン バ サ ラ ク シ ャ ア ラ ラ ン ジ ャ ウ ン ソ ワ カ )
literature
- Sō-honsan Kimpusen-ji: Yamabushi - Shugendō no honson Zao Gongen nyūmon. Kokusho Kankōkai, 2010 ( 総 本 山 金峯 山寺 『山 伏 ・ 修 験 道 の 本尊 蔵 王 権 現 入門』 国 書刊 行 会 )