Buddhas of the Henro: Bishamonten
- koeiervin7
- 11 minutes ago
- 6 min read
So far in this Buddhas of the Henro series, the beings we've met hang out pretty close to the center of Shingon's mandalas. Mandalas depict Awakening via the metaphor of medieval Indian Kingdoms; at their center is the King (Dainichi Nyorai), his vassals (Amida, Shakyamuni, and the other Tathagatas), and their ministers and attendants (the bodhisattvas). The center is secure, bedecked with the luminous regalia of a world-conqueror's court, and everyone's roles are clearly defined.
But traveling to the edge of an Indian kingdom, you'd encounter the powerful and unpredictable warlords with whom the king had struck alliances. These formidable leaders and their armies formed a barrier between the kingdom and its rivals gnashing their teeth beyond the pale. On one hand these allies were just as much part of "the Kingdom" as everything closer to the seat of power. On the other hand, since they straddled the line between insider and outsider, they were regarded with healthy suspicion by monarchs, who must have been just as thankful for their distance from the court as for their willingness to protect it.
Looking at the outer edges of the Diamond and Matrix Realm Mandalas, we find an array of unusual characters, fearsome, bearing weapons, sometimes animal-headed, surrounded by retinues that range from flamboyant to grotesque. This is the Gekongo-bu, "The Assembly Beyond the Vajra Wall," or theTenbu,"Assembly of Devas." These beings are Indian deities and demons drafted into the service of Buddhism as protectors. Technically they are not even "Buddhas," as while highly-realized and powerful, they are not fully Awakened. Because of their position on the border between our realm and the realm of Awakening, they have been beloved and revered in Japan as benefactors who answer both spiritual and mundane requests.
One of these, Bishamonten (Sanskrit"Vaiśravaṇa") has been one of Japan's most popular deities since Buddhism's arrival in the 6th century. Dressed in a warrior's armor, he holds a spear in his right hand and a Stupa or "Treasure Tower" in his left. He was originally venerated by the imperial court as the northern member of the Four Heavenly Kings, directional deities avowed to protect the wellbeing of any nation dedicated to the Dharma. In this case his spear represents protection, and his Stupa the teachings he safeguards. However, his reputation as a fierce protector and dispenser of treasure, along with his Devic ambiguity, soon gave him enduring popularity at every level of Japanese society. Two stories from the 12th century storybook called the Tales of Times Now Past (Konjaku Monogatari Shū) reflect this dual role in Japanese faith.
The first (from Scroll 17 Story 42) illustrates the "spear" side of things. Here's an abridged version:
Once upon a time, two traveling monks, one an old man and the other a devotee of the Lotus Sutra, found an abandoned temple to stay the night in. Unbeknownst to them, it was inhabited by a man-eating ogre. As they slept, the monster, snorting like a bull, charged through the pitch darkness and devoured the older monk. The younger monk hid silently behind the altar and single-mindedly recalled the Lotus Sutra, not moving a muscle. For a while , he could hear the ogre snorting, listening. Then the sound stopped. When the dawn broke, the monk found the bull-headed ogre slashed to pieces. On the altar was a statue of Bishamonten, his spear dripping red with blood. The monk gave thanks to the deity for slaying the ogre, and shared the story far and wide.
The second (Scroll 17 Story 44), illustrates the benefits of Bishamonten's Treasure Tower, as well as some other things about sexual mores in pre-modern Japan.
Once upon a time there was a destitute monk who was devoted to Bishamonten. One day while traveling back to his temple, he came across a youth of 17 or 18, so shockingly beautiful that the monk immediately fell in love with him. The boy, to the monk's surprise, had left his master, had nowhere in particular to be, and immediately requested to stay with the monk. As their conversation became more intimate and the monk's attraction even more intense, he surmised that the youth must be a woman, and worried that he would have to kick her out to avoid scandal. 'So what if I am?' retorted the youth when the monk confronted him. 'Just act as though I'm a boy.' Convinced, the monk allowed him to stay, but his desire got the better of him and they made love that night. The youth soon told the monk that he had become pregnant, and they agreed to hide it from the other monks for the months until he gave birth. As soon as he did, the youth took the child in his arms and he disappeared, leaving only a lump of stone in the baby's place. The monk, shocked and saddened by his lover's evaporation, turned over the stone...only to find that it is an enormous lump of solid gold. "Ah, so that was Bishamonten's way of answering my prayers!" the monk exclaimed, and realized the whole thing was that the deity had managed to relieve his loneliness and poverty all in one go.
Just what in the hell is a good Buddhist supposed to make of these stories? The first precept for monks and laypeople alike is "Do not kill," yet Bishamonten goes Constantine on a demon without even being asked. The third is "No sexual impropriety," and yet Bishamonten irresistibly seduces a monk into breaking his vows for fun.
These stories don't reflect orthodox Shingon or Buddhist doctrine, but they do reflect how people in Japan have thought of and interacted with Bishamonten throughout the centuries. We might summarize their view of Bishamonten, and likely themselves, as "Buddhist, but..." It's exactly this quality that made Bishamonten such a popular figure in Japan, a country whose relationship to the precepts has often been casual. He's a god who, though firmly rooted in Buddhist teaching (his name means "The One Who Hears [the Teachings]"), is willing to bend the rules and get his hands dirty in order to bring about a favorable outcome for his devotees, and perhaps even have some fun while he does. On the other hand, Bishamonten and other Devas, similar to the gods of Greco-Roman or Norse lore, are known to be more temperamental than their Enlightened counterparts. Common wisdom holds that reneging on promises or making requests to them in bad faith can have terrible results.
Success and money, it turns out, are things people want and need at every level of society. Bishamonten's role as God of War made him so popular among samurai that the powerful Uesugi clan took the first character of his name, 毘, as their battle standard in the Warring States Period. His reputation as a dispenser of treasure led to his inclusion as one of the Seven Lucky Gods of Japan.
At a deeper level, Bishamonten represents one of the most powerful teachings of Esoteric Buddhism. The Deities of the mandalas, from center to outermost edge, are all equal expressions of Dainichi Nyorai, the Awakening inherent in the entire universe. While the unsavory characters at the edges may not fit cleanly with our idea of "Buddhism," or, "Awakening," their presence there means that our most powerful urges toward sex, violence, ambition, as well as fundamental natural processes like death, planetary motion, and so on, can be "converted" into the energy that produces Awakening. Since Bishamonten and the other Devas have a foot in both worlds, they protect us and help arrange suitable conditions for our practice as we travel ever toward the center of the Mandalas.
Bishamonten is the Main Deity of Temple 74, Kōyama-ji. Located a short walk from Kukai's birthplace at T75 Zentsū-ji, Kūkai is said to have played in the area as a child. When he returned to renovate Zentsū-ji and Mandara-ji in honor of his father and mother, he took a stroll through the area for old time's sake. From a cave, a voice boomed, "I am a practitioner of Buddhism and have dwelled here since ancient times, giving happiness and benefits to many people. If you build a temple here I will protect it forever." Kukai carved a statue of Bishamonten into a stone and set it within the cave, where it is still worshipped today. The temple's name, "Armor Mountain Temple," refers to the resemblance of the mountain on which it stands to the armor of Bishamonten.
While Kōyama-ji is the only temple on the Henro that enshrines Bishamonten as its Main Deity, you will find him everywhere you go in Shikoku, particularly in Kagawa where the Seven Lucky Gods are popular. Perhaps the most impressive depiction of him is on the observation tower of Umpen-ji, Temple 66, where he stands watchfully at the highest point on the pilgrimage, watching over all pilgrims, and all of Shikoku.
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