Wisdom King

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File:The Five Wisdom Kings.jpg
The Five Wisdom Kings (Template:Lang, Template:Tlit). Clockwise starting from the top right: Vajrayakṣa, Trailokyavijaya, Kuṇḍali, and Yamāntaka. Acala is at the center.

A wisdom king (Template:Langx; IAST: Template:Tlit, Template:Cjkv) is a type of wrathful deity in East Asian Buddhism.

Whereas the Sanskrit name is translated literally as "wisdom / knowledge king(s)," the term Template:Tlit in Vajrayana Buddhism is also specifically used to denote mantras;<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> the term may thus also be rendered "mantra king(s)."Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp Template:Tlit is translated in Chinese with the character 明 (lit. "bright, radiant", figuratively "knowledge(able), wisdom, wise"), leading to a wide array of alternative translations such as "bright king(s)" or "radiant king(s)". A similar category of fierce deities known as herukas are found in Tibetan Buddhism.

The female counterparts of wisdom kings are known as wisdom queens (Sanskrit (IAST): Template:Tlit, Template:Cjkv).

Overview

Development

Template:Tlit, as their name suggests, are originally conceived of as the guardians and personifications of esoteric wisdom (Template:Tlit), namely mantras and dharanis. They were seen as embodying the mystic power contained in these sacred utterances.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

During the early stages of esoteric (Vajrayana) Buddhism, many of the deities that would become known as Template:Tlit (a term that only came into use around the late 7th-early 8th centuryTemplate:Sfnp) were mainly seen as attendants of bodhisattvas who were invoked for specific ends such as the removal of misfortune and obstacles to enlightenment. They personified certain attributes of these bodhisattvas such as their wisdom or the power of their voices and were held to perform various tasks such as gathering together sentient beings to whom the bodhisattva preaches, subjugating unruly elements, or protecting adherents of Buddhism.Template:Sfnp Eventually, these divinities became objects of veneration in their own right; no longer necessarily paired with a bodhisattva, they became considered as the manifestations of the bodhisattvas themselves and/or of buddhas, who are believed to assume terrifying forms as a means to save sentient beings out of compassion for them.Template:Sfnp A belief prevalent in the Japanese tradition known as the Template:Tlit (Template:Lang, "bodies of the three wheels") theory for instance posits that five Wisdom Kings are the fierce incarnations (Template:Lang, Template:Tlit, lit. "embodiments of the wheel of injunction") of the Five Wisdom Buddhas, who appear both as gentle bodhisattvas who teach the Dharma through compassion and as terrifying Template:Tlit who teach through fear, shocking nonbelievers into faith.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

File:Indian Museum Sculpture - Manjusri, 10c, Kurkihar (9220688818).jpg
Manjushri with Yamāntaka, from Kurkihar (Bihar), currently at the Indian Museum in Kolkata. 10th century.

The evolution of the Template:Tlit will be illustrated here by the deity Yamāntaka, one of the earliest Buddhist wrathful deities. In the 6th century text Template:Tlit, Yamāntaka is portrayed as the oath-bound servant of the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī who assembles all beings from across the world to hear the Buddha's preaching and vanquishes (and converts) those who are hostile to Buddhism; at the same time, Yamāntaka is also the personification of Mañjuśrī's dharani, the benefits of which are identical to his abilities.Template:Sfnp He was also commonly depicted in statuary along with Mañjuśrī as a diminutive yaksha-like attendant figure.Template:Sfnp

Later, as Yamāntaka and similar subordinates of various bodhisattvas (e.g. Hayagrīva, who was associated with Avalokiteśvara) became fully independent deities, they began to be portrayed by themselves and increasingly acquired iconographic attributes specific to each. Yamāntaka, for instance, is commonly shown with six heads, arms, and legs and riding or standing on a buffalo mount.Template:Sfnp The status and function of these deities have shifted from being minor emissaries who gather together and intimidate recalcitrant beings to being intimately involved in the primary task of esoteric Buddhism: the transformation of passions and ignorance (Template:Tlit) into compassion and wisdom.Template:Sfnp As a result of this development, the relationship between Mañjuśrī and Yamāntaka was recontextualized such that Yamāntaka is now considered to be the incarnation of Mañjuśrī himself (so the Template:Tlit).Template:Sfnp Eventually, in the Template:Tlit interpretation of Japanese esoteric Buddhism, both Yamāntaka and Mañjuśrī - under the name Template:Tlit (Template:Lang, Template:Tlit)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> - became classified as avatars of the buddha Amitābha.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Other Wisdom Kings followed a more or less similar development. Hayagrīva, for example, was originally the horse-headed incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu which was adopted into Buddhism as Avalokiteśvara's attendant (although unlike the Hindu Hayagrīva, the Buddhist figure was never portrayed with a horse's head, instead being depicted like Yamāntaka as a yaksha who may have a miniature horse head emerging from his hair).Template:Sfnp Eventually, as Hayagrīva increasingly rose to prominence, the distinction between him and his superior became increasingly blurred so that he ultimately turned into one of Avalokiteśvara's many guises in both China and Japan.Template:Sfnp One of the more famous vidyārājas, Acala (Acalanātha), was originally an acolyte or messenger of the buddha Vairocana before he was interpreted as Vairocana's fierce aspect or Template:Tlit in the Japanese tradition.Template:Sfnp (In Nepal and Tibet, meanwhile, he is instead identified as the incarnation of either Mañjuśrī or the buddha Akṣobhya.Template:Sfnp<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfnp<ref name=":22">Template:Cite web</ref>)

Iconography

File:水陆画宝宁寺 焰发德迦明王 大威德明王.jpg
Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644) Shuilu ritual painting of Yamantaka (Dàwēidé Míngwáng), one out of a set depicting the Ten Wisdom Kings, at Baoning Temple[zh] in Shanxi, China.

The iconography of Buddhist wrathful deities are usually considered to be derived from yaksha.

Wisdom Kings are usually represented as fierce-looking, often with blue or black skin and multiple heads, arms, and legs. They hold various weapons in their hands and are sometimes adorned with skulls, snakes or animal skins and wreathed in flames. This fiery aura is symbolically interpreted as the fire that purifies the practitioner and transforms one's passions into awakening, the so-called "fire samadhi" (Template:Lang Template:Tlit).Template:Sfnp

Certain vidyārājas bear attributes that reflect the historical rivalry between Hinduism and Buddhism. For instance, the Wisdom King Trailokyavijaya is shown defeating and trampling on the deva Maheśvara (one of the Buddhist analogues to Shiva) and his consort Umā (Pārvatī).Template:Sfnp A commentary on the Mahavairocana Tantra by the Tang monk Yi Xing meanwhile attributes the taming of Maheśvara to another Template:Tlit, Acala.

List of Wisdom Kings

The Five Wisdom Kings

In Chinese and Japanese (Shingon and Tendai) esoteric Buddhism, the Five Great Wisdom Kings (Template:Lang, Template:Tlit; Template:Tlit), also known as the Five Guardian Kings, are a group of vidyārājas who are considered to be both the fierce emanations of the Five Wisdom Buddhas and the guardians of Buddhist doctrine.Template:Sfnp<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Organized according to the five directions (the four cardinal points plus the center), the Five Kings are usually defined as follows:

Vajrayakṣa or Ucchuṣma

(north)

Yamāntaka

(west)

Acala

(center)

Trailokyavijaya

(east)

Kuṇḍali

(south)

The Eight Wisdom Kings

In Chinese Buddhism, the Eight Great Wisdom Kings (Template:Zhi) is another grouping of Wisdom Kings that is depicted in statues, mural art and paintings. The acknowledged canonical source of the grouping of eight is The Sūtra of the Blazing Uṣṇīṣa of the Wondrous Vajra Kuṇḍali and Yamāntaka (Template:Zhi).<ref name=":0">Template:Cite thesis</ref> Another canonical source for the grouping of eight is the Template:Tlit (Template:Zhi), the Chinese translation of which, completed in about 980-1000 CE, is attributed to the monk Tianxizai, who is possibly the north Indian Shantideva.Template:Sfnp Each of the Wisdom Kings correspond to one of the Eight Great Bodhisattvas[zh] in Chinese Buddhism as well as to a specific compass direction.

The Eight Wisdom Kings, with exceptions in certain lists, are usually defined as:Template:Sfnp

Kuṇḍali

(north-west)

Padanakṣipa

(north)

Acala

(north-east)

Hayagrīva

(west)

Yamāntaka

(east)

Mahācakra

(south-west)

Aparājita

(south)

Trailokyavijaya

(south-east)

The Ten Wisdom Kings

Template:Wide image

The more common grouping found in Chinese Buddhism is the Ten Great Wisdom Kings (Template:Zhi). Several groupings of the Ten Kings exist based on different canonical scriptural sources, each of which differ slightly in the naming of certain vidyārājas and attributing certain Kings to different Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Some examples of acknowledged canonical sources for the grouping of the Ten Wisdom Kings are The Sūtra of the Liturgy for Brilliant Contemplation of the Ten Wrathful Wisdom Kings of the Illusory Net of the Great Yoga Teachings (Template:Zhi) as well as The Sūtra with the Great Instructions that are Universal, Secret, and Unexcelled about the Contemplations of Mañjuśrī (Template:Zhi).Template:Sfnp<ref name=":0" />

In contemporary Chinese Buddhist practice, the Ten Wisdom Kings are regularly invoked in ceremonies and rituals, such as the Template:Tlit ceremony, where they are provided offerings and entreated to expel evil from the ritual platform. In particular, ritual paintings of the Ten Wisdom Kings are arranged in a particular maṇḍala (Template:Zhi) during the Template:Tlit ceremony, with a particular direction associated with each Wisdom King.<ref>Template:Cite thesisTemplate:Pn</ref><ref>Template:Cite bookTemplate:Pn</ref> The Wisdom King Ucchuṣma (Template:Zhi), a manifestation of Śakyamuni, is not counted among the Ten Wisdom Kings in the ceremony, but he is still invoked separately from the grouping in the same ritual and his image is typically enshrined ahead of the outer north direction of the maṇḍala of the Ten Wisdom Kings. The specific list of the Ten Wisdom Kings invoked during the Template:Tlit ceremony, along with their associated directions in the maṇḍala, is canonized in the ceremony's ritual manual (Template:Zhi) based on scriptural sources.<ref name=":1" /> They are as follows:Template:Sfnp<ref name=":1">Template:Citation</ref>

Mahācakra

(outer north)

Mahābala

(north-west)

Kuṇḍali

(inner north)

Yamāntaka

(north-east)

Hayagrīva

(west)

Acala

(east)

Padanakṣipa

(south-west)

Aparājita

(inner south)

Vajrahāsa

(south-east)

Trailokyavijaya

(outer south)

Others

File:愛染明王, Rāgarāja, Kamakura period 2.jpg
Rāgarāja (Aizen Myōō), 13th century, Japan. Important Cultural Property.

Other deities to whom the title vidyārāja is applied include:

Examples

File:Dazu 2007 728.jpg
Song dynasty (960-1279) statue of the Wisdom Queen Mahāmāyūrī surrounded by various devas, part of the Dazu Rock Carvings at Chongqing, China.

Examples of depictions of the Eight Wisdom Kings can be found at:

Examples of depictions of the Ten Wisdom Kings can be found at:

See also

Template:Commons

References

Template:Reflist

Further reading

Template:Buddhism topics Template:Chinese Buddhist Pantheon

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