Tenrin Jo-o
Chakravartin ~ Wheel Turning King
The wheel turning king is the ideal monarch, and in many ways
is the worldly counterpart of the Buddha. They are even said to
possess all of the thirty-two marks which the buddhas, celestial
bodhisattvas, and the higher deities possess. In many ways, the
wheel turning king represents the highest state of virtue and
power that one can attain in the world of humanity. King Ashoka
(reign: ca. 268-232 B.C.E.), who united India, converted to
Buddhism, and administered his empire in keeping with Buddhist
principles of non-violence and tolerance, is often said to have
been like a wheel turning king. A Dictionary of Buddhist
Terms and Concepts says:
"Ideal rulers in Indian mythology. In Buddhism, they
are regarded as kings who rule the world by justice rather
than force. They possess the thirty-two features and rule the
four continents surrounding Mt. Sumeru by turning the wheels
which the were given by heaven. These wheels are of four
kinds: gold, silver, copper, and iron. The gold-wheel-turning
king rules all of the four continents; the
silver-wheel-turning-king, the eastern, western, and southern
continents; the copper-wheel-turning-king, the eastern and
southern continents; and the iron-wheel-turning-king, the
southern continent. They are said to appear during a kalpa of
increase, when the human life span is between twenty thousand
and eighty thousand years, or at the beginning of the first
period of decrease in the Kalpa of Continuance, when the
human life span measures between innumerable years and eighty
thousand years." (p. 504)
In Philosophies of India, Heinrich Zimmer describes
the seven treasures that each wheel turning king acquires which enable them to rule:
"1. The Sacred Wheel (cakra), denoting
universality. The Cakravartin himself is the hub of the
universe; toward him all things tend, like the spokes of a
wheel. He is the Pole Star about which everything revolves
with the order and harmony of the hosts of the celestial
lights.
2. The Divine White Elephant (hastiratna,
'elephant-treasure'). Swift as thought, this divine animal
carries the monarch on his world-inspection tours across the
firmament. The white elephant was the ancient sacred mount of
the pre-Aryan kings.
3. The Milk-white Horse, the valorous sun-steed (asvaratna,
'horse-treasure'). The horse was the mount and chariot animal
of the Aryan invaders. This milk-white animal performs the
same service for the Cakravartin as the Divine White
Elephant.
4. The Magic Jewel (cintamani, 'thought-jewel'),
i.e., the wishing-stone that turns night into day and
fulfills every desire the moment the wish is uttered.
5. The Perfect Queen-Consort (striratna,
'treasure of a wife'): the ideal woman, faultless in beauty,
as in virtue. Her body has a cooling touch during the hot
season and a warming touch during the cold.
6. The Perfect Minister of Finance (gehapati,
grhapati, 'householder'). Because of his able and
blameless administration, he is never short of funds for the
purposes of lavish generosity; his charity is dispensed
throughout the universe, to alleviate the sufferings of
widows, orphans, the aged, and the sick.
7. The Perfect General-in-Chief (parinayaka,
'the leader')." (pp.130-131)
In chapter 14 of the Lotus Sutra, "Peaceful
Practices," the Buddha tells the parable of the Jewel in the
Top-knot which is about a wheel turning king who bestows the
cintamani or Wish Fulfilling Gem upon those who served him, just
as the Buddha bestows the Lotus Sutra upon his own
followers.
Icon: An idealized king holding a wheel with the wish-fulfilling jewel in his top-knot.
Ajase Dai-o
King Ajatashatru
King Ajatashatru was the king of Magadha, whose capital city
was Rajagriha, at the time that the Lotus Sutra was
taught by Shakyamuni Buddha. Vulture Peak, where the Lotus
Sutra is taught, is actually located just outside of
Rajagriha to the northeast. King Ajatashatru appears in the
assembly in the first chapter.
Ajatashatru was the son of King Bimbisara and Queen Vaidehi.
According to the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, King
Bimbisara and his wife were unable to conceive a child. One day a
seer told them that there was an ascetic living in the forest who
was destined to be their child after his death. King Bimbisara
hoped to speed the process along by having the ascetic murdered.
Queen Vaidehi did conceive, but now the seer informed the king
that because of what he had done, the boy would grow up and
become his father's killer. Alarmed by this, King Bimbisara
dropped the baby from the palace walls after his birth, but the
boy survived and King Bimbisara apparently decided that he should
not do anything else to make things worse. The name Ajatashatru
means: "Enemy Before Birth."
Eight years before the parinirvana of Shakyamuni Buddha,
Devadatta magically appeared before Prince Ajatashatru in the
form of a young boy wreathed in snakes. Ajatashatru was terrified
by this apparition, but when he found out it was actually
Devadatta he was very impressed by this supernatural display.
From that time on they plotted together so that Ajatashatru could
usurp the throne from King Bimbisara, and Devadatta could take
over the Sangha from Shakyamuni Buddha. In the meantime, Prince
Ajatashatru became Devadatta's royal patron and gave him all that
he could want and more than he could even use. Finally,
Shakyamuni Buddha had Devadatta publicly denounced by the Sangha.
From that point on, the Sangha was no longer responsible for his
actions. Only Devadatta was to be held accountable for his
actions. Shortly after this, Devadatta talked Ajatashatru into
attempting to assassinate his father the king. The plot was
discovered but in the end King Bimbisara voluntarily relinquished
the throne to his son. Ajatashatru imprisoned his father upon
taking the throne and had him starved to death. When his mother
Vaidehi tried to smuggle food to the deposed king, Ajatashatru
almost struck her down with his sword, but his counselors
persuaded him not to commit such a heinous act. Instead, he
confined her to an inner chamber in the palace. After taking the
throne, one of King Ajatashatru's first acts was to dispatch
assassins, at the instigation of Devadatta, to kill Shakyamuni
Buddha. The assassins all failed because none of them could go
through with the act of killing the Buddha once they were in his
presence and they all became disciples of the Buddha in the end.
Devadatta later succeeded in starting a schism but his schismatic
order collapsed when the monks who had joined him returned to
Shakyamuni Buddha and the legitimate Sangha.
Devadatta died not long after. Ajatashatru himself was
eventually overcome by guilt because of his misdeeds and even
developed life threatening boils all over his body according to
the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra. Jivaka, the court
physician, finally convinced King Ajatashatru to go and ask the
Buddha for help. He was very impressed by the Buddha's teaching
and at that time he repented, took refuge in the Three Treasures,
and became a lay-disciple of the Buddha; thus eradicating the
evil karma which brought about the boils and prolonging his life.
The reign of King Ajatashatru was not a peaceful one, and he was
frequently either scheming against or openly at war with his
neighbors. He did, however, build a monument for his share of the
relics of the Buddha and he supported the First Buddhist Counsel.
If the wheel rolling king represents the unattainable ideal
of a monarch as conceived by Indian mythology, then King
Ajatashatru represents the brutal reality of Indian history. In
the course of his life he murdered his father, attempted to
murder his mother, engaged in constant warfare and plotting
against his neighbors, and even tried to have the Buddha
assassinated. In the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra,
King Ajatashatru represents the icchantikka. A Dictionary of
Buddhist Terms and Concepts says:
"Originally a hedonist or one who cherished only
secular values. In Buddhism, the term came to mean those who
have neither faith in Buddhism nor aspiration for
enlightenment and, therefore, no prospect of attaining
Buddhahood. Icchantika is sometimes translated as
'those of incorrigible disbelief.' Some sutras say that
icchantika are inherently and forever incapable of reaching
enlightenment, while other, particularly those of later
Mahayana, hold that even icchantika can become Buddhas."
(p. 176)
King Ajatashatru and his attendants are listed as present in
the "Introductory" chapter of the Lotus Sutra.
Icon: An Indian king with a sword and scepter perhaps covered
in boils with a guilt-ridden expression.
Ashura-o (Asura King)
The asuras are one of the eight kinds of supernatural beings
who are said to revere and protect the Dharma. They are also the
fighting demons who are the constant rivals of the devas, such as
Indra and the four heavenly kings. The world of the fighting demons is one of the six lower world of rebirth and it is
characterized by jealousy, envy, pride, and constant competition.
The name asura means either "anti-gods" or
those "without wine." The asuras are those who competed
with the devas to rule the world, but agreed to assist them in
churning the ocean in order to bring forth the soma, the
elixir-of-life. But the devas were able to cheat the asuras of
the soma in the end, thus depriving them of the wine of
immortality. The asuras are said to live beneath the ocean and on
the mountains ranges immediately surrounding Mt. Sumeru. Four of
their kings were present to hear the Lotus Sutra: Balin
Asura-King, Kharaskandha Asura-King, Vemacitrin Asura-King, and Rahu
Asura-King.
Icon: A tall warrior with three head and six arms. The
central head has a woeful expression and the other two are
enraged. Two of the arms are holding a bow and arrow; two others
are holding up a small sun and moon, and the last two are in the
Anjali mudra (gassho).
Dai Ryu-o
Naga-raja ~ Dragon King
The nagas are one of the eight kinds of supernatural beings
who are said to revere and protect the Dharma. The nagas are the
dragons or serpents who dwell beneath the ocean and who control
the tides, the flow of the rivers, and the rain. The Flammarion
Iconographic Guide: Buddhism describes the nagas as follows:
"These are actually serpents, symbols of the
chthnoic powers associated with the element of water. In
India especially, they were regarded as guardians of the
treasures of the earth. Although they are minor deities, they
are powerful beings, thought to possess all the sciences.
According to legend, they took the great Buddhist philosopher
Nagarjuna to their realm where he rediscovered the lost Prajnaparamita texts - the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, the
fundamental texts of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy...These
chthonic deities were adopted by Buddhism from the outset.
Legend claims that a king of the Nagas, named Elapatra,
disguised himself as a human king to listen to a sermon of
the Buddha. Kings of the Nagas are depicted at the birth of
Sakyamuni Buddha. One of them, named Mucilinda, is said to have sheltered the meditating Buddha during a great storm and
torrential rain, by surrounding him with the coils of his
body and forming a protective awning with his hood; images
depicting this episode are numerous in Buddhist art,
especially in South-East Asia." (pp.276-277)
Eight dragon kings were present at the teaching of the Lotus
Sutra: Nanda, Upananda, Sagara, Vasuki, Taksaka, Anavatapta,
Manasvin, and Utpalaka. In chapter 12, the "Devadatta"
chapter, Manjushri Bodhisattva returns from the palace of the
Dragon-King Sagara in the ocean where he had been teaching the Lotus
Sutra. He then introduces all the innumerable bodhisattvas
that he had taught, including the eight year old daughter of the
dragon king. The dragon king's daughter then proceeds to
demonstrate the instant attainment of buddhahood. The attainment
of buddhahood by the Dragon King Sagara's daughter is the only
time in the sutras that a contemporary of Shakyamuni Buddha
attains buddhahood during the course of his teachings.
According to tradition, one of the guardians of Kuonji Temple
on Mount Minobu is Shichimen Daimyojin, the dragon who resides on the nearby Mt. Shichimen. The legend holds that a beautiful woman
used to attend Nichiren's lectures at Mt. Minobu. One day, he
asked her who she was and she explained that she was the spirit
of Mt. Shichimen. Nichiren, however, perceived that she was
actually a dragon and he made her promise to be the guardian of
Kuonji Temple.
Icon: A king whose body below the waist is that of a coiled
snake. He wears a seven headed snake for a crown or aureole In
his right hand is a sword and in his left there is a noose. He
rides on a cloud.
Kishimojin (Hariti)
Hariti, whose name means "stealer of children," is a female yaksha, or yakshini, who originally came from the town
of Rajagriha. The yakshas are one of the eight kinds of
supernatural beings who are said to revere and protect the
Dharma. The yakshas are a kind of flesh-eating demon or spirit
who make up the guardian king Vaishravana's army. Originally the
yakshas appeared as the spirits of the trees and forests and even
villages; but they had a fierce side as well, and in their more
demonic aspect came to be called rakshasas. They are numbered
among the hungry ghosts. Hariti's husband is Pancika, one of the
28 yaksha generals of Vaishravana. He is the father of her 500
sons. She is also said to have 10 daughters who are considered
rakshasas, which shows how interchangeable the classifications
yaksha and rakshasa are.
Hariti was obsessed with eating the children of Rajagriha,
and eventually even her brother, the benevolent yaksha guardian
of Rajagriha, and her husband Pancika were unable to stop her.
Neither King Bimbisara nor even the devas were able to stop her,
so in desperation the townspeople turned to Shakyamuni Buddha.
The Buddha then visited her home while she was away and used his
supernatural powers to hide her youngest son under his alms bowl.
When Hariti returned and could not find her son she was
distraught and finally she herself sought out the Buddha. The
Buddha then pointed out to her that if she felt so badly about
missing even one child out of 500, she should consider how badly
the parents of Rajagriha must feel when she takes away their
children when they have so few to begin with. Hearing this,
Hariti felt remorse and compassion for those she had harmed. She
repented of her actions; took refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and
Sangha; took the five major precepts; and vowed to protect the
people of Rajagriha. Shakyamuni Buddha then restored her youngest
son to her. In return the Buddha had his monks, from that time
on, make a symbolic offer of their food to the hungry ghosts.
Hariti came to be considered a protector of children and women
giving birth as well as a protector of the Dharma, and her gentle
image as a "giver of children" would sometimes cause her to be confused with Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva.
Hariti appears in chapter 26 of the Lotus Sutra
along with her ten daughters to offer dharanis for the protection of the teacher of the Lotus Sutra.
Icon: A fierce looking woman with fangs. Her hands form the anjali mudra (gassho).
Jurasetsunyo
Ten Female Rakshasas
The ten rakshasis, or female rakshasas, are the daughters of
Hariti. Rakshasas are a kind of flesh-eating, blood drinking, or
spirit draining demon or spirit. The tamer ones are known as
yakshas and are the spirits of the trees and forests and even
villages. They are considered a powerful type of hungry ghost.
They appear as beautiful women (granted with fangs) in courtly
attire bearing various weapons or other symbolic objects.
1. Lamba - carrying a sword in her right hand and a sutra
in her left.
2. Vilamba - holding cymbals in her hands.
3. Crooked Teeth - carrying a tray of flowers in her left
hand, right hand prepares to take a flower.
4. Flower-Teeth - her right hand is in the pendent Varada
mudra, left hand holds a wish fulfilling gem.
5. Black-Teeth - her right hand is in the Abhaya mudra, left
holds a halberd.
6. Many-Hairs - her right hand holds a halberd, left hand is
in the Abhaya mudra.
7. Insatiable - right hand holds a scepter, left holds a
flower vase.
8. Necklace-Holding - holding a garland in both hands.
9. Kunti - holding a spear.
10. Plunderer-Of-Energy-Of-All-Beings - holds a staff in her
right, left holds a club.
The ten rakshasis and their mother, Hariti, appear in chapter
26 of the Lotus Sutra and together offer dharanis for the protection of the teacher of the Lotus Sutra.
Daibadatta (Devadatta)
Devadatta was the Buddha's first cousin and Ananda's brother
(sources differ as to whether he was older or younger). Some
versions of the Buddha's life portray Devadatta as a rival from
childhood. In one story he shoots down a swan which falls to
earth near Siddhartha. Siddhartha takes out the arrow and nurses
it back to health, but Devadatta insists that the swan belongs to
him because he shot it. The two boys took the case to the court
where the king's counselors argued over the merits of each case.
In the end, a wise man declared that the swan should belong to
one who saved its life rather than the one who tried to take it
away. Devadatta was also said to have competed for Yashodhara's
hand in marriage, but again lost to his cousin Siddhartha.
Devadatta joined the Sangha along with his brother Ananda,
and other Shakyan clansman including Aniruddha and the barber
Upali. This occurred not long after the Buddha's first visit to
Kapilavastu in the second year after his enlightenment. For a
long time Devadatta was a respected member of the Sangha, and he
did develop the supernatural powers that can be acquired through
meditation. His hidden jealousy and envy, however, prevented him
from attaining any genuine insight or liberation.
Eight years before the parinirvana of Shakyamuni Buddha,
Devadatta magically appeared before Prince Ajatashatru in the
form of a young boy wreathed in snakes. Ajatashatru was terrified
by this apparition, but when he found out it was actually
Devadatta he was very impressed by this supernatural display.
From that time on they plotted together so that Ajatashatru could
usurp the throne from King Bimbisara, and Devadatta could take
over the Sangha from Shakyamuni Buddha. In the meantime, Prince
Ajatashatru became Devadatta's royal patron and gave him all that
he could want and more than he could even use. At this time,
Devadatta lost his supernatural powers due to his greed and
ambition. After that, Devadatta made a bid to take over the
Sangha arguing that the Buddha should retire and trust it to his
care. The Buddha firmly rejected this offer and when Devadatta
persisted he said: "I would not hand over the Sangha of
monks even to Shariputra or Maudgalyayana. How should I do to
such a wastrel, a clot of spittle, as you?" (adapted from
p.258, The Life of the Buddha) Finally, Shakyamuni
Buddha had Devadatta publicly denounced by the Sangha. From that
point on, the Sangha was no longer responsible for his actions.
Only Devadatta would be held accountable for his actions.
Shortly after this, Devadatta talked Ajatashatru into
usurping the throne from his father. After taking the throne, one
of King Ajatashatru's first acts was to dispatch assassins, at
the instigation of Devadatta, to kill Shakyamuni Buddha. The
assassins all failed because none of them could go through with
the act of killing the Buddha once they were in his presence and
they all became disciples of the Buddha in the end. Deciding that
he would have to kill the Buddha himself, Devadatta then rolled a
boulder down onto him from Vulture Peak, but the boulder only
injured the Buddha's foot. Another time, Devadatta used his
influence at court to get the stable hands to set loose the
maddened elephant Nalagiri so that it would trample the Buddha,
but the Buddha tamed Nalagiri with the power of his
loving-kindness. After this, Devadatta's reputation became so bad
that King Ajatashatru was forced to withdraw his patronage.
Devadatta later succeeded in starting a schism by proposing
that the Buddha adopt five mandatory ascetic practices: (1) monks
should become forest dwellers and no longer live in villages or
towns; (2) monks should only beg for food and no longer accept
dinner invitations; (3) monks should only use rags from rubbish
heaps and should no longer accept donated robes; (4) monks should
only sleep under trees and not in buildings; and (5) monks should
only eat vegetables and no longer accept any offerings of meat or
fish. The Buddha refused to make these practices mandatory and so
Devadatta was able to convince 500 younger members to join him
because his practice was more rigorous than the Buddha's.
Shariputra and Maudgalyayana, however, pretended to join
Devadatta but then convinced the 500 to return to the Buddha.
After the Buddha's attempt at creating a rival Sangha failed it
is said that the ground opened up and he fell into hell alive.
Other sources say that on his deathbed he tried to repent, saying
"Namah Buddha," but that this was too little too late.
Devadatta himself is not present in the Lotus Sutra,
so apparently the assembly on Vulture Peak takes place after his
death. In chapter 12 of the Lotus Sutra, the
"Devadatta" chapter, Shakyamuni Buddha reveals that in
a previous life he had been a king who renounced his throne and
became the servant of Devadatta, who at that time was a seer
named Asita, who taught him the Lotus Sutra. The Buddha
stated that was able to attain enlightenment because Devadatta
had been his teacher in that previous lifetime. The Buddha then
made the astonishing prediction that in the future Devadatta
would become a buddha named Heavenly-King in a pure land named
Heavenly-Way.
Devadatta represents the quintessential hell-dweller, but he
is also a primary example of the universality of the Lotus
Sutra which teaches that even one such as he will eventually
be able to attain buddhahood. Devadatta also shows that even the
worst of people can be considered our teachers and have made
contributions which we may not always be able to recognize
without the insight of a buddha.
Icon: A tormented youth with a girdle of snakes wreathed in
flames or perhaps a monk with a scheming expression.
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Lotus World: an Illustrated Guide to the Gohonzon
