Kangiten
Kangiten or Kankiten, also known as Binayaka, Ganabachi, or more commonly, Shōten or Shōden, is a deva venerated mainly in the Shingon and Tendai schools of Japanese Buddhism.
Although Kangiten in the beginning was negatively portrayed as the creator of obstacles and the leader of a class of malignant demons who obstructed Buddhist practice called vinayakas, though later tradition made an attempt to distinguish between the vinayakas and their lord, who became seen as a manifestation of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara and/or the buddha Vairochana.
Kangiten enjoys both a positive and negative reception in Japan. On the one hand, he is popularly revered as an extremely efficacious god who grants whatever is asked of him without fail, including impossible wishes. He is also said to watch over those who have a karmic connection with him from the moment of their conception, serving as their invisible companion throughout their lives. On the other hand, he is considered to be still bound by base passions and desires and thus is sometimes also regarded as a rather volatile, demanding god who is quick to punish those who have offended him.
Unlike his Hindu counterpart, whose image is prominently displayed in public, Kangiten is considered too sacred to be seen: images of the deity in temples are kept hidden from view, rituals centered on him are performed by qualified monks out of public sight, and lay devotees are discouraged from venerating iconographic depictions of the god at home.
While he is sometimes depicted as an elephant-headed single male deity like Ganesha, he is more commonly portrayed as a male-female couple standing in an embrace in an iconographic depiction known as the Dual Kangiten or the Embracing Kangiten.
Names
Kangiten inherited many names and characteristics from the Buddhist deity, who was generally referred to by the name 'Vinayaka'. 'Vinayaka' was transcribed into Chinese characters as 毘那夜迦, 頻那夜迦, and 毘那怛迦, respectively, while 'Ganapati' was transcribed as 誐那鉢底 or 伽那鉢底 / 迦那鉢底. The term vinayaka was also used to refer to a class of beings to which Vinayaka and/or his cohorts belong.In Japan, the deity is commonly known as 'Shōten' / 'Shōden' or 'Kangiten'. The former epithet indicates his association with good luck and fortune and may be an allusion to the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, who is also known as 'Aryavalokiteshvara', one of the figures that constitute the dual-bodied Kangiten, while the latter is especially associated with this dual form, who is venerated as a giver of joy and prosperity. Among devotees, he is also sometimes simply referred to by the honorific 'Tenson'.
In this article, the names 'Vinayaka', 'Ganapati', 'Shōten' and 'Kangiten' are used interchangeably for the Buddhist deity, with 'Kangiten' specifically denoting the deity's dual form.
Historical development and literature
As demon and deity
Several theories have been advanced regarding the origins of the Hindu deity Ganesha, who first undisputably appears in the historical record in his classic form around the early 4th to 5th centuries CE. One theory is that Ganesha gradually came to prominence in connection with the Vinayakas, a group of four troublesome demons mentioned in the Manava-Grihyasutra and the Mahabharata.Whereas in Hinduism Ganesha was regarded mainly as a remover of obstacles, Buddhists originally emphasized his destructive side as the creator of obstacles and his function as a demon king. Early instances of the name 'Vinayaka' in Buddhist texts for instance have a negative connotation, denoting a malignant being who is both the cause and the symbolic representation of obstacles or impediments. A note in the Mahamayuri Vidyarajni Sutra by the Tang period monk Yijing defines Vinayaka as an "obstructive deity" and notes his widespread worship in the west. The Mahavairochana Tantra meanwhile speaks of demonic entities such as vinayakas and rakshasas being dispersed through the power of mantra. The monk Yi Xing, in his commentary on this text, describes vinayakas as obstructions produced from a deluded mind. In esoteric Buddhist literature, Vinayaka is portrayed as the enemy of the ritual practitioner who is to be either expelled with mantras or soothed with ritual offerings, which are then consumed by the practitioner to increase his strength; once duly propitiated he turns into the practitioner's ally, a protecting deity who removes all impediments. Vinayaka – also known under the name 'Vighnaraja', "Lord of Obstacles" – is sometimes also shown being trampled on by wrathful deities like Mahakala or Achala in Tibetan and East Asian Buddhist art.
The emergence of Esoteric Buddhism and its spread to Nepal, Tibet, and eventually to East Asia saw Vinayaka acquire a more positive role as a subjugator of demons. In Tibet, the deity was worshiped for the removal of obstacles and the granting of wealth and was at times portrayed as a wrathful, multiarmed deity wielding weapons. A Nepalese text provides a list of spells invoking Ganapati to not only bestow wealth but also to cause harm to enemies. Vinayaka is also depicted in a wall painting in Mogao Cave 285 in Dunhuang as a protector of Buddhism with the gods Maheshvara and Skanda.
Introduction to Japan
The two primary mandalas of East Asian esoteric Buddhism also feature Vinayaka. In the Womb Realm Mandala, Vinayaka is found among the retinue of the directional deity Ishana with the god Mahakala, while the outer sections of the Vajra Realm Mandala contains four groups of five deities distributed along the four directions, each group containing one vinayaka – here interpreted as emanations of the buddha Vairochana who expressly adopt the form of vinayakas in order to subjugate the obstacle-causing demons.Vinayaka's inclusion in these mandalas – brought to Japan by Kūkai, the founder of Shingon Buddhism – facilitated his introduction to Japan, where he was first considered a minor guardian of the two mandalas. By the Heian period, Vinayaka emerged as a besson, a deity with an individualized cult centered around him. The deity's cult was developed within the Shingon school by the monk Kakuban, while in Tendai, it was systematized by Annen.
Emergence of Dual Vinayaka (Kangiten)
The late Heian period saw the rise in popularity of the Dual-bodied Kangiten image, in which Vinayaka is shown as an embracing male-female couple.The origins of this imagery, unique to East Asia, have perplexed scholars for years; there is no concrete evidence about the inception of this form. It has been compared with the sexual yab-yum iconography found in Nepal and Tibet, although it is markedly different from them in that both figures have animal heads and are shown fully clothed. Lode Rosseels suggests that the Dual Vinayaka form may have originated from an iconographic type attested in Xinjiang and Dunhuang in the 8th century showing Ganapati with four legs, which was "reinterpreted by the Chinese in accordance with popular Taoist ideals... which probably resulted in the restoration of the four-legged and four-armed form to two almost identical elephant-headed deities in a nonsexual embrace."
The form is first attested in 7th–8th century Chinese esoteric Buddhist texts. The Dharani-samuchchaya Sutra, translated into Chinese by a monk named Atigupta in 653–654 CE describes a ritual to worship the Dual Vinayaka, which was replicated by Amoghavajra in his ritual text Rite of the Dual-bodied Vinayaka, the Great Saintly Deva of Bliss. The text gives instructions for the fashioning of both the dual-bodied and the six-armed single Vinayaka images and specifies the types of offerings one should give to the deity.
Two texts attributed to Bodhiruchi, the Sutra of the Mantras and Rituals of the Gana, and the Larger Sutra of the Mantras and Rituals of the Gana, contain the same guidelines for rituals and depictions of the Dual-bodied Vinayaka. In the former text, Vinayaka teaches a multitude of deities and demons who have congregated at Mount Kailash a one-syllable mantra, followed by a description of a ritual dedicated to the Dual Vinayaka similar to that found in Amoghavajra's text. Vinayaka's demon followers promise the deity to grant the wishes of whoever repeats the one-syllable mantra. The Larger Gana Sutra meanwhile contains additional rituals to propitiate the Dual Vinayaka as well as the four-armed form of the deity. It also has rituals aimed at attracting love, gaining wisdom, or destroying enemies.
A ritual manual by Shubhakarasimha titled Ritual of the Mantras and Offerings that Converted the Great Saintly Deva of Bliss King Vinayaka, the Dual-Bodied Maheshvara mentions new myths regarding the Dual-bodied Vinayaka not found in Indian sources and is the first text that explicitly associates the deity with the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. It also prohibits placing his images in Buddhist altar rooms.
Other esoteric texts on Vinayaka
The Sutra of the Divine Incantations of the Eleven-Headed , translated by the monk Xuanzang in 656 CE, expounds the rite of bathing an image of Vinayaka with perfumed water.A short text attributed to Amoghavajra titled Tantra on the Practice of the Secret Ritual of the Dual-bodied Bodhisattva Great Saintly Deva of Bliss, the Samaya-Body Copenetrated by Meditation and Wisdom of the Tathagata Mahavairochana describes the Dual Vinayaka ritual as a procedure to gain four kinds of benefits or siddhis which come in three grades: the highest grade confers kingship; the second grade provides wealth; the third grade provides sufficient food and clothing. In parallel to the material results, the tantra classifies ritual practitioners into three categories: the highest class of adept are allowed to learn the rite's inner secrets, the middle are permitted to read the text, while the lowest may not conduct the ritual on their own but should let a more developed practitioner do it for them. The text notably prescribes alcoholic beverages, dubbed the "water of bliss", as an offering to the deity, which is then consumed as a medicine to remove evil.
Amoghavajra's disciple Hanguang composed a text in 747 called Secret Essence of the Yoga-siddhi of the Vinayaka Ganapati in which he continued his master's work. He writes that every ritual should be preceded by an invocation to Vinayaka-Ganapati, the god of beginnings. This text identifies both Vinayaka and Avalokiteshvara as manifestations of the all-pervading body of the buddha Vairochana, with the pair being taken to symbolize both Vairochana's material and spiritual aspects.
A ritual manual attributed to Bodhiruci with the title The Rite of the Nine-Eyed Deva, the Provisional Manifestation of the Golden Ganapati describes a wrathful manifestation of Vinayaka with four arms and three heads apparently based on Tibetan forms of the deity. The manual gives instructions for the fashioning of the image, which should then be kept hidden from view at all times and offered radishes, cakes, sweets, and honey. A sutra translated by Vajrabodhi known as The Dharani Sutra of the Golden Ganapati gives instructions on how to depict a six-armed Ganapati, which should also be concealed and offered sweets such as, honey, and fruits.
File:Pelliot chinois 4518-08.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Vinayaka and his boar-headed consort, from Dunhuang
An apocryphal sutra dating from the early 11th century, The Attainment Rites of Vinayaka taught by Vajrasattva, contains black magic spells invoking vinayakas aimed at the destruction of one's enemies. This text was deemed so gruesome that Emperor Zhenzong banned its circulation in China in 1017.
A minor astrological or divinatory text apocryphally attributed to Prajnachakra, another disciple of Amoghavajra who became the master of the Tendai monk Enchin, known as The Rules for the Diviner's Board of the Great Saintly Bliss Deva describes the outline of an esoteric divination board, which consisted of two parts linked by an axis: the cylindrical or conical upper part called the "heavenly board", was cylindrical or conical, and the square lower part called the "earthly board". The practitioner is to visualize four vinayakas at each of the cardinal directions on the tenban, while the guardian deities of the eight directions and the Twenty-Eight Mansions of Chinese astronomy are to be visualized on the chiban. The text then lists a number of possible combinations obtained by rotating the tenban over the chiban, each of which produced different material benefits such as obtaining a high position, attaining marital union, making a person fall ill, or returning a curse to its sender.
Kūkai, who brought Shubhakarasimha's, Vajrabodhi's, and Amoghavajra's ritual manuals with him to Japan, is also said to have himself authored a text on Vinayaka titled the Shōten Procedural. The Tendai monk Ennin, too, lists the Rite of the Dual-bodied Vinayaka, the Great Saintly Deva of Bliss among the texts he obtained in China.