DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.75620#0115
GANESA IN JAPAN 79
None of the representations of Ganesa in the Vajra-dhatu, however, were adopted
popularly in Japan except the fifth form or Vinayaka, who was to be found directly
below Vajra-mukha, the guardian of the north side of the mandala. As the image
of Vinayaka in the Garbha-dhatu was also placed on the north side of the diagram,1
it seems to prove, especially as they both carry the same attribute, the radish,2
that they were meant to represent the same aspect of the deity, the 'Remover of
Obstacles '.
We have seen above that the radish as an attribute of Ganesa was unknown in
Ceylon as well as in India, except in the north-east part bordering on Tibet and
Nepal, where, on the contrary, it was found almost without exception in the place of
the broken tusk.3 It seems evident, therefore, that the original diagram was con-
ceived and constructed in north-east India; but by whom ? According to Japanese
tradition, the sramana Nagabodhi who had taught Amoghavajra on the latter's return
to India the method of constructing the mandalas, had received instruction in turn
from the saint Nagarjuna who lived in the middle of the seventh century. Although
a native of southern India, 'Tantric' Nagarjuna, it is recorded, 'went to the Hima-
layas, where he began to study, teach, and propagate the Mahayana'.4 He was one
of the earliest writers on Tantric Buddhism; and, according to B. Bhattacharyya,
was responsible for two sadhanas in the Sddhanamdld of which one, relating to the
worship of Ekajata, he is said to have 'rescued from the country of Bhota, which
is identified with Tibet'.5 It would seem from this that Nagarjuna reached at least
the borders of Tibet, in which case he must have been famihar with the form of
Ganesa holding the radish ; and if the diagram of the Vajra-dhatu transmitted to
Amoghavajra by Nagabodhi was constructed by Nagarjuna, his guru, the presence
in the mandala of the form of Ganesa with the radish is apparently explained. At
any rate, the representation of Ganesa holding the radish seems to have been
handed down without change in its original form to Amoghavajra, who carried it to
China, whence it was introduced into Japan by Kobo Daishi.
Japanese Buddhism wove a legend around this form which might well be called
a 'composite' legend, for it was made up of elements that we have met with before
in other Asiatic countries, but in legends in no way concerned with Ganesa.6 The
myth runs as follows: there was once a king by the name of Mararuratsu (?) who
ate only meat and radishes ; but when he had eaten all the animals in the kingdom,
he was given the flesh of his dead subjects to eat. When there were no more dead
in the kingdom, his frightened officials killed his subjects to furnish him with food;
but the people revolted and the king, who, in reality, was a wicked demon, took
B. L. Suzuki, Eastern Buddhism, vol. iii, 1924.
5 Buddhist Esoterism, p. 68.
6 v. the beginning of the Pah jdtaka no. 537;
Jdtaka-mdla, no. 31 ; Bhadra-Kalpdvaddna, no. 34 ;
Cinq cents contes et apologues, by Ed. Chavannes,
nos. 41 and 133; The Story of Kalmdsapada, &c.,
by Watanabe in the Journ. Pali Text Soc. 1909,
pp. 236-310.
1 The points of the compass of the Garbha-
dhatu are:
east
north —I— south
west
2 v. p. 77.
3 v. p. 38.
4 The Shingon School of Mahayana Buddhism,
None of the representations of Ganesa in the Vajra-dhatu, however, were adopted
popularly in Japan except the fifth form or Vinayaka, who was to be found directly
below Vajra-mukha, the guardian of the north side of the mandala. As the image
of Vinayaka in the Garbha-dhatu was also placed on the north side of the diagram,1
it seems to prove, especially as they both carry the same attribute, the radish,2
that they were meant to represent the same aspect of the deity, the 'Remover of
Obstacles '.
We have seen above that the radish as an attribute of Ganesa was unknown in
Ceylon as well as in India, except in the north-east part bordering on Tibet and
Nepal, where, on the contrary, it was found almost without exception in the place of
the broken tusk.3 It seems evident, therefore, that the original diagram was con-
ceived and constructed in north-east India; but by whom ? According to Japanese
tradition, the sramana Nagabodhi who had taught Amoghavajra on the latter's return
to India the method of constructing the mandalas, had received instruction in turn
from the saint Nagarjuna who lived in the middle of the seventh century. Although
a native of southern India, 'Tantric' Nagarjuna, it is recorded, 'went to the Hima-
layas, where he began to study, teach, and propagate the Mahayana'.4 He was one
of the earliest writers on Tantric Buddhism; and, according to B. Bhattacharyya,
was responsible for two sadhanas in the Sddhanamdld of which one, relating to the
worship of Ekajata, he is said to have 'rescued from the country of Bhota, which
is identified with Tibet'.5 It would seem from this that Nagarjuna reached at least
the borders of Tibet, in which case he must have been famihar with the form of
Ganesa holding the radish ; and if the diagram of the Vajra-dhatu transmitted to
Amoghavajra by Nagabodhi was constructed by Nagarjuna, his guru, the presence
in the mandala of the form of Ganesa with the radish is apparently explained. At
any rate, the representation of Ganesa holding the radish seems to have been
handed down without change in its original form to Amoghavajra, who carried it to
China, whence it was introduced into Japan by Kobo Daishi.
Japanese Buddhism wove a legend around this form which might well be called
a 'composite' legend, for it was made up of elements that we have met with before
in other Asiatic countries, but in legends in no way concerned with Ganesa.6 The
myth runs as follows: there was once a king by the name of Mararuratsu (?) who
ate only meat and radishes ; but when he had eaten all the animals in the kingdom,
he was given the flesh of his dead subjects to eat. When there were no more dead
in the kingdom, his frightened officials killed his subjects to furnish him with food;
but the people revolted and the king, who, in reality, was a wicked demon, took
B. L. Suzuki, Eastern Buddhism, vol. iii, 1924.
5 Buddhist Esoterism, p. 68.
6 v. the beginning of the Pah jdtaka no. 537;
Jdtaka-mdla, no. 31 ; Bhadra-Kalpdvaddna, no. 34 ;
Cinq cents contes et apologues, by Ed. Chavannes,
nos. 41 and 133; The Story of Kalmdsapada, &c.,
by Watanabe in the Journ. Pali Text Soc. 1909,
pp. 236-310.
1 The points of the compass of the Garbha-
dhatu are:
east
north —I— south
west
2 v. p. 77.
3 v. p. 38.
4 The Shingon School of Mahayana Buddhism,