Fugen Enmei bosatsu ikonográfiai meghatározásának néhány problematikus pontja: Problematic points in the iconography of Fugen Enmei Bosatsu

Abstract

The Bodhisattva of Prolongation of Life, Fugen Enmei Bosatsu 普賢延命菩薩 (S. Vajrāmoghasamayasattva) appears to be a popular deity in Japanese esoteric Buddhist schools, the Shingon 真言 and the Tendai 天台. There are some representations (mostly kakemono 掛物 and statues) surviving in Japanese temples and museums, even outside Japan. There seems to be several versions of the iconographical canon, all given in the Fugen Enmei Dharani sutra 普賢延命陀羅尼經, translated by Amoghavajra 不空 in the middle of the 8th century. In my study, I focus on the problems of the definition of a particular iconography, since in depicting Buddhist deities, artists usually followed one single canon. In the case of this bodhisattva, however, there is the problem of having two, or even three, slightly differing representational forms. During my research I had to abandon my first idea that the difference between these iconographical forms derives from the different traditions of the Shingon and the Tendai schools. Furthermore, there are the problems of the number of arms, the elephant heads and the appearance of the Shitennō 四天王 in some of the images, and the question of what they symbolize. By carefully examining Heian 平安 and Kamakura 鎌倉 period texts written by Japanese Shingon and Tendai monks, as well as the Fugen Enmei Dharani sutra and the ritual books of these two schools, I outline the major problems that originate mostly in the confusion of texts, as wll as the different explanations of the  monks, and make an attempt to offer some clarification of these problems.