TACHIKAWA A Study of Vajradhatu-mandala (1)

A Study of the Vajradhatu-mandala (1): Modern Linedrawings depicted according to the Nispannayogavali Musashi TACHIKAWA Abhayakaragupta (11th-12th cent.),whowasan abbotoftheVikramagila Monastery, composed a survey ofthe structure ofmanclalas. Thiswork, called theNispannayogavali (Garland of Completed Yogas), describes briefly thedeities ofeachofthetwenty-six manclalas which were considered to beimportant at that time. It has become an important standardreference workon manclalas in India,Tibetand Nepal. Forinstance, thisworkhas beenusedasoneof the most basic sources for Buddhist iconography in the Kathmandu Valley. Among theNewars, whohavesupported Nepalese Buddhism in theKathmandu Valley, therearea quitefewpainters whocanread Sanskrit andillustrate the deities of the man lalasaccording to theirowntradition, although the Newari tradition ofdepicting theBuddhist deities hasnotbeensowellpreserved.The linedrawings wearegoing to reprint herehavebeenillustrated bysucha contemporary Newari painter. Thenameof thepainter is Gautam RatnaBajracharya (1960 ), whose fatheristhefamous Newar Buddhist priestRatnakaji Bajracharya. Hisgrand fatherwas alsoa Buddhist priestwell-versed especially in the fieldof iconography. He wasthusbroughtup in an environment suchas that he could easily inheritthe tradition of Newari Buddhist iconography. In the summer of 1987, I asked Gautam RatnaBajracharya to illustrate the deitiesof the Vajradhiitu-manclala, whichis one of the most important and basicmanclalas in the history of Buddhist Tantrism, according to the description in the Nispannayogavali (NPY). In the summer of 1988 and at the endof 1989I wasgiventhe chanceto discuss withhim the meaning of the description of the deities of the Vajradlicitu-manclala foundin the NPY. The meaning of someSanskrit passages in the chapteron the Vajradhatu-manVala stillremain unclear to us. Therearealsosome passages ofwhich themeaning isclearbutthewayofillustrating themarenotknown to thepainter. In spite of thosedifficulties, these line-drawings of thedeities of the Vajradhatu-mandala described in the NPYseemto havereached sucha standard that theymay furnishmaterials for Buddhist iconography. Obviously, these illustrations * Nagoya University , Research affiliate oftheNational Museum ofEthnology. This isapartoftheresults coming outoftheresearch project oftheNational Museum of Ethnology entitled "The Method ofDepicting the Members ofAsian Pantheons" (1988-1991). 1073

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are rather artificial and, accordingly, they cannot be considered as the authentic iconographical reconstruction of the images of the deities appearing in the Vajradhatu-mandala. One may consider them as a kind of interpretation of Bhattacharya's edition of the NPY through images. The Newars are known for their skill in the fine arts. No one could deny that the Newari people are gifted in the fine arts if one visit the Kathmandu Valley even for a short time. It was the Newari people that introduced Buddhist art into Tibet. Now that Mahayana Buddhism has disappeared from India, it is only in the Kathmandu Valley that one can see a form of Mahayana Buddhism which have retained a great many Indian elements. Diagram 1 depicts the Vajradhatu-man(lala as drawn by Gautam Ratna Bajracharya on the basis of the nineteenth chapter of the NPY. Diagram 2 (p. 1075) shows the arrangement of the fifty-three deities appearing in Diagram 1, and as indicated by the following list, they may be divided into seven major groups (AG) : The Fifty-three Deities of the Vajradhatu Mandala A. Five Buddhas 1. Vairocana 2. Aksobhya 3. Ratnasambhava 4. Amitabha 5. Amoghasiddhi B. Four Consorts 6. Sattvavajri 7. Ratnavajri 8. Dharmavajri 9. Karmavajri C. Sixteen Great Bodhisattvas 10. Vajrasattva 11. Vajraraja 12. Vajraraga 13. Vajrasadhu 14. Vajraratna 15. Vajrateja 16. Vajraketu 17. Vajrahasa 18. Vajradharma 19. Vajratiksna 20. Vajrahetu 21. Vajrabhasa 22. Vajrakarma 23. Vajraraksa
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East Diagram

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24. Vajrayaksa 25. Vajrasandhi D. Four Inner Goddesses of Offering 26. Vajralasya 27. Vajramala 28. Vajragita 29. Vajranrtya E. Four Outer Goddesses of Offering 30. Vajradhilpa 31. Vajrapuspa 32. Vajraloka 33. Vajragandha F. Four Gate-guardians 34. Vajrankuga 35. Vajrapaga 36. Vajrasphota 37. Vajravega G. Sixteen Bodhisattvas of the Auspicious Aeon (bhadra-kalpa) 38. Maitreya 39. Amoghadargin 40. Sarvapayalijaha 41. Sarvagokatamonirghatamati 42. Gandhahastin 43. arangama 44. Gaganagafija 45. Panaketu 46. Amitaprabha 47. Candraprabha 48. Bhadrapala 49. Jaliniprabha 50. Vajragarbha 51. Aksayamati 52. Pratibhanakiita 53. Samantabhadra In the Vajradhatu-mandala as described in the NPY, some deities share the same form as other deities in the same mandala. For example, the deities numbered 38-41 in Diagram 2 are described as possesing the same form as Aksobhya (No. 2, Diagram 2). In a similar way, deities Nos. 42-45, Nos. 46-49, and Nos. 50-53 possess the same form as Ratnasambhava (No. 3, Diagram 2), Amitabha (No. 4, Diagram 2), and Amoghasiddhi (No. 5, Diagram 2) respectively [BHATTACHARYYA 1972: 46].
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Hence, the forms of these

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sixteen Bodhisattvas (Nos. 38-53) are not shown here in this paper, and the remaining thirty-seven deities are presented in Figures 1-37. The number of each figure corresponds to the number of the corresponding deity appearing in Diagram 2. For instance, deity No. 1 in Diagram 2 is depicted in Figure 1. It should be added that the nineteenth chapter of the NPY refers to another kind of Vajradhcitu-mandala, where one thousand Bodhisattvas appear in the place of the Sixteen Bodhisattvas of the Auspicious Aeon (Nos. 38-53, Diagram 2) [BHATTACHARYYA 1972: 46]. Diagram 1 shows the mandala wherein the sixteen Bodhisattvas surround the central deity Vairocana. Similarly, the author of the NPY points out that some deities such as Vairocana may be depicted differently according to another tradition. The Four Gate-Guardians (Nos. 34-37, Diagram 2) are depicted as female deities according to the NPY, which, on the other hand, mentions that they may also be male deities: Vajralikuia (No. 34), Vajrapuspa (No. 35), Vajraloka (No. 36), and Vajragandha (No. 37). Figures Nos. 34-37 show the forms of the female Four Gate-Guardians [BHATTACHARYYA 1972: 47]. There still remain a few points that require explanation with regard to the iconographical techniques of the painter, the meanings of some passages in the NPY, and other questions. The following remarks are attempts to consider some of those points.

Figure 1: The NPY that there are two forms of Vairocana ( [BHATTACHARYYA 1972], i.e., B edition, p. 44, II. 3-7), which are shown in Figure 1a and Figure lb (p. 1079, 1080). The NPY says, "Vairocana sits on the pericarp of a lotus which is on the back of a lion" (B edition, p. 44, I. 3). Here in Figure la, however, the pericarp of a lotus has not been depicted. The painter, Gautam Ratna Bajracharya, told me that he was trained to draw the seat of Tathagatas such as Vairocana in this way. The NPY states that the other four Tathagatas, i.e., Aksobhya (Figure 2), Ratnasambhava (Figure 3), Amitabha (Figure 4), and Amoghasiddhi (Figure 5), sit on the pericarp of a lotus. As in the case of Figure 1, no pericarp of a lotus is draw in Figures 2-5. Figure 3: The NPY says, "Ratnasambhava holds a vajra-arika-ratnain his right hand" (B edition, p. 44, I. 25). Ratnasambhava as shown in Figure 3 holds in his right hand a vajra to which a jewel stone is attached. The compound "vajra-anka-ratna" would rather mean a jewel stone to which a vajra is attached. Figures 10-25: According to the NPY, Sixteen Great Bodhisattvas (Nos. 1025) appear with the same form again in the Dharmadhatuvagilvara-manc/a/a (B edition, p. 55, 1. 3). Cf. [NAGANO and TACHIKAWA1989: 68-71, 73-76,781077

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81, 83-86]. Figure 22a: Vajrakarma may have another form (B edition, p. 45, 11. 17-18), which is illustrated in Figure 22b (p. 1102). Figures 30-33: As for the way of depicting the Four Outer Goddesses of Offering (Figures Nos. 30-33), the NPY says, "They have the same symbols as in the previous case" (B edition, p. 45, 1. 17). This seems to refer to the description of the Four Goddesses of Offering appearing in the Vajrataramaneala (B edition, p. 38, 11. 6-9), according to which Figures 30-33 have been illustrated. Figures 34-37: According to the NPY, the Four Gate-Guardians "have the same symbols as in the previous case" (B edition, p. 46, 1. 17), which seems to refer to the case of Four Gate-Guardians appearing in the Vajratarei-mandala. Figures 34-37 are based upon the description of the Vajratard-matteala. (I haveveenpreparingan annotatedEnglishtranslation of the Vajradhatu-marzdala chapter of the NPYtogetherwith a Sanskriteditionof the same chapter.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY BHATTACHARYYA, Benoytosh 1972 (1949) NiVannayogeivali of Mahapandita Abhayakaragupta. G.O.S. No. 109. Baroda: Oriental Institute. NAGANO, Yasuhiko and Musashi TACHIKAWA (eds.) 1989 The Deities of the Dharmadhatu Matzdala. (Bulletin of the National Museum of Ethnology, Special Issue, No. 7.)

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figure

la.

Vairocana

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figure

lb

Vairocana

1080

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figure

2.

Aksobhya

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figure

3.

Ratnasambhava

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figure

4.

Amitabha

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figure

5.

Amoghasiddhi

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figure 6.

Sattvavajri

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figure 7.

Ratnavajri

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figure 8.

Dharrnavajri

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figure 9.

Karmavajri

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figure 10.

Vajrasattva

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figure 11.

Vajraraja

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figure 12.

Vajraraga

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figure 13.

Vajrasadhu

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figure 14.

Vajraratna

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figure 15.

Vajrateja

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figure 16.

Vajraketu

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figure 17. Vajrahasa

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figure 18.

Vajradharma

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figure 19.

Vajratiksna

1098

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figure 20.

Vajrahetu

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figure 21.

Vajrabhasa

1100

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figure 22a.

Vajrakarma

1101

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figure 22b

Vajrakarma

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figure 23.

Vajraraksa

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figure 24.

Vajrayaksa

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figure 25.

Vajrasandhi

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figure. 26. Vajralasya

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figure 27.

Vajramala

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figure 28.

Vajragita

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figure 29.

Vajrartrtya

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figure 30.

Vajradhupa

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figure 31.

Vajrapuspa

1111

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figure 32.

Vajraloka

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figure 33.

Vajragandha

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figure 34.

Vajrankusa

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figure 35.

Vajrapasa

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figure 36.

Vajrasphota

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figure 37.

Vajravesa

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