#vairocana

[cyberianpunks]

just this

[wisdom-and-such]

Vairocana is a celestial or cosmic Buddha, or sometimes interpreted as a primordial Buddha, or later as the Dharmakāya of the Guatama Buddha. Dharmakāya is one of the three bodies (trikāya) of a buddha in Mahāyāna Buddhism. The dharmakāya constitutes the unmanifested, "inconceivable" (acintya) aspect of a buddha out of which buddhas arise and to which they return after their dissolution.

A sutra ‘Vairocana’s Awakening Sutra’ is an early Tantric manual. It begins in the celestial palace symbolizing all existence with the Vairocana Buddha conversing with a disciple. 

read an English translation here

https://www.bdk.or.jp/document/dgtl-dl/dBET_T0848_Vairocana_2005.pdf

[eirikrjs]

If Ahura Mazda is Asura, and Asura is Dainichi Nyorai, and Dainichi Nyorai is Virochana, and Virochana is Amaterasu, does that mean Amaterasu is Ahura Mazda?

This logic does track with the series' own.

Not a great logic, mind you. And I feel they may be loathe to lump in Amaterasu in with all the "cursed by God" Asura King nonsense.

Besides, the one trick they have with Amaterasu is sealing her away, mimicking the Ama-no-Iwato.

I also just noticed this in the LP:

After the Amatsu are freed, Amaterasu suggests to Hiruko that they go to the Kongokai/DIamond Realm to heal. The central deity of the Diamond Realm is none other than Vairocana! I doubt this is an Aeon Genesis invention, either.

[zenthropology]

New Buddha statues

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Gilt Bronze Seated Buddha Vairocana (China, Tony dynasty, c 720 CE)(唐 鎏金青銅毗盧遮那佛坐像). The teaching gesture made by this figure, with the thumb of the right hand touching the little finger of the left, identifies him as Vairocana, the celestial Buddha who resides at the center of the cosmos. Vairocana is considered a transcendent form of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni. Though similar in appearance, he exists on another plane, unhindered by a mortal body.

[Scott Horton]

* * * *

“Often, it is this anguish of parting - the death of a loved one, the breaking apart of a deep relationship, even the growing up of our children - that propels us into the search for a reality that will never let us down; so this opening passage illustrates, through the experience of Maitreyi, the state of seriousness, of being shocked into alertness, that makes one ready to absorb spiritual insight.”

― Eknath Easwaran, The Upanishads

[journeytothewestresearch]

More on the Origins of Sun Wukong's Golden Headband

I've previously suggested that the Monkey King's golden headband (jingu, 金箍; a.k.a. jingu, 緊箍, lit: “tight fillet”) can be traced to a ritual circlet mentioned in the Hevajra Tantra (Ch: Dabei kongzhi jingang dajiao wang yigui jing, 大悲空智金剛大教王儀軌經, 8th-century). This is one of the "Five Symbolic Ornaments" or "Five Seals" (Sk: Pancamudra, पञ्चमुद्रा; Ch: Wuyin, 五印; a.k.a. "Five Buddha Seals," Wufo yin, 五佛印), each of which is associated with a particular Wisdom Buddha:

Aksobhya is symbolised by the circlet, Amitabha by the ear-rings, Ratnesa by the necklace, Vairocana by the hand ornaments, [and] Amogha by the girdle (Farrow, 1992, p. 65). [1] 輪者，表阿閦如來；鐶者，無量壽如來；頸上鬘者，寶生如來；手寶釧者，大毘盧遮那如來；腰寶帶者，不空成就如來。

Akshobya is known to have attained Buddhahood through moralistic practices (Buswell & Lopez, 2014, p. 27). Therefore, this explains why a headband would be used to rein in the unruly nature of a murderous monkey god.

The original Sanskrit Hevajra Tantra calls the circlet a cakri (चक्रि) or a cakrika (चक्रिका) (Farrow, 1992, pp. 61-62 and 263-264, for example), both of which refer to a "wheel" or "disc." The Chinese version uses the terms baolun/zhe (寶輪/者, "treasure wheel or ring") and just lunzhe (輪者, "wheel" or "ring").

One of the more interesting things I've learned is that these ornaments were made from human bone. One source even refers to them as "bone ornaments" (Sk: asthimudra, अस्थिमुद्रा) (Jamgon Kontrul Lodro Taye, 2005, p. 493, n. 13). [1]

Can you imagine Sun Wukong wearing a headband made from human bone?! How metal would that be? Finger bones would probably do the trick.

Note:

1) Another section of the Hevajra Tantra provides additional associations:

The Circlet worn on the head symbolises the salutation to one's guru, master and chosen deity; the ear-rings symbolise the yogi turning a deaf ear to derogatory words spoken about the guru and Vajradhara; the necklace symbolises the recitation of mantra; the bracelets symbolises the renunciation of killing living beings and the girdle symbolises the enjoyment of the consort (Farrow, 1992, p. 263-264). 謂頂相寶輪者，唯常敬禮教授阿闍梨及自師尊；耳寶鐶者，不樂聞說持金剛者及自師尊一切過失、麁惡語故；頸寶鬘者，唯常誦持大明呪故；手寶釧者，乃至不殺蠕動諸眾生故；腰寶帶者，遠離一切欲邪行故。

2) For more info on the association between Hindo-Buddhist practices and human remains, see "charnel grounds".

Sources:

Farrow, G. W. (1992). The Concealed Essence of the Hevajra Tantra: With the Commentary Yogaratnamālā. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

Jamgon Kontrul Lodro Taye (2005). The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Six, Part Four: Systems of Buddhist Tantra (The Kalu Rinpoche Translation Group, Trans.). Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion.

[centuriespast]

Vairocana Buddha, Japan Edo Period 17th Century

UMMA

[loneberry]

From “The Flower Bank World” in the Avatamsaka Sutra

The Buddhist Painting of Songgwansa Temple, Suncheon, South Korea (Illustration of Avatamsaka Sutra)

“Then Universally Good also said to the assembly, ‘In the land masses of this ocean of worlds are seas of fragrant waters, as numerous as atoms in unspeakably many buddha-fields. All beautiful jewels adorn the floors of those seas; gems of exquisite fragrances adorn their shores. They are meshed with luminous diamonds. Their fragrant waters shine with the colors of all jewels. Flowers of all kinds of gems swirl on their surfaces. Sandalwood powder settles on the bottom of the seas. They emanate the sounds of Buddhas’ speech. They radiate jewellike light. Boundless enlightening beings, holding various canopies, manifest mystic powers causing the adornments of all worlds to appear therein. Stairways of ten kinds of precious substances are set out in rows, with balustrades of ten kinds of jewels surrounding them. White lotuses ornamented with jewels, as many as atoms in four continents, are spread over the waters, in full bloom. There are unspeakable hundreds of thousands of billions of trillions of banners of ten precious elements, banners of belled gauze of raiments of all jewels, as many as sand grains in the Ganges river, jewel flower palaces of boundless forms, as many as sand grains in the Ganges river, a hundred thousand billion trillion lotus castles of ten precious substances, forests of jewel trees as many as atoms in four continents, networks of flaming jewels, as many sandalwood perfumes as grains of sand in the Ganges, and jewels of blazing radiance emitting the sounds of Buddhas’ speech…”

--From book five “The Flower Bank World” in the The Flower Ornament Scripture (Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra), translated from Chinese by Thomas Cleary. The various sutras were originally composed in Sanskrit and compiled and translated into Chinese in the 5th century CE. Thomas Cleary’s English translation is based on the Chinese translation done by the Khotanese monk Shikshananda (652-710 CE), who translated it at the request of the Tang Empress. 

I stumbled upon this sutra in the back of a book that included a ‘glossary of buddhist terms’ while at a Zen meditation retreat. Flower cosmology? That sounds like my shit. Since I didn’t have my phone I wrote the name down on a piece of paper and slipped it into my backpack. It really is as incredible as I imagined it to be.

“Alan Fox has described the sutra's worldview as ‘fractal’, ‘holographic’, and ‘psychedelic’”—yes.

“In the Huayan school, the teaching of interpenetration is depicted through various metaphors, such as Indra's net, a teaching which may have been influenced by the Gandhavyuha chapter's climax scene in Vairocana's Tower. Indra's net is an infinite cosmic net that contains a multifaceted jewel at each vertex, with each jewel being reflected in all of the other jewels, ad infinitum. Thus, each jewel contains the entire net of jewels reflected within.”

[gohjuo]

GOJO'S DEEP CONNECTION TO BUDDHISM

      SIX ELEMENTS 

to first understand gojo's deep connection to buddhism, it's important to talk about esoteric buddhism and the six elements. very similar to china's five elements esoteric buddhism has the five elements as: earth, water, fire, air/wind, space/void. however, esoteric buddhism as one additional element the mind. gojo's powers involve space ( his manipulation of space itself and his domain expansion being called unlimited void ). gojo's journey to becoming the strongest was not complete until he opened his mind. as stated, by adding the sixth element the mind, it creates a unity between all five elements. if one lacks the sixth element, ordinary eyes see only the differientated forms/appearances.

          this ties in with the fact that gojo's eyes allow him to see things most people cannot see ( people's souls in colors, reading the flow of cursed energy, viewing of his opponent's cursed technique, object dection with or without cursed energy, & being able to see kilometers away ). it can also be said that being born as the six eyes user brought balance, a connection to how the mind element creates unity.

          SATORI

      in zen buddhism, this is the term for awakening in japanese zen buddhism. it means comprehension, understanding. the word is derived from the japanese verb satoru, who's first name is satoru? gojo's. to put it further, satori refers to an awakening or apprehension of the true nature of reality. it's used to describe an experience that can't be expressed via words. gojo goes through his enlightenment, his death, and never does he really talk about what he went through. he talks about an indescribable feeling, feelng the whole world, this connection to it and to feel everything happening, but if anyone were to ask him how he felt touching the core of cursed energy he would not be able to explain it properly. it is an experience he will never fully properly explain. 

    another way this ties into gojo is that his confrontation with toji, is something of an antagonistic one. in the way, that after the second fight he truly dislikes having a lack of control, he doesn't want to feel hepless, or be helpless with all the immense power that he has. gojo is forced to face the reality of defeat, the reality of having little control at all, and the fact that he didn't fully realize the capabilities of his powers. in the modern era of jujutsu, gojo is the standard.

          ALLUSIONS TO OTHER FIGURES IN BUDDHISM

VAIROCANA         part of the five great buddhas or the five tathāgatas, they are seen as the five representations of the adi-buddha ( aka the first buddha). vairocana is associated with the color white ( gojo's hair is white ), vairocana represents the element of space, which coincides with gojo's technique and ability manipulate space itself. the cardinal direction vairocana represents is the center and the season they represent is a transition. gojo could be considered a big transition in the way the jujutsu world operated as, again his birth balanced out the jujutsu world. it is also a big transition in being dubbed the strongest sorcerer of his era.

MARICI

       a goddess associated with the light and sun. alternatively, in japan she is also associated with light or mirage and was invoked to escape enemies. she has several depictions and in some she carries the lotus with her. in gojo's dream/death sequence, there is a drawing of a lotus flower. the lotus flower in buddhism represents purity, spiritual awakening, and faiththfulness. it also symbolizes rebirth ( which will be furthered tied down to another section ) and the implications of nanami and gojo's conversation hints at a rebirth of some sort.

        THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FOUR DIRECTIONS

    in buddhism, there is great importance in north, east, south, and west. for this particular post i will be focusing on the two directions of north and south.

     "I ONCE ASKED MEI-SAN ABOUT WHERE I SHOULD LIVE. SHE SAID IF YOU'D LIKE TO BECOME SOMEONE NEW. GO NORTH."

        the north is considered a symbol of stability, a fixed goal that never wavers. it also represents unshakeable conviction. when your will is strong, you are under the protection of the guide of the north. when you become unstable, the grace of god pulls you in the right direction. it should be noted that gojo does say i see, gives a wave. in my opinion, it implicates that gojo has determined to go north. gojo is also the type of person who has a strong conviction, his will to ensure that the future of jujutsu sorcery can be on his level, to be strong enough to compete with himself, so that they never have to endure what he/geto went through. gojo is someone who will always aim higher to break the ceiling even if he is the ceiling. 

       alternatively, there is another direction that is mentioned in said chapter:

"IF YOU'D LIKE TO RETURN TO WHO YOU WERE, GO SOUTH." 

        the south is associated with death. it offers complete rest. when the body can no longer lead us down our path, the protector of the south, yama raja, lord of death, ensures we get rid of our vehicle ( the body )  and gives us a new one. the catch is that in general, we form attachments to our body, mind, and senses and we have a hard time of letting go. however, once someone does they will find that 'long sleep' is a restful. this line goes in hand with nanami who doesn't hesitate to go south, stuck in the past since he still had attachments to haibara, and in a sense yuji. but at the end of it he was able to let go.

[talonabraxas]

“Now, I, Vairocana Buddha, am sitting atop a lotus pedestal; on a thousand flowers surrounding me are a thousand Sakyamuni Buddhas. Each flower supports a hundred million worlds; in each world a Sakyamuni Buddha appears. All are seated beneath a Bodhi-tree, all simultaneously attain Buddhahood. All these innumerable Buddhas have Vairocana as their original body. “ --The Brahma’s Net Sutra Om a-vi-ra-hûm-kham vajradhâtu vam (Skt.) Om All Pervading One; Imperishable One "Dhyani Buddha"  Vairochana, the Illuminator Talon Abraxas M/J

[crepes-suzette-373]

The Solar System

I'm thinking of how we technically have all the solar system represented in the world of One Piece. There's the sun, Nika. The planets Mercury to Saturn in the form of the Gorousei. The remaining outermost planets Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are represented by the three ancient weapons. Then the Earth is just the world itself.

Certainly sensei did swap out Neptune for Poseidon, but it could be a distraction to obfuscate the themes. Because then the three ancient weapons just looks like they're named after Greek/Roman gods, and people might not necessarily think of the planets.

A while ago, I started formulating theories about the moon because I saw the kuyou/Navagraha symbol on the Koudzuki crest. It is a big circle with 8 smaller circles around it. I have since saw other people pointing out that similar-looking symbols were sighted in other One Piece locations. The Arabasta symbol and Skypiea, for example.

Also arguably, King Neptune's tattoo:

The symbol stands for the sun (the big middle circle), the moon, and the 5 planets. The Skypiea symbol even has the word "god" in the big middle circle, which is interesting. Anyway. The moon aside, which we have very little info about as of now, the 5 planets' current representation is the Gorousei, who are "evil". This seems rather odd.

So, I wonder if Imu is the "dark/evil sun" and the Gorousei is also just the "evil version" of the planets. Some time ago, I mentioned that a Japanese fan thought that if you combine the katakana for Imu's name, Nerona Imu, you will get the kanji "kami" (god) and "hotoke" (Buddha):

How does this imply the sun? The most important kami in Japan is Amaterasu, the sun goddess. One of the most important Buddhas in Japan is the Dainichi Nyorai 大日如来 (Vairocana). Dainichi literally means "great sun".

In which case, if the WG's Gorousei is "evil", maybe in the past there is a "good version" of the 5 planets' representations, and that maybe later a new "good Gorousei" will be formed in the fight against the World Government.

That is, maybe the final fight is "the solar system" (Luffy, 5 "planets", the 3 ancient weapons, and something representing the moon) will fight Imu and the WG.

Related to my Yonkou elemental analysis. Maybe the "good planets" will be the Yonkou + 1 more person (representing the "land", as opposed to the pirates that represent the "sea"). The Gorousei is "stars", celestial bodies. So people representing the seas and land, the "opposite" of the skies, fighting them is thematically fitting.

Luffy is the sun, so a new Yonkou might take his place. And it's hard to see Blackbeard helping, even though he has the "D" name, so maybe the Yonkou members will shift around some more later.

Or it might not be the Yonkou. It's way too early to tell, but this is just a preliminary thought.

[wisdom-and-such]

Above:  The Garbhadhātu maṇḍala as used in Śubhakarasiṃha's teachings from the Vairocana Sutra. Vairocana is located in the center.

“Lord of Mysteries, what is bodhi? It means to know one’s mind as it really is. 

Lord of Mysteries, this is unsurpassed, perfect, and full awakening, and there is not the slightest part of it that can be apprehended.

Why? Because bodhi has the characteristic of empty space, and there is no one to comprehend it, nor is there any understanding of it.

Why? Because bodhi has no characteristics. Lord of Mysteries, all dharmas are without characteristics. That is to say, they have the characteristic of empty space.” 

- from Vairocana’s Awakening Sutra

Vairocanābhisaṃbodhi Sūtra, or Vaircana’s Awakening Sutra, is an important Vajrayana Buddhist text composed in Sanskrit in India before 674 CE. The text was then translated to Chinese, and Tibetan. The original Sanskrit version has been lost.  View the full scripture translated to English here

[eirikrjs]

Glad to see you back! I saw some people online talking about Tao's Amaterasu form and saying it was referencing vairocana (I hope I spelt that right). Is there a connection between Amaterasu and Vairocana?

Thank you!

Yes, a connection between Amaterasu and Vairocana/Dainichi Nyorai was considered under the old theory of honji suijaku, where the kami were considered to be local manifestations of Buddhist deities. This is probably the most easily-remembered example. From the Encyclopedia of Shinto:

Amaterasu was considered a "manifest trace" (suijaku) whose "original essence" (honji) was the Buddha Mahavairocana (Dainichi Nyorai); this idea was part of a more general doctrine known as honji suijaku concerning the relationship between "essences" and their visible "manifestations"

As for Tao:

I'm not really seeing where the Vairocana references might be in her. There's the sun, of course. They just really got cold feet about this entire character.

[kaibutsushidousha]

What are the exact name ofthose Buddha statues Iori made you posted? Besides the Boss one

The Earth statue is Bishamonten, one of the Seven Lucky Gods of Japan. Aside from Ebisu, who is a purified Hiruko, all of the Seven Lucky Gods are regional variants of gods imported from China and India. Bishamonten specifically is Kuvera, a Hindu wealth god who was promoted to a Buddhist guardian deva (Buddhist name: Vaisravana). Notorious avatars of Kuvera include Li Jing (Nezha's father, avatar status canon to Type-Moon Pan-Human History), Sakanoue no Tamuramaro (Suzuka Gozen's husband, avatar status unclear in Type-Moon), and Uesugi Kenshin (Nagao Kagetora, avatar status maybe exclusive to Gudaguda).

The Water statue is Maha Vairocana, the most central and most perfected entity in Mahayana Buddhism. The Buddha above all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, so to speak. In 752, Emperor Shoumu established that Maha Vairocana is the Buddha form of sun goddess Amaterasu, a belief established as canon to Type-Moon. Amaterasu/Vairocana shows her actual face in Tamamo's route of CCC, so she's the only one in the post where I put a picture of the actual Buddha instead of an avatar.

The Wind statue is a Bodhisattva known by the Japanese name Kanzeon (frequently shortened to Kannon) or the Sanscrit name Avalokitesvara, but certainly more popular by the Chinese name Guanyin thanks to their recurring presence in China's mythological epics. They're featured in The Investiture of the Gods as one of the Xians who completed their studies under Yuanshi Tianzun, and later they appear in Journey to the West as the Bodhisattva who sent Xuanzang on his journey and pretty much always the first one they call for help when they need intervention from a higher force. They're widely known for being a shapeshifter, resulting in many variants of statues of them both in masculine and feminine forms. During the ban on Christianity in Japan, the Christians got away with having Virgin Mary statues by establishing Mary's image as one of the many transformations of Kanzeon. Bodhisattva Kanzeon is the main object of worship of the Yoshinaka Temple, which is why both he and Tomoe have Avalokitesvara's sutra as their NP name. Surprisingly enough, Guanyin has yet to make any significant appearance in Fate/, so I went with Yoshinaka's armor as their image because the Yoshinaka Temple association comes with the strong implication that his armor is a treasure modeled after Kanzeon's image.

The Fire statue is Acala, more known by his Japanese name, Fudou Myou-ou. You may know him as the big angry Stand from Musashi's Noble Phantasm. Acala is a really minor Wisdom King in the original Indo-Buddhist side of things, but for some reason, he's immensely popular in Japan. The main story he's featured in is the story of how Sidharta Gautama became The Buddha. The most popular version of it is that Mara appeared to impede Gautama's enlightenment, but ultimately was driven away inside him Mara found the angry face of Acala, the Buddha's demon-conquering form. That's the version I'm more familiar with, so I would prefer using Extra's Buddha as Fudou Myou-ou's image, but another version says that Acala was either a messenger sent by Vairocana to ensure Gautama's enlightenment or Vairocana's own demon-conquering form. And Musashi's materials associate Fudou with Shiva (never heard of this connection before), so for canon compliance, I had to go with Shiva('s avatar Asvattaman).

And the Void statue is the Thousand-Armed Guanyin. It's a transformation where Guanyin copies the 1000 arms of Vishnu to reach out and save the biggest possible number of sentient beings in all worlds. I could use Yoshinaka again since that's another Guanyin, but I went with Vishnu('s avatar Rama) since this form is essentially Guanyin transformed into Vishnu. I also considered photoshopping 40 extra pairs of arms into Rama but I'm lazy and the pose in his card really doesn't help anyone trying to multiply his arm.

[candont]

Xu Haofeng's first novel was published the following year, in 2007  : "A Taoist Monk Comes Down from His Mountain" ( 《道士下山》 ) . We then spoke of the “hard current” of the wuxia novel (硬派武侠小说) . The story is, however, full of humor: at the beginning of the Republic, a little Taoist monk who can no longer bear solitude comes down secretly from his mountain and returns to the world. Result: he finds himself in a country in chaos, and 　

“A Taoist monk comes down from his mountain” ( 《道士下山》)

has a series of strange, fantastic encounters that transform his existence.

It is a novel with multiple characters constructed a bit like “At the Water's Edge” ( 《水浒传》) which is the implicit reference . The book was a bestseller.

In October 2008 , the publication of his third novel, “The National School of Guoshu ” (  《国术馆》 ) [6] , met with the same success: it was placed in the list of the ten best sellers of the year and was even praised by Mo Yan (莫言) . Xu Haofeng asserts his style there.

Unlike Jin Yong or Gu Long, who describe the tricks found by their martial arts masters to win their fights, Xu Haofeng focuses on depicting the way in which his characters comply with very strict training. On the other hand, what is interesting about him is that he often diverges from his narrative line to insert reflections on subjects like calligraphy, painting, food, or antiques, which give depth and diversity to the story. his stories. But above all the story is treated in the style of fantastic realism (魔幻写实主义) that Xu Haofeng knows well: he wrote an essay on Borgès, “The Eye of Borgès” ( 《博尔赫斯的眼睛》). 　

“The National Kung Fu School” ( 《国术馆》)

The main character is a young man who believes he was director of the school of the title in Nanking in the 1920s. He is described with great humor, continuing to apply rules from another age, like a a sort of Don Quixote embarked on an absurd and tragic journey. He preserves his values ​​and his personal esteem, but is condemned to failure, symbol of a world itself condemned by modernity.                                                                           

At the same time as his style asserts itself, his thinking becomes more complex. His short story “Survive” ( 《劫活》 ) takes place around a go board in the 1920s. The story is that of battles between Chinese and Japanese players, kung-fu masters, spies and Buddhist monks.

The complexity of the parallelism with the game of Go is illustrated by the title, which is a Go term, in fact. The whole game is based on a principle of life and death: circled pieces are 'dead', captured and eliminated from the game; one must capture (劫jié ) to survive (活huó ) , a vital principle of the Warring States period which saw the development of the game. 　

Xu Haofeng's latest novel returns to the theme of the game of go, but coupling it with a Buddhist theme. Published in November 2010 , it is titled “The Mandala of Enlightenment” ( 《大日坛城》 ) . The title refers to the s ū tra Maha Vairocana ( 《大日经》) , one of the two essential sutras of the Tibetan and Japanese tantric schools ; arriving in China at the very beginning of the 8th century , it was translated in 724-25, and the translation then reached Japan. The Sanskrit original having disappeared, it is this Chinese version which is the oldest.  　

“The mandala of enlightenment”

( 《大日坛城》)

the mandala of the Maha Vairocana sutra 　

According to this tradition, when the Buddha had achieved enlightenment, he remained in the form of Vairocana for seven days during which he transmitted his teaching to Vajrapani and other bodhisattvas , an obviously symbolic transmission. However, it is the game of go that is at the center of the story, because the main character was a master in China in the 1940s, at the time of the Sino-Japanese War. Go competitions, likened to martial arts competitions, reflect the struggle between the two countries, but inverted: while the Japanese run from victory to victory, the go master remains invincible...   

　

The three elements, esoteric Buddhism, martial arts and the game of go, are linked in the novel by

convergent symbols; Xu Haofeng seems to make them the three components of a “way” ( “道”) of salvation.   

-https://www-chinese--shortstories-com.translate.goog/Auteurs_de_a_z_XuHaofeng.htm?_x_tr_sch=http&_x_tr_sl=fr&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc

[rggtattoos]

桐生 一馬, Kiryū Kazuma 応龍 - Oryu, “Responsive Dragon” (Yinglong)

Type: Traditional

Artist: Utabori

Features: Ascending Black Oryu (Yellow/Yinglong "Responsive Dragon") holding a Pearl with Sanskrit for Dainichi Nyorai/ Vairocana (the Buddhist guardian of the year of the monkey- 1968. Kiryu’s birthday.)

Oryu - Depictions of dragons in Japan are greatly influenced by the Chinese dragon, though Japan does have its own native dragon myths. While in China dragons are primarily associated with the element of wood, in Japan dragons are also associated with water and rain. Japanese myth tells of a coral Dragon Palace in the ocean. Eastern dragons are powerful and fearsome, but mostly benevolent creatures known to protect temples and help and reward virtuous people. One of the 4 Guardians of Kyoto is the Azure Dragon, who protects the east. (The others are The White Tiger to the west, Black Turtle to the north, and Vermillion Bird to the south)  

"Oryu" is the Japanese name for the Chinese "Responsive Dragon" or "Yinglong." It is a rain deity, and lends its power to The Emperor, in one case pointing out where channels should be dug to divert flood water.

Black -  Black is associated with death in Japan, but is also used in formal settings like weddings and is considered a masculine color. Black dragons are associated with experience and wisdom.

Pearl - Eastern Dragons are often depicted carrying a pearl, sometimes clutched in its claws or beneath the neck. While the exact origin of the pearl is unknown, it has come to represent the dragon’s authority, the moon, the sun, and control of water.

In Buddhism the years are assigned guardian deities, with the year of the Sheep and the Monkey being overseen by Dainichi Buddha (known as Vairocana in India) Dainichi is called the “Cosmic Buddha” and represents the center, light and the sun.

(Being born in 1968, Kiryu is an Earth Monkey, who are characterized as being intelligent, frank, optimistic, fearless and lovers of practical jokes.)

Flames - Passion, Energy, desire, movement