Houroukaku manadara　 宝楼閣曼荼羅

KEY WORD :　art history / iconography

A specific type of mandala *besson mandara 別尊曼荼羅, based on the DAIHOU KOUBAKU ROUKAKU ZENJUU HIMITSU DARANIKYOU 大宝広博楼閣善住秘密陀羅尼経, translated by Bukong (Jp:Fukuu 不空; Sk:Amoghavajra; 705-774) and generally abbreviated to HOUROUKAKUKYOU 宝楼閣経 (Jeweled Pavilion Sutra ), whence the name of this mandala *mandara 曼荼羅. There is also an earlier Chinese translation of this work called MURI MANDARA JUKYOU 牟梨曼陀羅呪経 by an unknown translator dating from the Liang dynasty, and there have also been discovered among the Gilgit manuscripts Sanskrit fragments of this work thought to date from the 6c. In the center of this mandala there is a pavilion with *Shaka 釈迦 shown displaying the *tenbourin-in 転法輪印 mudra and flanked on the right by the bodhisattva Kongoushu bosatsu 金剛手菩薩 (Sk:Vajrapani), with four faces and twelve arms, and on the left by the bodhisattva Houkongou bosatsu 宝金剛菩薩 (Sk:Manivajra), who has four faces and sixteen arms. The pavilion is surrounded by the Four Heavenly Kings *shitennou 四天王 and other protective deities. This mandala does not have the geometrical structure characteristic of later works; instead, the small deities, centered on a triad, are depicted as forming part of a landscape, and this style is thought to be close to the original format of the mandala. Typical examples of this mandala are found in the Freer Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.) and in a private collection in Gifu prefecture, but there are considerable discrepancies in the disposition of the deities.

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