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Kongoukai mandara@‹ΰ„ŠE™ΦδΆ—…
KEY WORD :@art history / iconography
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Lit. mandala of the Adamantine Realm (Sk:Vajradhatu mandala). A mandala *mandara ™ΦδΆ—… described in the KONGOUCHOUKYOU ‹ΰ„’ΈŒo (Diamond Peak Sutra ; Sk:Sarvatathagatatattvasam graha). The KONGOUCHOUKYOU describes a total of 28 mandalas: six in Chapter one, ten in Chapter two, six in Chapter three, and six in Chapter four and the Kongoukai mandara corresponds to the first of these, called the Kongoukai daimandara ‹ΰ„ŠE‘ε™ΦδΆ—… (Great Mandala of the Adamantine Realm). The remaining 27 mandala are all variant or abbreviated forms of this mandala, and so it is the most important mandala described in the KONGOUCHOUKYOU. It is centered on *Dainichi ‘ε“ϊ displaying the *chiken-in ’qŒˆσ mudra and is basically composed of the five *gochi nyorai Œά’q”@—ˆ, sixteen great bodhisattvas juuroku daibosatsu \˜Z‘ε•μŽF, four paramita bodhisattvas shiharamitsu bosatsu Žl”g—…–¨•μŽF, eight offering bodhisattvas hachikuyou bosatsu ”ͺ‹Ÿ—{•μŽF and four guardian bodhisattvas shishou bosatsu ŽlΫ•μŽF, making a total of 37 deities, and these are known as the 37 deities of the Adamantine Realm Kongoukai sanjuushichison ‹ΰ„ŠEŽO\Ž΅‘Έ. These deities are divided into five groups or families, namely, Tathagata family nyoraibu ”@—ˆ•” (Sk: tathagata-kula), Adamantine family kongoubu ‹ΰ„•” (Sk: vajra-kula), Jewel family houbu •σ•” (Sk: ratna-kula), Lotus family rengebu ˜@‰Ψ•” (Sk: padma-kula) and Action family katsumabu γΉ–•” (Sk: karma-kula), which occupy the center and four quarters of the mandala, thereby creating a format that is perfectly symmetrical both horizontally and vertically. This method of arranging deities was subsequently widely adopted in the specific mandalas *besson mandara •Κ‘Έ™ΦδΆ—… of Japan. The 28 mandalas described in the KONGOUCHOUKYOU were originally independent,, but in China there evolved the *Kue mandara ‹γ‰ο™ΦδΆ—… in which eight mandalas were arranged around the Kongoukai daimandara. This Kue mandara was introduced to Japan by *Kuukai ‹σŠC (774-835), and in Japan it has come to be regarded as the standard form of the Kongoukai mandara, being used especially in the Shingon ^ŒΎ sect as one of the two mandalas forming the *Ryoukai mandara —ΌŠE™ΦδΆ—…. There are also, however, other versions of the Kongoukai mandara, including a 37-deity, Kongoukai sanjuushichison mandara zuzou ‹ΰ„ŠEŽO\Ž΅‘Έ™ΦδΆ—…}‘œ brought to Japan by Saichou ΕŸ (766-822) (originally kept at Shouren-in Β˜@‰@, Kyoto, but now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), the *Kongoukai hachijuuisson mandara ‹ΰ„ŠE”ͺ\ˆκ‘Έ™ΦδΆ—… brought to Japan by Ennin ‰~m (794-864), and the *gobu shinkan Œά•”SŠΟ brought to Japan by Enchin ‰~’Ώ (814-91). Among these different versions, the gobu shinkan contains all six mandala described in Chapter one of the KONGOUCHOUKYOU whereas the other two consist of only the Kongoukai daimandara. The Kongoukai hachijuuisson mandara was used in the Tendai “V‘δ sect as one of the pair of Ryoukai mandara, but there are few other examples of its use and it was not widely employed.
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REFERENCES:
*gobutsudou Œά•§“°, *gochidou Œά’q“°@
EXTERNAL LINKS: 
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NOTES
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