Aunkai : the 2 Guardians of the Door

 For a while I’ve been meaning to talk about the two Guardians that symbolise  Aunkai

Where do we find those guardians ? In the Aunkai school’s logo

First we have the background flame which represents the halo in buddhist iconography, the divine aspect of one being. In chinese Buddhism, the halo is more specifically associated to Glory.

In japanese langage, the halo is named 光背 (kōhai)  and appears through diverse forms.

光背 (kōhai)

And we also find in our logo  « A » 阿 and   « UN » 吽

Here are the two japanese guardians that are named the Niō 仁王

Misshaku Kongō  密遮金剛       (aka Agyō   阿形)

Naraen Kongō      那羅延金剛   (aka Ungyō 吽形)

 Agyō 阿形 and Ungyō 吽形

Also called Kongō-Rikishi  金剛力士 , these are two guardian deities of buddhist temples, standing at both sides of the main gate.

It is said that the fierce and menacing appearance of the Niō keeps evil spirits away and preserves the temple ground from demons and thieves.

On some accounts, the Niō followed and protected the Buddha while he travelled through India.

Kongō Rikishi 金剛力士

The most famous Niō couple can be found at the entrance of Tōdaiji temple 東大in Nara.

According to a japanese legend, there was once a king who had two wives.

His first wife beared  a thousand children who all decided to become monks and follow Buddha’s law.

His second wife only had two sons. The youngest was named Non-o and helped his monk brothers with their labor.

The elder, Kongō Rikishi  金剛力士 was much more of a warrior in personnality and he swore to protect the Buddha and his followers by fighting evil and ignorance.

Akuzawa Minoru

Among Buddhism’s traditionnally pacifist traditions, the guardian Niō stories just like Kongō Rikishi justify the use of physical force to protect things of value and the believers against evil.

They represent repesctively the use of potent power and latent power.

Naraen is also known as Narayana (Sanskrit). Conceived as a pair, the Niō are completentary. Misshaku represents potent power, baring his teeth and waving his fist lively, while Naraen represents latent power, keeping his mouth tightly shut and both arms tensed but lowered, in waiting.

Each is named after a particular cosmic sound.

The character with an open mouth is called “Agyō,” and emits an « ah » sound, which means birth.

His closed mouth alter ego is called “Ungyō,”whose sound is « un » or « hum » which means death.

One must be careful not to mistake the sacred term « OM » with the sound « HUM ».

The sacred term « OM » ॐ  is written 唵 while « HUM » हूँ  is written 吽

Here is a mantra that shows the difference :

(the words « Om Ah Hum » don’t have a conceptual significance. They are often associated respectively to the body, speech and mind, thus to the whole being).

In Esoteric Buddhism, they represent both aspects of Dainichi Nyorai.

In such vision, they sometimes get mistaken for the angered forms of Fudō Myōō 不動明王 and  Aizen Myōō 愛染明王.

  

Fudō Myōō 不動明王  Aizen Myōō 愛染明王

Even though they are similar to those forms, they are actually distinct from it.

These two guardians at Sugimoto in Kamakura protect the main treasure of the temple, a Kannon statue, Goddess of Mercy.

Here’s what represents « Aun » in Aunkai.

All those symbols are present in what we practice and also give us the source of what we must see beyond our simple physical body.

Each symbolic langage is a langage to be decrypted. To understand it, we must change our way to see and perceive things in order to hear it talk to us from within.

The essential is invisible to the eyes