#esoteric buddhism

[jamabushi]

[zabagar]

Cosmological Mandala with Mount Meru. China. 14th century.

[neokamui414]

I don't think a lot of my fellow Clamp readers would believe me when I say the inspiration for / prototype form of these two :

Was almost certainly in large part these two :

Lol anyways if one can tolerate the levels of gore and sexual violence that are kind of period typical for '80s manga, than I HIGHLY recommend that anyone who likes Tokyo Babylon needs to read Peacock King!

It was basically a Peacock King doujin that Clamp made that would eventually pave the way for Tokyo Babylon. And if you ever wondered why it is that the further you read Clamp manga, the more fucked up gore and psychological shit you encounter, it's this. This is the kind of manga that our four Fujoshis in their little doujin circle were reading and creating fan content for!

So yeah Read Peacock King/ Spirit Warrior and watch the OVA, also while you're at it read and watch 3x3Eyes (which I currently can't definitively say has ever been an artistic influence on Clamp directly but it is a very similar vibe to Peacock King and almost certainly inspired elements of Inuyasha, so it's another great example of how some of our favorite Shoujo was inspired by incredibly fucked up and gory horror manga from the mid '80s to early 90s)

[alephskoteinos]

It's sort of weird for me knowing that Japanee esoteric Buddhism (Mikkyo) is Tantric Buddhism (hence basically Vajrayana) and at the same time I find it hard to find Japanese versions of the classic Tantric embrace imagery (basically something like the yab-yum and other forms of Tantric erotic imagery) besides maybe in the dual form of Kangiten.

[makapatag]

my post-christian, zizekian, lacanian take on fantasy religions for Hingsajagra

This conception of faith and religion comes from a long deep dive into the Philosophy of Religion, the formation of religion, and, sociopolitical philosophy. The formation of religion creates a sort of separation of religion from the rest of life, whereas other regions of the world consider religion to be intricately woven into their social and cultural mores. The Utter Islands, at the end of the world, begins to understand the nonduality of culture and religion as the social structures that once put up this separation crumble. Therefore, religion, political theory, social theory, and even science is raised to a single stage: the stage of Ideology.

Of course, all of this is not a thing universally agreed upon by all the philosophers across the vaunted Utter Islands. However, the categorization has become a useful lingua-franca to use and has risen to popularity in the end of the world, and is now being used by survivor-philosophers and ruin-savants to think of the most important question yet: what will the new world be?

closeups

[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.

[fun-chaos-amy]

Where is my mind

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[jijirululing]

first post but also frustration LMAO

hii lol

been observing witchblr from afar but realised i could literally be using this to connect w ppl anyways getting to the frustration part,,, i'm a pureland buddhist. i feel as though i've literally found all i can on esoteric buddhism/taoism and buddhist magic and it's literally so little LMAO

does anyone else practice something like that...?