DDB: 三面大黑 | three-faced great black deva

Digital Dictionary of Buddhism

三面大黑

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: three-faced great black deva

Senses:

A special form of Mahākāla 大黑天, having a unique body with three faces, the center being Mahākāla, the left being Vaiśravaṇa 毘沙門天, and the right being Sarasvatī 辨才天. This form was created in Japan, probably around the latter half of the 14th century or later, in the Tendai school 天台宗. Legends say that when Saichō 最澄 (767–822) wanted to found the Enryakuji 延曆寺 temple on Mt. Hiei 比叡山, he prayed for the divine protection of the temple. In reply to his prayer, a divinity with three faces appeared and promised to grant his request: that was Sanmen daikoku. Traditionally, the protecting deity of Mt. Hiei is the deity of Mt. Miwa 三輪山, Miwa daimyōjin 三輪大明神, who is Ōmononushi-no-mikoto 大物主尊 (cf. Hie taisha 日吉大社 and Sannō gongen 山王權現). There was an assimilation of Miwa daimyōjin with Daikokuten according to the Miwa daimyōjin engi 三輪大明神緣起, which is dated from 1318, but based probably on a document written by Eison 叡尊 (1201–1290) in 1285. At the latest from this period onward, Daikokuten was believed as the protecting deity of Mt. Hiei. On the other hand, the idea of one deity with three faces can be traced back to the protecting yakṣa deity of the Shingon headquarters temple in Kyōto, the Tōji 東寺 (officially named Kyōō gokoku-ji 教王護國寺), named Yashajin 夜叉神 or Matarajin 摩多羅神, who was constituted of Shōten 聖天, Gaṇeśa, at the center, Dakiniten 荼吉尼天, Ḍākinī, at the left, and Benzaiten 辨才天, Sarasvatī, at the right, according to a work by Shukaku 守覺 (1150–1202). In the tradition of Tōji, this deity was connected to the Japanese deity Inari 稲荷, who was considered as the protecting deity of the whole temple. Thus, it is possible that the cult of Sanmen daikoku was created in Mt. Hiei, on the basis and in competition with Yashajin of the Tōji. In the later medieval period and during the Edo period, the cult of Sanmen Daikoku as a god of fortune was very popular, and there exists many little statues of this deity in wood. [Bibliography: Hôbôgirin, 7.902b-905a; 彌永信美 (Nobumi IYANAGA), 大黒天変相—佛教神話学 I, Kyoto, Hōzōkan 法藏館, 2002, p. 547ff.] [n.iyanaga]

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[Dictionary References]

Bukkyō jiten (Ui) 380

Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)1915a,3218b

Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 1133-1

Ding Fubao

Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 492a

(Soothill's) Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms 80

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Entry created: 2001-09-08

Updated: 2008-07-24