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持明院

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: Court of the *Vidyādhara

Senses:

  • The court directly adjacent to the west of the Court of the Eight-petaled Lotus 中臺八葉院 in the Garbhadhātu maṇḍala 胎藏界曼荼羅. Also called Court of the Five Greats Dharmapālas 五大院 (among the thirteen great courts 十三大院 of the Garbhadhātu 胎藏界曼荼羅) as it is comprised of five great deities, or Court of the Wrathful 忿怒院 as four of the deities are wrathful. The court represents the implementation of wisdom via mantra 眞言. The Mahāvairocana-sūtra 大日經 (T 848) only mentions Trailokyavijaya 勝三世明王 and Acala 不動明王, thus it is believed that the other deities were inserted later on. The four Vidyārājas represent attendants to Mahāvairocana who tend to the liberation of beings. The center space occupied by Prajñā-bodhisattva 般若菩薩 is actually where the ācārya 阿闍梨 sits and it was originally left blank. The other two figures in this section include Yamântaka 大威德明王 and Vajrahūṃkara 降三世明王.

    References:

    Somekawa, Eisuke, Michihiko Komine, Tenyū Koyama, Hisao Takahashi, and Takayuki Hirosawa. 1993. Mandara zuten曼荼羅図典 . Tokyo:  Daihōrinkaku.

    . [Jeffrey Kotyk; source(s): Nakamura, FGD]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bukkyō jiten (Ui) 440

    Bulgyo sajeon 819a

    Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 570a

    Fo Guang Dictionary 3818

    Ding Fubao {Digital Version}

    Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)3309b

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 1222-2

    (高野山)Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)1101b

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    Entry created: 2016-05-29