Fudo Myo-O (which means God of Fire or Acalaratha in Sanskrit and is a manifestation of Dainichi-Nyorai or Mahavairocana in Sanskrit which means the God enlighten the world) ;
Now I want to explain the image of God of Fire. The image of God of Fire is unique in design and structure in several ways.
1) He has scowling and fearsome appearance. This scowling and fearsome expression in its appearance represents his vow to appease and conquer the anger in our minds. Anger is the most unconquerable inner enemy of a man.
2) He carries fire flames on his back. This shows us that his wish is to burn up all of our sinful worldly passions, and also he repels the devils away from the world.
3) He carries a sword in his right hand. He thretens with the sword the devils not to temper us to evil desires .
4) He has a string of rope in his left hand. This tells us that our soul is being scooped in his hands with his deepest of mercy.
5) He has his right eye open. The open eye represents righteousness. But,his left eye is cloced. This means that his compassion and mercy are directed to even the most sinful people.
6) He is formed in a yound man's figure. This tells us that he is energetic and actrive and working everyday for the salvation of all human beings.
7) His hair is bundled in seven bundles. This number of 7 symbolizes the seven steps before we can attain the enlightenment.
8) He is accompanied by the two sub-deities; the one on his right is called Kongara-doji and the on on his left is called Seitaka-doji. They are working together for the sake of the end purpose of their master, the God of Fire for salvation of all human beings.
Now, I want to draw your attention to the mythtic ritual of the esoteric Shingon Sect of Buddhism performed in front of the God of Fire around the hearth by the priests. This rite is called Goma rite. The head priest is burning the rectangular shape wooden pieces of spruce in the hearth placed on the altar.
From the begining of human history, fire was used for the mental purification. The fire of Goma rite originated in India by Brahmanism some three thousand years ago. It was adopted in Buddhism when the Dainichi Suitra was perfected in the 7th century AD. and introduced to Japan from China about 1000 years ago by the two great Japanese masters of Buddhism of those days, Kukai and Saicho.
A prayer of intriety or the mystical formula is chanted while burning the Goma wood.
The most important words of intriety goes like this; A, RO, KAN, MAN. These words are intendted to invoke Buddha's blessing; A to invoke Dainichinyorai, the cosmic cause and truth, RO to burn up all sinful worldly passions and repel devils away, KAN to invoke goodness and wisdom of the four main Buddhas, and MAN to attain enlightenment.
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The ΩE ddiagram shows tha mental status of a man in meditation.and ΰE shows us how the wisdom is working in an enlightened man such as a Buddh
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by Arthur@October, 2001
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