Tara: Powerful Feminine Force in Buddhism

Tara, called Jetsun Dölma, is a significant figure in Buddhism. She is mainly revered in Tibetian Buddhism. In Mahayana Buddhism, she appeared as a female bodhisattva. If it comes to talk about Vajrayana Buddhism, she appeard as a female Buddha. We know her as the "mother of liberation," who is the symbol of virtues of success in the field of work & achievements. In addition, people know her as Duōluó Púsà in Chinese Buddhism. However, people in Japan know her as Tara Bosatsu .

Tara, who is Tibetian Sgrol-ma, a Buddhist saviour goddess, is very famous in Nepal, Tibet, and Mongolia. People consider her as bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara's feminine counterpart. People believed that there is a story behind her existence. The story is one day, a tear of Avalokiteshvara has fallen to the ground and has formed a lake. In its water, an opening lotus rose up which revealed the Goddess. She is considered as a compassionate deity who helps the people who are in distress.

Origin as a Buddhist Bodhisattva:

You can find multiple stories that give different explanations of her origin as a bodhisattva. This story tells about a young princess spending her life in another world system. She is Jnanachandra or Yeshe Dawa, meaning of which is the "Moon of Primordial Awareness." She was offering that world system to the Buddha for an era. The system was known as Tonyo Drupa. He gave her instructions related to bodhicitta which is Bodhisattva's compassionate mental state. Later a few monks came to her to give suggestions. They said that she should pray so that she could be reborn as male in her next life to get progress. Then, she told the monks that "weak minded worldlings' ' think that gender is a barrier and women can't progress in life.

However, later, she noticed that only a few were there who wanted her to work for the well-being and prosperity of sentient beings in the form of a female. That's why she decided to be reborn always as a female bodhisattva, but until samsara is no more. Later she starts meditating in a palace for nearly ten million years. Her power of these practices helped to heal the health issues of many people. Then, Tonyo Drupa, told her that she can manifest supreme bodhi in the upcoming world system as the Goddess Tārā.

Symbols and Associations:

Generally, the term Tārā's refers to "star" or "planet," and based on that, this goddess is connected with travel and navigation. The goddess is known as "she who saves" in Tibetan. While there are one hundred and eight names of Holy Tara, she is the 'Leader of the caravans ..... who showeth the way to those who have lost it'. However, she is known by the name Dhruva also. Remember that Dhruva is the Sanskrit name for the North Star. Miranda Shaw who considered motherhood as the central to Tara's conception, gave some titles to her including "loving mother," "supreme mother," "mother of the world," "universal mother" and "mother of all Buddhas."

Mostly she appeared with her blue or night lotus (utpala). These flowers release the fragrance when the moon appears. Therefore, it is considered that Tārā has connections with the moon & light. In addition, she is a forest goddess who appears in the form of Khadiravani , a "dweller in the Khadira forest." Her life is connected to plant life, flowers, acacia (khadira) trees, and the wind. As she is connected with nature and plants, she is known as a healing Deity. In addition, she is known as the deity of nurturing quality and fertility.

People have described her land in Mount Potala as covered with many manifold trees and creepers. While chirping of birds can be heard, the forest allows the people to enjoy the murmur of waterfalls. Different kinds of flower species can be seen growing everywhere.

Tara Emergence as a Buddhist Deity:

In Tibetan Buddhism, this goddess is renowned as the symbol of action and compassion and considered as the female aspect of Avalokiteśvara.

Finally, Avalokiteshvara reached the summit of Marpori, in Lhasa. We know the Marpori summit as the 'Red Hill' also. On Otang, he realized that the lake called the 'Plain of Milk’ looks like the Hell of Ceaseless Torment.

There, the myriad beings faced many challenges like burning, boiling, hunger, thirst, etc., but still, they did not perish, sending forth grievous cries of distress all the while.

Once he viewed this, his eyes filled with tears. Then, one drop of this tear from his right eye fell to the plain. As soon as the tear falls, it becomes the reverend Bhrikuti.

After the declaration of Bhrukuti, the princess got reabsorbed into Avalokiteshvara's right eye. Later, Bhrukuti was reborn as the Nepalese princess Tritsun. When a teardrop fell upon the plain from the left eye, it became Tara. After that, she was reabsorbed into the left eye of Avalokiteshvara.

The goddess Tārā appears in various forms. In Tibet, Green Tārā appeared as the Nepalese Princess named Bhrikuti. White Tārā appeared as the Chinese princess Kongjo (Princess Wencheng).

As a Saviouress:

The Statue of this deity, in Nepal, is20.25" tall and consists of gilt copper inset full of precious stones. While this goddess has several characteristics of the feminine principle, we know her as the Mother of Mercy and Compassion.

This goddess gives birth to compassion, warmth, and relief. She has the same sympathy as a mother for all her kids. The form Green Tārā protects all beings from unfortunate circumstances. On the other hand, White Tārā represents maternal compassion. She can heal the health issues of all beings, especially those who are wounded physically or mentally.

The form of Red Tārā lets us learn discriminating awareness about any incident and how to convert raw wishes into love & compassion. If it comes to talk about Blue Tārā (Ekajati), remember that this form is a protector in the Nyingma lineage. This form expresses a formidable, female energy that can be invoked for destroying dharmic obstacles. You should know that each form is linked to any color and energy. Every form includes feminine attributes.

Forms of Tara:

There are several forms of Tārā. We know Green Tārā as śyāmatārā. This form indicates peacefulness and enlightened activity. It is the central aspect of Tārā from which all forms emanate. We know the Green form as Khadiravaṇi-Tārā, also known as Tārā of the acacia forest. She came to Nagarjuna in South India's Khadiravani forest to protect all beings from eight fears. Mārīcī and Ekajaṭā, her two attendants, give her accompany.

Sarvajnamitra says that this goddess has a universal form also, and we call it visva-rupa. This form encompasses living beings. There are other forms of Tārā also including:-

White Tārā (Sitatārā): 

We call the form The Wish-fulfilling Wheel, or Cintachakra, whom we know as the deity of healing and compassion. In this form, we can see that her two arms are seated on a white lotus, whereas the eyes are on hands and feet. The third eye is on the forehead, due to which she is called "Seven eyed."

Pravīratārā: 

She appears in a red-colored form where she holds a bell and vajra, bow and arrow, wheel, conch, sword, and noose in her eight arms. We know her as "Tārā Swift and Heroic" also.

Kurukullā (Rigjema): 

It is a form of red color and fierceness that can magnetize good things.

Black Tārā (Ugra Tārā): 

She is famous for power.

Yellow Tārā or Golden colored Tārā: 

These have connections with wealth and prosperity. Yellow Cintamani Tārā is considered a "Wish-Granting Gem Tara" because she is holding a wish-granting jewel. Besides, there is another form "Vajra Tārā" with eight arms. The other form, golden "Rajasri Tārā" , holds a blue lotus.

Blue Tārā (Ekajati): 

In this form, she has a lot of heads and hands, referring to a connection with the transmutation of anger. A few authors said that this form has similarities to Ugra Tārā and Ekajati.

Cintāmaṇi Tārā: 

At the Highest Yoga Tantra level in the Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism, this form of Tārā is worshipped. This form is portrayed in green color.

Sarasvati (Yangchenma): 

This form is renowned for arts, knowledge, and wisdom.

Bhṛkuṭītārā (Tronyer Chendze): 

She is known as "Tārā with a Frown." This form is renowned for protecting from the spirits.

Uṣṇīṣavijaya Tārā: 

This form is called White Tārā or "Victorious Uṣṇīṣa." Hence, she has three faces and 12 hands in this form. Remember that this form symbolizes long life.

Golden Prasanna Tārā: 

In this form, she wore a necklace of bloody heads. Besides, in his 16 hands, she holds many weapons and Tantric attributes.

Yeshe Tsogyal: 

She is known as "Wisdom Lake Queen" in this form.

Rigjay Lhamo: 

We know her as "Goddess Who Brings Forth Awareness."

Sitatapatra Tārā: 

She protects against supernatural danger.

Conclusion:

The Tibetian branch of Vajrayana Buddhism worships this meditation deity, Tara, for developing inner quality. Moreover, this deity is worshipped for understanding inner, outer, and secret teachings like compassion known as Karunā, loving-kindness known as mettā, and emptiness known as shunyata. You can understand the depth of the term Tārā by realizing various aspects of the same quality. The reason for this is we often consider bodhisattvas as the personifications of Buddhist methods.

There is a text named Praises to the Twenty-One Taras, which is a vital text in Tibetan Buddhism. Tantra is one of the essential texts that describes All the Functions of Tara, Mother of All the Tathagatas. For both Hindus and Buddhists, the primary Tārā mantra is the same, which is: oṃ tāre tuttāre ture svāhā. Buddhists & Tibetans follow the Tibetan traditions and pronounce them as oṃ tāre tu tāre ture soha. If it comes to talk about the the literal translation, the answer will be O Swift One, So Be It!"

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q. What is Tara the goddess of?

In Buddhism, people worship the Goddess Tara as the goddess of compassion and protection. In Hinduism, the goddess appears in a primordial female energy form and we know her as shakti. The root of the word tara is the Sanskrit word "Tar" which indicates "protection." But in other languages, the term means "star."

Q. Why is Tara important for Buddhists?

She is a saviour deity liberating souls from suffering.

Q. Is Tara a Buddhist?

She is a Buddhist goddess and saviour, Tibetan Sgrol-ma, who has many forms. She is mainly renowned in Nepal, Tibet, and Mongolia.

Religion in Ancient Rome

Whether it is an ancient society or modern, Religion in ancient Rome is a vital cornerstone to these. If you talk about ancient Rome, you can find it the backbone of the most crucial beliefs. We got to know their lifestyle and the nature of their architecture & surroundings. In the earliest days, the country was polytheistic and had been continuing the tradition indicating that people believed in many gods and spirits there. Every God has a different role. But its nature has evolved throughout the centuries of the empire.

Even while Rome was under Etruscan control, it continued its Religion to display some obvious debts to the time. Unlike the fantastic Etruscan conceptions, Roman shades (Di Manes) were not so substantial.

What is Roman Religion?

Roman Religion is known as Roman mythology, beliefs, and practices. It has continued from ancient times until the ascendancy of Christianity in the 4th century AD.

Nature and significance of Religion in ancient Rome:

Orator and politician Cicero believed that Romans guided all people in unique wisdom. Therefore, they started to assume that everything was related to the rule and direction of the gods, and it was based on mutual trust between God and man.

Its motive was to protect the gods' cooperation, benevolence, and peace. According to the Romans, they can master the unknown forces around them using the divine. As a result, it helps them to live successfully. Besides, a couple of rules were there telling you what you should do and what not.

There were many different imperials and provincial religious practices in ancient Rome. Nevertheless, the Roman people and those under its rule followed it.

The Romans thought that they abide by Religion highly. Besides, they tried to maintain good relations with the gods. The polytheistic Religion honored multiple gods. Greeks' existence can be found on the Italian peninsula from the beginning of the historical period. It influenced Roman culture, introducing a few religious practices like the cult of Apollo.

The Romans found common ground between the major gods of themselves and the Greeks. Besides, they adapted Greek myths and iconography for Latin literature and Roman art. In earlier times, the Etruscan Religion was one of the major influences, especially on the practice of augury.

Legends said that Rome's religious institutions allowed us to trace it to its founders, mainly Numa Pompilius, who was the Sabine second king of Rome. He could negotiate directly with the gods. The setup of the mos maiorum was archaic Religion, and the Religion of ancient Rome was practical and contractual. In addition, it is based on the principle of do ut des meaning "I give that you might give." Hence, knowledge and practicing prayer, ritual, and sacrifice are dependable factors. Religion does not depend on faith or dogma. 

 

Latin literature helps to preserve learned speculation on the divine nature and its relation to human affairs. Cicero, the most skeptical among Rome's intellectual elite, found their Religion as a source of social order. With the expansion of the Roman Empire, migrants to the capital brought the local cults. Many of them became famous among Italians. Christianity was a very successful cult in those early days and became the official state religion in 380.

Religion was a part of daily life for ordinary people of the country. Every house had a household shrine where they offered prayers and libations to the family's domestic gods. Sacred places and Neighborhood shrines dotted the city. They create their calendar also around religious observances. Multiple women, slaves, and children participate in various religious activities. Besides, a few women conducted some public rituals also.

Ancient Rome Was Polytheistic:

Ancient Rome used to believe in multiple different gods from the earliest times when they made a polytheistic system of beliefs.

The people thought that the spirits of their former ancestors were invisible entities. Even they believed that the gods had assisted them while making the foundations of Rome. It is why they can set up a Capitoline Triad to celebrate the city's three founders. 

The gods were:-

• Jupiter (the God of all), 
• Mars; the great God of war and father to Romulus & Remus and 
• Quirinus (Rome's first king), known as Romulus previously.

Ancient Romans Incorporated the Greek Gods Into Their Religion:

They adapted most gods from earlier Greek mythology, which is why you can find multiple Greek colonies in Rome's lower peninsula. As a result, most Roman gods have similar names or roles. For instance, Jupiter was similar to Zeus, whereas Minerva was similar to Greek Athena, regarded as the goddess of war.

Like earlier Greeks, various towns of the country developed their patron saints and made prominent monolithic temples in honor of these gods. Besides, they worshiped outside or at the temple's entrance, which was God's home.

Romans Invented Some Gods:

Some deities were there whom the Romans invented themselves. As for illustration, they developed Janus, a two-faced god, the guardian of doorways and gates. In addition, he can see past and future at a time.

Vestal Virgins was another god who protected the hearth of the Astrium Vesta. Selected girls aged ten years remained in service to the goddess Vesta for 30 years.

Early Roman Religion:

Previously, there were different findings of archaeology. But they could not allow scholars to build archaic Roman Religion again. Latin and Sabine shepherds and farmers belonged to the Alban Hills and the Sabine Hills. They went to set up villages in the nation. At the time of 620, the communities merged. Forum Romanum is used as the city's meeting place and market.

The survival of Roman Religion

Once a time, coins and other monuments tried to connect Christian doctrines with the worship of the Sun. Hence, you should know that Constantine had an addiction to it. But at the time of its ending, Roman paganism continued to exert others. Emperors took the title of the chief priest, called pontifex Maximus, from the Popes.

In addition, you can see saints perpetuating many times the multiple numina of an ancient tradition. We can find many remnants of pre-Christian festivals in the ecclesiastical calendar. Christmas was one of the notable festivals with blended elements, including the feast of Saturnalia and the birthday of Mithra. But the Western Christianity mainstream owed ancient Rome's discipline, and it got the stability and shaped for the discipline.

In Ancient Rome, Emperors acted as chief religious priests.

Roman leaders became chief priests or pontifex Maximus when Augustus was an emperor. After that, they become the head of any religious worship. After that, they employed Roman augures, or soothsayers helping them to read animal entrails to predict the future. In addition, before going into any battle, they went to the temple to organize sacrifices to the gods.

Judaism and Christianity challenged religious beliefs in ancient Rome. As a result, Rome got threats from Jewish ideas that Jews would experience harsh prejudice and discrimination leading to expulsion and even war. Emperor Titus was the leader of the Jewish wars. This war destroyed the city of Jerusalem and killed thousands.

In the earlier days, people find Christianity as a small sect of Judaism. However, the more time passed, it grew gradually. Finally, after a while, it can take over as the dominant Religion across the Eastern and Western Roman Empires.

Emperor Constantine supported Christianity in the east, and he transferred to the Religion on his deathbed. This rising dominance of Christianity was responsible for the downfall of the Western Roman Empire. Later, it became the dominant religion for centuries to come.

Conclusion:

We had told before that the roman empire was a polytheistic civilization, indicating that people identified and worshipped many gods and goddesses. Although there were monotheistic religions within the kingdom, like Judaism and early Christianity, people believed in many gods.

Their Religion has never created a comprehensive code of conduct. Instead, unity and duty developed for the rituals of house and farm. The reciprocal understanding between man and God helped to impart a sense of security. The people of Rome required it to get the success but stimulated. Simply, it represents a concept of mutual obligations and binding agreements between people. From this description, you get to know about Religion in ancient Rome.

Devil Worship-Theistic Satanism

Devil worship is a term referred to the religious Satanism or spiritual Satanism. It consider Devil as a super natural force which is worthy of worship and supplication. The religious Satanism considers Satan as objectively existing supernatural force. The institutions unhold traditional Satanism and its belief. The theistic Satanism practices various types of magic. 

Satan is another name of the Devil. In Christianity, we know him as Lucifer also. This entity is seen in the Abrahamic religions, which seduces people into falsehood. Lucifer is seen as an agent subservient to Yahweh in Judaism. He is seen in Islam and Christianity as a fallen angel. When it comes to the Quran, we know Shaitan as Iblis. It is an entity that is created by fire. He was cast out of Heaven as he didn't bow before Adam.

When it was the Middle Ages, in Christian theology devil played a minimal role. He was used as a comic relief figure in mystery plays. When the early modern period ran, demonic possession and Witchcraft became more prevalent.

Devil Worship:

Besides, Satanism is a combination of ideological and philosophical beliefs based on Satan. Satanism started its journey by establishing the atheistic Church in the United States in 1966.

Previously before the public practice, Satanism existed primarily as an accusation by various Christian groups toward perceived ideological opponents rather than it as a self-identity. Artists and entertainers have used the concept of Satan for symbolic expression.

Theistic Satanism is known as religious Satanism, spiritual Satanism, or traditional Satanism. It is an umbrella term for religious groups that consider Satan to be an objectively existing deity, supernatural entity, or spiritual being which is worthy of worship and supplication whom individuals may contact, convene with, and even praise, rather than just an archetype, a metaphor, or an idea as in LaVeyan Satanism.

Some organizations uphold the belief system and detect these as theistic Satanists. These are mostly too small and affiliated loosely. Sometimes, these may be independent groups and plots and conspiracies that have self-marginalized.

Its characteristic is the use of different types of magic, and it is very prominent. The original theistic Satanist groups are primarily available in the latest ideologies and models. Many groups are not dependent on the Abrahamic religions.

Devil Worship History:

When it was the first half of the 1990s, the network has boosted communication, visibility, etc. Besides, it has spread various beliefs and currents even more among Satanists. As a result, it has created more conflicting and diverse groups. However, Satanism remains a pluralistic, heterogeneous, and decentralized religious movement for always. A few like Religion academics, scholars of New religious movements, and sociologists of religion who focused on Satanism have categorized the currents based on the esoteric/theistic or rationalist/atheistic. They indicate or mean this working practice with a literal Satan as "traditional" Satanism.

Generally, the theistic Satanist believer accepts theological and metaphysical canon that involves one or more gods. He considers them as Satan or a conception of Satan that incorporates adversarial gods from other religions such as Enki.

Although the number of these self-professed theistic Satanists has repeatedly been increasing since the 1990s, most region scholars still consider it a minority group within Satanism.

There are plenty of theistic Satanists who believe that their concepts rely on pieces of all of the diverse conceptions of Satan. According to them, the concepts are based on their inclinations and sources of spiritual guidance. A few of these can prefer to live out the myths and stereotypes. But the thing you should know about Christianity is that it is never the primary reference frame for theistic Satanists.

The region might rely on these factors: Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Neo-Paganism, Left-Hand Path, black magic, ceremonial magic, Crowleyan magick, Western esotericism, and occult traditions. Some Satanists base their faith on Christian ideas about Satan. They are known, Diabolists. However, other Satanists call them "reverse Christians." They could see the concept of Satan as undiluted. Besides, they also worship an interpretation of Satan.

Peter H. Gilmore, who is the recent leader of the atheistic Church of Satan, refers to "Devil-worship" as a Christian heresy.

Historical mentions of Satanism:

The age of accusations: If you see the history of Christianity, you can find that the worship of Satan was an accusation caused frequently since the Middle ages. It is the Albigensians who were accused previously as the first Devil-worshippers. This one was a Gnostic Christian heretical movement that the Roman Catholic Church persecuted. Pope Innocent III convened the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, and this Council formulated the charge during the Catholic Inquisition. Knights Templar or minority religions or some groups or individuals were culprits also against whom the charge of Devil-worship has been made.

In 1307 trails were made of the Knights Templar. Templars' writings mentioned the old French corruption term Baphomet. The people those who accused Templars falsely portrayed the term as a demon.

This charge of worship was used previously against the people charged in the witch trials in early modern Europe & other witch-hunts and occurred during the era of reformation, Counter-Reformation, and European wars of religion.

We still don't know whether accusations of groups who used to worship Satan during the witch trials accused those who considered themselves Satanists, or those who were suffering from mass hysteria, or against whom the charges were made like the individuals who have a mental illness.

Confessions are not trustful as they used to be obtained under torture. However, Jeffrey Burton Russell, a Professor Emeritus of the California University located at Santa Barbara, has created a huge argument in his book Witchcraft in the Middle Ages. After doing a deep study of the source documents, he concludes that those who were involved in the Poisons were accused of Satanism and Witchcraft.

The term Satanist was a pejorative word for the people who had opinions that had differences from predominant religious or moral beliefs. According to Paul Tuitean, Inquisition was the creator of acts of "reverse Christianity," whereas George Bataille believes that inversions of Christian rituals like Mass might exist before their descriptions.

Grimoire Satanism:

When it was the 1700s, different types of famous "Satanic" literature started to be generated in France. The Grimorium Verum and the Grand Grimoire are the two most noticeable things.

When it was the 19th century, Éliphas Lévi published his books written in the French language. In the year of 1855, he also made his famous drawing of the Baphomet. This drawing has still been used by a few Satanists today. It is the basis of the sigil of Baphomet. The non-theistic Satanist group was the first one who adopted this first. They are known as the Church of Satan.

At last, in 1891, Joris-Karl Huysmans published a Satanic novel that is named Là-bas. It came with a detailed description of a Black Mass.

In recent times, Quotations from Huysmans' Black Mass are still used. The reason is that it remains one of the sources that can purport to describe the words used in a Black Mass.

The Là-bas Satansiam suggests and describes that prayers are said to the Devil, hosts are taken from the Catholic Church, and sexual acts are combined with Roman Catholic altar objects. And rituals to produce a variety of Satanism, which exalts Satan and degrades the God of Christianity by inverting Roman Catholic rituals.

According to George Bataille, the description about Black Mass from Huysman is "indisputably authentic ." In Protestant majority countries, the Mass is not a part of Evangelical Modern Christianity; therefore, not all the theistic Satanists today routinely perform the Black Mass.

Organized Satanism:

There was a small group of the previous verifiable theistic Satanists. The group is known as the Ophite Cultus Satanas, generated in Ohio in 1948. The Ophite Cultus Satanas was inspired by the ancient Ophite sect of Gnosticism and the Horned God of Wicca. This group relied on the leader of the group.

Michael Aquino published a rare text in his book The Church of Satan. This 1970 text is of a Church of Satan Black Mass that is called the Missa Solemnis. On the flip side, Anton LaVey published a separate Church of Satan Black Mass in his book named The Satanic Rituals. This independent Church is known as the Messe Noire.

En no Gyōja

 En no Gyōja, The Mountain Priest

The legendary founder of the Japanese religion, Shugendo when translated means `path of training to achieve spiritual powers’, which is an important Kami Buddha combination sect that blends pre Buddhist mountain worship known as Kannabi Shinko. Their practitioners are known by various names such as Shugenja, Shugyosha, Keza and Yamabushi and these terms are translated into English as ascetic monk or mountain priest.

As a rule, this sect emphasizes on physical endurance as a path to enlightenment where the practitioners perform fasting, seclusion meditation, recite sutras, magical spells and also engage themselves in feats of endurance like standing or sitting under cold mountain waterfalls or in snow. The devotees also have a particular practice of setting up wood or stones markers leaving a trail of their mystical journey up the mountain.

En no Gyōja means En The Ascetic

They also need to follow a procedure on entering into any sacred mountain space, where each stage consists of a specific mudra, a hand gesture with religious meaning, mantra, a sacred verbal incantation and waka which is a classical Japanese poem. The honored sage of this sect is En no Gyōja who is also known as En no Ozunu, Ozuno, En no Shokaku and En no Ubasoku where Gyoja means ascetic and En no Gyōja means En the Ascetic.

Ubasoku according to the Japanese form of Sanskrit upasaka means an adult male lay practitioner or a devotee or a Buddhist layman who is recognized as a father of Shugendo. He is given the title of Shinben Dabosatu which means Miraculous Great Bodhisattva which was bestowed in 1799 to him by the Emperor Kokaku during his reign in 1771 – 1840. En no Gyōja was born in 634 and is honored as a mountain saint and a bodhisattva with several supernatural powers attributed to him. This holy man was a mountain ascetic during the 7th century and like most of the Shinto Buddhist syncretism, his legend is a puzzle with folklore.

Origin of En no Gyoja

As per the Nihon Ryoiki, En no Gyōja was born in Katsuragi Mountains of Nara Prefecture, hailing from the Kamo clan, the family of Kamo-no-E-no-Kimi and his clan had lived for many years in the mountainous regions for generation which was a verdant region with a variety of medicinal plants.

It is believed that En no Gyōja gained wide knowledge of these medicinal plants and also maintained a garden in that area but was forced to give it up in 675 AD during which he had gained a high reputation of a healer. After his father’s death, En no Gyōja prayed that his mother would be bestowed with another child since his intention was to depart to the mountains to pursue his practice and she subsequently gave birth to a son who was named Tsukiwakamaru and he returned to the Katsuragi Mountains at the age of 32 to continue with his ascetic practice. According to the legends, En no Gyōja practiced under the protection of the animals living in the mountains where he discovered valuables deposits of silver and mercury in these mountains.

As per Shugendo legends, in 699, En no Gyōja was wrongly accused by one of his jealous disciple, Karakuni no Muraji Hirotari for evil sorcery and was sent into exile to Itoshima island during the reign of Emperor Monmu. This angered him towards the god of Mt. Katsuragi also known as Hitokoto nushi no Kami and to punish the god he cast spells and confined the deity to the bottom of the valley. Hirokoto nushi in his turn showed his displeasure by possessing Hirotari who lodged a complaint in the capital which lead to him to his exile.

Teachings

During En no Gyōja's exile, it is believed that he changed into a mountain wizard and flew to the kingdom of Silla towards the Korean peninsula and met Dosho, a Japanese Bhuddhist monk. This monk had travelled to China in order to study Buddhism and founded Hosso secto of Nara Buddhism on his return. Though Gyoja’s great abilities remain unknown, En no Gyōja had made a peace treaty with Hiruzen Sarutobi during the Third Shinobi World War and had developed an unusual technique which was capable of destroying an entire village and the Third Hokage proclaimed a kinjutsu due to its power.

En no Gyōja had two students, one named Hato who was brilliant with remarkable skills in ninjutsu while the second was his very own granddaughter Hotaru. Gyoja blamed himself for the downfall of his clan and made it his duty to restore the clan back to glory but his advanced age hindered him. Before his death, seeing how much his dream meant to him, his granddaughter begged him to seal the kinjutsu in her so that she could continue with his dream.

Being skillful in fuinjutsu En no Gyōja devised a way to seal the clan’s kinjutsu in his granddaughter to safely remove it. Great reverence for En no Gyoja grew as mountain asceticism progressed and Shugendo religion took shape making him its founder. Moreover since he had visions of Zao Gongen deity, her belief also flourished along with veneration of Gyoja and he is linked to sacred mountains all over Japan.

According to some, the final years of En no Gyōja is a mixture of uncertainty which states that he did not die in 700 but returned to Mount Katsurag when he was pardoned in 701. Here, he captured Hitokoto nushi no Kami and tied him with arrowroot vine and locked him at the bottom of the valley and sometime later returned to the Japanese mountain where he attained Nirvana or probably crossed China.

Others presumed that En no Gyōja was released in 702 after which he either became immortal and flew away or migrated to China with his mother. It is reported that during his lifetime, he traveled widely and established Shugendo sanctuaries in various locations which included Omine mountain range, Mount Kinpusen, Mount Mino, lkoma mountains on the border of Osaka and Nara prefectures and Izu in Japan. Towards 1872, the Shugendu sect got banned as a superstitious belief and the sites became Shinto shrine, losing its heritage or branching off to either Tendai or Shingon Buddhism though Mount Haguro retained a small Buddhist presence and successfully maintained its Shugendo religion.

History Mystery: Angels Part.II

     Among the Talmudic age people, there were different opinions about the angels and their nature. Some of them thought every day new angels were created and they praise the god in the day and then at the end of the day they jump in to Nehar di Nur that is the river of fire. And some others added with that that Michael and Gabriel are the only two who serve the god permanently, hence we can come to the conclusion that the Talmudic age people discriminate the angels with respect to their duties assigned to them as eternal angels and the other angels.

       The Midarsh and the Talmud literature give a brief description about the angels and their creations. According to those literatures they angels were created by the God on the second and fifth day of their creation. They walk upright and they can fly, and they can reach the one end of the world form other end quickly and they can foretell predict the future and they can only speak Hebrew. They look like human but half fire and half water. Both demons and the angels have many things in common. The common belief is that no angel is assigned multiple tasks at a time that is each angle has to carry out a single assignment at a time and they also can make error as a human. There is much classification among angels, peace and evil angels, angels of life and death. Hence it is evident that there is segregation like lower and higher level of angels.

      Apart from already told arch angles Sandalfon Zaagzagael and Suriel are mentioned some places But the Midrash literatures gives much importance to the Metatron Angel. According to apocryphal literature every kingdom and their kings have their own guardian angels and they are chained to avoid doing harm to Israel. When the kings and their kingdoms fall the angels also fall and they also suffer punishment if the kings suffer punishments. Some of the details of guardian angels are there in Christian Neoplatonists also. Rabbis, the guardian angel otherwise mentioned as Dubiel, in Persia. The name of the guardian angel of Nebuchadnezzar was mentioned as Kal.

 The angels are fully depend o the God himself and they cannot act on their own. They have to proclaim the god’s sanctity and glory all day but they could not view the glory of the God himself and not even their dwelling place. The Aggadah the rabbinic literature differ from the above. According to it the god himself consulted the angels before creating the human and Michael and Gabriel played an important role in the marriage of Adam and Eve. Eve was made pregnant by the angel named Samael. During the Talmudic age traces of angel worship are not found. But the Christian writers have the different versions about that.

History Mystery: Angels

     In pre biblical texts angels are mentioned as independent with their own names and with uniqueness. In the early Jewish period the angels played dominant position in mythology than the pre biblical period. This was prevailed until the Hellenistic era of Jewish history with the unique doctrine of angels. Biblical writers mention the existence of angels which is superior to human with extraordinary powers but inferior than God and they served as Gods entourage and they conveyed God’s messages to Emperors and mankind. The terminology of the word Angel in old Hebrew Bible is not so exact. But it is mentioned as “angelos” in Greek bible which has the same meaning of Angel. Only when it was passed on to European language thro’ Latin Bible the word “Angel” got its exclusive meaning. In The post biblical scenario: the term Malakh was used in Hebrew to mention the messengers and representatives of god who have extraordinary and super natural powers. The bible also speaks of Angels with wings (Cherubim and Seraphim).

 

   In the second temple period they assumed that the great prophets had the privilege to communicate with the god and in later period people could be communicate with the god through angels. Hence the people tried to explore the nature and singularity of the angels. The apocalyptic wisdom literature assumed that the hidden secrets of the universe could be explored with the help of the angels. The Jews are very familiar with the Babylonian myths about the creation, the flood and the early human generation. Here worth mention Character is Enoch.
 

      Enoch is a first one created with the influence of the Babylonian myth. He was the creator and forerunner of the human culture and who conveyed the heavenly wisdom to the mankind. He was constantly in touch with the angels. Similar stories are with Noah and Abraham ascribing the awareness about the angels. This dogma of Angels was not evenly spread among the Jewish and the apocalyptic wisdom was kept secret and it was distributed among themselves by means of secret societies. The testament of Solomon in Greek mentions Solomon was acquainted with number of angels.

          The post biblical literature mentions so many angels. The one appear before Zechariah without name, Angel Gabriel in Book of Daniel, Uriel, Raguel, Raphael Michael. The arch angels, a group of seven angels are mentioned in Testament of Abraham. Uriel is the guardian angel of underworld, Raphael is the in charge of human spirit, Raguel is the angel for taking revenge on the world of lights, Angle for Israel is Michael, Gabriel in charge of heaven, Jeremiel guard the souls of underworld and the last one Sariel whose duties were not clearly mentioned. All these seven angels are in the close proximity of the God and call upon their duty. They are staying in four sides of the God’s throne. The angels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Phanuel are mentioned as the angels of presence in Enoch. They played an important part in punishing the fallen angels. The Hebrew Testament of Naphtali mentions the special group of 70 angles as ministering angels.

            The book of Enoch and The book of Jubilees mention about the Fallen Angels. According to the Book of Enoch the Fallen Angels, the sons of heaven lusted on the beautiful daughters of men in the world and they decided to land on Mt. Hermon to carry out their plan. They were headed by Shemhazai and take an oath (Herem) to fulfill their purpose and hence the mountain was called as Mt.Hermon. They were successful in their effort and gave birth to giants who were mercilessly destroyed men of the land. They taught them handling of the weapons there by promote the crime in the world which lead to the corruption among the mankind. The men in the world out cry for the help and the arch angels conveyed their plea to the god and God permitted the arch angels to punish the fallen angels. The book of Jubilee gives the different version. According to it the fallen angels came to earth to teach the mankind to order the society and were lusted and seduced by the daughters of the men in the earth.

                                                                                                                               ( to be continued....)

History Mystery: Did a historical Jesus exist? Part.II

According to the Gospels Jesus may crucified on the first day of the Passover or the day before (Depends upon the Gospel According to John Jesus was crucified on the day before the Passover).

The Passover is one of the holiest of Jewish holidays and it was the time for forgiveness and celebration. On those days only Jews made public scarifies to their god hence there is less chance for crucifixion. The arrest and quick trial of Jesus was happened on the pass over eve night. And the Jewish Sanhedrin could assemble in the middle of the night and spelt the quick judgment is highly impossible. The Sanhedrins were slapped and spit on Jesus could not be possible. (Sanhedrin was the Jewish judicial and administrative council which acts on set of rules). Mishnah Sanhedrin has certain rules to follow:

Tomb of Jesus

• No criminal trail can be hold at night.
• The Sanhedrin session could be taken place in the temple premises.
• Capital crime could not be trailed in one day sitting alone.
• No criminal session could be happened on the Sabbath day or of any festival day.
• The own confession of the accused is not enough to judge any one guilty.
• The blasphemy charges cannot be hold good if the accused pronounced the god before the witness.
But the trial of Jesus had broken all the rules.

The crucifixions of Jesus in the Gospels are completely symbolic in nature and based on the scriptures but not on the history. His arrest, trial and the execution all flout the Jewish law. And for blasphemy stoning is the ultimate sentence and there is no reason to hand over the execution to the Romans. The famous Jewish writer Philo of 20BCE wrote elaborately about the political and religious activities of those periods but he never mentioned or wrote anything about Jesus (he wrote about the political rivalry between Pontius Pilate in Judea and the Jews)
There are four documents, in other words historical documents available. Antiquity of the Jews by Josephus, The Annals by Tacitus, Letter to Trajan by Pliny the Younger, and The Lives of the Caesars by Suetonius. It is available in Catholic Encyclopedia.

According to Suetonius, “The Jews continuously made disturbance at the instigation of Chrestus and hence Chrestus was expelled”. Here we can only assume that Suetonius mentioned here Jesus as Chrestus. Chrestus is not the proper Latin translation of Greek Christos. Since the document itself talking about 49 CE by which Jesus was already dead.

Here The Annals by Tacitus mention the following,

Capernaum

“Hence to suppress the rumor, he falsely charged with the guilt, and punished Christians, who were hated for their enormities. Christus, the founder of the name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius: but the pernicious superstition, repressed for a time broke out again, not only through Judea, where the mischief originated, but through the city of Rome also, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular”

Bethany

Christus mentioned here clearly refers Jesus Christ but it is not enough to establish the historical existence of himself. Keep it in mind Tacitus wrote these forty years after the ruin of Judea.

The peoples of other civilizations don’t have a religious book like Bible to refer and cross examine the religious structure in other hand Jews have a scripture based religion. The Romans and Greeks have separate Law, Philosophy etc but for Jews all come under the same religion. In Judaism more particularly in Hellenistic Judaism the cult of Jesus Christ is a very small part of their religion.

From all the above “The story of Jesus Christ” fully relay on the Gospels rather than any historical evidences. For the Jesus story you can identify plenty of literary and conventional materials which raise the possibility for the observed historical events. That much only can say.

History Mystery: Did a historical Jesus exist? Part.I

Today all most every one of us in the world believes that Jesus Christ was a real personality. Perhaps he may not be the son of god or perhaps he may not be the real Messiah. The belief, Jesus as a human being came out as Eucharist ritual and theology concept of flesh and blood. Then what is the basis for the claim that “Jesus ever existed”?

There are two views we are going to analyze here. The first one is the Biblical or the religious view that Jesus as a real personality and the other one; The materialistic or the historical view. Here I wish to point out one thing. We have only one source of information about him which is the bible alone; that too more particularly from the Gospels. Everything we know about him is derived from the Gospels alone.

According to the Gospels, Jesus Christ was most popular and well-known personality who done splendid miracles and have the capacity of his own to pull the crowd. He not only done miracles but some revolutionary changes in religious system in the Jewish priesthood hence arrested and put to death before thousands of his followers who stood as eye witness. The historical view removes some exaggerated accounts in the life of Jesus in the Gospels taking into account.

Both of the views purely depend on the Gospels alone but, Are the Gospels give a reliable historical account? When the Gospels were written, where the gospels were written? which is the origin? Nobody knows. Earlier estimates dates the Gospels were written from 50 to 150CE and some ascertain that may be 4th Century. The traditional belief is that the Gospels had been written by the disciples of Jesus or someone who directly connected with them. It is believed that the Gospels are the eyewitness.


Let us gain some knowledge about the Gospels and its writers through the account of early church leader Papias of 130CE. According to him the Gospel Mark was not written by him but it was someone named Mark and the Gospel of Mathew was recorded by someone named Mathew in Hebrew dialect and so on… Since the Gospel of Mathew contains the virgin birth of Jesus and the hereditary lineage with David, the early theologians thought it was the first Gospel. Since the Gospel of Luke was not an eyewitness in nature and it was a self described one. So there is no possibility for it being first one.

The Gospel of Mark is also considered as second hand information since the order of events was different in order. The source of information for Mark is Peter. There is a chance that Mark might come from Rome where Peter preached. Theologian ascertains The Gospel of Mark was the first Gospel. Since Peter was shown as a fool who could not understand the messages of Jesus, Peter could not be the source of information for Gospel of Mark hence Mark is the first gospel.                                               (Cont....)