A ''dharmapāla'' (, , ja, 達磨波羅, 護法善神, 護法神, 諸天善神, 諸天鬼神, 諸天善神諸大眷屬) is a type of wrathful god in

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

. The name means "''

dharma Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for ...

'' protector" in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

, and the ''dharmapālas'' are also known as the Defenders of the Justice (Dharma), or the Guardians of the Law. There are two kinds of ''dharmapala'', Worldly Guardians ('' lokapala'') and Wisdom Protectors (''jnanapala''). Only Wisdom Protectors are enlightened beings.

Description

A protector of Buddhist

is called a ''dharmapala''. They are typically wrathful deities, depicted with terrifying iconography in the

Mahayana ''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing bra ...

and tantric traditions of Buddhism. The wrathfulness is intended to depict their willingness to defend and guard Buddhist followers from dangers and enemies. The '' Aṣṭagatyaḥ'' (the eight kinds of nonhuman beings) is one category of ''dharmapālas'', which includes the

Garuda Garuda (Sanskrit: ; Pāli: ; Vedic Sanskrit: गरुळ Garuḷa) is a Hindu demigod and divine creature mentioned in the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain faiths. He is primarily depicted as the mount (''vahana'') of the Hindu god Vishnu. Garuda i ...

, Deva, Naga,

Yaksha The yakshas ( sa, यक्ष ; pi, yakkha, i=yes) are a broad class of nature-spirits, usually benevolent, but sometimes mischievous or capricious, connected with water, fertility, trees, the forest, treasure and wilderness. They appear in ...

Gandharva A gandharva () is a member of a class of celestial beings in Dharmic religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, whose males are divine performers such as musicians and singers, and the females are divine dancers. In Hinduism, they are ...

Asura Asuras (Sanskrit: असुर) are a class of beings in Indic religions. They are described as power-seeking clans related to the more benevolent Devas (also known as Suras) in Hinduism. In its Buddhist context, the word is sometimes translated ...

, Kinnara and Mahoraga. In

Vajrayana Vajrayāna ( sa, वज्रयान, "thunderbolt vehicle", "diamond vehicle", or "indestructible vehicle"), along with Mantrayāna, Guhyamantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, are names referring t ...

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

and

thangka A ''thangka'', variously spelled as ''thangka'', ''tangka'', ''thanka'', or ''tanka'' (; Tibetan: ཐང་ཀ་; Nepal Bhasa: पौभा), is a Tibetan Buddhist painting on cotton, silk appliqué, usually depicting a Buddhist deity, scen ...

depictions, ''dharmapala'' are fearsome beings, often with many heads, many hands, or many feet. ''Dharmapala'' often have blue, black or red skin, and a fierce expression with protruding fangs. Although ''dharmapala'' have a terrifying appearance, they only act in a wrathful way for the benefit of sentient beings. The devotional worship of ''dharmapālas'' in the Tibetan tradition is traceable to early 8th-century.

Tibetan Buddhism

There are many different ''dharmapalas'' in

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in maj ...

. Each school has its own principle ''dharmapalas'' and most monasteries have a dedicated ''dharmapāla'' which was originally comparable to a genius loci. The many forms of

Mahakala Mahākāla is a deity common to Hinduism and Tantric Buddhism. In Buddhism, Mahākāla is regarded as the sacred ''Dharmapāla'' ("Protector of the Dharma"), while in Hinduism, Mahākāla is a fierce manifestation of the Hindu god Shiva and t ...

are emanations of Avalokiteshvara. Kalarupa and Yamantaka are considered by practitioners to be emanations of Manjushri the

Bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schoo ...

Wisdom Wisdom, sapience, or sagacity is the ability to contemplate and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight. Wisdom is associated with attributes such as unbiased judgment, compassion, experiential self-knowled ...

. Principal wisdom protector ''dharmapalas'' include: * Prana Atma (Tib. ''Begtse'') * Ekajaṭī (Tib. ''ral chig ma'') *

(Tib. ''Nagpo Chenpo'') *

Shri Devi ''Shri'' (named after Palden Lhamo, a Buddhist deity) is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur discovered in the Barun Goyot Formation in Khulsan, Mongolia. The fossil remains of ''Shri'' date back to the Late Cretaceous period. The type a ...

(Tib. Palden Lhamo) *

Yama Yama (Devanagari: यम) or Yamarāja (यमराज), is a deity of death, dharma, the south direction, and the underworld who predominantly features in Hindu and Buddhist religion, belonging to an early stratum of Rigvedic Hindu deities ...

(Tib. ''Shinje'') Other ''dharmapalas'' include: * Citipati * Mahakali * Yamantaka (Tib. ''Shinje Shed'') * Hayagriva (Tib. ''Tamdrin'') * Vaisravana (Tib. ''Kubera'') * Rāhula (Tib. ''gza'') * Vajrasādhu (Tib. ''Dorje Legpa'') *

Brahma Brahma ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp ...

(Tib. "Tshangs Pa") * Maharakta (Tib. ''tsog gi dag po, mar chen'') * Kurukulla (Tib. '' rig che ma'') * Vajrayaksa (Takkiraja) (Tib. ''du pai gyal po'') The main functions of a ''dharmapāla'' are said to be to avert the inner and outer obstacles that prevent spiritual practitioners from attaining spiritual realizations, as well as to foster the necessary conditions for their practice.

Chinese Buddhism

Chinese Buddhism Chinese Buddhism or Han Buddhism ( zh, s=汉传佛教, t=漢傳佛教, p=Hànchuán Fójiào) is a Chinese form of Mahayana Buddhism which has shaped Chinese culture in a wide variety of areas including art, politics, literature, philosophy ...

, the Twenty-Four Protective Deities or the Twenty-Four Devas ( Chinese: 二十四諸天;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...

: ''Èrshísì Zhūtiān'') are a group of gods who are venerated as ''dharmapālas.'' In addition, Wisdom Kings such as Acala, Ucchusma, Mahamayuri and Hayagriva are venerated as ''dharmapālas'' as well.

Shingon Buddhism

In Japanese

Shingon Buddhism Shingon monks at Mount Koya is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks such as Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra. ...

, a descendant of Tangmi, or

Chinese Esoteric Buddhism Chinese Esoteric Buddhism refers to traditions of Tantra and Esoteric Buddhism that have flourished among the Chinese people. The Tantric masters Śubhakarasiṃha, Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra, established the Esoteric Buddhist ''Zhenyan'' (, " ...

, ''dharmapālas'' such as Acala and Yamantaka are classified as Wisdom Kings. Other ''dharmapālas'', notably

, belong to the Deva realm, the fourth and lowest class in the hierarchy of honorable beings.

Related deities

In Tibetan Buddhism, there are two other classes of defender, the lokapālas and Kshetrapala Papiya,曼荼羅 GIALABA
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Guan Yu Guan Yu (; ), courtesy name Yunchang, was a Chinese military general serving under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Along with Zhang Fei, he shared a brotherly relationship with Liu Bei and accompanied him o ...

and Hachiman are also known as defenders.

References

Bibliography

* Kalsang, Ladrang (1996). ''The Guardian Deities of Tibet'' Delhi: Winsome Books. (Third Reprint 2003) . * Linrothe, Rob (1999). ''Ruthless Compassion: Wrathful Deities in Early Indo-Tibetan Esoteric Buddhist Art'' London: Serindia Publications. . * De Nebesky-Wojkowitz, Rene (1956). ''Oracles and Demons of Tibet''. Oxford University Press. Reprint Delhi: Books Faith, 1996 - . Reprint Delhi: Paljor Publications, 2002 - .

External links

Buddhist Protectors
- outline page at Himalayan Art Resources
Citipati Buddhist Protector
- Citipati Ritual Mask {{Buddhism topics