Acala

Acala or Achala (Sanskrit: अचल, "The Immovable", IPA:), also known as Acalanātha (अचलनाथ, "Immovable Lord") or Āryācalanātha (आर्याचलनाथ, "Noble Immovable Lord"), is a wrathful deity and dharmapala (protector of the Dharma) prominent in Vajrayana Buddhism and East Asian Buddhism.

Originally a minor deity described as a messenger or acolyte of the buddhaVairocana, Acala later rose to prominence as an object of veneration in his own right as a remover of obstacles and destroyer of evil, eventually becoming seen as the wrathful manifestation of either Vairocana, the Buddha Akṣobhya, or the BodhisattvaMañjuśrī. In later texts, he is also called Caṇḍaroṣaṇa (चण्डरोषण, "Violent Wrathful One", IPA:) or Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa (चण्डमहारोषण, "Violent One of Great Wrath", IPA:), the names by which he is more commonly known in countries like Nepal and Tibet.

In East Asianesoteric Buddhism, Acala is classed among the Wisdom Kings (Vidyārāja) and is preeminent among the five Wisdom Kings of the Womb Realm. Accordingly, he occupies an important hierarchical position in the Mandala of the Two Realms. In China, he is known as Bùdòng Míngwáng (不動明王, "Immovable Wisdom King", the Chinese translation of Sanskrit Acala(nātha) Vidyārāja), while in Japan, he is called Fudō Myōō, the on'yomi reading of his Chinese name. Acala (as Fudō) is one of the especially important and well-known divinities in Japanese Buddhism, being especially venerated in the Shingon, Tendai, Zen, and Nichiren sects, as well as in Shugendō.

Acala has been worshiped throughout the Middle Ages and into modern times in Nepal, Tibet, China and Japan, where sculptural and pictorial representations of him are most often found.