Kangiten or Kankiten (, "god of bliss"; Sanskrit (IAST): ), also known as Binayaka (毘那夜迦; Skt. ), Ganabachi (誐那鉢底, alternatively Ganahachi or Ganahattei; Skt. ), or more commonly, Shōten or Shōden (聖天, lit. "sacred god" or "noble god"), is a deva (ten) venerated mainly in the Shingon and Tendai schools of Japanese Buddhism who is the Buddhist equivalent of the Hindu deity Ganesha.
Although Kangiten (Shōten) and Ganesha share a common origin and a number of traits, there are also some marked differences between the two. For instance, the Buddhist Vinayaka was (at least at first) negatively portrayed as the creator of obstacles and the leader of a class of malignant demons who obstructed Buddhist practice called vinayakas, though later tradition made an attempt to distinguish between the vinayakas and their lord, who became seen as a manifestation of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Kannon in Japanese) and/or the buddha Vairochana.
Kangiten enjoys both a positive and negative reception in Japan. On the one hand, he is popularly revered as an extremely efficacious god who grants whatever is asked of him without fail, including impossible wishes. He is also said to watch over those who have a karmic connection with him from the moment of their conception, serving as their invisible companion throughout their lives. On the other hand, he is considered to be still bound by base passions and desires (kleshas) and thus is sometimes also regarded as a rather volatile, demanding god who is quick to punish those who have offended him.
Unlike his Hindu counterpart, whose image is prominently displayed in public, Kangiten is considered too sacred to be seen: images of the deity in temples are kept hidden from view, rituals centered on him are performed by qualified monks out of public sight, and lay devotees are discouraged from venerating iconographic depictions of the god at home.
While he is sometimes depicted as an elephant-headed single male deity like Ganesha, he is more commonly portrayed as a male-female couple (both with elephant heads) standing in an embrace in an iconographic depiction known as the Dual(-bodied) Kangiten (双身歓喜天, Sōshin Kangiten) or the Embracing Kangiten.
Names Kangiten inherited many names and characteristics from the Hindu god Ganesha (with whom he shares a common origin), though the name 'Ganesha' (IAST: ) itself was never applied to the Buddhist deity, who was generally referred to by the earlier names 'Ganapati' () or 'Vinayaka' (). 'Vinayaka' was transcribed into Chinese characters as 毘那夜迦 (pinyin: Pínàyèjiā; Japanese (rōmaji): Binayaka / Binayakya), 頻那夜迦 (pinyin: Pínnàyèjiā), and 毘那怛迦 (pinyin: Pínàdájiā), respectively, while 'Ganapati' was transcribed as 誐那鉢底 (pinyin: Énàbōdǐ; Japanese: Ganabachi / Ganahachi / Ganahattei) or 伽那鉢底 / 迦那鉢底 (Jiānàbōdǐ). The term vinayaka was also used to refer to a class of beings to which Vinayaka and/or his cohorts belong.
In Japan, the deity is commonly known as 'Shōten' / 'Shōden' (聖天, "sacred / noble god"; Skt. ) or 'Kangiten' (歓喜天, "god of bliss"; Skt. or ). The former epithet indicates his association with good luck and fortune and may be an allusion to the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Kannon), who is also known as 'Aryavalokiteshvara' (; Japanese: 聖観音, Shō-Kannon), one of the figures that constitute the dual-bodied (双身, sōshin) Kangiten, while the latter is especially associated with this dual form, who is venerated as a giver of joy and prosperity. Among devotees, he is also sometimes simply referred to by the honorific 'Tenson' (天尊, "venerable deity").
In this article, the names 'Vinayaka', 'Ganapati', 'Shōten' and 'Kangiten' are used interchangeably for the Buddhist deity, with 'Kangiten' specifically denoting the deity's dual form.
Historical development and literature
As demon and deity
Several theories have been advanced regarding the origins of the Hindu deity Ganesha, who first undisputably appears in the historical record in his classic form around the early 4th to 5th centuries CE. One theory is that Ganesha gradually came to prominence in connection with the Vinayakas, a group of four troublesome demons mentioned in the Manava-Grihyasutra (a text belonging to the Manava school of the Black (Krishna) Yajurveda) and the Mahabharata.
Whereas in Hinduism Ganesha was regarded mainly as a remover of obstacles, Buddhists originally emphasized his destructive side as the creator of obstacles and his function as a demon king. Early instances of the name 'Vinayaka' in Buddhist texts for instance have a negative connotation, denoting a malignant being (or beings) who is both the cause and the symbolic representation of obstacles or impediments. A note in the Mahamayuri Vidyarajni Sutra by the Tang period monk Yijing defines Vinayaka as an "obstructive deity" (障礙神, pinyin: zhàng'àishén; Japanese: shōgeshin) and notes his widespread worship in the west (i.e. India). The Mahavairochana Tantra (also known as the Vairochanabhisambodhi Sutra) meanwhile speaks of demonic entities such as vinayakas and rakshasas being dispersed through the power of mantra. The monk Yi Xing, in his commentary on this text, describes vinayakas as obstructions produced from a deluded mind (從妄想心生). In esoteric Buddhist literature, Vinayaka is portrayed as the enemy of the ritual practitioner who is to be either expelled with mantras or soothed with ritual offerings, which are then consumed by the practitioner to increase his strength; once duly propitiated he turns into the practitioner's ally, a protecting deity who removes all impediments. Vinayaka – also known under the name 'Vighnaraja' (), "Lord of Obstacles" – is sometimes also shown being trampled on by wrathful deities like Mahakala or Achala in Tibetan and East Asian Buddhist art.
The emergence of Esoteric (Tantric) Buddhism and its spread to Nepal, Tibet, and eventually to East Asia saw Vinayaka acquire a more positive role as a subjugator of demons. In Tibet, the deity was worshiped for the removal of obstacles and the granting of wealth and was at times portrayed as a wrathful, multiarmed deity wielding weapons. A Nepalese text provides a list of spells invoking Ganapati to not only bestow wealth but also to cause harm to enemies. Vinayaka is also depicted in a wall painting in Mogao Cave 285 in Dunhuang as a protector of Buddhism with the gods Maheshvara (Shiva) and Skanda.
Introduction to Japan
The two primary mandalas of East Asian esoteric Buddhism (Tangmi) also feature Vinayaka(s). In the Womb Realm (Garbhakoshadhatu) Mandala (based on the Mahavairochana Tantra), Vinayaka is found among the retinue of the directional deity Ishana with the god Mahakala (both of whom are derived from the Hindu Shiva), while the outer sections of the Vajra Realm (Vajradhatu) Mandala (based on the Vajrashekhara Sutra) contains four groups of five deities distributed along the four directions, each group containing one vinayaka – here interpreted as emanations of the buddha Vairochana who expressly adopt the form of vinayakas in order to subjugate the obstacle-causing demons.
Vinayaka's inclusion in these mandalas – brought to Japan by Kūkai (774–835), the founder of Shingon Buddhism – facilitated his introduction to Japan, where he (like most other Hindu deities assimilated in Buddhism) was first considered a minor guardian of the two mandalas. By the Heian period (794–1185), Vinayaka emerged as a besson (別尊, lit. "separate/distinct worthy"), a deity with an individualized cult centered around him. The deity's cult was developed within the Shingon school by the monk Kakuban (1095–1143), while in Tendai, it was systematized by Annen (841–889?).
Emergence of Dual Vinayaka (Kangiten)
The late Heian period saw the rise in popularity of the Dual-bodied Kangiten (Sōshin / Sōjin Kangiten) image, in which Vinayaka (heretofore depicted as a single figure, often with two arms but sometimes also four or six) is shown as an embracing male-female couple.
The origins of this imagery, unique to East Asia, have perplexed scholars for years; there is no concrete evidence about the inception of this form. It has been compared with the sexual yab-yum iconography found in Nepal and Tibet, although it is markedly different from them in that both figures have animal heads (yab-yum representations are restricted to fully humanoid deities; the zoocephalic Vinayaka-Ganapati was thus not portrayed in this form, though erotic depictions of him do exist) and are shown fully clothed. Lode Rosseels suggests that the Dual Vinayaka form may have originated from an iconographic type attested in Xinjiang (Chinese Turkestan) and Dunhuang in the 8th century showing Ganapati with four legs (representing the deity's union with his shakti in a non-sexual fashion), which was "reinterpreted by the Chinese in accordance with popular Taoist ideals ... which probably resulted in the restoration of the four-legged and four-armed form to two almost identical elephant-headed deities in a nonsexual embrace."
The form is first attested in 7th–8th century Chinese esoteric Buddhist texts. The Dharani-samuchchaya Sutra (Taishō Tripitaka 901), translated into Chinese by a monk named Atigupta (or Atikuta) in 653–654 CE describes a ritual to worship the Dual Vinayaka, which was replicated by Amoghavajra (705–774) in his ritual text Rite of the Dual-bodied Vinayaka, the Great Saintly Deva of Bliss (T. 1266). The text gives instructions for the fashioning of both the dual-bodied and the six-armed single Vinayaka images and specifies the types of offerings one should give to the deity.
Two texts attributed to Bodhiruchi (trad. 672–727), the Sutra of the Mantras and Rituals of the Gana (T. 1267), and the Larger Sutra of the Mantras and Rituals of the Gana (T. 1268), contain the same guidelines for rituals and depictions of the Dual-bodied Vinayaka. In the former text, Vinayaka teaches a multitude of deities and demons who have congregated at Mount Kailash a one-syllable mantra, followed by a description of a ritual dedicated to the Dual Vinayaka similar to that found in Amoghavajra's text. Vinayaka's demon followers promise the deity to grant the wishes of whoever repeats the one-syllable mantra. The Larger Gana Sutra meanwhile contains additional rituals to propitiate the Dual Vinayaka as well as the four-armed form of the deity. It also has rituals aimed at attracting love, gaining wisdom, or destroying enemies.
A ritual manual by Shubhakarasimha (637–736) titled Ritual of the Mantras and Offerings that Converted the Great Saintly Deva of Bliss King Vinayaka, the Dual-Bodied Maheshvara (T. 1270) mentions new myths regarding the Dual-bodied Vinayaka not found in Indian sources and is the first text that explicitly associates the deity with the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin / Kannon). It also prohibits placing his images in Buddhist altar rooms.
Other esoteric texts on Vinayaka
The Sutra of the Divine Incantations of the Eleven-Headed [Avalokiteshvara] (T. 1071), translated by the monk Xuanzang in 656 CE, expounds the rite of bathing an image of Vinayaka with perfumed water.