Editing Acala (section)

=== Japan ===
[[File:明王部諸尊図像抄-Iconographic Drawings of Five Myōō MET DP234965.jpg|thumb|402x402px|Five variant depictions of Acala, from a 12th century [[handscroll]]]]
'''Fudō Myōō''' (Acala),  was never popular in Indian, Tibetan or even Chinese Buddhism, but in Japan it became the object of a flourishing cult with esoteric overtones.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Lindsay|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/773765768|title=Encyclopedia of religion 7, 7|last2=Eliade|first2=Mircea|date=2005|publisher=Macmillan Reference USA, Thomson Gale|isbn=978-0-02-865740-0|location=Detroit, Mich., [etc.|language=English|oclc=773765768}}</ref>

The cult of Acala was first brought to Japan by the esoteric master [[Kūkai]], the founder of the Shingon school, and his successors, where it developed as part of the growing popularity of rituals for the protection of the state. While Acala was at first simply regarded as the ''[[primus inter pares]]'' among the five wisdom kings, he gradually became a focus of worship in his own right, subsuming characteristics of the other four ''vidyarāja''s (who came to be perceived as emanating from him), and became installed as the [[Honzon|main deity]] (''honzon'') at many temples and outdoor shrines.<ref name="murakami2" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Faure|first=Bernard|title=The Fluid Pantheon: Gods of Medieval Japan, Volume 1|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|year=2015|page=137}}</ref>

Acala, as a powerful vanquisher of evil, was regarded both as a protector of the imperial court and the nation as a whole (in which capacity he was invoked during state-sponsored rituals) and the personal guardian of ritual practitioners. Many eminent Buddhist priests like Kūkai, [[Kakuban]], [[Ennin]], Enchin, and [[:ja:相応 (僧)|Sōō]] worshiped Acala as their patron deity, and stories of how he miraculously rescued his devotees in times of danger were widely circulated.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Faure|first=Bernard|title=The Fluid Pantheon: Gods of Medieval Japan, Volume 1|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|year=2015|pages=135–139}}</ref>

At temples dedicated to Acala, priests perform the {{Nihongo|''Fudō-hō''|不動法}}, or ritual service to enlist the deity's power of purification to benefit the faithful. This rite routinely involves the use of the {{Nihongo|[[Homa (ritual)|Homa ritual]]|護摩|goma}}<ref name="murakami2" /> as a purification tool.

Lay persons or monks in ''[[yamabushi]]'' gear who go into rigorous training outdoors in the mountains often pray to small Acala statues or portable talismans that serve as his ''[[honzon]]''.<ref name="murakami2" /> This element of yamabushi training, known as [[Shugendō]], predates the introduction of Acala to Japan. At this time, figures such as {{nihongo|Zaō Gongen|蔵王権現}}, who appeared before the sect's founder, [[En no Gyōja]], or Vairocana, were commonly worshiped.<ref name="murakami2" /> Once Acala was added to list of deities typically enshrined by the yamabushi monks, his images were either portable, or installed in ''[[hokora]]'' (outdoor shrines).<ref name="murakami2" /> These statues would often be placed near waterfalls (a common training ground), deep in the mountains and in caves.<ref name="snyder2" />

The [[daimyo]] [[Takeda Shingen]] is known to have taken Fudō Myōō as his patron (particularly when he transitioned to being a lay monk in his later years), and has commissioned a statue of Fudō that is supposedly modelled after his face.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fister |first1=Patricia |title=Merōfu Kannon and Her Veneration in Zen and Imperial Circles in Seventeenth-Century Japan |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |date=2007 |volume=34 |issue=2 |page=435 |jstor=30233818 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30233818 |access-date=February 19, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=株式会社世界文化ホールディングス |title=武田信玄公生誕500年・450回忌を記念した恵林寺初の写真集『禅の四季彩』発売 |url=https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000001098.000009728.html |access-date=February 19, 2022}}</ref>

Acala also tops the list of [[Thirteen Buddhas]].<ref name="nichidaijisho2">{{cite book|last=Yamada|first=Binyō|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jj4GAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA6-PA65|title=The Nihon dai jisho|year=1894|isbn=978-0-8248-3261-2}}, Japanese Dictionary, p.748, middle row, under 「志ふさん・ぶつ.. (十三)佛」</ref> Thus [[Shingon Buddhism|Shingon Buddhist]] mourners assign Fudō to the first seven days of service.<ref name="nichidaijisho2" /> The first week is an important observance, but perhaps not as much as the observance of "seven times seven days" (i.e. 49 days) signifying the end of the "intermediate state" ([[bardo]]).

Literature on Shingon Buddhist ritual will explain that Sanskrit "seed syllables", [[mantra]]s and [[mudra]]s are attendant to each of the Buddhas for each observance period. But the scholarly consensus seems to be that invocation of the "Thirteen Buddhas" had evolved later, around the 14th century<ref name="gerhart2">{{cite book|last=Gerhart|first=Karen M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zb1LPTPJLaYC&pg=PA22|title=The Material Culture of Death in Medieval Japan|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-8248-3261-2|page=22|format=preview}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Kunishige|first=Masathoshi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZG1gI1KUI5MC&pg=PA68|title=Utsukushiki kokyō Yamaguchi-ken Seibu-ban (美しき故郷山口県西部版)|author2=illus. Kenji Kagwaguchi(川口健治)|publisher=Fujimoto Printing Corporation|year=1985|isbn=978-4-901977-02-9|format=preview}}, p.68 gives "late Kamakura Period"</ref> and became widespread by the following century,<ref name="gerhart2" /> so it is doubtful that this practice was part of Kūkai's original teachings.