Artworks

Five-pronged vajra

Artwork · Anonymous · 12th century · vajra · Nara National Museum

A vajra (kongō) of cast and gilded bronze: held in the right hand in Shingon ritual for the Kongōkai mandala and the indestructible nature of truth. The five prongs at each end stand for the five transcendental Buddhas, the central one for Dainichi. With the bell (suzu) in the left hand, for the Taizōkai, it symbolizes the union of the two mandalas. 1 Mason 2005, p. 124, fig. 148. ↩ Literatur Mason 2005: Penelope E. Mason, History of Japanese Art, 2nd, Pearson Education LTD. 2005.