Kongōgō

The work this bodhisattva expresses

Expresses the Buddha's work of acting to save people.

Source: 真言宗単立本山 威徳山金剛寺

The name and role of Kongōgō

One of the Sixteen Great Bodhisattvas, also called Benji Kongō Bosatsu. It is listed as a bodhisattva positioned in the north of the four directions of the Diamond Realm and belonging to Fukūjōju Nyorai.

Source: 飛不動尊 正宝院・飛不動尊 正宝院・飛不動尊 正宝院

Tracing the form and the traditions

It is explained that nine of the Sixteen Great Bodhisattvas hold nothing and place both hands in front of the chest, so they look alike, but the shapes of their hands differ subtly.

Source: 飛不動尊 正宝院・飛不動尊 正宝院・飛不動尊 正宝院

Bodhisattvas attending the four buddhas of the Diamond Realm

The Sixteen Great Bodhisattvas are bodhisattvas assigned four each to the four buddhas of the Diamond Realm: Ashuku, Hōshō, Amida (Muryōju) and Fukūjōju. In the mandala centered on Dainichi Nyorai and the four buddhas, they express the wisdom and workings of the buddhas through their individual names and forms. They are deities to be understood through their relation to the mandala as a whole, rather than as single deities each in charge of a particular area.

Source: 飛不動尊 正宝院・関西大学

Reading the objects held and the position in the mandala

Objects held, such as a vajra, a jewel, a bow, a flower and a sutra scroll, are clues that show each deity's work. The individual pages introduce the meanings given in Shōhōin's iconographic notes. These sixteen deities belonging to the Diamond Realm Mandala and groups such as the Twenty-Five Bodhisattvas, who represent the welcome into the Pure Land, belong to different bodies of teaching.

Source: 飛不動尊 正宝院・飛不動尊 正宝院

Related kami and buddhas

• Jūroku Daibosatsu (the Sixteen Great Bodhisattvas)十六大菩薩