Kongōtō

The work this bodhisattva expresses

Expresses, with a jeweled banner, the work of striving to fulfill people's wishes.

Source: エンサイクロメディア空海

The name and role of Kongōtō

This bodhisattva is introduced as one of the Sixteen Great Bodhisattvas. It is said to belong to Hōshō Nyorai in the south of the four directions of the Diamond Realm, and the alternative name Enman Kongō Bosatsu is also given. The text is a short introduction.

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 the text treats it as the same as Jizō Bosatsu. As for its form, it is recorded as forming the mudra of Kongōtō with the left hand; no details of objects held or origins are written.

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

• Hōshō Nyorai宝生如来
• Jūroku Daibosatsu (the Sixteen Great Bodhisattvas)十六大菩薩
• Jizō Bosatsu地蔵菩薩