Ideas Of Demons In Buddhism

The Ideas Of Demons In Buddhism

Unlike the Europeans and their American counterparts, the Orient formed a very different belief about demons in Buddhism and other indigenous religions. Often referred to as tengu ("heavenly dogs") they served in their familiar roles as kami (god-like beings), and yokai, or spiritual beings. They originally got their name from tiangou, from Chinese, and appear as a sort of avian-human fusion in appearance, sort of like angels, with bird wings and a human body. The first images of tengu had beaks, but later, they were depicted having long noses. (Is this like the big noses that European witches were said to possess in myth?) The Buddhist originally thought them to be demons and messengers of war, but, over time, their image softened, resembling fierce creatures who were protective of who inhabited the forest and mountains.

There was even the notion, at one point, that men could become demons, which is a belief not unlike what animism and shamanism states. Greater men become demons of great power, or daitengu ("great tengu") and ignorant men become ones of lesser power, kotengu ("small tengu.") Some of the greatest listed tengu of all time were named daitengu as Sōjōbō of Kurama, Tarōbō of Atago, and Jirōbō of Hira. Who were these beings? Honestly, they were probably sorcerers and warriors that achieved great ascension from their studies. Thess tales is not unlike the one I studied about the monk who maintained a pose and mediated for so long that he was rewarded with the boon of being transformed into a Dragon God. My belief is further supported by the fact that the daitengu are artistically depicted as more human-like than their underlings. Also, it is further developed by the concept that it is coupled with animism and shamanism that daitengu are listed to reside or protect certain areas and providences, just like a shaman is supposed to do for a city or a village.

The Shasekishū, a book of Buddhist parables from the Kamakura period, makes a point that we must determine between bad and good tengu. This is stunning to think that tengu have a possibility of being good. The aforementioned book states that good tengu remain protectors, but are prone to their pride. (Does the story of Lucifer ring a bell, anyone?) These tengu, however, remain the same, basically good, dharma-abiding persons they were in life. Their malicious appearance eroded through the 17th-century, and in the 18th century, they were then depicted with both wings and long noses, and if that isn't as close to angelic as we can get for Asia, then I don't know what else could. These beings even protected temples fiercely. Truly they were, and still are, great, honorable beings! To this day, they are worshiped in some Japanese cults as Kami, such as those who worship the tengu Saburō of Izuna is worshipped on that mountain and various others as Izuna Gongen. Izuna Gongen was supposed to be a manifestation of Izuna who was a master of fox sorcery. Izuna Gongen is depicted as a beaked, winged figure with snakes wrapped around his limbs, surrounded by a halo of flame, riding on the back of a fox and brandishing a sword. Worshippers of tengu on other sacred mountains have adopted similar images for their deities, such as Sanjakubō or Akiba Gongen of Akiba and Dōryō Gongen of Saijō-ji Temple in Odawara. These are just a few of the many tengu that have been revered throughout the history of the lands.

It's no wonder that manga, anime, and Japanese video games such as Yuyu Hakusho, Yokai Watch, and Persona are obsessed with tengu, yokai (some spell it "yoki") and the like. It is such a wonderful and open-minded belief, one that places like America and Europe badly lack! We are so deprived as a culture, where we seek to do cultural appropriation, which is the wrong way of doing such. We need to honor other traditions, by studying them and silently believing what they teach. My job as a spiritual archeologist is to unearth these cultures and bring them to you. It's up for you to decide what to do with everything I put on display in my museum of a blog. You aren't limited to just silly Christianity and Islam for beliefs. Those Gods are open-minded, so why not explore what the rest of the world has to offer? I'm blown away, more and more, each time that I see what the other nations of the world have to offer. It's like we really are one world, separate and together, an universal, bigger whole. If we don't all cooperate with each other throughout the world, who knows if this Earth will even still be standing in the future? We need to do a combination of things if we seek to survive as an unified whole, which we obviously should want, and that's embrace all of the world's beliefs, both the old and the new. It'd be like all cultures and time periods could coexist together, a sort of heavenly region on Earth by our own design. We think that an one world religion would be corrupt, but isn't that what God is really trying to construct in the end time events that play out in the book of Revelation. The time to take control of our future is now. We must embrace one another, rather than just tolerate, if we are ever to be able to work together to live in what could be perfect harmony, paradise. It's worth it, trust me. What will you do to see that there is great truth in the beliefs of others, such as that of the tengu of the orient?