chiken-in　智拳印

KEY WORD :　art history / sculptures

Lit. knowledge-fist mudra. A mudra or hand gesture *in 印 formed by grasping the tip of the raised forefinger of the otherwise clenched left hand with the clenched right hand. Although rare, there have also been reported examples in which the positions of the left and right hands were reversed (e.g., image of *Dainichi 大日 at Oomishima Jinja 大三島神社, Ehime prefecture ). In India this mudra was known as either jnanamusti mudra or bodhyagr mudra. In Japan it is generally known as chiken-in (also pronounced chiken-in by practitioners of Esoteric Buddhism mikkyou 密教), or knowledge-fist mudra. In the iconography of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, however, the term bodhyagri mudra was generally used, and this is translated in Japan as kakushou-in 覚勝印 or mudra of supreme enlightenment. There are various theories on the origins and symbolism of this mudra. According to some authorities, it is derived from the *tenbourin-in 転法輪印, while others equate the left hand with the male organ the right hand with the female organ and maintain that it represents by means of sexual symbolism the central deity of the mandala *mandara 曼荼羅 from which all the other deities emanate. According to the traditional interpretation of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism, however, the left and right hands represent sentient beings and Buddhas respectively, and this mudra is generally interpreted as symbolizing the mutual response of the buddha and sentient beings. The mudra is most commonly seen in images of Dainichi in the Mandala of the Diamond World *Kongoukai mandara 金剛界曼荼羅, but is also found on other deities affiliated with Esoteric Buddhism, such as *Ichijikinrin Butchou 一字金輪仏頂 (e.g.,Chuusonji 中尊寺, Iwate prefecture ), Sonshou Butchou 尊勝仏頂 (e.g., central deity of the East Stupa on Mt. Kouya 高野, Wakayama prefecture), and Daishou Kongou 大勝金剛.

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