yogan-in 　与願印

KEY WORD :　art history / sculptures

Lit. Wish-granting mudra (Sk:varada mudra); also segan-in 施願印. A mudra or hand gesture *in 印 in which the right hand is held pendant with the palm turned outwards in the case of standing images and with the right hand resting on the right knee with palm turned upwards in the case of seated images. Because in paintings it is difficult to depict an upturned hand resting on the knee, the right hand is sometimes shown slightly raised and extended towards the right. This mudra represents the gesture of giving with the extended right hand, and it symbolizes the fulfillment of devotee's wishes. For this reason it is used not only in images of tathagatas *nyorai 如来 but also in images of various bodhisattvas *bosatsu 菩薩. In India there are examples of images of *Shaka 釈迦 with his right hand displaying this mudra but there are almost no such examples found in Japan, where images with the right hand displaying the *semui-in 施無畏印 and the left hand displaying the yogan-in are regarded as representing the general style for images of tathagatas. In Japan this style is termed the tsuubutsugyou 通仏形 (form common to Buddhas). In Indian examples of tathagata images with the right hand displaying the semui-in, the left hand will often be shown holding a corner of the robes, while in the case of a seated image the left hand may be placed in the lap in the manner of the meditation mudra *zenjou-in 禅定印. In India the right hand was considered to be pure and the left hand impure, and hence giving anything with the left hand was inconceivable. In Buddhist images of Indian provenance the yogan-in in the left hand is rather exceptional. Strictly speaking, it is questionable whether or not this name should be applied to such mudra, but it is deeply rooted in Japan. In the iconography of Japanese Buddhism, the yogan-in formed with the right hand is not only used as the mudra of deities of Esoteric Buddhism mikkyou 密教 such as Houshou 宝生 (Sk: Ratnasambhava) of the *Kongoukai mandara 金剛界曼荼羅 and Houdou 宝憧 (Sk: Ratnaketu) of the *Taizoukai mandara 胎蔵界曼荼羅, but it is also widely used as the mudra of many bodhisattvas, including various forms of *Kannon 観音, *Kokuuzou 虚空蔵 (Sk:Akasagarbha) and *Jizou 地蔵 (Sk:Ksitigarbha).

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