baku　縛

KEY WORD :　art history / sculptures

Lit. bind (Sk: bandha). A mudra or hand gesture *in 印, formed by clasping both hands together with the fingers interlocking. When the fingers were interlocked on the outside, it was called gebaku 外縛 (outer bind), while when they were interlocked on the inside, it was called naibaku 内縛 (inner bind). Because it formed the basis of many mudras, considerable importance was attached to it in Esoteric Buddhism mikkyou 密教, and it was counted among the mother mudras, inmo 印母. Yet baku was seldom found in actual images or paintings. When used, it was frequently in images of arhats *rakan 羅漢, or eminent monks, such as Fukuu 不空 (Sk: Amoghavajra; 705-774), one of the eight patriarchs of the Shingon 真言 sect *Shingon Hasso 真言八祖. Figures shown with the gebaku include Genbou 玄ぼう (691-746), one of the six patriarchs of the Hossou 法相 Sect, Hossou Rokusou 法相六祖, and Daikashou 大迦葉 (Sk: Mahakasyapa) in a triad with Sakyamuni (Jp: *Shaka 釈迦) and Onanda (Jp: Anan 阿難).

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