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 mikkyō 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 Fukū 不空 (Sk: Amoghavajra, 705-74), one of the eight patriarchs of the Shingon sect *Shingon Hasso 真言八祖. Figures shown with the gebaku include Genbō 玄ぼう (691-746), one of the six patriarchs of the Hossō sect, Hossō Rokusō 法相六祖, and Daikashō 大迦葉 (Sk: Mahakasyapa) in a triad with *Shaka 釈迦 (Sk: Sakyamuni) and Anan 阿難 (Sk: Ananda).