Butchō 仏頂

Also Butchōson 仏頂尊. Sk: Usnisa. Lit. Buddha-Crown. A class of Esoteric Buddhist deities generally believed to be personifications of the protuberance on the crown of the Buddha's head, one of the 32 distinguishing marks of a Buddha *sanjūnisō 三十二相. Strictly speaking, these deities are personifications of dharanis (Jp: darani 陀羅尼) or mystic formulae believed to embody the power of the light rays emitted from the crown of the Buddha's head, and because these dharanis were considered to be especially efficacious for purifying evil karma and liberating people from hell, the cult of the butchō is associated especially with rites for the dead. The butchō usually assume the form of bodhisattvas *bosatsu 菩薩, and there are both male and female butchō. A number of different butchō are mentioned in Buddhist texts, often in groups.

1) Three butchō, sanbutchō 三仏頂, which are: Kōdai Butchō 広大仏頂 (Sk: Mahodgatosnisa), Gokukōdai Butchō 極広大仏頂 (Sk: Abhyudgatosnisa), and Muhen-onjō Butchō 無辺音声仏頂 (Sk: Anantasvaraghosa).

2) Five butchō, gobutchō 五仏頂, which are: Byakusangai Butchō 白傘蓋仏頂 (Sk: Sitatapatrosnisa), Shōbutchō 勝仏頂 (Sk: Jayosnisa), Saishō Butchō 最勝仏頂 (Sk: Vijayosnisa), Kōju Butchō 光聚仏頂 (Sk: Tejorasyusnisa), and Shajo Butchō 捨除仏頂 (Sk: Vikiranosnisa).

3) Eight butchō, hachibutchō 八仏頂, which are: Three butchō and Five butchō which together appear, for example, in the Shakain 釈迦院 of the *Taizōkai mandara 胎蔵界曼荼羅 and in the *Sonshō mandara 尊勝曼荼羅.

4) Nine butchō, kubutchō 九仏頂, which are: Eight butchō encircling Daibutchō 大仏頂 or Shōissai Butchō 摂一切仏頂, as in the Daibutchō mandara 大仏頂曼荼羅.

5) Ten butchō, jūbutchō 十仏頂, which are: Nine butchō and Futsū Butchō 普通仏頂.

The same butchō may, however, be known by various names, and different enumerations of Eight, Nine, and Ten butchō are also mentioned. Another important butchō is Shijōkō Butchō 熾盛光仏頂, and some butchō became the object of popular individual cults, e.g., Butchō Sonshō 仏頂尊勝 (Sk: Vijayosnisa) and Byakusangai 白傘蓋 (Sk: Sitatapatra), both popular goddesses in Indo-Tibetan Tantrism, and *Ichijikinrin 一字金輪.