Gōzanze Myōō 降三世明王

Keywords
Art History
Iconography

Also Shōzanze Myōō 勝三世明王. Lit. *myōō 明王 who subjugates the three worlds (Sk: Trailokyavijaya). Also known as Bazaraunkara 縛日羅吽迦羅 (Sk: Vajrahumkara) or Sonba Myōō 孫婆明王 (Sk: Sumbha). The second most important myōō after *Fudō Myōō 不動明王 and one of the five great myōō *Godai Myōō 五大明王 who are fierce gods presiding over the five directions. Gōzanae Myōō represents the wrathful manifestation of *Ashuku 阿しゅく and his reflex Kongōsatta 金剛薩た and presides over the eastern quarter. He is also regarded as the wrathful manifestation of *Dainichi 大日 in the Diamond World Mandala, Matrix Mandala, *Kongōkai mandara 金剛界曼荼羅, in contrast to Fudō the wrathful manifestation of Dainichi in the *Taizōkai mandara 胎蔵界曼荼羅. He is said to have vanquished Daijizaiten 大自在天 (Sk: Mahesvara, viz. Shiva), lord of three realms of desire, form and non-form, when the latter refused to submit to Dainichi, and hence he is known as Gōzanze or he who subjugates the three worlds, although the three worlds are also said to refer to the three poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance. Chapter 2 of the Kongōchōkyō 金剛頂経 deals with his subjugation of Daijizaiten. As is suggested by his name, he is invoked in particular for rites of subjugation. He is represented in a variety of forms, including four faces and eight arms, three faces and eight arms, and one face and four or six arms, but most commonly he has three faces and eight arms and stands trampling Daijizaiten and his consort Uma 烏摩 (Sk: Uma) underfoot. There is some debate over whether or not Gōzanze and Shōzanze are identical, and in the Jimyōin 持明院 of the Matrix mandala they are depicted separately, the former with three faces and eight arms and seated on a lotus with one knee raised and the latter with one face and two arms and seated on a stone pedestal. Artistic representations of Gōzanze, both statuary and pictorial, are usually found in sets of the godai myōō, but there is a single wooden seated image at Kongōji 金剛寺 in Osaka, and there is also a mandala dedicated to him, Gōzanze mandara 降三世曼荼羅.