Kishimojin
Kishimojin Day
Today we celebrate the day set aside to honor Kishimojin. Perhaps I should give a little background into who exactly Kishimojin is. The story behind this particular figure is told outside the Lotus Sutra, and is part of the mythology of Buddhism. Kishimojin comes from Hariti in Indian mythology. This particular diety is an ogres who is notorious for her many demon daughters and the fact that she is said to steal human babies in order to feed her many children.
Kishimojin in her Hariti persona is worshiped as a fertility goddess, who is not only responsible for child birth due to her many babies, but also for childhood diseases, hence the stealing of human babies.
Kishimojin appears in the Lotus Sutra in Chapter XXVI Dharanis. In this chapter she is called the Mother-of-Devils, and is joined by ten demon daughters with all sorts of delightful names, including Crooked-Teeth, Flower-Teeth, Black-Teeth, Many-Hairs, and Plunderer-of-Energy-of-all-Beings just to name a few.
In Nichiren Buddhism, and in Nichiren Shu in particular, we hold Kishimojin in high regard, even to the extent of frequently having a special place where a statue or picture of her is placed. In this temple, Myosho-ji, in Charlotte, we have a special side altar with a statue set up.
When Kishimojin appears in the Lotus Sutra it is to give special prayers of protection for practitioners and believers of the Lotus Sutra.
“World-Honored One! We also will protect the person who reads, recites and keeps the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma so that he may have no trouble. No one shall take advantage of the weak points of ‘this teacher of the Dharma’.” (Lotus Sutra, Chapter XXVI)
I was recently asked to explain how we should view these ‘incantations’ and what is their value in this current age. My feeling on this is that I believe that the power of protection, if you will, resides primarily in the heart of the Lotus Sutra, and Kishimojin is offering her support and inclusion as one of the demons. It also shows that even demons, even evil people, even the worst of the worst are all contained in the enlightenment described in the Lotus Sutra.
The power of anything in the Lotus Sutra, whether it be Kishimojin or Kanzeon (Kanon) lie not in the individual or being or deity, but in the truth and essence as revealed in the Lotus Sutra. The extent that we can call it out, that we can manifest it as a living reality in our contemporary lives lies solely in our practice and our belief and our celebration of the Lotus Sutra.
“World-Honored One! We also will protect the person who keeps, reads and recites this sutra, and acts according to it so that he may be peaceful, that he may have no trouble, and that poison taken by him may be neutralized.” (Lotus Sutra, Chapter XXVI)
The power of the Buddhas teachings lies in it’s ability to affect a change within ourselves, it manifests itself through our practice, and it grows stronger through our faith. It is our practice, belief, our efforts that validated and materializes the benefits of Buddhism.
