Acala (Skr.: Ācala, Achala अचल; Ja: Fudō-myōō (不動明王?) literally "immovable" one.) is one of fierce, angry-faced guardian deities of Vajrayana Buddhism, otherwise known as esoteric Buddhism (Ja: mikkyō (密教?)).
He is classed among the vīdyārāja (Ja: myōō ("wisdom king")), and preeminent among the Five Wisdom Kings of the Womb Realm. Accordingly, his figure occupies an important hierarchical position in the pictorial diagramatic Womb Mandala of the Two Realms.
Overview
Descriptions of his physical appearance derive from such scriptural source as the Mahavairocana Tantra (Ja: Dainichikyō (『大日経』?)) and its annotation.
His face is expressive of extreme wrath, wrinkle-browed, left eye squinted or looking askance, lower teeth biting down the upper lip. He has the physique of a corpulent (round-bellied) child. He bears a sword on his right, and a lariat or noose (Ja: kensaku (羂索?)) on his left hand. He is engulfed in flame, and seated on a "huge rock base" (Ja: banjakuza (盤石座?)).
Fudo is said to be a powerful deity who protects All the Living (sattva, shujō (衆生?)) by burning away all impediments (antar-aya, shōnan (障難?)) and defilements, thus aiding them towards enlightment.
In Japanese esoteric Buddhism, according to an arcane interpretive concept known as the "three wheel-embodiments)" or san rinjin (三輪身?) Fudo and the rest of the five wisdom kings are considered kyōryō tenshin (教令輪身 "embodiments of the wheel of injunction"?), or beings whose actions constitute the teaching of the law (the other embodiments teach by word, or merely by their manifest existence).
Under this conceptualization, the wisdom kings are ranked superior to the Dharmapala (gohō zenshin (護法善神?)), a different class of guardian deities.
Nevertheless, this distinction sometimes fails to be asserted, or the two are openly treated as synonymous by many commentators, even in clearly Japanese religious contexts.
The Sanskrit symbol that represents Acala/Fudo is hāṃ हां ( conventionally transliterated kān (カーン?)). However, it has been confounded with the similar glyph (हूं hūṃ), prompting some commentators to mistakenly identify the Acala with other deities. (The Sanskrit symbol is called siddham, Ja: bonji (梵字?)), or "seed syllable" (zh: bīja, Ja: shuji (種子?)).
For other Buddhist beings identified with the Acala, see below under #Conflations with other deities.
Some of the other transliterations and variants to his name are Ācalanātha, Āryācalanātha, Ācala-vidyā-rāja. The Hindu form of the deity may also be known as Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa or Caṇḍaroṣaṇa "the violent-wrathful" one.
Iconography
Fudo Myoo in Buddhist art since the Heian era has depicted him as angry-faced, holding a vajra sword and a lariat. In later representations, such as those used by the yamabushi monks, he may have one fang pointing up and another pointing down, and a braid on the one side of his head.
The sword he holds may or may not be flaming and sometimes described only generically as a hōken (宝剣 "treasure sword"?) or as kongō-ken (金剛杵 "vajra sword"?), which is descriptive of the fact that the pommel of the sword is in the shape of the talon-like kongō-sho (金剛杵 "vajra"?) of one type or another. It may also be referred to as sanko-ken (三鈷剣 "three-pronged vajra sword"?). However in some cases as in the Akafudo painting (show left), the divinity is seen holding the Kurikara-ken, a sword with the dragon coiled around it.
The flaming nimbus or halo behind the the statue is called by the "karura flame", after a mythical firebreathing birdlike creature, the garuda.
The two boy servants who is usually depicted in attendance to Fudo are named Kongara (Kiṃkara) and Seitaka (Ceṭaka) though there are said to be eight such boy servants altoghether, and as many as forty-eight servants overall.
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