Dakiniten- Japanese GodDeity"Fox-Riding Celestial"
Also known as: 荼枳尼天, Dakini-ten, and Dakinishin
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Description
Once a flesh-eating demoness of Indian charnel grounds, Dakiniten was transformed in Japan into a beautiful celestial riding a white fox. Through the fox, she became intertwined with Inari, the deity of rice and commerce.
Mythology & Lore
From Charnel Ground to White Fox
In India, the ḍākinīs were flesh-eating female spirits of the charnel ground, feeders on the hearts of the dying. When Buddhist monks carried the teaching east to Japan, the ḍākinī arrived as something else entirely. Dakiniten (荘枳尼天) shed the charnel ground. She became a beautiful woman riding a flying white fox, a sword in one hand and sheaves of rice in the other.
The connection was the fox. In esoteric texts, the ḍākinī could foresee death and consume the hearts of the dying. Japanese practitioners recognized in these powers the kitsune, already feared and revered in folk religion. By the Kamakura period, Dakiniten and the fox were inseparable. And through the fox, Dakiniten found Inari.
The Dangerous Ritual
The Keiran Shūyōshū, a fourteenth-century Tendai text, names Dakiniten as the "true nature" of the Inari kami. Through this identification, Inari shrines acquired esoteric Buddhist rites, and Dakiniten worship gained Inari's vast following of farmers and merchants. Esoteric monks performed Dakiniten-hō for warriors and aristocrats seeking worldly power and prosperity.
The rituals carried warnings. The deity's origins as a flesh-eater were never entirely forgotten. Texts cautioned that those who invoked Dakiniten without proper authorization risked terrible consequences. The monks performed the rites anyway. The warriors paid.
Relationships
- Has aspect