Symbolic Gestures in Buddhism

Author(s): E. Dale Saunders

Source: Artibus Asiae , 1958, Vol. 21, No. 1 (1958), pp. 47-63
Published by: Artibus Asiae Publishers

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/3249027

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 E. DALE SAUNDERS

SYMBOLIC GESTURES IN BUDDHISM'

ymbolic gestures or mudrad2 may be divided for the purpose of clas

those appearing in Esoteric (mikkyo)'3 ceremonies and those appea
sculptural and pictorial. The greater number is without doubt found
actual classification of these mudrd took place as far as we know aro
and in what is probably the first sutra to codify them, that is to sa
there are listed some sixteen gestures.s Later, in the VII century along
cation of Esoteric Buddhism there are listed more than 300.6 Howeve
belong to relatively unimportant divinities and have, in consequence
cance. About ten offer enough interest that their study in detail may be c
interested in the iconography of Buddhism. These are the mudrd of t
Buddhist pantheon. Moreover, this same number includes the princip
art of the Far East. Thus it is the object of this study to present fir
historic development of the mudrd, and of the idea of the mudrd syst
three symbolic gestures to serve as illustrations. It may be added her
has been chosen as a point of departure mainly because Japan is the

I Part of this paper was delivered at the annual meeting of the Far Eastern Association
2 The character in IEI is used to render the Sanskrit mudrd, which will be discussed
Japanese think of in as a seal, and so it is often translated in western literature. Mudr
interpretation. Perhaps a generic word like sign would be the best translation. Of cours
gesture, symbolic gesture, are not a literal rendition either of the Sanskrit or the Sino-
run they are misleading. They have been used to simplify the exposition.
3 Exoteric Buddhism (i. e., kengyo' or apparent doctrine) is that type exposed in and tr
dhism (mikkyo6 or secret doctrine) is that type which requires initiation into certain m
unification with the godhead. It is characterized by the use of an evolved artistic sym
mystic rites.
4 MahdmanivipulavimanaviSvasupratistitaguhyaparamarahasyakalpardjadhbraz, Taisho Issaikyo (henceforth abbreviated to T.)
no. I007, anonymous tr. between 502-5 57.
5 Toganoo, S. Mandara no kenkyz, Koya-san Pub. Co., Koya-san, Showa 7 (I932), p. 483, line 5 ff.: "Probably the first
sutra explaining the mudrd, the Murimandarajukyo gives only 16 gestures. One century later, according to the Darani-
jikkyo, tr. by Atigupta in the VII cent., the mudrc have increased to more than 300."
TheJayakhasamhift (L. Renou and J. Filliozat L'Inde classique, Payot, Paris, I947, Vol. I, p. 569, para. I169) enumerates o50
mudra. This text dates from perhaps the V century. Mention of other mudra is found in the Daksinamuzrtisamhitd, the
RdmapujLdsarani, the Ndradapdnicardtra. Bhattacharyya, B., in the intro. of Two Vajraydna Works, places among the first
Tantric texts containing numerous mudrd, mandala, and mantra, (i) the Manjuirimzulakalpa (T. II9I) and (2) the Guhyasa-
mdja (T. 885). The first dates probably from the II (?) century A. D. and the second from the III (?) century. They
presuppose a considerable earlier literature.
6 According to the Daranijikkyo, T. 901, Dharanzsamuccaya ? dating from the VII century and attributed to Asaniga.
Tr. by Ajikuta (Atigupta?).

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tradition, but also because the study of Japanese iconography is necessarily pertinent to all
countries, the art of which developed under the influence of Buddhism.
The origins of the mudrd may, in a sense, be traced to the very origins of man himself. His-
torically, however, we are first aware of a type of gesture in the Vedic period. At this time a
vertical movement of the hand was used to indicate the accents of the words of the Vedic

ritual.7 This was a rhythmic device of grammarians, however, and is but little related to the
gesture as a symbol. In the sense of sign, the word mudrd, which appears only in post-Vedic
India, designates very early the idea of a seal or that impression left by a seal. Thus, mudrd, in
the ritual and iconographic sense, may be defined as a position of the hands serving as a 'seal'
or symbol to identify divinities or to 'seal', in the Esoteric sense, the words of the ritual. Philo-
logically, it has an extended meaning which includes that of a specific seal mark, any mark, a
seal-ring, a passport, a sign, or money struck by means of a seal. In the Esoteric sense, then,
mudrd as a seal of the ritual word connotes a good deal of primitive magic. Mudrd also conveys
the idea of power as seen in the Pali muddika from muddd meaning authority.8 For in the same
way as the royal seal symbolizes the authority and power of the king so the gesture symbolizes
the divine authority and magic power of the deity. Tantric Buddhists furthermore believe in
the identity of mudrd and Sakti. Thus the meaning of mudrd may be summed up in three groups:
that of seal, or the mark of a seal, that of pose of the hands, and that of sakti. Actually a rela-
tionship between all three may be established by starting from the idea of matrix which may be
compared to a mould utilized for the impression or stamping of objects. One can readily see the
relationship existing between seal and Sakti. It is the relationship of the womb of a woman in
which the child to be born is formed, and the seal which gives to the piece of clay its form or
design.9 This same relationship exists for the finger-pose which is at once a seal and a matrix
for the words of the Esoteric ritual.
When the first translators rendered Indian sutras into Chinese they used the Chinese ideo-
graph yin (sign or seal) to translate mudrd. Yin already had a tradition in China. As early as the
Shang dynasty the seal was used for identification purposes on bronzes. Subsequently, and until
the present day, its presence on paper, official documents, treaties, pacts, and agreements serves
as a sign of authenticity as well as of faith. In the religious sense, mudrd may be explained then
as being a "sign of a pact, of a solemn contract which binds the worshiper to the world of the
divinity and permits him to become integrated into this world."Io The gesture is a sign, a ritual
seal, and just as the seal implies authenticity so the mudrd functions to ward off error and to
guarantee the magic of the rite. Yin in the sense of sign rapidly expanded its meaning to include
the object or attributes that the Buddha or the Bodhisattva held in his hands: the lotus, the
sword, the stzpa - that is, any 'sign' of the divinity. It even came to include the sense of mystic
formula or dhdrant and the Buddha image itself, both of which may be considered as signs as-
sociated with particular personages.

7 Przyluski, J. "Mudra," Indian Culture, April, 1936, Vol. II, p. 7I6: "Going back to Vedic times, however, one finds
the word and the gesture on one plane, and being given the same magical or religious importance. The Vaj. Prat., I,
124 notifies that the accents were indicated by moving the hands upwards, downwards, or latterally. Later texts mention
gestures which marked the accents and explained the sense also." Cf. also Pdninfyasiksd ? 52, 53, 54, 55.
8 Ibid., p. 719: "At Dha., II 4, muddika (from muddd) is used with the meaning of authority."
9 Ibid., p. 7I5ff.
10 Auboyer, J., "Moudra et hasta," Oriental Art, Vol., III, I95I, p. I57b.

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 There are many theories concerning the origin of the idea of the mudrda and its use in Esoteric
Buddhism. Professor Toganoo"I believes it derives from natural gestures: calming by raising
the hand; offering a gift by extending the hand. Some sources say, without much reason, it
might be added, that the mudrd was inspired by the written form of the initial letter of a mantra.I2
As an iconographic symbol, mudrd came into existence towards the beginning of the Christian
era. It accompanied in a rather indefinite way the appearance of the Buddha image. However,
the question of knowing to what distant sources Buddhism had gone for the idea of a system of
gestures is difficult to resolve conclusively. The fact is that at the time of their entrance onto
the stage of iconography these gestures had undergone a long evolution. This is manifest in
the stereotyped forms that the gestures took in the first Gandharan statues of India. There is no
doubt that from a very early time "the theory of mudra must have covered a wide range, for the
Mafjusrikalpa, the Mahavairocanasutra, and the Guhyasamaja presuppose the knowledge of
numerous gestures."a3
As for pre-Buddhist origins one may well look to the dance, for since most ancient times,
the dance seems to have been, at all times and universally, the spontaneous expression of the
magic and the mystery of primitive rites. In very remote antiquity, dance gestures seem to have
evolved towards a religious usage. They became early integrated into a religious ritualism
which, while depriving them of their former liberty, imposed on them a hierarchy, a ritual
classification which tended to conserve them over the centuries. For the needs of the cult subse-
quent religions had only to adopt the choreographic gesture to their rites: the idea of a system
of gestures as well as the forms had existed for a long time.
The dance gesture was essentially rhythmic. The representation of these signs in icono-
graphy through the intermediary of the rites tended to blur their former choreographic charac-
ter, which necessarily passed onto a plane of secondary importance. So it is true that "the ele-
mentary hand gestures of divinities represented iconographically are simply mudrd in an unde-
veloped state."I4
In the early stages - i. e., in Gandhara - of the use of mudrd in Buddhist art, no prescription
of a definite nature seems to have established the precise value of symbolic gestures. Rules
developed little by little especially towards the middle of the first millennium of the Christian
era. With the birth of Esoteric Buddhism, the mudrd underwent a certain formalization and were
impregnated with a symbolism both metaphysical and magical. The few mudrd which do figure
in the Greco-Buddhist art of Northwest India are given a multiple use. For example, the mudrd
of fearlessness, the Semui-in (abhayamudrd), is used for the reception of gifts or homages, for the
expression of welcome, for the submission of the elephant, for the preaching of the doctrine
and even for the turning of the wheel of the Law. The different roles of this gesture are rendered
perfectly clear either by attributes - the wheel and the deer indicate the preaching of the Law-
or by the presence of the gesture in a specific setting. Moreover, if a single gesture plays several
different roles, in the same way a specific episode of the Buddhist legend may be symbolized by
several mudrd. Thus to represent the preaching of the Law, for example, the Gandharan Buddha
II Toganoo, S. Mandara no kenkyz, p. 474ff.
I2 Renou, L., L'Inde classique, Vol. I, p. 570, para 1170.
13 Glasenapp, H., Mysteres bouddhistes, Fr. tr. by J. Marty, Payot, Paris, 944, pp. 99-I00. "A une haute antiquite remonte
en pays indien la pratique de donner aux doigts une forme prescrite, lorsque l'on accomplit des actions sacrees (p. 97).
14 Renou, L., op. cit., p. 570: "etatfruste."

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forms several variant mudrd other than the Temborin-in (dharmacakramudrd), which was to
become the specific predication gesture.I5
Nevertheless, in Gandhara, it was already the practice to assign certain mudrd to certain
personages probably in order to differentiate the various Buddha and Bodhisattva: these mudrd
were later to become the characteristic sign of such and such a Buddha or Bodhisattva. With the
passage of time, usage became more exact, for the plethora of divinities of the Esoteric world
required more and more explicit identification. The Semui-in limits itself to representing the
absence of fear; the Segan-in, charity; the Temborin-in, the preaching of the Law, and so on.
But the Buddhist sculpture of Gandhara does not seem to have come out of what Foucher
calls the periode flottante of the origins of Buddhist iconography.
At the beginning of the Christian era, the role of the mudra in Buddhist symbolism derives
from traditional Buddhism, but it is to Tantrism16 that it owes its full development. Probably
toward the middle of the first millennium A. D. the Indian Asaniga had already developed a
mystic doctrine founded at the same time on Yoga practices and on the principal ideas of
Mahayanist Buddhism: in this doctrine, figured tantra, dhiradngI7 and mudrd, all practices destined
to assure the identification of the faithful with the supreme unity. In Tantrism the mudrd passing
beyond the simple stage of a sign evocative of the Buddhist legend, which had been its role in
Gandhara, possessed substantial magical powers. Esotericism did not limit itself to raising the
gesture to the level of a metaphysical symbol, but it assigned the mudrd a very important role in
the rites as well. Gestures became the bond by which the dharang and the mantraI8 enable the
worshiper to identify himself with the supreme unity.
The basic idea of Esoteric Buddhism, the idea on which rises the magico-symbolic super-
structure, is manifest in the concept of the Three Mysteries: thought, word, and act (mudra).
They represent three ways of approaching the One and are three inseparable aspects of the
universal Unity. Equivalent each to the other, they are united in every phenomenon of the
ordinary world. The doctrine of the Three Mysteries "maintains that thought, word and ac-
tivity are only different expressions for one and the same reality, for in the great Oneness reign
equality and identity 'in the same way that the ocean has everywhere the same salty taste.' The
doctrine of the fundamental unity of the three actions is a dogma essential to Esotericism, for it
alone permits one to consider as equivalent, or more still, as identical, meditative imaginations,
mystical formulas and exterior, material things: such is the condition required for all practical
activity of a magical nature."I9 The mudrd, thanks to this triple unity, were endowed with an
importance equal to the word (shingon), for which they were checks, guarantees of transmission.
Their metaphysical value was compounded of a primitive magic which reached far back into
Is5 Cf. A. Foucher, L'Art greco-bouddhique du Gandhdra, Leroux, Paris, 1922, p. 326: cf. fig. 198, 2Io, 245 (gift); I94, 2I2
(homages); 251I (welcome); 255, 27I-275 (subjugation); 233, 243 (predication); 220 (turning the wheel of the Law).
I6 Tantrism is that type of Buddhism based on the tantra, some texts or portions of texts going back possibly to the VII or
VIII centuries. A tantra is composed of four parts :jnfdna, knowledge of the divinity;yoga, concentration; kriya, cult prac-
tices, making of images, construction of temples, etc.; carya', methods of worship. For a general, basic study on tantra,
consult A. Avalon Principles of Tantra, Luzac, London, 1914 (Vol. II, 1916.)
I7 Magical formulas or mystic forms of prayer (Soothill).
I8 Charms, spells or short magic sentences, generally terminating in meaningless Sanskrit syllables. E. Conze, Buddhism,
Philosophical Library, N. Y. I95 I (?), p. 183, says: "To pronounce a mantra is a way of wooing a deity and, etymologi-
cally, the word mantra is connnected with Greek words like 'meimao' which express eager desire, yearning and intensity
of purpose, and with the old High German word minn-ia, which means 'making love to."'
'9 Glasenapp, H., Mystires bouddhistes, p. 91.

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pre-Buddhist times.20 This magic stems from the stratum of occult beliefs of prehistoric India.
For as early as the Vedic period, in spite of condemnation by the high cult, magic of an official
sort existed, and by a slight modification or addition to the ordinary ritual charms could be
wrought.2I
The Tantric idea of guarantees of transmission and especially that of contract is reflected in
the Japanese word kei-in: a contract (kei) sealed (in) by the worshiper, who, by reciting the ritual
words and by forming the correct mudrd, unites himself with the divinity. This same idea of
contract is present in the expression kei-shin, the making of a pact with a spirit. The same kei
is used to designate the little notches cut in wood and which constitued a form of writing in
Chinese antiquity. The notches were a sort of sign, and a relationship between the character kei
may be established with the above mentioned meaning of mudrd as a mark. Similarly, in the
expression in wo musubu one contracts or binds (musubu) a mudrd (in) which, in turn, forms a
pact (also musubu) between the supreme divinity and the faithful. The expression inkan suru
expresses the act of making a mudrd and at the same time of looking at the image of a Buddha.
Here in symbolizes the body of the Buddha and is the concrete form of the hand-sign, while
kan (to meditate on) symbolizes the abstract form of the thought. In contemplating (kan) the
statue, the thought of the worshiper is united with the divinity: the mudrd assures the union of
the two.

The complete series of ritual mudrd should produce by an action on the nervous system
certain effects both psychological and physiological. To summarize: the mudrd, "obtained by
certain groupings of movements and of gestures are traditionally based on the results of physio-
logical phenomena: fear, joy, modesty... It is thus that the gesture attains its most abstract
subtlety. It is the science of the hidden meaning, of exterior appearances, the fluid formation
- but exactly defined by concrete poses - of a traditional, mental image which one must project
on the sensibility of the spectator who in turn will react according to a traditional pattern. It is
a series of suggestions linked by the sequence of the gesture, provoking in the mind of the
spectator a subjective reaction."22
It has already been noted that the mudrd of the first Buddhist statues of India had no pre-
cise, iconographic significance. The number of the early symbolic gestures in Gandhara, at
Amaravati, and at Mathura appears to have been very small. However, little by little, the mudrd
multiplied and a specific nomenclature as well as a more exact iconographic meaning were
attributed to them. Accompanying the beginning of Esoteric Buddhism, this evolution took
place particularly towards the VII century. Previous to the codification of Esotericism, towards
the beginning of the Christian era, the ancient symbols of aniconic representations of the

20 Concerning the origins of Tantrism in primitive magic, both pre-Buddhist and Buddhist, consult B. Bhattacharyya An
Introduction to Buddhist Esotericism, Oxford Press, London, 1932, chapters I, II, III, IV. Consult also Renou, op. cit.,
p. 368, para. 745.
21I Renou, L., op. cit., p. 368, para. 745. "Great importance is attached to the practice of mantra, mudrd and mandala in
the Vajrayana and hence a great mystic value is attached to the various manifestations of sound, which, according to
these teachers, could be visualized in the forms of gods and goddesses. When these divinities appear before the mystic,
they form a mandala in which they take their proper seat according to various dispositions, and the mystic, who is now
speechless, carries on his worship with the help of the mudra which is now his only language" (Majumdar, R. C. The
History of Bengal, Vol. I, U. of Dacca, Ramna, I943, p. 420).
22 Auboyer, J., op. cit., p. i6oa. Actually this passage refers to the mudr. as it is used in the dance, but basically the state-
ment is pertinent to iconography as well.

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Buddha, such as the wheel and the lotus, were replaced by the figuration of the Buddha himself
in human form.23 The mudrd were employed especially to clarify the symbolic sense of the
statue. To a certain extent, then, the former identifying role of symbols such as the wheel and
the lotus in aniconic representations falls to the iconographic, symbolic gesture.
The spread of Buddhism across Asia imposed on the mudrd modifications in form and con-
sequently in meaning.
These modifications may be explained in several fashions. In China, for example, it is pos-
sible that the artist who continued the Indian tradition may have had only superficial knowledge
of Indian iconography: he was doubtless even less aware of the texts which served as a basis
for sculpture. Working according to more or less simple indications, he was probably little
preoccupied with exactness in matters of art. In India, on the other hand, the sculptor in creat-
ing a statue accomplished a sacred work closely associated with religion. The observance of
iconographic details fixed by religious writings was of fundamental importance. In non-Indian
Asia, however, "iconographic traditions became indistinct and there were created works so far
from the traditional pose and so devoid of significant attributes that they escaped every attempt
at a more precise identification.9"24 Thus in India, certain statues bore originally one or several
specific attributes. At the time of their passage beyond Indian frontiers, some of these attributes
were lost and there remained only a gesture devoid of sense. This gesture was sometimes repro-
duced and endowed with the value of a mudrd, of which the prototype is to be found nowhere
in India. Such is certainly the case of the An-i-shoshu-in of Kannon and Amida. This mudrd is
characterized by the right hand raised, palm front, in Semui-in, the mzudrd of fearlessness, and
by an outstretched left hand apparently gathering the souls into the paradise of the divinity.
No Indian prototype of this gesture is to be found, and it is not bold to suppose that this same
left hand originally bore some such attribute as the vase which had become lost at the time of
the transference of the statue to the countries of Southeast Asia and to China where this gesture
first appears.
Moreover, the liberty of interpretation which characterizes Chinese and Japanese works as
compared to Indian works led at times to considerable iconographic change. On one hand this
may be laid to the disuse of iconographical traditions or simply, in Japan, to a lack of models
or of observation on the part of the Japanese craftsman. On the other hand the Japanese did not
possess a fundamentally philosophical or metaphysical turn of mind. While the Indians laid
great stress on iconographical detail, the Japanese frequently overlooked small points in favor
of the general artistic effect. The explanation may perhaps be found in the fact that Japan being
the end-point of the Buddhist tradition, received a Buddhism already modified by influences of
non-Indian countries and personalities. The Japanese tradition was a composite tradition.
Buddhism was a religion that the Japanese had adopted and not conceived. For the first few
centuries after the introduction of the religion into Japan, the Japanese were busy assimilating

23 Until around the beginning of the Christian era the Buddha had been represented by symbols, such as the wheel of the
Law, the throne, the pillar, the tree (cf. Coomaraswamy, A. Elements of Buddhist Iconography, Harvard U. Press, Cam-
bridge, I935, p. Ioff., fig. 4-10), for the omission of the Buddha image was itself mperative, proscribed as it is in several
passages of the Buddhist cannon (cf. Soper, A., "Early Buddhist Attitudes toward the Art of Painting," Art Bulletin,
June, 1950, p. 148).
24 Siren, 0. La Sculpture chinoise du Ve au XIVe siecle, Van Oest, Paris, I925, p. I32. The An-i-in is an excellent example of
this phenomenon.

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rather than developing it. Thus it is natural that the iconographic variants of different inspira-
tion are reflected in the art of this country and that the details of the iconographical tradition of
India were modified.
Before the mass of documents and of both confused and contradictory traditions it has
seemed necessary to attempt to put some order to the information available. Such seems to be
the usefulness of this study. Indeed, as M. Siren affirms: In every statue "the gesture and the
attitudes are precisely the essential symbolic element: therefore it is a question in general of
formulas more definite than general types or than attributes. In fact, these latter are in many
cases much too undetermined or undifferentiated for us to glean from them indications of the
name and the role of a Buddha or of a Bodhisattva: only the gesture and the pose render the
personage intelligible as the symbol of a religious or metaphysical idea. That is why it is in-
dispensable to know the postures and the gestures that are most often met with in Buddhist
imagery in order to understand the meaning of the statues."n25
It may prove worthwhile at this point to proceed to an examination of three of the more
important gestures in Buddhist sculpture. The first and perhaps the most frequently figured
gesture in Buddhist statues is that of the Semui-in (abhayamudra), gesture of fearlessness: it is the
right hand raised in appeasement as seen in the X century Shaka of the Seiryo-ji (fig. i). The
Semui-in is often accompanied by the Segan-in (varamudr6), which is the position of the left
hand of the statue in figure I: the Segan-in is the mudra of charity, of giving. These two mudra
by reason of a similarity in meaning have tended to blend. In Japan the designation Semui-in
may apply either to the hand raised with the fingers stretched upwards, or lowered with the
fingers stretched downwards. Sutra texts support this statement. However, even when the title
of Semui-in (that is, mudrd of fearlessness) is attributed to the lowered hand, the symbolism is
none the less that of Segan-in (mudrd of charity). Certain texts tend to relate these mudrd by
giving them a common meaning: that of bestowing. The Segan-in bestows the gift of charity
(i. e., from the Buddha to beings), the Semui-in that of intrepidity. The essential meaning differs
in that the upward stretched fingers of the Semui-in indicate the act of offering while the Segan-in
downward stretched fingers indicate the act of conferring from above to below, from the higher
level of the Buddha to the lower level of Sentient Beings. The dominating idea of gift tends
probably to unite these gestures: gan (vow of eharity) and mu-i (intrepidity) noting only the
distinction of kind and of aim of the gift.
Certain mudrd like the Segan-in are made without distinction by either one or the other
hand. The Semui-in on the contrary is uniquely a mudra of the right hand, and from the II
century in India across Central Asia and China this gesture is iconographically constant. Since
the beginnings of Buddhist iconography in Gandhara the exact position of the hand seems to
have changed: on the first statues of India it is at shoulder level as can be seen in the second
century Mathura type (fig. 2). But it gradually lowered until around the V century when it
seems to have become definitely fixed at somewhat above hip level.26 This is apparent in such
statues as the IV century Saltanganj type of fig. 3. The Northern Wei Buddhist figure now in
the possession of the Metropolitan Museum of New York shows a not uncommon Chinese
version of this gesture (fig. 4). It would appear here that the tradition of the gesture has suffered

25 Ibid., p. 133.
26 Kramrisch S., Indian Sculpture, Oxford U. Press, London, I933, p. I6I, fig. 41 and fig. 59.

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 MH
MH

Fig. i Fig. 2 Fig. 3

1H
M l MH

Fig. 4 Fig. 5 Fig. 6

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 MH
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

MH
Fig. ii
Fig. 9 Fig. io

MH

Mt'

Fig. I2 Fig. I3

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a certain modification. Particularly the left hand in Segan-in is rendered most indistinctly and,
if it is really the Segan-in, unorthodoxly. Here is an example of the blurring of the iconographic
tradition. But the typical Nothern Wei rendition of the Semui-in and the Segan-in, right and
left hands, is usually rendered with characteristic stylized and linear precision as may be seen in
the Northern Wei Shaka Trinity (A. D. 34) in fig. 5. It may be noted that the position of the
Semui-in seems to be just about half-way between the hip and the shoulder. This is approxi-
mately the same position of the Japanese Shaka of the Jingoji, Kyoto of the VII century (fig. 6).
Traditionally the position of the hand figuring the Semui-in is said to derive from a legend
concerning the Buddha's jealous cousin, Devadatta, who, wishing to hurt the Buddha, caused
him to be attacked by a drunken elephant. About to be trampled, Sakyamuni raised his right
hand, the fingers close together. The gesture not only stopped the elephant in his tracks but
completely subdued him. This is why the gesture is called Semui-in, gesture of fearlessness. Ac-
cording to a later variant of this same legend,27 the Buddha raise his right hand and from his
fingers issued five lions who attacked the elephant and thus saved the life of the Buddha. In the
first version, Buddhist benevolence triumphs over evil by inner strength and illustrates the
concept of "not hurting" (abhimsa). In the second version, the recourse to the force of the lions,
an exterior strength, is of a less spiritual nature. "This intervention of the lions," says Fou-
cher, "constitutes a rather late interpolation: these are decadent methods and we cannot see that
this popular expediant was ever present even in the most mediocre works of Gandhara."28
In ritual ceremonies the officiating priest makes the Semui-in in order to give sentient beings
fearlessness. But as the legend points out, there is more in this gesture than non-fear, a negative
expression: this mudrd expresses the giving of fearlessness that calms, that tranquilizes the
mind.29 On a positive plane, this is the gesture of intrepidity, of courage and of audacity. This
mzudrd, which was able to protect the Buddha against the elephant, will protect the believer
against the assults of evil. Although the symbolism of the Semui-in may generally be summed
up in the expression "giving of fearlessness," its use and its meaning were still unestablished in
the greater part of Gandharan works where this same gesture represents not only the absence
of fear but also the predication of the Buddha.30 "Only here the Buddha is teaching after the
fashion of a Buddhist image which goes back to a time when the gesture of Teaching, like the
rest of the mudra, had not yet been established and hierarchized."3I
In a passage of the S4trdlaink6ra, the author, indicated as being Asvaghosa, asks the following
question: "Why, wonders a violator of the stupa, do the artisans of this world, possessing
wonderful talent and with holy intent, why do they represent the Buddha with the right hand
raised? And the robber of the stuipa answers his own question: It is so that those who are
afraid, when they see his image, may be freed of fear... (for this is the gesture) which gives
confidance to those who are intimidated or frightened."32 Using the idea of fearlessness as a
point of departure the symbolism of this gesture becomes by extension that of intrepidity: it is
the gift of living without fear, gift made by the Buddha to sentient beings. Such a gift expresses

27 Consult A. Foucher, La Vie du Bouddha, Payot, Paris, 1949, Pp. 288-289.

28 This passage by A. Foucher is quoted from Hackin, J., "Guide-catalogue du Musee Guimet," 1923, p. 8i.
29 Siren, , O. c, op. . p. 34, calls this gesture "seau de I'assurance."
30 To the Trayastrimsas gods.
31 Foucher, A., L'Artgreco-bouddhique du Gandhdra, pp. 485-486.
32 Ibid., pp. 327-328.

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 the benevolence of the Buddha but, what is more, it inspires the repose of the spirit and its
liberation from the worries and troubles of this world. "Fear is innate, not only in man but in
all that has existence. Birds, animals of all kinds, men, the sun, the moon, the worlds fear con-
tinually of being suppressed by each other or of colliding and are not for an instant without
fear. It is the state that is called 'the world filled with fear and dread.' Despite the joys and the
pleasures that one experiences and which constitute 'agreable feelings', there exists at the same
time the feeling of fear because no earthly happiness is perfect. Thus by virtue of believing in
and of following the Law, the faithful may arrive at a state which transcends joy, pleasure,
calumny, pain: it is 'the world of the Buddha free from fear'."33
While the Semui-in may be considered as being a gesture utilized by both Exoteric and
Esoteric Buddhism, the Chi Ken-in, mudrd of perfect Knowledge(jindna) is purely Esoteric. In
Sanskrit this gesture may be designated bodhasrtmudrd (?). It is the mudrd figured by the statue of
Dainichi (Vairocana) of the Onjo-ji or, as it is commonly called, Miidera. The statue is dated
II75 (fig. 7).
Since the Chi Ken-in is fundamentally an Esoteric gesture it does not appear in Japan before
the introduction of mikkyo' around the beginning of the IX century.34 Certain authorities affirm
that the Chi Ken-in may have found its origin in the predication mudrd, the Temborin-in.
Indeed, as early as Gandhara there existed several variations of the Temborin-in which are
sculpturally very close to the Chi Ken-in. The III century Gandharan statue of Shaka (?) shows
the particular variant that some authorities would term the original gesture from which the
later bodasrnzmudrd (?) derived (fig. 8). Such a geneology must not be accepted without reserve,
however, for the similarity of form is in no way supported by a similarity of symbolic meaning.
According to Tantric symbolism the Chi Ken-in emphasizes not the propagation of the Law
on the example of the Temborin-in but the aspect of perfect Knowledge, the knowledge of
Vairocana as the supreme divinity. Thus two very different roles of this deity are underlined by
the figuration of the Temborin-in and the Chi Ken-in: the first gesture is attributed to Vairo-
cana as dbydni-Buddha and the second is attributed to Vairocana as ddi-Buddha, for the ddi-
Buddha produced the d ni-Buddha by means of the actty of the five Knowledges (go chi).35
The Chi Ken-in is the mudrd of Dainichi in the kongokai, the Diamond World. By reducing
this gesture to its constituent elements one finds that it is in fact composed of two fists (ken-in)
called kenro kongo ken(-in), the adamantine, diamond fist, which symbolizes the World of the
Diamond, the spiritual world, with which perfect Knowledge is intimately associated. But it is
a militant Knowledge as well, for it represents the power to destroy the passions of the ordinary
world:36 it is also the intellectual power which enables all sentient beings to achieve Buddha
33 Toki, H., Si do in dtou, Annales du Musee Guimet, Bibliotheque d'etudes, Vol. 8, Leroux, Paris, I899, p. 42.
34 Kobo Daishi or Kfukai at the beginning of the IX century left Japan in order to study the Esoteric doctrine under the
Chinese master Hui-kuo, a disciple of Amoghavajra. Back in Japan in 806, Kukai founded the Shingon sect: in 8I6 he
established its center on the summit of Mt. Koya.
35 The five Knowledges are:
I Knowledge of the nature of the dharmadhdtu (dharmadhdtu-prakrti-jnina).
2 Mirror knowledge which reflects all knowable (ddarsana-jnana).
3 Knowledge of the fundamental oneness of all things (samatd-jndna).
4 Knowledge of perspicacity which understands all details without confounding (pratyaveksana-jnana).
5 Act perfecting knowledge (krfydnusthdna-jndna). Knowledge of what to do to accelerate the salvation of all beings.
36 Hence this mudrd is also called Nometsumumyokokuan-in or the mudrd which is capable of suppressing darkness and
(spiritual) shadows.

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Knowledge37 by which, according to the Commentary on the Lotus sutra (Hokke gisho XII) one
is enabled to attain nirvdna.38

According to Esoteric symbolism, the index of the left hand (world of sentient beings) is
surrounded and protected by the fingers of the right hand (world of the Buddha). The five
fingers of the right hand represent the Five Elements which compose man: the little finger,
earth; the ring finger, fire; the middle finger, water; the index, air; and the thumb, void. The
fingers symbolize also the gokon (pancendriii),9 that is to say, the five organs of the senses
treated as the roots (kon) of perfect Knowledge. To these five is added a sixth element, manas
(mind). The index of the left hand, which plays the role of the sixth finger, "represents the flame
symbol of the ddi-Buddha, for the sixth element is a part of his essence."4o There exists therefore
the designation "gesture of the six Elements" (rokudai-in).4I The two hands symbolize the two
inseparable worlds of the tai^,-kai (the matrix world) and the kong8kai (the diamond world)
which are here connected by the index 42 of the left hand, the so-called Diamond finger (kong5shi)
which constitutes at once the connection between the hands and the way between the worlds.
According to Getty, the kongokai or spiritual world is represented by the left, raised index which
joins the right hand whose five fingers represent the taizokai or material world. The two hands
together symbolize the unity of material and spiritual, the unity of the cosmic soul and the
individual soul, the unity of perfect Knowledge and the noumenal - in Japanese richi buni.4
As a specific symbol of the Knowledge of the Buddha Dainichi of the kongokai, this gesture
is also called the mudrd of perfect Knowledge, Daichi-in. By making this gesture the Buddha -or
the worshiper who identifies himself with the Buddha- enters into possession of the Knowledge
of the Law of all Buddha, in Japanese the chi-hokkai. It is this knowledge peculiar to kongokai
Dainichi, knowledge of the substantial nature of the Law (dharma)44 that is symbolized by the
Chi Ken-in.

Considered in Japan on a metaphysical plane as symbolic of the Knowledge of Dainichi or

of the five Elements, this gesture takes on, especially in Tibet with the sakti cult,45 a clearly
sexual character. For Buddhism, the procreating act is not in itself a reprehensible one. The
union of the sexes is forbidden because it attaches the participants to life by nourishing the

37 Hence the name Bodaiindodaiichichi-in, the first Knowledge mudrd, which conducts souls to enlightenment, and
Biroshananyoraidaimyochi-in, the mudrd of the great and marvelous Knowledge of Vairocana.
38 Cf. Oda Tokuno Bukkyo Daijiten (i Vol.), Taisho shoten, Tokyo, 1916, p. II9o-a, lines 22ff.
39 The eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue and the body as the "roots" of Knowledge.
40 Getty, A., The Gods of Northern Buddhism, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1914, p. 30. Elisseeff, S., "Mythologie du Japon"
in Mythologie asiatique illustree, Libraire de France, Paris, I928, p. 406, notes: "l'index de la main gauche figure 'element
intellectuel (chi)." And. Renou, L., op. cit., (p. 426, para 85 I), adds: "There is also... a theory of sexual union in the form
of a flame which penetrates the body of the woman."
4' Getty, A., op. cit., p. 30: "The six fingers represent the Six Elements which, when united, produce the sixfold bodily
and mental happiness."
42 The index represents the first of the gochi nyorai, the five dhydni-Buddha, products of the Knowledge of the adi-Buddha.
43 Soothill, W. and Hodous, L. (comp.), A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms, Trubner, London, I937, p. 360 a, translates
the phrase richi: "the noumenal in essence and in knowledge."
44 Cf. Oda, T., Bukkyo Daijiten (I Vol.), p. I594-b. For the kongCkai the Knowledge of Dainichi (hokaitaishochi, dharma-
dhstuprakrtijndna), knowledge of the absolute in which the opposition between subject and object ceases (Glasenapp),
is expressed by the Chi Ken-in.
45 "It is probable that the irruption of s'akta ideas in Tantrism, an irruption of which the first documents, at least in the
domain of Buddhism, are still untouched, took place at a period when Tantrism was already completely formed"
(Renou, L., op. cit., p. 424). Note also the problematical presence of a sakti at Mohenjodaro (Renou, L., op. cit., p. 425).

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passions and desires which Buddhism tries ceaselessly to annihilate. But in the unitary concept
of Esotericism, the physical plane becomes involved in the metaphysical plane and thus per-
mits women to take a place in the religious pantheon in order to represent divinely the passions
but of course on a high and spiritualized plane.46 Now in the Chi Ken-in, the left hand, sentient
beings, symbolizes the masculine principle, Vairocana himself as procreator, unifying with the
feminine principle represented by the right hand. Thus is manifested the theory of sexual union
in the form of a column of flame which penetrates the body of the woman. The sexual act is
given metaphysical interpretations. So it is that the Chi Ken-in symbolizes both the abstract
side of Mahayanist inspiration and the concrete side of the life of this world. It is the exalted
expression of creation on the human plane and on the divine plane, the expression of an act
fundamentally pure, without passion, for the supreme divinity himself accomplishes it.

"It is an idea typical of Tantrism that the notion of the energy of a god emanating
from that god may become something objective and may even finish by incarnating
itself in a feminine body... The sakti is metaphysically, the line of force according to
which the Absolute, the One, is differentiated, creates, acts... Perhaps, the most general
and the most well-known is the one where the masculine divinity represents Compas-
sion (karunza) and the feminine divinity, gnosis, Perfect Wisdom (prajna) . Gnosis signifies
intuitive, fulminatory vision of the truth which leads to liberation. But this vision is
nothing if it cannot unite most closely - and the most intimate embrace alone can give
an adequate symbol - with Compassion, the active and altruistic force by which He
who knows and who sees sacrifices himself and expends himself for Him who does not
know and does not see. This is what the eyes of the initiate read in the amorous embrace
which he has before him on the altar."47

The third and last gesture proposed for consideration is the mudrd called turning the wheel
of the Law, in Sanskrit dharmacakramudrd and in Japanese, Temborin-in. From the earliest
statues of Gandhara this mudrd is portrayed in the sculpture of all countries whose art de-
veloped under the influence of Buddhism. Unlike such mudrd as the Semui-in, however, its
construction is far from constant. The most orthodox form may be considered to be that of the
famous Shaka of Sarnath dating from around the VI century (fig. 9). More or less similar variants
are to be seen in almost any Buddhist country of the Far East. Yet the Sarnath type may be
considered to be the prototype of such gestures as those seen in the VIII century Shaka (?)
of Chandimendut (fig. io), not far from Borobodur as well as in that of the Horyu-ji Amida
(fig. i ) in Japan.
The unestablished iconography characteristic of Gandhara is apparent in the III century
Shaka referred to in fig. 8. This is a common cast of the Temborin in Gandhara, although there
is also the form shown in fig. 12 of the III century Shaka in the possession of the Tokyo Na-
tional Museum. This form often seen in painting is less frequently represented in sculpture
even though the Esoteric sects use it as one of the orthodox types of Temborin-in. The VIII
century Amida Trinity, a bronze repousse of the Horyu-ji (fig. I3), reflects the general outline

46 Cf. Glasenapp, H., Mysfires bouddhistes, p. 37.

47 Maraini, F., Tibet secret, Arthaud, Paris, I952, p. 91.

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of the Sarnath Temborin-in and, notwithstanding the variants in the figures mentioned above,
this kind may be considered as being one of the more common forms in Japan.
By virtue not only of its designation, i. e., turning the wheel of the Law, but also because of
its shape - the two circles formed by the junction of the thumb and the index recall the aspect
of the wheel - the Esoteric meaning of this mudrd is based on the symbolism of the wlheel.48
This symbolic attribute is present in early Buddhist art.49 The pre-Buddhist wheel had very
probably with the Indo-Europeans taken on a role emblematic of the sun and of fire.so Thus in
Buddhism Vairocana,sI who carries this attribute, underlines his clearly solar character: he
dispells doubt and error as the sun dispells the morning clouds.
Because of a possible identification with the sun, the wheel comes to designate the course
of the sun, the "revolution of the year: its turning constitutes then the primordial act of crea-
tion."s2 "In the sense that time is the sun," writes Mr. Coomaraswamy, "a circle is its center:
the Wheel represents the Sun but more exactly the movement of the Sun, in his heavenly car,
with one or two correlated wheels."53 The solar character of this attribute in Buddhism is mani-
fest as early as Barhut and Amaravati. The Buddha is represented there as the 'sempiternal sun'.54
As a solar emblem, the wheel appears in a double form, that is to say, the two wheels of the
chariot of the Sun at the same time bound together and kept apart from each other by the same
axle. It is the emblem of the world seen from two different but inseparable points55 - in Shingon
Esotericism, the indivisibility of the taizokai and the kongokai. The sun illuminates sky and
earth: in like manner the two wheels touch one the sky and the other the earth: the axle is
identified with the cosmic axis which at once separates and connects these two points.56
In the pre-Buddhist period, the cakravartin57 - that is to say, the king who puts in movement

48 "Dharmatchakra, lit. the wheel of the law. The emblem of Buddhism as a system of cycles of transmigration, the pro-
pagation of which is called Temborin, lit. turning the wheel of the law" (Eitel, E., Handbook of Chinese Buddhism, Craw-
ford, Hongkong, 1888, p. 47b).
49 Cf. Foucher, A., Beginnings of Buddhist Art, Geuthner, Paris, I9I7, P1. I, col. c, fig. I, 2; also p. I5.
50 Si do in dzou, p. 9. Williams, C., Outlines of Chinese Symbolism, Customs College Press, Peiping, 193I, p. 392, writes: "and
the turning of the wheel of the Law was probably connected with the Vedic sun worshipping ceremonies in which a
chariot wheel was fastened to a post and turned towards the right, i. e., following the path of the Universal Law which
directed the sun in its orbit." Cf. P. E. Dumont, "The Indic God Aja Ekapad, the One-legged Goat," J. A. 0. S., 53,
pp. 326-334.
51 Vairocana: from virocana, "who illumines, who lightens; m. sun, sun god, Visnu; moon (Stchoupac, N., Nitti, L.,
Renou, L., Dictionnaire sanscrit-fran?ais, Maisonneuve, Paris, 1932, p. 672b, s. v. virocana).
52 Combas, G., "Evolution du stupa en Asie," in Melanges chinois et bouddhiques, IV, p. I Io: wheel = sun, revolution of the
year, creation of the Law, the Law, the Buddha (p. I I I). For a bibliography of Indian works concerning the revolution
of the year, consult Coomaraswamy, A., Elements of Buddhist Iconography, pp. 25 f.
53 Coomaraswamy, A., op. cit., p. 25.
54 Ibid., P1. I, fig. 2 and 3; ca. 200 A. D.
55 Aitareya Brdchamana, VIII, 2 cited by Coomaraswamy, op. cit., p. 28. Consult ibid. for the chariot of the Sun conceived as
a three wheeled carriage (tricakra).
56 .Rg Veda, V, 29, 4; and X, 89, 4 (cited in Coomaraswamy, A., op. cit., p. 28).
57 Cakra-vartin: lit. the one who has, who possesses the rotation of the wheel. For the etymology of cakravartin, consult
E. Senart Essai sur la legende du Bouddha, Leroux, Paris, 882, p. 3 ff.: "gifted with, possessor of the cakravala - in other
terms - he who is limited only by the extreme limit of the world, who, in other terms, possesses it completely." The
term cakravartin does not exist in the Veda, but one meets there the notion of a supreme force, so that the idea of the
universal king may hardly be considered as an innovation of Buddhism. For the myth of the cakravartin, consult J.
Przyluski "La ville du cakravartin," Rocznik Orjentalistgczny, Vol. V, 1927, pp. i65-I85.
58 Glasenapp, H., op. cit., p. I03. "The wheel, originally an arm of the sovereign with which he subjects the whole world,
is mentioned in the ancient Dighanikaya (14, i, 30) as being the first of the precious things (ratna) of the universal
monarch."

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the wheel - uses the wheel as a symbol or as a particular arm.s8 Legend affirms that at his
investiture a golden wheel fell from the sky.59 The cakravartin is, however, inferior to the Buddha
who as dbarmacakravartin, he who turns the wheel of the Law, conquers the earth for Buddhism
by disseminating his law. Thus the wheel presents a double significance: that of destruction
and that of lighting - both ideas derive from pre-Buddhist notions. A close relationship is
established between the Buddha and the universal sovereign, for the Buddha as the all-powerful
monarch is he who turns the wheel - that is, cakravartin - and the wheel as it passes through
the world crushes all evil, all error, all enemies of the law. "There where it keeps itself is the
unshakeable place in which should reside such a sovereign, he who by definition is stable,
firm, omnipresent, linked to the center of the universe whence he reigns."60 He who moves the
wheel, who performs the creative act can be no one but a monarch ruling over the entire world.
The "indestructible wheel of the Cosmos... illustrates the action of the Buddhist doctrine
which crushes all illusion and all superstition, like the wheel which breaks everything over
which it passes."6I Wheel of protection, wheel of creation, such are its qualities as the arm of
the universal king. Moreover, says the Prasna Upanisad: "He on whom the (sixteen parts)
stand fast, as it were spokes on the nave of the wheel, Him I deem the person to be known."62
According to legend the historic Buddha is supposed to have transmitted the original design
of the wheel to his disciples by sketching it with grains of rice gathered while he was teaching
in a ricefield. However that may be, anterior to the representation of the historical Buddha in
human form, the wheel, identifiable with the universal sovereign, was figured in the place of
the Buddha.63 This wheel was represented in the form of a Principial Wheel and supported by a
universal terrain.64 In the first centuries of the Christian era, at the time of the representation of
the Buddha in human form, the wheel appears somewhere on his body. It serves to indicate the
sermon in the Deer Park at Benares. The dharmacakramudrd, by taking over a part of the role of
the attribute of aniconic representations, symbolizes, in iconographical representations, this
same episode of the Buddha legend.65
Moreover the wheel shows an affinity with the lotus.66 Represented first of all in the form of
a solar disk, the rays of which constitute the eight67 spokes of the Buddhist wheel, this attribute
early witnessed "a decorative contamination with the red lotus (padma), the cosmological value

59 Oda, T., Bukky6 Daijiten, p. I25 9-a, line 22. Consult also Ph-Ed. Foucaut, Histoire du Bouddha Sakya-Mouni, Thorin,
Paris, I868, pp. I4-I5, "la roue qui 'vient'."
60 Auboyer, J., "Moudra et hasta," Oriental Art, Vol. III, I95I, p. I56b.
61 Williams, C., op. cit., p. 392.
62 Coomaraswamy, A., Ele. of Bud.Icono., p. 27. J. Bosquet (tr.), Prasna Upanisad, Maisonneuve, Paris, 1948, VI, 6, trans-
lates: "Celui en qui les seize parties sont fixees, telles les rayons dans le moyeu du char, celui-la, je le connais comme
etant 1'Etre que l'on doit connaitre." In Pali texts and later Sanskrit texts, the "person" is called cakkavatti, cakravartin.
63 See Foucher, A., L'Art greco-bouddhique du Gandhdra, fig. 475 a and 475 b (Sanci and Amaravati).
64 Coomaraswamy, A., op. cit., p. 33.
65 Foucher, A., op. cit., p. 432: at Lahore, no. I34, the wheel stamps the front of the socle...: "we do not see particularly
that the Master had yet adopted the gesture which would later become the characteristic mudra of his predication."
66 S. Levi, J. Takakusu, and P. Demieville Hdboegirin, Maison franco-japonaise, Tokyo, I931, p. i88a. Note the figure
(Yakushiji) on this same page. The wheel with I000 spokes appears on the famous engraved stone at Pataliputra which
Hsuan Tsang (Ttt. 2087) describes.
67 The wheel with 64 spokes at Amaravati (Coomaraswamy, A., op. cit., P. I, fig. 2 and 3). See the Wheel of Life in
J. Przyluski "La Roue de la vie a Ajanta," Journal Asiatique, I5-I6, p. 3I9. Cf. also Waddell, L., "Buddhist Pictorial
Wheel...," Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, I892, p. 134.

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of which is enriched by a profound philosophic sense."68 Thus the lotus in full bloom, also
bearing a clearly solar character, symbolizes the divine birth, the purity of the Law. It is divided
into eight petals indicating the eight cardinal points, the eightfold way, etc. In Japan, the
rimbo69 of the Shingon sect, which figures a lotus for an axle center from which radiate eight
spokes, may well speak in this instance for the fusion of these two symbols.70 Wheel and lotus
are in a certain sense the 'secret pivot of the world' around which the various constitutive ele-
ments are disposed in symmetric fashion. In India the wheel placed atop a piller, that is, the
cakrastambha, recalls the open lotus at the top of its stem; and in Nepal, the wheel of Vairocana
is represented indeed by a lotus calyx containing the procreative seeds of the flower.7I
Buddhism utilized first of all the symbol of the wheel and then the Temb6rin-in in order to
recall the specific moment of the Buddhist legend when the historical Buddha, having triumphed
over the attacks of Mara, demon of evil, attains bodhi and begins his first predication in the Deer
Park at Benares. It is the moment when the Buddha "puts in movement the wheel of the Law".
In aniconic representations of the historical Buddha, the scene was figured by means of a piller
surmounted by a wheel and flanked by two affronted deer. In iconographical representations
this same wheel persists but figures now either designed on the body of the Buddha or held in
his hands. The Temborin-in in taking over the symbolism of the wheel affirms the omnipotence
and the sovereignty of the Buddha as well as his identification with a universal monarch.
But one may go further. The Temb6rin-in, whose form represents two wheels of the Law
juxtaposed, recalls in Esoteric symbolism the principial unity of the taizTokai and the kong6kai.
The non-Tantric symbolism, of course, indicates the teaching of the Buddha. In this sense, the
gesture is also called the Seppo-in, nmudrd of the exposition of the Law. It symbolizes the destruc-
tion of human evils as well as the constant progression of Buddhist doctrines, doctrines which
reach all sentient beings and which without limit, like the cosmic wheel, exist universally. It is a
symbol which places emphasis on the movement of the wheel, the continual movement of the
Law, which is constantly being transmitted to all beings, and on the "incessant repetition of the
fundamental, moral doctrines of Buddhism." In the Japanese Esoteric sects, the making of this
mudrd, accompanied by the right ritual word, may take the place for the worshipper "of all
preaching, for no predication is more perfect or more efficacions than that of the law."72
Before terminating this very cursive expose, it would be fitting, I believe, to make a brief
summary of the place of the symbolic gesture in Esoteric Buddhism. The mudrd seems to go
back to far distant sources lost in the earliest periods of primitive India. In Tantrism, it takes
on the form of a mystic instrument which serves to seal a pact between the supreme divinity
and the believer. But, as in any religious system, the symbol is not an expression apart from the
mystic feeling, exterior to it: the symbol is the mystic feeling itself. Thus the gesture becomes
the expression of the rite, by the fact that it constitutes in effect the immobilization and the
fixation of the rite: it contains all the power of the rite, it is at once static in its figuration and
dynamic in its meaning. The mudrd forms a part of the triple "mystery": thought, word, and

68 Auboyer, J., op. cit., p. i56b.

69 Consult Coomaraswamy, op. cit., PI. VI, fig. 25.
70 Cf. the sudarsanacakra (Musee Guimet) Revue des arts asiatiques, Vol. V, I928, P1. XVIII, fig. i.
71 Getty, A., The Gods of Northern Buddhism, p. I67 (s. v. cakra) writes that in the middle of the calyx is found a Nepalese
Yin-Yang.
72 Auboyer, J., op. cit., p. 157 a.

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action. This threefold unity is inherent in every thing. Such a unitary concept leads to a close
interdependance through which artistic forms become the image of the doctrine: the statue
- the gesture - are henceforth the concrete manifestation of concepts related to the energies
existing in the order of things. The object of the Esoteric system is the psychic union of the
believer with the universal Spirit. Yet to arrive at this union, magic formulas are powerless
without the gesture. Thus the primitive hand movement of the exorcist assumes great impor-
tance by assuring the exact transmission of the word. It is the sign of a pact, of a most impor-
tant contract, for it is the one that binds the worshipper to the world of the divinity and inte-
grates him into that world.

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