The Eleven-Faced Kannon of the Jibutsudō

In the Jibutsudō at Byōdōji, we enshrine the Eleven-Faced Kannon (Eleven-Faced Avalokiteśvara). While the principal image of the main hall is Yakushi Nyorai, this Eleven-Faced Kannon is the principal image of the Jibutsudō, receiving the prayers of everyday life.

It is a standing figure carved from a single block of wood, with eleven faces on its head, holding a lotus and a water vase. Temple tradition holds that it was already enshrined here by the time of Kōbō Daishi's pilgrimage through Shikoku. An old esoteric instruction says that this water vase is filled with the water of compassion, amṛta (sweet dew), and that when epidemics spread, the rite of this deity is performed.

At Byōdōji, devotion to Yakushi Nyorai and devotion to Kannon overlap. The title Iō-in comes from the name of the principal image Yakushi Nyorai, the "King of Medicine" (Iō), and Nikkō-in comes from the light of the Eleven-Faced Kannon. These two temple titles tell us that both Yakushi and Kannon live in the prayers of Byōdōji.

About the image

A note on paying your respects. If you speak to us at the nōkyōsho (stamp office), you may enter the hall when no ceremony is being held. Face the Kannon and offer a prayer with the mantra described below.

It is told that one morning, when the founder went to draw the holy water, sunlight reflected on the surface of the water and brightened the whole grounds. This great light was received as the appearance of the Eleven-Faced Kannon, and the Kannon came to be enshrined as the principal image of the abbot's quarters.

The white sacred spring and the morning light. The scene of the founding remains in the temple title Nikkō-in. The record of the temple's origins also tells that the name Byōdōji itself arose from the vow of Yakushi Nyorai, to heal all beings "equally, without distinction."

For the full story of Byōdōji, see "The History of Byōdōji"; for the founding legend, see "The Record of Byōdōji's Origins."

When a bodhisattva appears in a different form according to the beings it saves and the work it does, that form is called a transformation body (henge Kannon). The Eleven-Faced Kannon is said to look out in all directions with the eleven faces atop its head, and to respond to suffering wherever it occurs and in whatever person.

The eleven faces each bear a different expression. For those who rejoice, it rejoices with them; for those who do evil, it corrects them with anger; and it saves by changing its form in response to suffering in every direction. This working is expressed in the form of the eleven faces.

Originally, "eleven-faced" was the name of a heart mantra (shingon) recited by the Kannon. The great compassion, working to save beings in every direction, that was contained in this heart mantra came in time to be expressed as a figure bearing eleven faces.

Its full name is Eleven-Faced Avalokiteśvara. In Sanskrit it means "the one who looks on the world with eleven faces." In Japan it was the first of the transformation Kannon forms to be widely revered, and countless images were made from the Nara period onward.

The meaning of the eleven faces can be learned from the form described in the sutra and from the explanations of their workings preserved in commentaries. We look at the five groups in order.

The faces are not always counted in one way. The name is eleven-faced. Yet if we count the Kannon's own original face that bears these eleven, there are twelve. A commentary explains this relation of eleven and twelve in three pairs. The Buddha face atop the head is the fruit of awakening; the original face is the cause of practice. The eleven faces above are the skillful means that guide beings; the original face is the true face. The compassionate face at the front corresponds to the civil (bun), and the wrathful face on the left to the martial (bu). Every face is an expression of the Kannon's working that leads those who suffer toward salvation.

The large Buddha face atop the head and the small transformed Buddhas (kebutsu) within the crowns of the other faces are different things. The oldest translation identifies the transformed Buddha in the crown as Amitābha. Note also that the Thousand-Armed Kannon, too, bears eleven faces on its head.

Two forms are described in the sutras: two-armed and four-armed. The two-armed form spread in Japan: the left hand holds a water vase with a lotus, and the right hand holds a rosary in the mudrā of fearlessness (semui), removing people's fears.

The sutra expounds the blessings of reciting this Kannon's mantra that can be obtained in this very body. The most famous are the "ten victories" and the "four meritorious blessings."

It further expounds four meritorious blessings: to see the Buddhas at the end of life, never to fall into the evil realms, not to die from a perilous calamity, and to be born in the Pure Land of Sukhāvatī. It is the character of the Eleven-Faced Kannon's sutras that the wish to live healthily in this world, free from illness and calamity, and rebirth in the Pure Land after death are taught together.

It is on this teaching of the sutras that the Eleven-Faced Kannon's long familiarity as a Kannon of healing illness, of freedom from sickness and disaster, and of warding off misfortune rests. Here, as the principal image of the Jibutsudō, it receives the prayers of daily life.

• The body is always free from illness
• Always protected by the Buddhas of the ten directions
• No lack of treasure, clothing, or food
• Subduing enemies without fear
• Respected by noble people, addressed first
• Unaffected by poison or demonic harm
• Untouched by any blade or staff
• Not drowned by water
• Not burned by fire
• Never dying an untimely death

Doing everything one can to heal illness, and praying to the Buddha, have gone together since ancient times. If you are living with illness, please continue your treatment and pray in peace.

The wide circulation of Xuanzang's translation spurred vigorous image-making in China and Japan. The Eleven-Faced Kannon became the most widespread of the transformation Kannon forms.

From the Nara period, many images were made as the principal deities of prayers for worldly blessings such as healing from illness. The murals of the Golden Hall of Hōryūji include a figure thought to be the Eleven-Faced Kannon. Although the sutras prescribe small images, Japan also produced many larger-than-life statues, and uniquely Japanese forms arose, such as the "Hase-dera style" standing on a rock, holding a khakkhara staff in the right hand and a water vase with a lotus in the left.

The "Omizutori" of the Nigatsu-dō at Tōdai-ji is formally called the Eleven-Faced Repentance (Jūichimen-keka). It is a rite of confessing faults before the Eleven-Faced Kannon and praying for the peace of the land and the welfare of the people, held without interruption since Tenpyō Shōhō 4 (752).

The Eleven-Faced Kannon is also counted among the "six Kannon" who save beings in the six realms, and is assigned chiefly to the realm of the fighting asuras.

• National Treasure images of the Eleven-Faced Kannon remain in temples across Japan, including Kōgen-ji (Dōgan-ji Kannondō, Shiga), Shōrin-ji (Nara), and Hokke-ji (Nara).

The ennichi (sacred day) of Kannon is held to be the 18th. At Byōdōji, on the night of this Kannon's ennichi each month, we perform the "Eleven-Faced Kannon Goma" before the Eleven-Faced Kannon.

The goma is a Shingon rite of prayer performed by kindling the wisdom-fire in the goma hearth and, while casting goma sticks into the flame, reciting mantra. The prayers of the ten victories taught in the sutra, that is, freedom from illness and from calamity, are carried on the flame of the goma.

To bring peace (sokusai) is to calm illness, disaster, and obstacles and to pray for gentle days. You may entrust to it your wishes for freedom from sickness and disaster, healing from illness, and warding off misfortune. You may also apply online.

When you put your hands together before the Eleven-Faced Kannon, recite the following mantra. To begin with, the second one, "On Maka Kyaronikya Sowaka," is enough.

People often think "On Maka Kyaronikya Sowaka" is the mantra unique to the Eleven-Faced Kannon, but it is originally a praise of the Great Compassion applying to Kannon in general. The mantra unique to the Eleven-Faced Kannon is the long heart mantra (the Eleven-Faced Dhāraṇī) given third above. Whichever you recite, it is equally a doorway for turning your mind to the Kannon's great compassion.

Byodoji accepts online applications for five monthly Goma rites. Choose the deity closest to your wish, then review the details on the application screen.