Byodoji, the 22nd sacred site of the Shikoku Pilgrimage and a temple of the Koyasan Shingon school, performs the Vaiśravaṇa Goma on the 1st of each month. The 1st is the sakujitsu, the day the month begins. At the start of the month, we pray to Vaiśravaṇa for that month's fortune and well-being.

Vaiśravaṇa is a heavenly king who guards the Buddha's teaching and brings treasure and fortune to all beings. Prayers seeking fortune and victory—for sure triumph, rising wealth, and rising fortune—are carried to him upon the wisdom-fire of the goma.

The Vaiśravaṇa enshrined at Byodoji is a standing image in joined-woodblock construction (yosegi-zukuri), held to date from the Edo period. Clad in armor, he holds a halberd in his right hand and raises a jeweled pagoda in his left.

About the Statue

Vaiśravaṇa is Tamonten, who guards the north among the Four Heavenly Kings, and a heavenly king who governs treasure and fortune.

He is known for his figure clad in armor, holding aloft a jeweled pagoda (a tower that reverently bears the Buddha's relics and the Buddha's teaching) in one hand. As a deity venerated on his own, he is beloved as a guardian of martial and victorious fortune and as a deity who brings good fortune, and he is also counted among the Seven Lucky Gods.

The foundational scripture, the Sūtra of the Heavenly King Vaiśravaṇa (T1244), sets forth his original vow, in which Vaiśravaṇa vows to bring "benefit and ease to all beings, abundant treasure, and the protection of the land": "World-Honored One, for the benefit and ease of all beings of the future, for abundant wealth and treasure, and to protect the realm of the land, I expound my own mantra. This mantra of mine, like the true wish-fulfilling jewel-king (cintāmaṇi), can fulfill the multitude of wishes."

• For more on who Vaiśravaṇa is, please see the explanatory article

The 1st is held to be the ennichi (sacred day) of Myōken Bodhisattva and Vaiśravaṇa, and temples in many places hold the sakujitsu goma. At Byodoji too, we perform the Vaiśravaṇa Goma on this new-moon day.

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. You may entrust to it your wishes for fortune and victory—sure triumph, wealth, prosperity in business, and more. You may also apply online.

• About the Vaiśravaṇa Goma on the 1st of each month (explanation and application)

When putting our palms together before Vaiśravaṇa, we recite the following mantra.