Gourt Home::Gourt :: Yama (Buddhism and Chinese mythology)
''This article is about the deity Yama in Buddhism and Chinese mythology. For a general article about Yama, see Yama. For other uses of the Japanese name of the deity, see Enma.
Yama is the name of the Buddhist god and judge of the dead, who presides over the Buddhist Narakas (Pāli: Nirayas), "Hells" or "Purgatories". Although ultimately based on the god Yama of the Hindu Vedas, the Buddhist Yama has developed different myths and different functions from the Hindu deity. He has also spread far more widely, and is known in every country where Buddhism is practiced, including Tibet, China and Japan.
Yama in Theravāda Buddhism
Yama was understood by Buddhists as a god of the dead, supervising the various Buddhist "hells". His exact role is vague in canonical texts, but is clearer in extra-canonical texts and popular beliefs, which are not always consistent with Buddhist philosophy.
In popular belief in Theravādin Buddhist countries, Yama sends old age, disease, punishments and other calamities among humans as warnings to behave well. When they die, they are summoned before Yama, who examines their character and dispatches them to their appropriate rebirth, whether as a human, to a heaven, or to one of the hells that Yama presides over. Sometimes there are thought to be several Yamas, each presiding over a distinct Hell. Theravāda sources sometimes speak of two Yamas or four Yamas.
The Theravāda scholar Buddhaghosa described Yama as a vimānapeta, a being in a mixed state, sometimes enjoying celestial comforts and at other times receiving the more unpleasant fruits of his karma; however, as a king, his rule is considered just.
Yama in Chinese and Japanese mythology
In Chinese mythology, Yanluo (閻羅, Wade-Giles: Yen-lo), is the god of death and the ruler of Di Yu (Jp. Jigoku, "hell" or the underworld). The name Yanluo is a shortened Chinese transliteration of the Sanskrit term Yama Rājā (閻魔羅社) "King Yama". In Japan Yanluo is referred to as Emma (older Yemma), or Emma-ō (閻魔大王 Enma Dai-Ō, "Great King Yama").
Yanluo is not only the ruler but also the judge of the underworld and passes judgment on all the dead. He always appears in a male form, and his minions include a judge who holds in his hands a brush and a book listing every soul and the allotted death date for every life. Ox-Head and Horse-Face, the fearsome guardians of hell, bring the newly dead, one by one, before Yanluo for judgement. Men or women with merit will be rewarded good future lives, or even revival in their previous life. Men or women who committed misdeeds will be sentenced to torture and/or miserable future lives.
The spirits of the dead, on being judged by Yanluo, are supposed to either pass through a term of enjoyment in a region midway between the earth and the heaven of the gods, or to undergo their measure of punishment in Naraka, the nether world, situated somewhere in the southern region. After this time they may return to Earth in new bodies.
Yanluo is considered to be an office or bureaucratic post, rather than an individual god. There were said to be cases in which an honest mortal was rewarded the post of Yanluo, and served as the judge and ruler of the underworld.
In his capacity as judge, Yanluo is normally depicted wearing a Chinese judge's cap in Chinese and Japanese art. Yanluo sometimes appears on Chinese Hell Bank Notes.
Yama in Tibetan Buddhism
In Tibet, Yama (Tibetan gshin.rje) was both regarded with horror as the prime mover of saṃsāra, and revered as a guardian of spiritual practice. In the popular mandala of the Bhavacakra, all of the realms of life are depicted between the jaws, or in the arms of a monstrous Yama. Yama is sometimes shown with a consort, Yami.
Another elaboration of the concept of Yama in Tibetan Vajrayāna Buddhism was as Yamāntaka – i.e. Yama-Antaka, meaning Yama-Death or "Death's Death".
The following story describes the relationship between Yama and Yamāntaka:
- A holy man was told that if he meditated for the next 50 years, he would achieve enlightenment. The holy man meditated in a cave for 49 years, 11 months and 29 days, until he was interrupted by two thieves who broke in with a stolen bull. After beheading the bull in front of the hermit, they ignored his requests to be spared for but a few minutes, and beheaded him as well. In his near-enlightened fury, this holy man became Yama, the god of Death, took the bull's head for his own, and killed the two thieves, drinking their blood from cups made of their skulls. Still enraged, Yama decided to kill everyone in Tibet. The people of Tibet, fearing for their lives, prayed to the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, who took up their cause. He transformed himself into Yamāntaka, similar to Yama but more powerful. In their battle, everywhere Yama turned, he found infinite versions of himself. Mañjuśrī as Yamāntaka defeated Yama, and turned him into a protector of Buddhism. He is generally considered a wrathful deity.
Yama in popular culture
- In the Spriggan manga, Yama was a virus programmed from ancient text that overran an ARCAM compound in the United States, brainwashing its occupants to kill intruders by flashing the words "KILL THEM ALL!"
- In the Bleach manga, a Yama type being is occasionally seen pulling people through a portal to hell.
- In the Naruto manga, as well as a Hanuman type creature, and a charecter names after an asura, there is a Yama type creature that seems to be based upon classical Indian depictions.
- In the comic book Micronauts, Yama was a warrior companion of the Wayfarer from the Microverse.
- In the comic book Tex Willer, Yama is the son of Tex' archnemesis Mefisto.
- In the anime and manga Dragon Ball, Enma (The Japanese name for Yama) is portrayed as a harried bureaucrat with a short temper, attended to by an army of office-worker oni. Though the ruler of the afterlife, he is surpassed in power by both the four Kaiō and the one remaining Kaiōshin (higher gods in whose hands rest the stewardship of the entire universe).
- He is depicted in a similar fashion in YuYu Hakusho, as the pen-pushing ruler of the spirit world and a shadowy figure known for his temper; however, he is also the father of Koenma (literally, "Child-Enma"), who often runs the underworld in his father's stead. He is known as "Yemma" (based on an older Japanese pronunciation) in the English-dubbed Dragon Ball Z anime, and Yama in the English version of YuYu Hakusho.
- In Mahou Sentai Magiranger, the main villain of the series, N-Ma, is derived from Enma's name; both being Hell Gods.
- Yama, identified as a "Chinese spirit of the underworld", appears played by Todd Newton in the episode Dead Man Dating of the television series Charmed.
- Emma-Ō appears as a character in the arcade game Genpei ToumaDen.
- Yama is a minor character in the anime and manga One Piece who commands Eneru's army
- The Jigoku Shoujo anime focuses on a 'hell girl' and concepts similar to Naraka.
- Yama turns up in many other forms of popular entertainment, but especially Indian, Chinese and Japanese television.
External Links
See also
Buddhism in Japan | Buddhist deities | Chinese gods Death gods | Japanese gods
閻魔 | Yanluowang | 閻王
"Yama (Buddhism and Chinese mythology)"