image of Acala vidyaraja, Fudo Myoo
name of Acala vidyaraja, Fudo Myoo
a ca la vi dyā rā ja
不 動 明 王
fu dō myō ō

Acala-vidyārāja is known in Japan as Fudō-myōō. He is a wrathful figure associated with Vairocana. He is frequently described as a messenger, but his main function in the Mahāvairocana Abhisaṃbodhi Tantra is as a destroyer of obstacles.

In the MAT he is described thus:

"He holds a sword and a noose,
his plaited hair hangs from the left of his head,
he is well adorned and one of his eyes squints.
He abides amidst his own light*,
wrathfull seated upon a rock.
His face is creased in anger,
and he has a robust youthful form."
        - (MAT II.40. Hodge : 113)

* The Chinese version of the text has "His awe-inspiring and wrathful body emanates flames" (Linrothe : 152) which is more consistent with images. The flames in his aura are the flames which transmute mundane anger into the Mirror-like Wisdom.

Acala means "immovable". Vidya can mean knowledge, but is also a synonym for mantra and is frequently used to refer to magic. It can be taken to mean something like esoteric knowledge. Rāja means "king". He is also known simply as Acala (Fudō), or as Acalanātha, "immoveable lord". Fudō is also part of a group of Vidyārājas.

Seed Syllable.

ham the seed syllable of Acala - Fudo
hāṃ
in Siddhaṃ
hammam the seed syllable of Acala - Fudo
hāmmāṃ
in Siddhaṃ
Fudō's seed syallble is hāṃ, or sometimes hammaṃ, which is a combination of the two final bīja's from his mantra.

Mantra

mantra of Acala Fudo

Transliteration

na maḥ sa maṃ ta va jrā nāṃ caṃ ḍa ma hā ro ṣa ṇa spho ṭa ya hūṃ traṭ hāṃ māṃ

namaḥ samanta vajrānāṃ caṇḍa mahāroṣaṇa sphoṭaya hūṃ traṭ hāṃ māṃ

Notes

The mantra comes from the Mahāvairocana Abhisaṃbodhi Tantra. It occurs for instance in chp. 4, the General Mantra Treasury (Hodge : 161). Acala is one of only three wrathful figures in the MAT along with Trailokyavijaya and Hayagrīva.

I have used the practice of indicating nasals in caṇḍa for instance by using the anusvāra on the prceeding vowel. The fact that the following consonant is ḍ tells us that the nasal must be of the same articulation, ie ṇ.

This is a wrathful mantra which includes words which must be understood in the context of Tantric Buddhism. For instance caṇḍa means "violent", mahāroṣaṇa means "great wrath", and sphoṭaya means "destroy". Anger is associated with, and transformed through Tantric practices into the Mirror like Wisdom of Akṣobhya that sees perfectly clearly. The energy of the anger is directed towards breaking through to Buddhahood, it breaks through spiritual ignorance. There is no sense in which this justifies expressing mundane anger towards people as the anger of the Bodhisattva arises out of Compassion for their suffering, and is rooted in Perfect Wisdom. The Mahāvairocana Abhisaṃbodhi Tantra insists that the mantra is to be recited while keeping Bodhicitta in mind:

" Recollecting bodhicitta, the matrin
Should mentally recite the Acala mantra,
And make his Mudrā,
And he will destroy all obstacles." (MAT III.4. Hodge : 154)

As well as destroying obstacles, the Acala mantra can be used for occupying the ground where a mandala is being created. Tantric texts seem to assume that creating a mandala is something that one does on an actual plot of land, although this could of course be symbollic.

In later texts Chaṇḍa Mahāroṣaṇa becomes a distinct figure.

References

Note that the MAT is no longer extant in Sanskrit. Hodges translation from the Tibetan is far superior to Yamamoto's from Chinese.