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him by priests he has been regarded by some foreigners as the patron deity of monks: he was and still is, however, the protector of the Buddhist Law before whom lots were drawn during the selection of the new abbot.
Skanda, son of Shiva and brother of Ganesh [Tunhuang fresco] is a major protector, a destroyer of demons and a god of war, identical with Karttikaya.
Wei T'o in Japan is known as Idaten, whilst in Tibetan and Lamaist Buddhism he is known as Skanda: Wei T'o T'ien-shen ## [or in transliterated Chinese: Ssu-chien-t'o].
Although the image in the Ta Pei Ssu is labelled in Chinese, Wei T'o; the well-produced and colourful Chinese guide to the Hall of the Bodhisattvas produced in Taiwan gives the title in Chinese as Wei T'o and in English as Skanda. Skanda according to Werner is the Hindu mythological god of war, usually known as Karttikaya. He is represented riding a peacock, holding a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other.
He has numerous appointments, all protective. Originally he was one of the Thirty-two Generals under the command of the Four Celestial Kings - Ssu Ta T'ien-wang (see 23 below). One such appointment is his rôle as Commander of the Heavenly Hosts, the head of the Heavenly Guard [one of the Twenty or Twenty-four Devas], the protective spirit or spirits of Buddhism and its sanctuaries. In the biographies of Hsüan Tsang, Wei T'o is described as the leader of all the kuei-shen [minor deities], and was charged by the Buddha who was at that moment on the point of entering Nirvana, with the protection of the Law.
Officially he is neither a Buddha nor a bodhisattva though commonly he is referred to as the latter and it is often claimed that for his zeal he was promoted to bodhisattva when he became the commander of the Four Diamond Kings [Chin-kang: see below]. His title would appear to be the Chinese form for the Sanskrit term "Veda", the body of sacred writings brought to India by invaders and from which Hinduism developed. However, it is generally said that his origin is uncertain even though, for example, Vitasoka, the younger brother of King Asoka
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him by priests he has been regarded by some foreigners as the patron deity of monks : he was and still is, however, the protector of the Bud- dhist Law before whom lots were drawn during the selection of the new abbot.
Skanda, son of Shiva and brother of Ganesh [Tunhuang fresco] is a major protector, a destroyer of demons and a god of war, identical with Karttikaya.
Wei T'o in Japan is known as Idaten, whilst in Tibetan and Lamaist Buddhism he is known as Skanda : Wei T'o T'ien-shen ## [or in transliterated Chinese : Ssu-chien-t'o
].
Although the image in the Ta Pei Ssu is labelled in Chinese, Wei T'o; the well produced and colourful Chinese guide to the Hall of the Bodhisattvas produced in Taiwan gives the title in Chinese as Wei T'o and in English as Skanda. Skanda according to Werner is the Hindu mythological god of war, usually known as Karttikaya. He is repre- sented riding a peacock, holding a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other.
He has numerous appointments, all protective. Originally he was one of the Thirty-two Generals under command of the Four Celestial Kings - Ssu Ta T'ien-wang (see 23 below]. One such appointment is his rôle as Commander of the Heavenly Hosts, the head of the Heav- enly Guard [one of the Twenty or Twenty-four Devas], the protective spirit or spirits of Buddhism and its sanctuaries. In the biographies of Hsüan Tsang, Wei T'o is described as leader of all the kuei-shen [minor deities], and was charged by the Buddha who was at that mo- ment on the point of entering Nirvana, with the protection of the Law.
Officially he is neither a Buddha nor a bodhisattva though com- monly he is referred to as the latter and it is often claimed that for his zeal he was promoted to bodhisattva when he became the commander of the Four Diamond Kings [Chin-kang: see below]. His title would appear to be the Chinese form for the Sanskrit term "Veda", the body of sacred writings brought to India by invaders and from which Hindu- ism developed. However, it is generally said that his origin is uncertain even though, for example, Vitasoka, the younger brother of King Asoka
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