A similar category of fierce deities known as Herukas are found in Tibetan Buddhism.The female counterparts of Wisdom Kings are known as Wisdom Queens (Sanskrit : Vidyarajni)
Vidyarajas, as their name suggests, are originally conceived of as the guardians and personifications of esoteric wisdom (vidyā), namely mantras and dharanis. They were seen as embodying the mystic power contained in these sacred utterances.
During the early stages of esoteric (Vajrayana) Buddhism, many of the deities that would become known as vidyarajas (a term that only came into use around the late 7th-early 8th century) were mainly seen as attendants of Bodhisattvas who were invoked for specific ends such as the removal of misfortune and obstacles to enlightenment.
Vidyaraja is a Wisdom King (Sanskrit: Vidyaraja, Chinese: 明王) is a type of wrathful deity. Whereas the Sanskrit name is translated literally as "wisdom / knowledge king(s)," the term vidyā in Vajrayana Buddhism is also specifically used to denote mantras and the term may thus also be rendered "mantra king(s).
He is also known by various other names such as Burning Impurity Kongo, Jusoku Kongo (受触金剛) and Kazu Kongo (火頭金剛). A similar category of fierce deities known as Herukas are found in Tibetan Buddhism.The female counterparts of Wisdom Kings are known as Wisdom Queens (Sanskrit : Vidyarajni)
Ucchusma is a Vidyaraja in Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. Ucchuṣma's full name in Sanskrit sources is Vajra Krodha Mahābala Ucchuṣma (Great Strength Furious Diamond Ucchuṣma). In Chinese, this is translated as 大力威怒金刚烏芻使摩 (穢跡金剛) from the Chinese version of the Sutra of Mahabala and the Tibetan version of the Arya-Mahabalanama Mahayana Sutra.
In Japan, Ucchuṣma is a guardian of the bathroom, where his effigy is often present. He is known to the general public for his powers of purification of the unclean, in particular in respect to sexual diseases.Ucchuṣma was also thought to be able to change a female fetus into a male one.
His method to attain the enlightenment
According to the Shurangama Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha asked the Bodhisattvas and arahants to present their methods to understand the ultimate truth, the eighteenth to present his character was Ucchusma.
The Surangama Sutra states:
"Ucchushma came before the Buddha, put his palms together, bowed at the Buddha’s feet, and said to the Buddha, I can still remember how many kalpas ago I was filled with excessive greed and desire.
There was a Buddha in the world named King of Emptiness. He said that people with too much desire turn into a raging mass of fire. He taught me to contemplate the coolness and warmth throughout my entire body.
A spiritual light coalesced inside and transformed my thoughts of excessive lust into the fire of wisdom. After that, when any of the Buddhas summoned me, they used the name 'fire-head.' From the strength of the fire-light Samadhi, I accomplished Arhatship.
I made a great vow that when each of the Buddhas accomplishes the way, I will be a powerful knight and in person subdue the demons' hatred. The Buddha asks about perfect penetration.
I used attentive contemplation of the effects of heat in my body and mind, until it became unobstructed and penetrating and all my outflows were consumed. I produced a blazing brilliance and ascended to enlightenment. This is the foremost method."
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Ucchusma Vajrapala Sutra
The Ucchuṣma Vajrapala Sūtra asserts that Ucchuṣma is actually the Vajra manifestation of Shakyamuni Buddha. Legend has it that when Shakyamuni Buddha was about to enter into Nirvana, all heavenly beings, with the exception of the ‘Spiral Hair-knot Brahma King’, came to pay their respect to Buddha. The Brahma King was in fact enjoying himself with the heavenly maidens in his own celestial palace.
The heavenly gods, being unhappy with the arrogance of the Brahma King, went to his abode and try to persuade him to attend the Dharma assembly. Upon reaching his palace however, the gods found themselves trapped in the defiled energy cast by the supernatural powers of the king. Even some of the Vajra Deities (金剛神) who were later sent to apprehend the Brahma King were imprisoned by the foul forces as well.
When Shakyamuni Buddha came to learn of this, He employed His Original Wisdom (本智), and the Light of Perpetual Joy and Pliancy was emitted from His heart. Ucchuṣma Vajrapāla (穢跡金剛) soon appeared amidst the revolving radiance of the Buddha’s heart, and ascended to the celestial palace of the Brahma King.
Despite the defiled energy hurled at Him by the Brahma King, Ucchuṣma was unharmed as he immediately turned these forces of contamination into ordinary soil. In no time, the Brahma King was subdued and brought to the feet of Shakyamuni Buddha. For this reason, Ucchuṣma is also known as the "Filth-Eliminating Vajrapala.
According to the Ucchuṣma Vidyaraja Dharaṇi, the mantra provided should be recited forty thousand times by any good man or good woman who is besieged with ailments inflicted by evil spirits. On the tenth day of purification, it should be recited one thousand eight times resulting in the removal of myriad afflictions.
* Footnote
For those who had received the empowerment of this Tantric practice, you are reminded not intentionally or unintentionally to disclose the mantra to the public or anyone who may not have the empowerment or permission to practice, and by disclosing the mantra intentionally or unintentionally is a form of breaking your Tantric Samaya vows to the lineage masters and Dharma protectors.
Please consult your Guru or a qualified lineage master for Vajrayana practice! Should a devotee even want to start studying and contemplating the Vajrayana practice, then it is truly necessary to first have completed the preliminaries and to be certain and sure that Bodhicitta has arisen and developed in one’s mind.
Vajrayana features countless skillful and powerful methods which, if they are practiced in the proper way, can make the process of accumulation and purification incredibly swift and direct. It is absolutely necessary to have the pure motivation and to know that Vajrayana practice is not carried out to increase one’s own ego, power and self-interests.
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Aspiration For Bodhichitta
For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen
May it arise and not decrease
But increase further and further.
Dedication of Merit
By this merit may we obtain omniscience then.
Having defeated the enemies wrong-doings.
May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.
With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.
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