Encyclopedia of Buddhism

HACHIMAN

Hachiman is one of the most popular Shinto
deities.
Originally a tutelary deity of a clan in Kyushu (south-
ern Japan), Hachiman gained official recognition in
the eighth century within the framework of state Bud-
dhism. Until the anti-Buddhist persecution of 1868,
Hachiman was worshiped as a “great bodhisattva”
(daibosatsu) and functioned as a protector of Bud-
dhism and of Japan.

See also:Japan; Shinto
(Honji Suijaku) and Buddhism

FABIORAMBELLI

HAIR

Manipulation of hair carries cultural meanings in most
societies. In traditional India, individuals within soci-
ety kept their hair controlled by some form of groom-
ing. Controlled social hair stands in sharp contrast to
ascetic hair, which is either left ungroomed to form a
matted mass or completely shaved. The Buddha and
Buddhist MONKSshare this feature with other world-
renouncing ascetics, including Hindu sannya
sisand
Jain monks: They are all shaven-headed.

Early texts state that the Buddha cut his hair to two-
fingers’ breadth in length when he renounced the
world. His hair (and beard) remained at that length
for the rest of his life, curling to the right. This is the
way the Buddha is depicted in art. A stock phrase in
Buddhist scriptures states that a monk “cuts his hair
and beard and goes from home to the homeless state.”
Shaving the head has remained a distinctive feature of

Buddhist monks and NUNS. Hairs of the Buddha, along

with his nail parings, also came to be enshrined and

venerated as relics.

Shaving symbolized an individual’s separation

from society, marked both by the monk’s withdrawal

from home and social institutions and by his exclu-

sion from socially sanctioned structures for sexual ex-

pression. All ritually shaven individuals, both ascetics

and nonascetics, such as criminals and widows, live

celibate lives. Scholarship in a variety of disciplines

has recognized the sexual symbolism of hair. Remov-

ing hair at ascetic initiation symbolically returns the

ascetic to a prepubertal state of a sexually undiffer-

entiated infant. Removing hair implies the uprooting

of sexual desires.

Hair has remained a focus of attention and anxiety

among Buddhist monks. Anthropologists have noted

that young monks often express rebellion against au-

thority and left-wing political allegiances by allowing

their hair to grow a little longer.

See also:Ordination; Relics and Relics Cults; Sexuality

Bibliography

Hiltebeitel, Alf, and Miller, Barbara D., eds. Hair: Its Power and

Meaning in Asian Cultures.Albany: State University of New

York Press, 1998.

PATRICKOLIVELLE

HAKUIN EKAKU

Hakuin Ekaku (1686–1768) was a Japanese Zen monk

who worked to reform Rinzai Zen, and from whom

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