Mindanao State University

College of Social Sciences and Humanities

Department of Political Studies
Marawi City

ARTICLE REVIEW

Skanda, The Multifaceted God: Skanda in Korean Buddhism and Beyond

ALOHA JOY F. SAMPORNA

May 2023

Abstract

From being a Buddhist deity in Korean Buddhism, Skanda successfully transformed and was
adopted as a Shaman god in Korean Shamanism. Skanda, in his Indic representation, changed from
being a demon deity to a warrior god who protected the gates and the worship of relics. As the
paper progresses it then goes on to describe how the deity's Sinicized form, which was given the
name of Weituo in Chinese Buddhism, made its way to the Korean peninsula bearing the name
Wit’aechŏn in Korean Buddhism. The purpose of this article review is to provide clarifications on
how Skanda as a Buddhist deity moved “beyond” the Korean Shamanistic traditions with a
namesake known as Sansin and Tongjin Posal in local Korean language. Today, in contemporary
Korea, the image of Tongjin Posal is continually found on the walls of Shamanistic temples and
shrines surrounded by the four other generals being worshipped in Korean Shamanism. Moreover,
the development of Skanda depicted in this paper is truly enchanting and is worthy of confidence.
Needless to say, the concluding part of this paper ended by elaborating that even though Buddhism
and Shamanism did not come across each other, both will still prosper as it cannot be denied that
this two can stand alone without the other. Still, it’s mind-blowing that these two religions met and
created a unique form of Skanda’s identity.
 TITLE:

Skanda, The Multifaceted God: Skanda in Korean Buddhism and Beyond

REVIEWED ARTICLE:

Kim, S. (2021). Skanda, The Multifaceted God: Skanda in Korean Buddhism and Beyond. Korea

Journal of Buddhist Studies, 66, 51-96.

Introduction

Sujung Kim, the author of the book entitled “Skanda, The Multifaceted God: Skanda in

Korean Buddhism and Beyond” is an associate professor of Religious Studies specializing in

Japanese and Korean Buddhism at DePauw University. She showed a lot of interest in tracing the

interaction between Buddhist cultures using material and textual sources most significantly by

looking at the lens of East Asia as what was depicted in the books and articles that she has written.

Sujung’s book about Skanda that I will be reviewing traced the development of the deity from its

Indian origins up to its Sinicization version the one widely familiar to Central Asian Buddhist. The

authors process of tracing its development revolved on Skanda’s transformation from a demon to

a warrior god. According to the author, it is through tracing the origins of this deity that a reader

or a fellow researcher in the future may be able to conclude and understand comprehensively how

Skanda became an image of a protector or a guardian deity in the Korean Buddhist thoughts and

teachings. It is also worth noting that the argument of the author here lies on the entitlement that

in spite of the fact that a Sinicized version of Skanda adulation and worship dominated in Korean

Buddhism, Korean interpretations and exegesis of the deity howbeit made a revelatory relationship

with the Indian leitmotif of Skanda, while adding new local interpretations of him.
 The first part of the article provides an introduction of Skanda as a minor god as what was

often times portrayed in a hierarchical structure of the Sinjung t’aenghwa, explained by the author

as a particular category of paintings taking the form of framed pictures, hanging scrolls, wall-

paintings may it be diminutive in size or an enormously large scale images of a hanging painting,

much observable to see outside the temple courtyard. The author attempted to introduce Skanda

by describing that he was delineated in the Sinjung t’aenghwa or this collection of paintings as the

one who has a distinctive youthful face, with a weapon he was holding, which at the same time

complemented the armor and the helmet he was wearing ornamented with flamboyant feathers. It

is due to this image that he has in Korean Buddhism that Skanda is commonly recognized as a

protector or a guardian deity of the Buddhist teachings. As what was elucidated by the author this

image of a guardian deity that Skanda has is discernably conveyed into the spatial edifices or

structures of Korean Buddhist halls and temples.

The second part of the paper then explained Skanda’s development from a demon to

becoming a warrior god. Thus, the author puts it in a way that according to her, one of the general

adversities in appreciating the historical fountain of Skanda’s memoir lies in the deity’s complicacy

and heterogeneity. When she traced the Indian origin of the deity, the author found out that Skanda

adulation grew in Northern India from an image of a pregnant women-attacking demon as well as

a child-attacking monster. The author also provided some alternative names for the deity that is

much understandable to digest in simple terms, such as graspers, grabbers or seizers, and

sometimes Skanda can also be related to other malevolent and cruel spirits such as blood suckers,

evil spirits or tormentor. As per the author, this also provides a justification as to why Skanda has

a youthful and juvenile face compared to the other Buddhist deities or even demons. Not long after,

Skanda was then proclaimed as the son of Śiva and Agni, at the same time a half-brother of Ganesa,
all are well-known deities in Indian Buddhism. The author discovered in an Indian Buddhist

writing that Skanda, sat alongside Ganesa, guarding the gate between the dimensions of the human

world and the afterworld, wearing a helmet and an armor, holding his weapon which makes him

now a respected guardian deity instead of a blood-sucking demon. The author added that the

moment Skanda lost his demonic portrayal or his character, he lost at the same time his veneration

and vitality that led into the decline of the deity’s worship and adulation in Northern India.

Fortunately, as per the author Skanda’s cult kept disseminating to South India bearing the name of

Murugan instead of the deity’s widely renowned Northern name, Skanda.

The third part of the paper investigated the Sinicization of the Indic version of the

Buddhism deity, Skanda. As what the author stated, the interpretations of the Central Asians

towards Skanda delivered a more expressive and eloquent clues to explaining the deity’s

transformation from an Indic one into a Sinicized version. In spite of the fact that the actual

timeframe of Skanda’s arrival in China was not expressed in precise terms, but in the course of the

Tang Dynasty, Skanda was already recognized in the Chinese Buddhist circles. The author added

that not long after, at a point in the course of the Song Dynasty, Skanda was to a full extent absorbed

by the traditions and practices of Chinese Buddhism. Although Skanda was given several names

in the Indic version due to his demonic characteristics, in his Sinicized version he was given the

name of Weituo or General Wei which recognized and honored him as one of the guardian deities

of Buddhism. One of the greatest symbolizations of Weituo or Skanda in Chinese Buddhism was

his representation of the eternal and enduring youth or the unending existence after death that is

free from aging and being unyoung. It is also worth noting that the author provides a comparison

of Skanda with the other Buddhist deities, stating that unlike the others, Weituo or Skanda was

notable among Central Asian, most especially by the Chinese Buddhist practitioner because of the
fact that he never married and has maintained celibacy in endless time, which is as the same time

anticipated of the Buddhist practitioners. Additionally, one of the most historic developments of

Weituo in his Sinicized version was his association of the relic cult, as it was explained deeply by

the author that in the course of the Song Dynasty, he was widely known not just as the deity who

protected the gates but also the one who guarded the relics of Buddha.

The fourth part of the paper eventually explored Skanda’s multiplication and proliferation

in Korean Buddhism pivoting in the advent of the deity’s Sinicized form. As per the author, it was

noteworthy that even though the Sinicized version of Skanda representation dominated and

overpowered the Korean Peninsula, there are also few accounts of his Indic representation that can

be traced back to the Koryŏ Dynasty, which as the author added can be presently ascertained in

North Korea. The author furthered that, while it is observable in the Sinicized representation of

Skanda or Weituo that he is often times alone as what was delineated in some of his image or

painting, in Korean Buddhism this was not the case. Wit’aechŏn in local Korean term, popularly

known as Skanda in the Indic Buddhist practice and Weituo in the Sinicized version of worship,

using the author’s words, she described that it was out of the ordinary in Korean Buddhism for him

to stand and guard something on his own. Wit’aechŏn or Skanda has guarded either alongside

Brahmā and Indra as what was shown and expressed in the Sinjung t’aenghwa during the release

of its first and second version. Wit’aechŏn stand guard with Brahma at the gates, while his pairing

with Indra was said to be associated to the cult of relics. On the third and fourth type of his pairing

with the other deities, the author elucidates that he became affiliated with the other partner

guardians such as the Eight Devas, to wit: deva, nāga, yakṣa, gandharva, asura, garuḍa, kiṃnara

and mahoraga. Wit’aechŏn was regarded as the Eight Devas’ leader. The author added that the

fourth type was about Wit’aechŏn’s joining with several other deities, that is to say, Ucchuṣma,
Maheśvara and the others. His paring of this several deities portrayed in the Sinjung T’aenghwa

made me to have an opinion of my own as a reviewer that the Korean interpretations of Wit’aechŏn

or Skanda have qualities in common to that of the Indic version of him despite the fact that his

Sinicized form was the most widespread in the course of those periods. Indeed, as cultures of the

world breeds and was promoted, the adaptation of this deity and its practice is not just limited into

a single form. The way I see it, with people coming up together trading and giving what they can

offer to others, became an avenue of the mixture and blending of one religion to the other.

The fifth part of the paper illustrated Skanda as always being on the move beyond

Buddhism. Thus, this part of the paper explained further the word “beyond” in the title of this

article. Skanda, from being a Buddhist divinity in Korean Buddhism, successfully transformed and

was adapted as a Shaman god in Korean Shamanism. If I am to interpret these words of the author,

in the long-standing history of the Korean peninsula, being welcoming to a fresh religion that has

just been introduced to them is always imbedded in their identity. This makes Korean Buddhism

to blend well with Korean Shamanism without any difficulties. The latter on the other hand, as

what was depicted in this paper, also did not encounter any hardships from adapting Skanda, a

Buddhism god to be their own Shaman god. The author further elaborates that Skanda, from being

called Wit’aechŏn was then given the name of Sansin in Korean Shamanism. The author furthered

that Sansin, stepped outside of his conventional Buddhist assemblage and presumed a much

different character as a mountain god. Sansin was even dedicated a shrine located in the mountain

during the Chosŏn Dynasty for the sole purpose of his worship as a god in Korean Shamanism. It

is also worth noting that Skanda in Korean Shamanism doesn’t only have one transformation as

Sansin. As per the author, in some historical accounts he was also given the name of Tongjin Posal.

She added that this deity was even accounted as the first Shaman. Today, in contemporary Korea,
the image of Tongjin Posal is continually found on the walls of Shamanistic temples and shrines

surrounded by the four other generals being worshipped in Korean Shamanism.

Critique

The author has done a commendable job on giving clarifications surrounding the argument

of the Sinicized Skanda worship in Korean Buddhism while at the same time embracing a bit of

the deity’s Indic version. The way I put it using my own thoughts, this domination of Skanda’s

presence, whether it be by the name of Weituo in Chinese Buddhism or Wit’aechŏn in Korean

Buddhism, denotes the centrality and prestige of these celestial and heavenly deities, most

especially in the Korean Buddhist temples. Conversely, this also alludes that the deity Skanda

served as a vector of the cultural blending across Asian Buddhism.

The author has also done a momentous task by introducing the origin and the historical

background of the deity in India and correlated this with its transformation during medieval China.

The authors explication, in my perspective, will serve not just as a backdrop information, but at

the same time will furnish anchors for further discussion on the topic. It also makes the article a

bit comprehensive for students and future reviewees of this paper, the fact that after the author

discussed Skanda in Chinese Buddhism, the paper then proceed to introduced Skanda depicted in

the collected paintings of Sinjung t’aenghwa, furthering any mythological, ritual, textual and visual

analysis of the deity through its several types. The article then advanced on Skanda or Wit’aechŏn’s

unexpected journey into the pantheons and temples of Korean Shamanism.

As the paper progresses, I have come to an awareness that there’s actually not much to

criticize about the author’s writing of Skanda. In fact, upon reading the whole article my mind
wandered along with every line written on every page of this paper. Rather than a criticism, I want

to give a further elaboration of this development of Skanda in Korean Buddhism. Just as Korean

Buddhism relied heavily on the indigenous Korean Shamanism in the peninsula for its widespread

dissemination, the latter in this paper also benefitted in the arrival of the former religion. This paper

honestly answered my curiosity as to why compared to any other religion that exist in Asia,

Shamanism is the only one who referred to their gods as “general” whenever they pray.

With everything taken into account, this review about Sujung Kim’s article ended as

evidence that the worship and adulation of Skanda in Korean Buddhism and beyond, bears a

greater significance of a deva deity worship most generally in East Asian Buddhism.

Conclusion

In the long-standing history of Korean Buddhism, it was elucidated that upon its arrival in

the peninsula it never conflicts with the indigenous Korean Shamanism. As what was depicted in

most Buddhist research studies, Shamanism or the Korean people in general are very welcoming

with religion making the above statement possible for the Buddhist community to proclaim. This

is also the same case in this paper. The only difference is that it was the latter who benefitted from

the blending of these two religions. Therefore, the reviewer of this paper concludes that the term

“beyond” at the title part of this paper pertains to Shamanism. Specifically, Korean Buddhism’s

contribution to the latter through the concept of the Buddhist deity Skanda. At the very beginning

of this paper, the development of the deity Skanda from a demon god to a warrior god worshipped

in Northern and Southern India was clearly illustrated. The paper then moves on to introduce the

deity’s Sinicized form and was given the name of Weituo in Chinese Buddhism. As the paper
progresses, Skanda was at the same time given the name of Wit’aechŏn in Korean Buddhism and

how it made its way to Korean Shamanistic practices bearing the name of Sansin and Tongjin

Posal.

The investigation of the reviewer in this paper concluded that these aforementioned

developments of Skanda contributed to his move beyond Korean Buddhism. If the reviewer will

put all these events together using her own terms, this answers her curiosity as to why Shamanism

is the only religion in Asia that addressed their gods as “general”. Skanda or Tongjin Posal in this

paper developed from a demon to a god guarding the gates and the relics, and eventually became

the warrior god addressed as general in Korean Shamanism. The researcher will end this review

by giving the statement that even though Buddhism and Shamanism did not come across each

other, both will still prosper as it cannot be denied that this two can stand alone without the other.

Still, it’s mind-blowing that these two religions met and created a unique form of Skanda’s identity.