Araya Spell

Araya Spell 【阿頼耶の呪 Araya no Ju】 (Sai. Vol 2-3)

☆ The forbidden spell Shuuei used in order to protect Kinzan Temple from robbers when they attacked again after Genjo Sanzo left. It spread roots into Shuuei’s body, and he was swallowed alive by the power of the spell. He continued to destroy youkai, even as his soul died.

☆ The name is taken from the Buddhist term “Arayashiki” [阿頼耶識 Araya Knowledge], one of the Consciousness Only theories (theorizes that all existence is created from one’s own consciousness). It was named after the saying “things continue to live and die in an instant), but it doesn’t have much to do with this spell.

☆ Incidentally, the name “Rikudou” that Shuuei went by after being taken over by this Araya Spell was taken from “the six paths of transmigration” [六道輪廻 Rikudo Rinne] (which says that those who hesitate go not to the Pure Land, but are reincarnated on the hell path, the hungry ghost path, the beast path, the shura path, the human path, or the heaven path, and continue to live and die on these six paths). The name “Rikudou” does not have anything to do with escaping this painful world of transmigration.