SakeRiceSaltFresh waterFlowersA piece of music actually playedCoins washed in her spring
Invocation Approach
Tone
Gracious fluent prosperous
Address
BenzaitenBentenDabenzaitenGoddess of the Flowing Water
Relationship
The goddess at the spring who answers with the voice she is given
Warning
She is asked for eloquence and she will hold you to what you say with it
Resonance
Musicians writers speakers those who live by water those keeping a shrine to fortune
Symbols
BiwaWhite serpentWish granting jewelLotusTorii in the waterThe island shrine
Mythology Summary
Benzaiten is the Japanese form of the Indian goddess Sarasvati, carried through Chinese Buddhism as Biancaitian, and she keeps Sarasvati's office — rivers, speech, music, learning — while becoming a bringer of wealth: in the Edo period the characters of her name were rewritten from goddess of eloquence (弁才天) to goddess of fortune (弁財天). She is the only goddess among the Seven Lucky Gods, and she is identified with the snake deity Ugajin, which is why her shrines stand on islands and springs and keep a white serpent as her messenger. Her great shrines are Enoshima, Chikubu Island and Itsukushima, and the washing of coins in her spring water (zeniarai) at Kamakura is one of her most crowded living practices.
Modern Practice
She is asked for a voice, for a performance, for the water to keep running, and for money that comes in with the work rather than instead of it. The offering is sake, rice, salt and water, a flower, and a piece of music actually played rather than promised; at the island shrines the practice is the walk to the water and the coin washed in it.