Vajradhara (Sanskrit: Vajradhāra, Tibetan: rdo rje 'chang (Dorje Chang), Javanese: Kabajradharan; Japanese: 執金剛神; English: Diamond-holder) is the ultimate primordial Buddha, or Adi Buddha, according to the
GelugThe Gelug or Gelug-pa , also known as the Yellow Hat sect, is a school of Buddhism founded by Tsongkhapa , a philosopher and Tibetan religious leader...
and
KagyuThe Kagyu, Kagyupa, or Kagyud school, also known as the "Oral Lineage" or Whispered Transmission school, is today one of four main schools of Himalayan or Tibetan Buddhism, the other three being the Nyingma , Sakya , and Gelug...
schools of
Tibetan BuddhismTibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India...
.
Vajradhara displaced
SamantabhadraSamantabhadra , meaning Universal Worthy, is a Bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism associated with Buddhist practice and meditation. Together with Shakyamuni Buddha and fellow bodhisattva Manjusri he forms the Shakyamuni trinity in Buddhism...
who remains the 'Primordial Buddha' in the
NyingmaThe Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism . "Nyingma" literally means "ancient," and is often referred to as the "school of the ancient translations" or the "old school" because it is founded on the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into...
, or 'Ancient School' and the
SakyaThe Sakya school is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the others being the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug...
school. However the two are metaphysically equivalent.
Vajradhara (Sanskrit: Vajradhāra, Tibetan: rdo rje 'chang (Dorje Chang), Javanese: Kabajradharan; Japanese: 執金剛神; English: Diamond-holder) is the ultimate primordial Buddha, or Adi Buddha, according to the
GelugThe Gelug or Gelug-pa , also known as the Yellow Hat sect, is a school of Buddhism founded by Tsongkhapa , a philosopher and Tibetan religious leader...
and
KagyuThe Kagyu, Kagyupa, or Kagyud school, also known as the "Oral Lineage" or Whispered Transmission school, is today one of four main schools of Himalayan or Tibetan Buddhism, the other three being the Nyingma , Sakya , and Gelug...
schools of
Tibetan BuddhismTibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India...
.
Vajradhara displaced
SamantabhadraSamantabhadra , meaning Universal Worthy, is a Bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism associated with Buddhist practice and meditation. Together with Shakyamuni Buddha and fellow bodhisattva Manjusri he forms the Shakyamuni trinity in Buddhism...
who remains the 'Primordial Buddha' in the
NyingmaThe Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism . "Nyingma" literally means "ancient," and is often referred to as the "school of the ancient translations" or the "old school" because it is founded on the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into...
, or 'Ancient School' and the
SakyaThe Sakya school is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the others being the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug...
school. However the two are metaphysically equivalent. Achieving the 'state of vajradhara' is synonymous with complete realisation.
According to Kagyu Vajradhara, the primordial buddha, is the
dharmakayaThe Dharmakāya is a central concept in Mahayana Buddhism forming part of the Trikaya doctrine that was possibly first expounded in the Aṣṭasāhasrikā prajñā-pāramitā , composed in the first century BCE...
buddha, depicted as dark blue in color, expressing the quintessence of buddhahood itself and representing the essence of the historical Buddha's realization of enlightenment..
As such Vajradhara is thought to be the supreme
essenceIn philosophy, essence is the attribute or set of attributes that make an object or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it loses its identity. Essence is contrasted with accident: a property that the object or substance has contingently, without...
of all (male) Buddhas (his name means the bearer of the thunderbolt). It is the
TantricTantra , or tantram is a religious philosophy according to which Shakti is usually the main deity worshipped, and the universe is regarded as the divine play of Shakti and Shiva...
form of Sakyamuni which is called Vajradhara.
TantrasTantras refers to numerous and varied scriptures pertaining to any of several esoteric traditions rooted in Hindu and Buddhist philosophy. Although Buddhist and Hindu Tantra have many similarities from the outside, they do have some clear distinctions. -Classes of Hindu Tantra:The word Tantra...
are texts specific to Tantrism and are believed to have been originally taught by the Tantric form of Sakyamuni called Vajradhara. He is an expression of Buddhahood itself in both single and yabyum form.. Vajradhara is considered to be the prime Buddha of the Father tantras (tib. pha-rgyud) such as Guhyasamaja,
YamantakaYamāntaka is a Mahāyāna Buddhist of the Highest Yoga Tantra class in Vajrayana, popular within the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism...
, and so on .
From the primordial Vajradhara/Samantabhadra were manifested the Five Wisdom Buddhas (Dhyani Buddhas):
- Akshobhya
In Vajrayana Buddhism, Akshobhya is one of the Five Wisdom Buddhas, a product of the Adibuddha, who represents consciousness as an aspect of reality...
- Amoghasiddhi
Amoghasiddhi is one of the Five Wisdom Buddhas of the Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism. he is associated with the accomplishment of the Buddhist path and of the destruction of the poison of envy. His name means He Whose Accomplishment Is Not In Vain. His Shakti/consort is Tara, meaning Noble...
- Amitabha
Amitābha is a celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism. Amitabha is the principal buddha in the Pure Land sect, a branch of Buddhism practiced mainly in East Asia...
- Ratnasambhava
Ratnasambhava is one of the Five Dhyani Buddhas of Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism. Ratnasambhava's mandalas and mantras focus on developing equanimity and equality and, in Vajrayana buddhist thought is associated with the attempt to destroy greed and pride. His consort is Lochana and his mount is a...
- Vairocana
Vairocana Vairocana Vairocana (also Vairochana or Mahāvairocana; Sanskrit: वैरोचन, Bengali: বৈরোচন, Indonesian: Dhyani Buddha Wairocana, Chinese: 大日如來 Dàrì Rúlái or 毘盧遮那佛 Pílúzhēnàfó , Korean: 비로자나불 Birojanabul or 대일여래 Daeil Yeorae, Japanese: Dainichi Nyorai, 大日如来; Tibetan: རྣམ་པར་སྣང་མཛད།...
Vajradhara and the Wisdom Buddhas are often subjects of
mandalaMandala is a concentric diagram having spiritual and ritual significance in both Buddhism and Hinduism...
.
Vajradhara and Samantabhadra are cognate deities in Tibetan Buddhist
cosmologyReligious cosmologies are ways of explaining the history and evolution of the universe based, at least in part, on the acceptance of principles that cannot be justified by accepted scientific arguments...
with different names, attributes, appearances and iconography. Both are
DharmakayaThe Dharmakāya is a central concept in Mahayana Buddhism forming part of the Trikaya doctrine that was possibly first expounded in the Aṣṭasāhasrikā prajñā-pāramitā , composed in the first century BCE...
Buddhas, that is primordial Buddhas, where Samantabhadra is unadorned, that is depicted without any attributes. Conversely, Vajradhara is often adorned and bears attributes, which is generally the iconographic representation of a
SambhogakayaThe Sambhogakāya is the second mode or aspect of the Trikaya. Sambhogakaya has also been translated as the "deity dimension", "body of bliss" or "astral body". Sambhogakaya refers to the luminous form of clear light the Buddhist practitioner attains upon the reaching the highest dimensions of...
Buddha. Both Vajradhara and Samantabhadra are generally depicted in
yab-yumYab-yum is a common symbol in the Buddhist art of India, Bhutan, Nepal, and Tibet representing the male deity in sexual union with his female consort...
unity with their respective consorts and are primordial buddhas, embodying
void and ultimate emptinessŚūnyatā, शून्यता , Suññatā , stong pa nyid , Kòng/Kū, 空 , Gong-seong, 공성 , qoɣusun meaning "Emptiness" or "Voidness", is a characteristic of phenomena arising from the fact that the impermanent...
.
Dharmakaya as part of the Trikaya
The
Trikaya doctrine (
SanskritSanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....
, literally "Three bodies or personalities"; 三身
ChineseChinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of languages mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
:
Sānshén,
Japaneseis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family. There are a number of proposed relationships with other languages, but none have gained general acceptance...
:
sanjin) is an important Buddhist teaching both on the nature of reality, and what a Buddha is. By the 4th century
CECommon Era, abbreviated as CE, is a designation for the calendar system most commonly used world-wide for numbering the year part of the date...
the Trikaya Doctrine had assumed the form that we now know. Briefly the doctrine says that a Buddha has three
kayas or
bodies: the
nirmanakaya or
created body which manifests in time and space; the
sambhogakayaThe Sambhogakāya is the second mode or aspect of the Trikaya. Sambhogakaya has also been translated as the "deity dimension", "body of bliss" or "astral body". Sambhogakaya refers to the luminous form of clear light the Buddhist practitioner attains upon the reaching the highest dimensions of...
or
body of mutual enjoyment which is an archetypal manifestation; and the
DharmakayaThe Dharmakāya is a central concept in Mahayana Buddhism forming part of the Trikaya doctrine that was possibly first expounded in the Aṣṭasāhasrikā prajñā-pāramitā , composed in the first century BCE...
or
reality body which embodies the very principle of enlightenment and knows no limits or boundaries. In the view of
AnuyogaAnuyoga is the designation of the second of the three Inner Tantras according to the ninefold division of practice used by the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism...
, the '
MindstreamMindstream, mind stream, or mental stream is the English translation of a Buddhist philosophical term for the moment-to-moment continuity of consciousness....
' (Sanksrit:
citta santana) is the 'continuity' (Sanskrit:
santana; Wylie:
rgyud) that links the Trikaya. The Trikaya, as a triune, is symbolised by the
GankyilThe Gankyil is a symbol and ritual tool in Tibetan Buddhism. In Bön and Nyingma Dzogchen lineages, the Gankyil is the principal symbol and teaching tool: it is symbolic of primordial energy and represents the central unity and indivisibility of all the teaching, philosophical and doctrinal triune...
.
See also
- Mahavairocana
- Namarupa
Nāmarūpa is a dvandva compound in Sanskrit and Pali meaning "name and form ".Synonyms:*名色 Cn: míngsè; Jp: myōshiki; Vi: danh sắc*Tibetan: ming.gzugs-Nāmarūpa in Buddhism:...
- Svabhava
Svabhāva is a concept frequently encountered in Mahayana Buddhism which literally means "own-being" or "own-becoming"...
- Trikaya
The Trikaya doctrine is an important Buddhist teaching both on the nature of reality, and what a Buddha is. By the 4th century CE the Trikaya Doctrine had assumed the form that we now know...
- Three Vajras
The Three Vajras namely 'body', 'speech' and 'mind' are a formulation within Tibetan Buddhism and Bon which holds the full experience of the 'openness' of Buddha-nature, void of all bar the 'qualities' and 'marks' and establishes a sound experiential key upon the 'continuum of the path' to...
- Vajradharma
- Vajrayogini
- Vajra
Vajra is a Sanskrit word meaning both thunderbolt and diamond. As a material device, the vajra is a short metal weapon that has the symbolic nature of a diamond and that of the thunderbolt . The vajra is believed to represent firmness of spirit and spiritual power...
Link
Nonsectarian movement
Sutra