Vajrapāṇi

THE THREE GREAT BODHISATTVAS ARE A SET AND THE TRADITION SAYS WHY: wisdom, compassion and the power of enlightened activity, the three foundations of practice. The corpus held none of the three. TYPE deity IS THE NEAREST CATEGORY THIS SCHEMA HAS AND THE TRADITION DOES NOT USE IT. Buddhism does not regard a Buddha or a bodhisattva as a god; the devas this corpus already holds under the Buddhist key are, in this tradition's own view, unenlightened beings inside samsara, and the figures in this block stand above them precisely by NOT being gods. The record says so rather than letting the type field make the claim.

Domains

• power

Relations

• of the eight great bodhisattvas with: Mañjuśrī

Sources

• Reference treatment of the eight great bodhisattvas: they are the eight principal attendants of the Buddhas in Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, representing the main enlightened qualities of the Buddha — Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara, Vajrapani, Maitreya, Ksitigarbha, Akasagarbha, Samantabhadra and Sarvanivaranaviskambhin; Manjushri embodies wisdom, Avalokiteshvara compassion, Vajrapani power; Maitreya represents loving-kindness and is prophesied to be the next Buddha when the teachings of Shakyamuni fade; Ksitigarbha embodies the vow to rescue beings from the lowest realms, particularly the hell realms; Samantabhadra's particular specialty is making the most potent aspirations and wishing prayers; Tara, the embodiment of compassion and swift activity, is related to this bodhisattva tradition.