Five Dhyani Buddhas - Qualities

Qualities

There is an expansive number of associations with each element of the mandala, so that the mandala becomes a cipher and mnemonic visual thinking instrument and concept map; a vehicle for understanding and decoding the whole of the Dharma. Some of the associations include:

Family/Buddha Colour ← Element → Symbolism Cardinality → Wisdom → Attachments → Gestures Means → Maladaptation to Stress Season
Buddha/Vairocana white ← space → wheel center → all accommodating → form → Teaching the Dharma Turning the Wheel of Dharma → ignorance n/a
Vajra/Akshobhya blue ← water → scepter, vajra east → nondualist → consciousness → humility protect, destroy → anger, hate spring
Padma/Amitābha red ← fire → lotus west → inquisitive → perception → meditation magnetize, subjugate → selfishness summer
Ratna/Ratnasambhava gold/yellow ← earth → jewel south → equanimous → feeling → giving enrich, increase → pride, greed autumn
Karma/Amoghasiddhi green ← air, wind → double vajras north → all accomplishing → mental formation, concept → fearlessness pacify → envy winter

The Five Wisdom Buddhas are protected by the Five Wisdom Kings, and in Japan are frequently depicted together in the Mandala of the Two Realms and are in the Shurangama Mantra revealed in the Shurangama Sutra. They each are often depicted with consorts, and preside over their own Pure Lands. In East Asia, the aspiration to be reborn in a pure land is the central point of Pure Land Buddhism. Although all five Buddhas have pure lands, it appears that only Sukhāvatī of Amitabha, and to a much lesser extent Abhirati of Akshobhya (where great masters like Vimalakirti and Milarepa are said to dwell) attracted aspirants.

Buddha (Skt) Consort Dhyani Bodhisattva Pure Land seed syllable
Vairocana White Tara or Dharmadhatvishvari Samantabhadra central pure land Akanistha Ghanavyuha Om
Akshobhya Locanā Vajrapāni eastern pure land Abhirati Hum
Amitābha Pandara Avalokiteshvara western pure land Sukhāvatī Hrih
Ratnasaṃbhava Mamaki Ratnapani southern pure land Shrimat Trah
Amoghasiddhi Green Tara Viśvapāni northern pure land Prakuta Ah

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Famous quotes containing the word qualities:

    Some good qualities are like the senses: Those who are entirely deprived of them can have no notion of them.
    François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)

    Chinese were born ... with an accumulated wisdom, a natural sophistication, an intelligent naivete, and unless they were transplanted too young, these qualities ripened in them.... If ever I am homesick for China, now that I am home in my own country, it is when I discover here no philosophy. Our people have opinions and creeds and prejudices and ideas but as yet no philosophy.
    Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973)

    A poem is like a person. Though it has a family tree, it is important not because of its ancestors but because of its individuality. The poem, like any human being, is something more than its most complete analysis. Like any human being, it gives a sense of unified individuality which no summary of its qualities can reproduce; and at the same time a sense of variety which is beyond satisfactory final analysis.
    Donald Stauffer (b. 1930)