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are two wrathful and muscular guardians of the Buddha standing today at the entrance of many Buddhist temples in East Asian Buddhism in the form of frightening wrestler-like statues. They are dharmapala manifestations of the bodhisattva Vajrapāṇi, the oldest and most powerful of the Mahayana Buddhist pantheon. According to scriptures like the Pāli Canon as well as the ''Ambaṭṭha Sutta'', they travelled with Gautama Buddha to protect him. Within the generally pacifist tradition of Buddhism, stories of dharmapalas justified the use of physical force to protect cherished values and beliefs against evil. They are also seen as a manifestation of Mahasthamaprapta, the bodhisattva of power that flanks Amitābha in Pure Land Buddhism and as Vajrasattva in Tibetan Buddhism. Manifestations Symbolic meaning They are usually portrayed as a pair of figures that stand guarding temple entrance gates usually called '' Shānmén'' (山門) in China, in Japan and ''Geumgangmun'' () ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tōdai-ji
is a Buddhist temple complex that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples, located in the city of Nara, Japan. Though it was originally founded in the year 738 CE, Tōdai-ji was not opened until the year 752 CE. The temple has undergone several reconstructions since then, with the most significant reconstruction (that of the Great Buddha Hall) taking place in 1709. Its Great Buddha Hall (大仏殿 ''Daibutsuden'') houses the world's largest bronze statue of the Buddha Vairocana, known in Japanese as ''Daibutsu'' (大仏). The temple also serves as the Japanese headquarters of the Kegon school of Buddhism. The temple is a listed UNESCO World Heritage Site as one of the "Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara", together with seven other sites including temples, shrines and places in the city of Nara. History Origins The beginning of building a temple where the Kinshōsen-Ji complex sits today can be dated to 728 CE, when Emperor Shōmu established Kinshōsen-Ji (金 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pāli Canon
The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school. During the First Buddhist Council, three months after the parinibbana of Gautama Buddha in Rajgir, Ananda recited the Sutta Pitaka, and Upali recited the Vinaya Pitaka. The Arhats present accepted the recitations and henceforth the teachings were preserved orally by the Sangha. The Tipitaka that was transmitted to Sri Lanka during the reign of King Asoka were initially preserved orally and were later written down on palm leaves during the Fourth Buddhist Council in 29 BCE, approximately 454 years after the death of Gautama Buddha. The claim that the texts were "spoken by the Buddha", is meant in this non-literal sense. The existence of the bhanaka tradition existing until later periods, along with other sources, shows that oral traditio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jaya-Vijaya
In Hinduism, Jaya and Vijaya are the two '' dvarapalakas'' (gatekeepers) of the abode of Vishnu, known as Vaikuntha (meaning ''place of eternal bliss''). Due to a curse by the four Kumaras, they were forced to undergo multiple births as mortals who would be subsequently killed by various avatars of Vishnu. They were incarnated as Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha in the Satya Yuga, Ravana and Kumbhakarna in the Treta Yuga, and finally Shishupala and Dantavakra in the Dvapara Yuga. Origin According to the Brahmanda Purana, Jaya and Vijaya were the sons of Kali, a demon, and Kali, in turn, was one of the sons of Varuna and his wife, Stuta (Sanskrit (स्तुत, meaning 'praise'). The brother of Kali (and uncle of Jaya and Vijaya) was Vaidya. Iconography Jaya is depicted as a four-armed demigod with the chakra in his upper left hand, a shankha in his upper right hand, a mace in his lower left hand, and a sword in his lower right hand. Vijaya is depicted in the same manner e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A-un
''Om'' (or ''Aum'') (; sa, ॐ, ओम्, Ōṃ, translit-std=IAST) is a sacred sound, syllable, mantra, or an invocation in Hinduism. ''Om'' is the prime symbol of Hinduism.Krishna Sivaraman (2008), ''Hindu Spirituality Vedas Through Vedanta'', Motilal Banarsidass, , page 433 It is variously said to be the essence of the supreme Absolute, consciousness,James Lochtefeld (2002), "Om", ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism'', Vol. 2: N-Z, Rosen Publishing. , page 482Om . ''Merriam-Webster'' (2013), Pronounced: \ˈōm\ '' Ātman,'' '' Brahman,'' or the cosmic world.David Leeming (2005), ''The Oxford Companion to World Myt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Devanāgarī
Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the ancient ''Brāhmī'' script, used in the northern Indian subcontinent. It was developed and in regular use by the 7th century CE. The Devanagari script, composed of 47 primary characters, including 14 vowels and 33 consonants, is the fourth most widely adopted writing system in the world, being used for over 120 languages.Devanagari (Nagari) , Script Features and Description, SIL International (2013), United States The |
Grapheme
In linguistics, a grapheme is the smallest functional unit of a writing system. The word ''grapheme'' is derived and the suffix ''-eme'' by analogy with ''phoneme'' and other names of emic units. The study of graphemes is called '' graphemics''. The concept of graphemes is abstract and similar to the notion in computing of a character. By comparison, a specific shape that represents any particular grapheme in a given typeface is called a glyph. Conceptualization There are two main opposing grapheme concepts. In the so-called ''referential conception'', graphemes are interpreted as the smallest units of writing that correspond with sounds (more accurately phonemes). In this concept, the ''sh'' in the written English word ''shake'' would be a grapheme because it represents the phoneme /ʃ/. This referential concept is linked to the ''dependency hypothesis'' that claims that writing merely depicts speech. By contrast, the ''analogical concept'' defines graphemes analogou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niōmon
is the Japanese name of a Buddhist temple gate guarded by two wooden warriors called Niō (lit. Two Kings). The gate is called Heng Ha Er Jiang (哼哈二将) in China and Geumgangmun (금강문) in Korea. The two statues are inside the two posts of the gate itself, one at the left, one at the right. Structurally, it usually is either a ''rōmon'' or a '' nijūmon'' and can measure either 5x2 or 3x2 ''bays''. It can sometimes have just one story, as in the case of Asakusa's Kaminarimon. In a five-bay gate, the figures of the two Niō are usually enshrined in the two outer bays, but can be sometimes found also in the inner ones. The statue on the right is called and has his mouth open to utter the first letter of the Sanskrit alphabet, which is pronounced "a". The left statue is called and has his mouth closed, representing the last letter of the Sanskrit alphabet, pronounced "um". These two letters (''a-un ''Om'' (or ''Aum'') (; sa, ॐ, ओम्, Ōṃ, translit-s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shanmen
The Shanmen (), also known as the Gate of Three Liberations, is the most important gate of a Chinese Chan Buddhist temple. Etymology The origins of the name "sanmen" are debated. One theory is that "''Shanmen''" takes its literal meaning of "Mountain Gate", because temples were traditionally built in forested mountain areas where Chan monks could seclude away from secular life. Another suggests that during various episodes of suppression of Buddhism in Chinese history, monks moved their monasteries deep into the mountains, and later built gates at the foot of the mountain to guide pilgrims to the temples. A further theory is that "Shanmen" is a corruption of "Sanmen", or "Three Gates", referring to the "three gateways" to liberations.() in the Dharma - the "Kongmen" (; emptiness liberation), "wuxiangmen" (; no-aspects liberation) and "wuyuanmen" (; desireless liberation). The latter view correlates with the traditional structure of Chan temples which included three gateways, sai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majority regions surrounding the Himalayan areas of India (such as Ladakh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and a minority in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand), in much of Central Asia, in the southern Siberian regions such as Tuva, and in Mongolia. Tibetan Buddhism evolved as a form of Mahāyāna Buddhism stemming from the latest stages of Indian Buddhism (which also included many Vajrayāna elements). It thus preserves many Indian Buddhist tantric practices of the post-Gupta early medieval period (500 to 1200 CE), along with numerous native Tibetan developments. In the pre-modern era, Tibetan Buddhism spread outside of Tibet primarily due to the influence of the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), founded by Kublai Khan, which had ruled Chin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vajrasattva
Vajrasattva ( sa, वज्रसत्त्व, Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་སེམས་དཔའ། ''Dorje Sempa'', short form is རྡོར་སེམས། ''Dorsem'', Монгол: Доржсэмбэ) is a bodhisattva in the Mahayana, Mantrayana/Vajrayana Buddhist traditions. In Chinese Buddhism and the Japanese Shingon tradition, Vajrasatva is the esoteric aspect of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra and is commonly associated with the student practitioner who through the master's teachings, attains an ever-enriching subtle and rarefied grounding in their esoteric practice. In Tibetan Buddhism Vajrasatva is associated with the sambhogakāya and purification practice. Vajrasatva appears principally in two Buddhists texts: the '' Mahavairocana Sutra'' and the '' Vajrasekhara Sutra''. In the Diamond Realm Mandala, Vajrasatva sits to the East near Akshobhya Buddha. In some esoteric lineages, Nagarjuna was said to have met Vajrasatva in an iron tower in South India, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pure Land Buddhism
Pure Land Buddhism (; ja, 浄土仏教, translit=Jōdo bukkyō; , also referred to as Amidism in English,) is a broad branch of Mahayana Buddhism focused on achieving rebirth in a Buddha's Buddha-field or Pure Land. It is one of the most widely practiced traditions of Buddhism in East Asia. According to Charles B. Jones "Pure Land is the dominant form of Buddhism in China, Japan and Korea."Jones, Charles B. (2021). ''Pure Land: History, Tradition, and Practice'', p. xii. Shambhala Publications, . In Chinese Buddhism, the tradition is sometimes called a zōng (school) in an institutional sense, but historically it was most commonly described as a "dharma-gate" (fǎmén 法門), referring to a method of Buddhist practice. In Japanese Buddhism, the term more commonly refers to specific institutions.Jones, Charles B. (2019) ''Chinese Pure Land Buddhism, Understanding a Tradition of Practice,'' pp. 10-12. University of Hawai‘i Press / Honolulu. In Tibetan Buddhism, prayers an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amitābha
Amitābha ( sa, अमिताभ, IPA: ), also known as Amitāyus, is the primary Buddha of Pure Land Buddhism. In Vajrayana Buddhism, he is known for his longevity, discernment, pure perception, purification of aggregates, and deep awareness of emptiness for each phenomenon. According to a Pure Land Buddhist scripture, he possesses infinite merit that results from good deeds over countless past lives as Dharmākara. Doctrine Attainment of Buddhahood According to the '' Larger Sūtra of Immeasurable Life'', Amitābha was, in very ancient times and possibly in another system of worlds, a monk named Dharmākara. In some versions of the sūtra, Dharmākara is described as a former king who, having come into contact with Buddhist teachings through the buddha Lokeśvararāja, renounced his throne. He then resolved to become a Buddha and to create a ' (literally "buddha-field", often called a "Pureland" or "Buddha Land": a realm existing in the primordial universe outs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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