Vajrasattva
Vajrasattva (, Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་སེམས་དཔའ། ''Dorje Sempa'', short form: རྡོར་སེམས། ''Dorsem'') is a bodhisattva in the Mahayana and Mantrayana/Vajrayana Buddhist traditions. In Chinese Buddhism and the Japanese Shingon tradition, Vajrasattva 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 the East Asian esoteric Buddhist Diamond Realm Mandala, Vajrasattva sits to the East near Akshobhya Buddha. In some esoteric lineages, Nagarjuna was said to have met Vajrasattva in an iron tower in South India, and was taught tantra, thus transmitting the esoteric teachings to more historical figures. In Tibetan Buddhism, Vajrasattva is associated with the sambhogakāya and with purification practice. Vajrasattva appears in various Buddhist texts, inc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vajra
The Vajra (, , ), is a legendary and ritualistic tool, symbolizing the properties of a diamond (indestructibility) and a thunderbolt (irresistible force). It is also described as a "ritual weapon". The use of the bell and vajra together as symbolic and ritual tools is found in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The vajra is a round, symmetrical metal scepter with two ribbed spherical heads. The ribs may meet in a ball-shaped top, or they may be separate and end in sharp points. The vajra is considered inseparable from the bell, and both are sold in dharma stores only in matching sets. The bell is also metal with a ribbed spherical head. The bell also depicts the face of Dhatvisvari, a female buddha and the consort of Akshobhya. The vajra has also been associated as the weapon of Indra, the Vedic king of the Deva (Hinduism), devas and Svarga, heaven. It is used symbolically by the dharma, dharmic traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, often to represent firmness of spir ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Diamond Realm
The Mandala of the Two Realms (Traditional Chinese: 両界曼荼羅; Pinyin: ''Liǎngjiè màntúluó''; Rōmaji: ''Ryōkai mandara''), also known as the Mandala of the Two Divisions (Traditional Chinese: 両部曼荼羅; Pinyin: ''Liǎngbù màntúluó''; Rōmaji: ''Ryōbu mandara''), is a set of two mandalas in East Asian Esoteric Buddhism, particularly prominent within Chinese Esoteric Buddhism as well as the Shingon and Tendai traditions of Japanese Buddhism. The Dual Mandala comprises two complementary mandalas: the ''Womb Realm Mandala'' (, Traditional Chinese: 胎蔵界曼荼羅; Pinyin: ''Tāizāngjiè màntúluó''; Rōmaji: ''Taizōkai mandara'') associated with compassion and the ''Diamond Realm Mandala'' (Sanskrit: ''vajradhātu'', Traditional Chinese: 金剛界曼荼羅; pinyin: ''Jīngāngjiè màntúluó''; rōmaji: ''Kongōkai mandara'') associated with wisdom. The Dual Mandalas represent distinct yet non-dual dimensions of the enlightened cosmos centered on the u ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Mirror Of The Heart Of Vajrasattva
''The Mirror of the Heart of Vajrasattva'' () is numbered amongst the Seventeen Tantras of Menngagde () within Dzogchen discourse and is part of the textual support for the Vima Nyingtik. ''The Mirror of the Heart of Vajrasattva'' conveys how the lamps () are the self-display of awareness. It furthermore lists twenty-one pointing-out instructions appropriate for people with different propensities and proclivities along with four key points and practice instructions. These Seventeen Tantras are to be found in the Canon of the Ancient School, the ''Nyingma Gyubum'' (), volumes 9 and 10, folio numbers 143-159 of the edition edited by Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche commonly known as Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (Thimpu, Bhutan, 1973), reproduced from the manuscript preserved at Tingkye Gonpa Jang () Monastery in Tibet. Symbolism of the mirror The ''melong'' ("mirror") is an important polyvalent symbol and potent teaching tool in Dzogchen. English translations This tantra has not as yet h ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shingon
is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asian Buddhism. It is a form of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism and is sometimes called "Tōmitsu" (東密 lit. "Esoteric [Buddhism] of Tō-ji"). The word ''shingon'' is the Kan-on, Japanese reading of the Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese word ('), which is the translation of the Sanskrit word mantra. The Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, Zhēnyán lineage was founded in China (c. 7th–8th centuries) by Indian Vajracharya, vajrācāryas (esoteric masters) like Śubhakarasiṃha, Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra. These esoteric teachings would later flourish in Japan under the auspices of a Buddhist monk named Kūkai (, 774–835), who traveled to Tang dynasty, Tang China and received these esoteric transmissions from a Chinese master named Huiguo (746–805). Kūkai established his tradition at Mount Kōya (in Wakayama Prefecture), which remains the central pilgrimage center of Sh ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tantra
Tantra (; ) is an esoteric yogic tradition that developed on the India, Indian subcontinent beginning in the middle of the 1st millennium CE, first within Shaivism and later in Buddhism. The term ''tantra'', in the Greater India, Indian traditions, also means any systematic broadly applicable "text, theory, system, method, instrument, technique or practice". A key feature of these traditions is the use of mantras, and thus they are commonly referred to as Mantramārga ("Path of Mantra") in Hinduism or Mantrayāna ("Mantra Vehicle") and Guhyamantra ("Secret Mantra") in Buddhism. In Buddhism, the Vajrayana traditions are known for tantric ideas and practices, which are based on Indian Tantras (Buddhism), Buddhist Tantras. They include Tibetan Buddhism, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, Japanese Shingon Buddhism and Nepalese Newar Buddhism. Although Southern Esoteric Buddhism does not directly reference the tantras, its practices and ideas parallel them. In Bud ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chinese Esoteric Buddhism
Chinese Esoteric Buddhism refers to traditions of Tantra and Vajrayana, Esoteric Buddhism that have flourished among the Chinese people. The Tantric masters Śubhakarasiṃha, Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra, established the Esoteric Buddhist ''Zhenyan'' (, "true word", "mantra") tradition from 716 to 720 during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. It employed mandalas, mantras, mudras, abhisheka, abhiṣekas, and deity yoga. The Zhenyan tradition was transported to Japan as Tendai and Shingon Buddhism by Saichō and Kūkai, as well as influencing Korean Buddhism and Vietnamese Buddhism. The Song dynasty (960–1279) saw a second diffusion of Esoteric texts. Esoteric Buddhist practices continued to have an influence into the late imperial period and Tibetan Buddhism was also influential during the Yuan dynasty period and beyond. In the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) through to the modern period, esoteric practices and teachings became absorbed and merged with the other Chinese Buddhist tradi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dzogchen
Dzogchen ( 'Great Completion' or 'Great Perfection'), also known as ''atiyoga'' ( utmost yoga), is a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Bön aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence. The goal of Dzogchen is the direct experience of this basis, called (Sanskrit: ). There are spiritual practices taught in various Dzogchen systems for discovering . Dzogchen emerged during the first dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet, around the 7th to 9th centuries CE. While it is considered a Tibetan development by some scholars, it draws upon key ideas from Indian sources. The earliest Dzogchen texts appeared in the 9th century, attributed to Indian masters. These texts, known as the Eighteen Great Scriptures, form the "Mind Series" and are attributed to figures like Śrī Siṅgha and Vimalamitra. Early Dzogchen was marked by a departure from normative Vajrayāna practices, focusing instead on simple calming contemplations leading to a di ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kulayarāja Tantra
The ''Kulayarāja Tantra'' ( Tibetan phonetically: ''Kunjed Gyalpo'', ; English: "All-Creating King", or "Supreme Source") is a Buddhist Tantra in the Tibetan language and the principal Mind Series (Wylie: ''sems sde'') text of the Dzogchen (Great Perfection) tradition of the Nyingma school. The ''Kunjed Gyalpo'' contains within it smaller Dzogchen texts (from the earlier 18 ''semde'' texts) such as the ''Cuckoo of Rigpa (Rig pa'i khu byug)'' which appears in the thirty first chapter, as such it appears to be a sort of compilation of earlier Dzogchen literature (which is now categorized as "semde")''.'' The ''Kunjed Gyalpo'' is the main tantra of the early Great Perfection tradition during the " Era of Fragmentation" (9th–10th centuries) period. As such, it is a key source for the early teachings of Dzogchen, before the developments of the Tibetan renaissance period (11th -12th centuries) transformed Dzogchen into its later (and currently dominant) forms, mainly the Mennga ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mantra
A mantra ( ; Pali: ''mantra'') or mantram (Devanagari: मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words (most often in an Indo-Iranian language like Sanskrit or Avestan) believed by practitioners to have religious, magical or spiritual powers. Feuerstein, Georg (2003), ''The Deeper Dimension of Yoga''. Shambala Publications, Boston, MA Some mantras have a syntactic structure and a literal meaning, while others do not. ꣽ, ॐ (Aum, Om) serves as an important mantra in various Indian religions. Specifically, it is an example of a seed syllable mantra ( bijamantra). It is believed to be the first sound in Hinduism and as the sonic essence of the absolute divine reality. Longer mantras are phrases with several syllables, names and words. These phrases may have spiritual interpretations such as a name of a deity, a longing for truth, reality, light, immortality, peace, love, knowledge, and action. Examples of lo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vajrayana
''Vajrayāna'' (; 'vajra vehicle'), also known as Mantrayāna ('mantra vehicle'), Guhyamantrayāna ('secret mantra vehicle'), Tantrayāna ('tantra vehicle'), Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, is a Mahāyāna Buddhism, Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition that emphasizes Eastern esotericism, esoteric practices and rituals aimed at Sudden awakening, rapid spiritual awakening. Emerging between the 5th and 7th centuries CE in medieval India, Vajrayāna incorporates a Tibetan tantric practice, range of techniques, including the use of mantras (sacred sounds), dhāraṇīs (mnemonic codes), mudrās (symbolic hand gestures), mandalas (spiritual diagrams), and the visualization of Buddhist deities, deities and Buddhahood, Buddhas. These practices are designed to transform ordinary experiences into paths toward Enlightenment in Buddhism, enlightenment, often by engaging with aspects of Taṇhā, desire and Dvesha, aversion in a ritualized context. A distinctive feature of Vajrayāna is ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |