| Vairocana | |
|---|---|
 A medieval Japanese painting of Vairocana of the Vajradhātu Maṇḍala forming the wisdom-fist mudra. | |
| Sanskrit | वैरोचन Vairocana |
| Burmese | ဗုဒ္ဓဘုရားရှင် |
| Chinese | 大日如來 (Pinyin:Dàrì Rúlái) 毘盧遮那佛 (Pinyin:Pílúzhēnà Fó) |
| Japanese | 大日如来 (romaji:Dainichi Nyorai) 毘盧遮那仏 (romaji:Birushana Butsu) |
| Korean | 대일여래 大日如來(RR:Daeil Yeorae) 비로자나불 毘盧遮那佛(RR:Birojana Bul) |
| Mongolian | ᠮᠠᠰᠢᠳᠠ ᠭᠡᠢᠢᠭᠦᠯᠦᠨ ᠵᠣᠬᠢᠶᠠᠭᠴᠢ Машид гийгүүлэн зохиогч Masida geyigülün zohiyaghci ᠪᠢᠷᠦᠵᠠᠨ ᠠ᠂ ᠮᠠᠰᠢᠳᠠ ᠭᠡᠢᠢᠭᠦᠯᠦᠨ ᠵᠣᠬᠢᠶᠠᠭᠴᠢ᠂ ᠭᠡᠭᠡᠭᠡᠨ ᠭᠡᠷᠡᠯᠲᠦ Бярузана, Машид Гийгүүлэн Зохиогч, Гэгээн Гэрэлт Biruzana, Masida Geyigülün Zohiyaghci, Gegegen Gereltü |
| Thai | พระไวโรจนพุทธะ (RTGS:Phra wịrocana phuthṭha) |
| Tibetan | རྣམ་པར་སྣང་མཛད་ Wylie: rnam par snang mdzad THL: Nampar Nangdze |
| Vietnamese | Đại Nhật Như Lai 大日如來 Tỳ Lư Xá Na 毘盧遮那 Tỳ Lô Giá Na Phật 毗盧遮那佛 |
| Information | |
| Venerated by | Mahayana,Vajrayana |
| Attributes | Śūnyatā |
 Religion portal | |
Vairocana (fromSanskrit: Vi+rocana, "from the sun" or "belonging to the sun", "Solar", or "Shining"), also known asMahāvairocana (Great Vairocana), is a majorBuddha fromMahayana andVajrayana Buddhism.[1] Vairocana is often interpreted, in texts like theAvatamsaka Sutra, as theDharmakāya[2][3][4] of the historicalGautama Buddha.
InEast Asian Buddhism (Chinese,Korean,Japanese andVietnamese Buddhism), Vairocana is also seen as the dharmakāya (the supremebuddha-body, the body of ultimate reality), and the embodiment of the Buddhist concept of wisdom and purity.[5] Mahāvairocana is often translated into East Asian languages as "Great Sun Buddha" (Chinese: 大日如來, Japanese: Dainichi Nyorai).[5] In the conception of theFive Jinas of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, Vairocana is at the centre and is often considered aPrimordial Buddha. In East Asian esoteric Buddhism, Mahāvairocana is considered to be a cosmic Buddha whose body is the entire universe, theDharmadhātu.[5]
Vairocana is not to be confused with VairocanaMahabali, son of theasuraVirochana, a character in theYoga Vasistha. Vairocana Buddha is also not to be confused with another Buddha that appears in some Mahayana sources called "Rocana".
Vairocana Buddha is first introduced in theBrahmajala Sutra:
Now, I, Vairocana Buddha am sitting atop a lotus pedestal; On a thousand flowers surrounding me are a thousand Sakyamuni Buddhas. Each flower supports a hundred million worlds; in each world a Sakyamuni Buddha appears. All are seated beneath a Bodhi-tree, all simultaneously attain Buddhahood. All these innumerable Buddhas have Vairocana as their original body.[6]
Vairocana is also mentioned in theAvatamsaka Sutra; however, the doctrine of Vairocana is based largely on the teachings of theMahavairocana Tantra (also known as theMahāvairocana-abhisaṃbodhi-tantra) and to a lesser degree theVajrasekhara Sutra (also known as theSarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha Tantra).
In theAvatamsaka Sutra, Vairocana is described as having attained enlightenment immeasurableages ago and residing in a world purified by him while he was abodhisattva. He also presides over an assembly of countless other bodhisattvas. He may be considered the celestial existence (saṃbhogakāya) ofGautama Buddha, who came to be as Vairochana's earthly rebirth from his previous existence inTushita heaven.[7] Similarly, theBrahmajala Sutra also states that Shakyamuni was originally named Vairochana, regarding the former as a physical incarnation (nirmāṇakāya) of the latter.[7]
Vairocana is also mentioned as an epithet of Gautama Buddha in theSamantabhadra Meditation Sutra, who dwells in a place called "Always Tranquil Light".[8] In theŚūraṅgama mantra (Chinese:楞嚴咒;pinyin:Léngyán Zhòu) taught in theŚūraṅgama sutra (Chinese:楞嚴經; pinyin:Léngyán Jīng), an especially influentialdharani in theChinese Chan tradition, Vairocana is mentioned to be the host of the Buddha Division in the centre, one of the five major divisions which dispels the vast demon armies of the five directions.[9]
Vairocana is the Primordial Buddha in the Chinese schools ofTiantai,Huayan andTangmi, also appearing in later schools including the JapaneseKegon,Shingon and esoteric lineages ofTendai. In the case of Huayan and Shingon, Vairocana is the central figure.
InChinese andJapanese Buddhism, Vairocana was gradually superseded as an object of reverence byAmitābha, due in large part to the increasing popularity ofPure Land Buddhism, but veneration of Vairocana still remains popular among adherents.
During the initial stages of his mission in Japan, the Catholic missionaryFrancis Xavier was welcomed by the Shingon monks since he usedDainichi, the Japanese name for Vairocana, to designate theChristian God. As Xavier learned more about the religious nuances of the word, he substituted the termDeusu, which he derived from the Latin and PortugueseDeus.[10][11]
The Shingon monk Dohan regarded the two great Buddhas, Amitābha and Vairocana, as one and the same Dharmakāya Buddha and as the true nature at the core of all beings and phenomena. There are several realizations that can accrue to the Shingon practitioner of which Dohan speaks in this connection, as James Sanford points out:
[T]here is the realization thatAmida is the Dharmakaya Buddha, Vairocana; then there is the realization that Amida as Vairocana is eternally manifest within this universe of time and space; and finally there is the innermost realization that Amida is the true nature, material and spiritual, of all beings, that he is 'the omnivalent wisdom-body, that he is the unborn, unmanifest, unchanging reality that rests quietly at the core of all phenomena".[12]
Helen Hardacre, writing on theMahavairocana Tantra, comments that Mahavairocana's virtues are deemed to be immanently universal within all beings: "The principle doctrine of theDainichikyo is that all the virtues of Dainichi (Mahāvairocana) are inherent in us and in all sentient beings."[13]
According to theBuddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra, the whole universe is a vast pure buddha-field which has been purified byVairocana Buddha. This is the view of Pure Land which is found in the Chinese Huayan tradition.[14] According to this view, our world is just one small part of this universal Pure Land which is named: "Ocean of worlds, whose surface and inside are decorated with an arrangement of flowers" (Sanskrit:Kusumatalagarbha-vyūhālamkāra-lokadhātusamudra).[15] It is also called the "Lotus Treasury World" (Chinese:華蔵世界, Skt.Padmagarbha-lokadhātu), since it is an array of billions of worlds in a lotus shape.[citation needed]
In the cosmology of theAvatamsaka sutra, our world is just one of the immeasurable number of worlds in a multiverse called "Ocean of worlds, whose surface and inside are decorated with an arrangement of flowers" (Kusumatalagarbha-vyuhalamkara-lokadhatu-samudra).[16] TheAvatamsaka states that this entire cosmos has been purified by the Buddha Vairocana through his bodhisattva practices for countless aeons, after having met countless Buddhas. The sutra also states that our world is in Vairocana'sbuddhafield.[17] Vairocana is closely associated with Shakyamuni Buddha, in some cases he is even identified with him in theAvatamsaka Sutra.[18] Huayan generally sees Shakyamuni as an emanation body (nirmanakaya) from the ultimate BuddhaVairocana ("The Illuminator").[19]
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Furthermore, Huayan thought sees the entire universe as being the very body of Vairocana, who is seen as a supreme cosmic Buddha. Vairocana is infinite, his influence and light is limitless, pervading the entire universe.[20] Furthermore, Vairocana is really the ultimate principle (li), theDharmakaya, Suchness and "the substance underlying phenomenal reality".[21] However, while Vairocana as ultimate principle is eternal, it also transforms and changes according to the needs and conditions of sentient beings. Furthermore, Vairocana is empty, interdependent and interfused with all phenomena in the universe.[21] Thus, Vairocana is both immanent (due to its dependent and interfused character) and transcendent (as the immutable basis of all things).[22]
According toFazang, while the nirmanakaya Shakyamuni taught the otherMahayana sutras, Vairocana teaches theAvatamsaka Sutra through his ten bodies which are: the All-Beings Body, the Lands Body, the Karma Body, the Śrāvakas Body, the Pratyekabuddha Body, the Bodhisattvas Body, the Tathāgatas Body, the Wisdom Body, the Dharma Body, and the Space Body.[23] Fazang sees these ten bodies as encompassing all phenomena (animate and inanimate) in the "three realms", i.e. the entire universe.[24]
Numerousmantras,seed syllables anddharanis are associated with Vairocana Buddha.
A common basic mantra is the following:[25]
Oṃ Vairocana Vaṃ
Another popular Vairocana related mantra is theMantra of Light, which is popular in Japanese Buddhism, includingShingon. This is:
Oṃ Amogha Vairocana Mahāmudrā Maṇipadma Jvala Pravartāya Hūṃ
Five syllable mantras (Japanese:goji shingon) symbolize how all things in the universe (here:the five elements) are modes and emanations of Vairocana. One such mantra which is used in theShingon school is:[26][27]
aḥ vi ra hūṃ khaṃ
Each syllable is correlated with earth, water, fire, air, space respectively, while Vairocana is the sixth element - consciousness (vijñana). In theMahavairocana sutra the mantra appears as: Namaḥ samanta-buddhānām a vi ra hūṃ khaṃ. According to East Asianmantrayana writers likeKakuban, this mantra can lead to enlightenment.[27] According to translator Dale A. Todaro, the mantra's syllables have numerous symbolic correlations aside from the five elements, including: "the Five Buddhas (Mahavairocana, Aksobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, and Amoghasiddhi respectively); the five colors yellow, white, red, black, and blue; five organs (liver, lungs, heart, kidneys, spleen); five Chinese elements (wood, metal, fire, water, earth); and so on."[27] A slightly longer variation of this mantra, also found in Shingon is:[28]
Oṃ a vi ra hūṃ khaṃ vajra dhātu vaṃ
This version includes another mantra associated with theVajradhātu mandala. There is another five element mantra of Vairocana, which is:[29][30][27]
A vaṃ raṃ haṃ khaṃ
An alternate version sometimes appears with a Buddha vandana (homage) as follows:[31][32]
Namaḥ samanta-buddhānām A vaṃ raṃ haṃ khaṃ
"A" is theseed syllable mantra (bījamantra) of Vairocana in theGarbhadhatu mandala, while "Vaṃ" is the seed syllable of Vairocana in the Vajradhātu mandala. Thus, this five element mantra contains both main seed syllables of Vairocana in theEast Asian Esoteric tradition. Furthermore, these two seed syllables are sometimes combined into one mantra: "A-Vaṃ".[29][30]
A longer dharani associated with Vairocana is theSarvadurgatiparishodana dharani (Complete removal of all unfortunate rebirths), also known as Kunrig mantra inTibetan Buddhism. This dharani is found in theSarvadurgatiparishodana tantra which depicts Vairocana at the center of a mandala surrounded by theother four tathagatas.[33] The dharani is as follows:[34][35]
OṂ namo bhagavate sarva durgati pariśodhana rājāya tathāgatāyārhate samyaksambudhāya tadyathā OṂ śodhane śodhane sarva pāpam viśodhani śuddhe viśuddhe sarvakarmāvarana viśodhani svāhā![36]
With regard tośūnyatā, the massive size and brilliance of Vairocana statues serve as a reminder that all conditioned existence is empty and without a permanent identity, whereas the Dharmakāya is beyond concepts.
TheSpring Temple Buddha ofLushan County, Henan, China, with a height of 126 meters, is the second tallest statue in the world (seelist of tallest statues).
TheDaibutsu in theTōdai-ji inNara, Japan, is the largest bronze image of Vairocana in the world.
The larger of theBuddhas of Bamiyan inAfghanistan that were destroyed by the Taliban was also a depiction of Vairocana.
InJava, Indonesia, the ninth-centuryMendut temple nearBorobudur inMagelang was dedicated to the Dhyani Buddha Vairocana. Built by theShailendra dynasty, the temple featured a three-meter tall stone statue of Vairocana, seated and performing thedharmachakra mudrā. The statue is flanked with statues of the bodhisattvasAvalokiteśvara andVajrapani.
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