Five Dhyani Buddhas: Difference between revisions

The '''Five Dhyani Buddhas''' are '''Vairochana''', '''Akshobhya''', '''Ratnasambhava''', '''Amitabha''' and '''Amoghasiddhi'''. Tibetan Buddhists believe that the Adi-Buddha, the primordial and highest being, created the Dhyani Buddhas by his meditative powers.

A mandala is a sacred, consecrated space where no obstacles, impurities or distracting influences exist. Buddhists use mandalas to aid them in meditation and visualization. “All mandalas,” writes Tibetologist Detlef Lauf, “originate from the seed-syllables, or ''bija-mantras'', of the deities. During meditation upon these mantras, an elemental radiance of light develops, from which comes the image of the Buddhas.... The whole external mandala is a model of that spiritual pattern which the meditating individual sees within himself and which he must endeavour to experience in his own consciousness.”<ref>Detlef Ingo Lauf, ''Secret Doctrines of the Tibetan Books of the Dead'', trans. Graham Parkes (Boston: Shambhala, 1989), p. 105; ''Tibetan Sacred Art: The Heritage of Tantra'' (Berkeley: Shambhala, 1976), p. 120.</ref>

== Variochana ==

<blockquote>I will help you. I will prepare you. I will show you how in profound humility and with inner strength you will master all flaws of character that are open doors to negative spirals and negative traits, and you will get on with your reason for being—why you embodied in this life in the circumstances you find yourselves—and you will know that you embodied to balance your karma so that you can fulfill your mission.<ref>Vairochana, “Balance Your Karma: Take the High Road,” {{POWref|37|3|, January 16, 1994}}</ref></blockquote>

== Akshobhya ==

<blockquote>The way seems intricate, but the intricacy is the intricacy of karma woven and rewoven. The intricate undoing of the threads of karma is what seems to make the Path so complicated. But when all is said and done and all of those components of the threads of karma are consumed in one great violet-flame bonfire, you will come to know, and you will remember one day that I have said the entering in is simplicity itself, humility itself, purity itself.<ref>Akshobhya, “Becoming Real!” {{POWref|37|4|, January 23, 1994}}</ref></blockquote>

== Ratnasambhava ==

<blockquote>O blessed ones, God has so valued each one that to each one he has given the very image of himself, the I AM Presence, the [[Holy Christ Self]], in whose image you are made. Find the jewel, find the jewel. Find the Sangha, find the Buddha, find the Dharma, all locked within the inner divine spark.<ref>Ratnasambhava, “Elements of Being,” {{POWref|37|6|, February 6, 1994}}</ref></blockquote>

== Amitabha ==

Some consider Amitabha to be synonymous with Amitayus, the Buddha of Infinite Life. Others honor Amitayus as a form of Amitabha or as a separate Buddha. Amitayus is usually depicted holding a vessel of the elixir of immortal life. A tiny ashoka-tree often sprouts from the cover of his vessel, representing the union of the spiritual and the material.

== Amoghasiddhi ==

Amoghasiddhi is the Dhyani Buddha of the North. His color is green, signifying the sun at midnight. He rules over the element of air and embodies the skandha of volition, also called the skandha of mental phenomena or tendencies of mind. His symbol is the ''vishvavajra'', or double vajra. It is made of two crossed vajras and symbolizes the highest comprehension of truth and the spiritual power of a Buddha.

Amoghasiddhi’s mudra is the ''abhaya mudra''. It is the gesture of fearlessness and protection. The right hand is raised to shoulder height with palm forward. The left hand is cupped in the lap or placed at the heart, fingers pointing inward. Amoghasiddhi’s bija is ''Ah'' and his mantra is ''Om Amoghasiddhi Ah''.

{{MTR}}, s.v. “The Five Dhyani Buddhas.”

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