Difference between revisions of "Eight great bodhisattvas"
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
m (1 revision: Adminos 2 november) |
|||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
<noinclude> | <noinclude> | ||
| − | [[Image:Bodhisattvass.JPG|thumb|250px|Eight great bodhisattvas from the [[Longchen Nyingtik]] Field of Merit]] | + | [[Image:Bodhisattvass.JPG|thumb|250px|Eight great bodhisattvas from the [[Longchen Nyingtik]] [[Field of Merit]]]] |
</noinclude> | </noinclude> | ||
| − | '''[[Eight Great Bodhisattvas]]''', or 'Eight Close Sons' (Skt. ''[[aṣṭa utaputra]]''; Tib. {{BigTibetan|[[ཉེ་བའི་སྲས་བརྒྱད་]]}}, Wyl. ''[[nye ba'i sras brgyad]]'') — the main [[bodhisattva]]s in the retinue of [[Buddha Shakyamuni]]: | + | '''[[Eight Great Bodhisattvas]]''', or '[[Eight Close Sons]]' (Skt. ''[[aṣṭa utaputra]]''; Tib. {{BigTibetan|[[ཉེ་བའི་སྲས་བརྒྱད་]]}}, [[Wyl.]] ''[[nye ba'i sras brgyad]]'') — the main [[bodhisattva]]s in the retinue of [[Buddha Shakyamuni]]: |
*[[Mañjushri]], {{BigTibetan|[[འཇམ་དཔལ་]]}} or {{BigTibetan|[[འཇམ་དཔལ་དབྱངས་]]}}, | *[[Mañjushri]], {{BigTibetan|[[འཇམ་དཔལ་]]}} or {{BigTibetan|[[འཇམ་དཔལ་དབྱངས་]]}}, | ||
| Line 13: | Line 13: | ||
*[[Samantabhadra]], {{BigTibetan|[[ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ་]].}} | *[[Samantabhadra]], {{BigTibetan|[[ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ་]].}} | ||
<noinclude> | <noinclude> | ||
| − | Each fulfils a particular role to help beings. Symbolically they represent the pure state of the [[eight consciousnesses]]. | + | Each fulfils a particular role to help [[beings]]. [[Symbolically]] they represent the [[pure]] state of the [[eight consciousnesses]]. |
| − | ==Qualities of the Eight Bodhisattvas== | + | ==Qualities of the [[Eight Bodhisattvas]]== |
[[Image:Manjushri.jpg|thumb|250px|The [[bodhisattva]] [[Mañjushri]]]] | [[Image:Manjushri.jpg|thumb|250px|The [[bodhisattva]] [[Mañjushri]]]] | ||
| − | Although the eight bodhisattvas or ‘close sons of the | + | Although the [[eight bodhisattvas]] or ‘close sons of the [[Buddha]]’ all possess the same qualities and [[powers]], each one displays [[perfection]] in a particular area or [[activity]]. |
| − | *[[Manjushri]] embodies [[wisdom]]; | + | *[[Manjushri]] [[embodies]] [[wisdom]]; |
| − | *[[Avalokiteshvara]] embodies [[compassion]]; | + | *[[Avalokiteshvara]] [[embodies]] [[compassion]]; |
*[[Vajrapani]] represents power; | *[[Vajrapani]] represents power; | ||
| − | *[[Kshitigarbha]] increases the richness and fertility of the land; | + | *[[Kshitigarbha]] increases the richness and {{Wiki|fertility}} of the land; |
*[[Sarvanivaranavishkambhin]] purifies wrong-doing and obstructions; | *[[Sarvanivaranavishkambhin]] purifies wrong-doing and obstructions; | ||
| − | *[[Maitreya]] embodies [[love]]; | + | *[[Maitreya]] [[embodies]] [[love]]; |
| − | *[[Samantabhadra]] displays special expertise in making offerings and prayers of aspiration; and | + | *[[Samantabhadra]] displays special expertise in making [[offerings]] and [[prayers]] of [[aspiration]]; and |
| − | *[[Akashagarbha]] has the perfect ability to purify transgressions. | + | *[[Akashagarbha]] has the perfect ability to {{Wiki|purify}} transgressions. |
[[Khenpo Chöga]] says: | [[Khenpo Chöga]] says: | ||
| − | :Among the immeasurable qualities of the Buddha, eight of his foremost qualities manifest as the eight [[bodhisattvas]]: | + | :Among the [[immeasurable]] qualities of the [[Buddha]], eight of his foremost qualities [[manifest]] as the eight [[bodhisattvas]]: |
| − | ::1) the personification of the Buddha’s wisdom (Tib. {{BigTibetan|[[ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་རང་གཟུགས་]]}}, Wyl. ''[[ye shes kyi rang gzugs]]'') is [[Bodhisattva]] [[Mañjuśrī]]; | + | ::1) the [[personification of the Buddha’s wisdom]] (Tib. {{BigTibetan|[[ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་རང་གཟུགས་]]}}, [[Wyl.]] ''[[ye shes kyi rang gzugs]]'') is [[Bodhisattva]] [[Mañjuśrī]]; |
| − | ::2) the personification of the Buddha’s compassion (Tib. {{BigTibetan|[[སྙིང་རྗེའི་རང་གཟུགས་]]}}, Wyl. ''[[snying rje’i rang gzug]]s'') appears as [[Bodhisattva]] [[Avalokiteśvara]]; | + | ::2) the [[personification of the Buddha’s compassion]] (Tib. {{BigTibetan|[[སྙིང་རྗེའི་རང་གཟུགས་]]}}, [[Wyl.]] ''[[snying rje’i rang gzug]]s'') appears as [[Bodhisattva]] [[Avalokiteśvara]]; |
| − | ::3) the personification of the Buddha’s power or capacity (Tib. {{BigTibetan|[[ནུས་པའི་རང་གཟུགས་]]}}, Wyl. ''[[nus pa’i rang gzugs]]'') is [[Bodhisattva]] [[Vajrapāṇi]]; | + | ::3) the [[personification of the Buddha’s power or capacity]] (Tib. {{BigTibetan|[[ནུས་པའི་རང་གཟུགས་]]}}, [[Wyl.]] ''[[nus pa’i rang gzugs]]'') is [[Bodhisattva]] [[Vajrapāṇi]]; |
| − | ::4) the personification of the Buddha’s | + | ::4) the [[personification of the Buddha’s enlightened activity|activity]] (Tib. {{BigTibetan|[[ཕྲིན་ལས་]]}}, [[Wyl.]] ''[[phrin las]]'') is [[Bodhisattva]] [[Maitreya]]; |
| − | ::5) the personification of the Buddha’s | + | ::5) the [[personification of the Buddha’s merit]] (Tib. {{BigTibetan|[[བསོད་ནམས་རང་གཟུགས་]]}}, [[Wyl.]] ''[[bsod nams rang gzugs]]'') arises as [[Bodhisattva]] [[Kṣitigarbha]]; |
| − | ::6) the personification of the Buddha’s qualities (Tib. {{BigTibetan|[[ཡོན་ཏན་གྱི་རང་གཟུགས་]]}}, Wyl. ''[[yon tan gyi rang gzugs]]'') appears as [[Bodhisattva]] [[Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhī]]; | + | ::6) the [[personification of the Buddha’s qualities]] (Tib. {{BigTibetan|[[ཡོན་ཏན་གྱི་རང་གཟུགས་]]}}, [[Wyl.]] ''[[yon tan gyi rang gzugs]]'') appears as [[Bodhisattva]] [[Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhī]]; |
| − | ::7) the personification of the Buddha’s | + | ::7) the [[personification of the Buddha’s blessings]] (Tib. {{BigTibetan|[[བྱིན་རླབས་ཀྱི་རང་གཟུགས་]]}}, [[Wyl.]] ''[[byin rlabs kyi rang gzugs]]'') arises as [[Bodhisattva]] [[Ākāśagarbha]]; and |
| − | ::8) the personification of the Buddha’s aspirations (Tib. {{BigTibetan|[[སྨོན་ལམ་གྱི་རང་གཟུགས་]]}}, Wyl. ''[[smon lam gyi rang gzugs]]'') is manifest as [[Bodhisattva]] [[Samantabhadra]].<ref>In ''Drops of Nectar: Khenpo Kunpal's Commentary on Shantideva's Entering the Conduct of the [[bodhisattvas]]'', www.kunpal.org, vol. 1 p.282</ref> | + | ::8) the [[personification of the Buddha’s aspirations]] (Tib. {{BigTibetan|[[སྨོན་ལམ་གྱི་རང་གཟུགས་]]}}, [[Wyl.]] ''[[smon lam gyi rang gzugs]]'') is [[manifest]] as [[Bodhisattva]] [[Samantabhadra]].<ref>In ''[[Drops of Nectar]]: [[Khenpo Kunpal's]] Commentary on [[Shantideva's]] Entering the Conduct of the [[bodhisattvas]]'', www.kunpal.org, vol. 1 p.282</ref> |
{{reflist}} | {{reflist}} | ||
==Further Reading== | ==Further Reading== | ||
| − | ===In Tibetan=== | + | ===In [[Tibetan]]=== |
| − | *[[Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé]], ''nye ba'i sras brgyad kyi rnam thar la bsngags pa bstod chen rgya mtsho rnam bshad'' | + | *[[Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé]], ''[[nye ba'i sras brgyad]] kyi [[rnam thar]] la bsngags pa bstod [[chen]] [[rgya mtsho]] [[rnam]] bshad'' |
| − | *[[Mipham Rinpoche]], ''byang chub sems dpa' chen po nye ba'i sras brgyad kyi rtogs brjod nor bu'i phreng ba'' (Translated by Lama Yeshe Gyamtso. | + | *[[Mipham Rinpoche]], ''[[byang chub sems dpa]]' [[chen po]] [[nye ba'i sras brgyad]] kyi [[rtogs]] brjod nor bu'i [[phreng ba]]'' (Translated by [[Lama Yeshe]] [[Gyamtso]]. |
| − | *[[Mipham Rinpoche]], ''nye sras brgyad kyi sgrub pa rin chen gter bum'' | + | *[[Mipham Rinpoche]], ''nye sras brgyad kyi [[sgrub pa]] [[rin chen]] [[gter]] bum'' |
===In English=== | ===In English=== | ||
| − | *[[Jamgön Mipham]], ''A Garland of Jewels'', (trans. by Lama Yeshe Gyamtso), Woodstock: KTD Publications, 2008 | + | *[[Jamgön Mipham]], ''[[A Garland of Jewels]]'', (trans. by [[Lama Yeshe]] [[Gyamtso]]), Woodstock: KTD Publications, 2008 |
==External Links== | ==External Links== | ||
Revision as of 00:35, 20 February 2014
Eight Great Bodhisattvas, or 'Eight Close Sons' (Skt. aṣṭa utaputra; Tib. ཉེ་བའི་སྲས་བརྒྱད་, Wyl. nye ba'i sras brgyad) — the main bodhisattvas in the retinue of Buddha Shakyamuni:
- Mañjushri, འཇམ་དཔལ་ or འཇམ་དཔལ་དབྱངས་,
- Avalokiteshvara, སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་,
- Vajrapani, ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ་,
- Maitreya, བྱམས་པ་མགོན་པོ་,
- Kshitigarbha, ས་ཡི་སྙིང་པོ་ or སའི་སྙིང་པོ,
- Akashagarbha, ནམ་མཁའི་སྙིང་པོ་,
- Sarvanivaranavishkambhin, སྒྲིབ་པ་རྣམ་སེལ་, and
- Samantabhadra, ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ་.
Each fulfils a particular role to help beings. Symbolically they represent the pure state of the eight consciousnesses.
Qualities of the Eight Bodhisattvas
Although the eight bodhisattvas or ‘close sons of the Buddha’ all possess the same qualities and powers, each one displays perfection in a particular area or activity.
- Manjushri embodies wisdom;
- Avalokiteshvara embodies compassion;
- Vajrapani represents power;
- Kshitigarbha increases the richness and fertility of the land;
- Sarvanivaranavishkambhin purifies wrong-doing and obstructions;
- Maitreya embodies love;
- Samantabhadra displays special expertise in making offerings and prayers of aspiration; and
- Akashagarbha has the perfect ability to purify transgressions.
Khenpo Chöga says:
- Among the immeasurable qualities of the Buddha, eight of his foremost qualities manifest as the eight bodhisattvas:
- 1) the personification of the Buddha’s wisdom (Tib. ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་རང་གཟུགས་, Wyl. ye shes kyi rang gzugs) is Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī;
- 2) the personification of the Buddha’s compassion (Tib. སྙིང་རྗེའི་རང་གཟུགས་, Wyl. snying rje’i rang gzugs) appears as Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara;
- 3) the personification of the Buddha’s power or capacity (Tib. ནུས་པའི་རང་གཟུགས་, Wyl. nus pa’i rang gzugs) is Bodhisattva Vajrapāṇi;
- 4) the activity (Tib. ཕྲིན་ལས་, Wyl. phrin las) is Bodhisattva Maitreya;
- 5) the personification of the Buddha’s merit (Tib. བསོད་ནམས་རང་གཟུགས་, Wyl. bsod nams rang gzugs) arises as Bodhisattva Kṣitigarbha;
- 6) the personification of the Buddha’s qualities (Tib. ཡོན་ཏན་གྱི་རང་གཟུགས་, Wyl. yon tan gyi rang gzugs) appears as Bodhisattva Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhī;
- 7) the personification of the Buddha’s blessings (Tib. བྱིན་རླབས་ཀྱི་རང་གཟུགས་, Wyl. byin rlabs kyi rang gzugs) arises as Bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha; and
- 8) the personification of the Buddha’s aspirations (Tib. སྨོན་ལམ་གྱི་རང་གཟུགས་, Wyl. smon lam gyi rang gzugs) is manifest as Bodhisattva Samantabhadra.[1]
Footnotes
- ↑ In Drops of Nectar: Khenpo Kunpal's Commentary on Shantideva's Entering the Conduct of the bodhisattvas, www.kunpal.org, vol. 1 p.282
Further Reading
In Tibetan
- Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé, nye ba'i sras brgyad kyi rnam thar la bsngags pa bstod chen rgya mtsho rnam bshad
- Mipham Rinpoche, byang chub sems dpa' chen po nye ba'i sras brgyad kyi rtogs brjod nor bu'i phreng ba (Translated by Lama Yeshe Gyamtso.
- Mipham Rinpoche, nye sras brgyad kyi sgrub pa rin chen gter bum
In English
- Jamgön Mipham, A Garland of Jewels, (trans. by Lama Yeshe Gyamtso), Woodstock: KTD Publications, 2008
