Sixteen arhats
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sixteen arhats
十六羅漢 (Jpn juroku-rakan )
Arhats designated by Shakyamuni Buddha to protect his teachings for the benefit of the people after his death. According to Hsüan-tsang's Chinese translation of The Record of Ensuring the Abiding of the Law, they continued to live after Shakyamuni's entry into nirvana in order to fulfill this mission. They are Pindolabharadvaja, Kanakavatsa, Kanakabharadvaja, Subinda, Nakula, Bhadra, Kalika, Vajraputra, Jivaka, Panthaka, Rahula, Nagasena, Angaja, Vanavasin, Ajita, and Chudapanthaka. In China and Japan, the sixteen arhats were often depicted artistically and these images enshrined in temples, in particular of the Zen school.
