Vairocanābhisaṃbodhi SūtraThe Vairocanābhisaṃbodhi Sūtra (Vairocana’s Awakening Sutra, 𑀯𑁃𑀭𑁄𑀘𑀦𑀸𑀪𑀺𑀲𑀁𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀽𑀢𑁆𑀭), also known as the Mahāvairocana Tantra (𑀫𑀳𑀸𑀯𑁃𑀭𑁄𑀘𑀦𑀢𑀦𑁆; ; also known as 大日經 Da Ri Jing) is an important Vajrayana Buddhist text composed before 674 CE. The Indian tantric master Buddhaguhya (fl. c.700 CE) classified the text as a caryātantra, and in Tibetan Buddhism it is still considered to be a member of the carya classification. In Japan where it is known as the Mahāvairocana Sūtra (Daibirushana jōbutsu jinpen kajikyō), it is one of two central texts in the Shingon school, along with the Vajrasekhara Sutra.
Gommateshwara statueThe Gommateshwara statue is a high monolithic statue on Vindhyagiri Hill in the town of Shravanbelagola in the Indian state of Karnataka. Carved of a single block of granite, it is one of the tallest monolithic statues in the ancient world. The Gommateshwara statue is dedicated to the Jain figure Bahubali and symbolises the Jain precepts of peace, non-violence, sacrifice of worldly affairs, and simple living. It was built around 983 CE during the Western Ganga dynasty and is one of the largest free-standing statues in the world.
HevajraHevajra (Tibetan: ཀྱེའི་རྡོ་རྗེ་ kye'i rdo rje / kye rdo rje; Chinese: 喜金剛 Xǐ jīngāng / 呼金剛 Hū jīngāng;) is one of the main yidams (enlightened beings) in Tantric, or Vajrayana Buddhism. Hevajra's consort is Nairātmyā (Tibetan: bdag med ma). The Hevajra Tantra, a yoginītantra of the anuttarayogatantra class, is believed to have originated between the late 8th (Snellgrove), and the late 9th or early 10th centuries (Davidson), in Eastern India, possibly Kamarupa.
RamaRama (ˈrɑːmə; राम; ˈraːmɐ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular avatars of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Being. Rama was born to Kaushalya and Dasharatha in Ayodhya, the capital of the Kingdom of Kosala. His siblings included Lakshmana, Bharata, and Shatrughna. He married Sita. Though born in a royal family, Rama's life is described in the Hindu texts as one challenged by unexpected changes, such as an exile into impoverished and difficult circumstances, and challenges of ethical questions and moral dilemmas.
KūkaiKūkai (空海; 27 July 774 – 22 April 835), born Saeki no Mao (佐伯 眞魚), posthumously called Kōbō Daishi, was a Japanese Buddhist monk, calligrapher, and poet who founded the esoteric Shingon school of Buddhism. He travelled to China, where he studied Tangmi (Chinese Vajrayana Buddhism) under the monk Huiguo. Upon returning to Japan, he founded Shingon—the Japanese branch of Vajrayana Buddhism. With the blessing of several Emperors, Kūkai was able to preach Shingon teachings and found Shingon temples.
MandalaA mandala (maṇḍala, ˈmɐɳɖɐlɐ) is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for establishing a sacred space and as an aid to meditation and trance induction. In the Eastern religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Shinto it is used as a map representing deities, or especially in the case of Shinto, paradises, kami or actual shrines.
Shingon BuddhismShingon Buddhism is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks such as Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra. Known in Chinese as the Tangmi (唐密; the Esoteric School in the Tang dynasty of China), these esoteric teachings would later flourish in Japan under the auspices of a Buddhist monk named Kūkai (空海), who traveled to Tang China to acquire and request transmission of the esoteric teachings.
KalachakraKālacakra () is a polysemic term in Vajrayana Buddhism that means "wheel of time" or "time cycles". "Kālacakra" is also the name of a series of Buddhist texts and a major practice lineage in Indian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism. The tantra is considered to belong to the unexcelled yoga (anuttara-yoga) class. Kālacakra also refers both to a patron tantric deity or yidam in Vajrayana and to the philosophies and yogas of the Kālacakra tradition. The tradition's origins are in India and its most active later history and presence has been in Tibet.
RishabhanathaRishabhanatha (Devanagari: ऋषभनाथ), also (Devanagari: ऋषभदेव), Rishabhadeva, or Ikshvaku (Devanagari: इक्ष्वाकु) is the first Tīrthaṅkara (Supreme preacher) of Jainism and establisher of Ikshvaku dynasty. He was the first of twenty-four teachers in the present half-cycle of time in Jain cosmology, and called a "ford maker" because his teachings helped one cross the sea of interminable rebirths and deaths. The legends depict him as having lived millions of years ago.
VairocanaVairocana (also Mahāvairocana, वैरोचन) is a cosmic buddha from Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. Vairocana is often interpreted, in texts like the Avatamsaka Sutra, as the dharmakāya of the historical Gautama Buddha. In East Asian Buddhism (Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese Buddhism), Vairocana is also seen as the embodiment of the Buddhist concept of śūnyatā. In the conception of the 5 Jinas of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, Vairocana is at the centre and is considered a Primordial Buddha.
