Samantabhadra was looked upon, among the ancient Northern Buddhist sects as the primordial Buddha; but his popularity diminished when the two great sects, the dKar-hGya-pa (Red Bonnets) and dGe-lugs-pa (Yellow Bonnets), set up Vajradhara as the Adi-Buddha.

Certain of the Yogacharya sects claim that Samantabhadra, instead of Vairochana, was the founder of the Yoga system, and look upon him as the divinity of Religious Ecstasy. Indeed he is the special divine patron in Japan of those who practise Hokkesammai (ecstatic meditation).

Samantabhadra is known also as following:

Japanese: Fugen Bosatsu
Chinese: Puxian
Tibetan: Kun-tu bzang-po
Mongol: Qamugha Sain
Vietnamese: Pho-hien

Literally 'He whose bounty is omnipresent', he represents the Buddhist ideals of Law and Compassion. He is often associated with Manjushri, alongside whom he is one of the three acolytes of Shakyamuni. In Japan this Bodhisattva is mainly worshipped by the Tendai and Shingon sects, and as the protector of the Lotus Sutra by the Nichiren sect.

Here, shown in intimate sexual union with his consort he is the central deity of the mandala . Sexual imagery suggests the integrative process which lies at the heart of the mandala. Male and female elements are nothing but symbols of the countless pairs of opposites (e.g. love and hate; good and evil etc.) which one experiences in mundane existence. The initiate seeks to curtail his or her alienation, by accepting and enjoying all things as a seamless, interconnected field of experience. Sexual imagery can also be understood as a metaphor for enlightenment, with its qualities of satisfaction, bliss, unity and completion.

This description by Nitin Kumar, Executive Editor, Exotic India.

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