Adi-Buddha

Tibetan thangka of Vajradhara

In Vajrayana Buddhism, the ādibuddha (Tibetan: དང་པོའི་སངས་རྒྱས། dang-po'i sangs-rgyas), is the "First Buddha" or the "Primordial Buddha."[1] The term reemerges in tantric literature, most prominently in the Kalachakra.[2] Ãdi means “first” such that the ādibuddha was the first to attain Buddhahood.[2] ādi means “primordial,” not referring to a person but to an innate wisdom that is present in all sentient beings.[2]

In Tibetan Buddhism, the term ādibuddha is often used to describe Samantabhadra, Vajradhara or Kalacakra.[2][3] In East Asia, the ādibuddha is typically considered to be Vairocana.[2]

The Guhyasamaja tantra says of Mahavajradhara:

"Then Vajradhara, the Teacher, who is bowed to by all the Buddhas, best of the three diamonds, best of the great best, supreme lord of the three diamonds..."[4]

Alex Wayman notes that the Pradipoddyotana, a tantric commentary, states that the "three diamonds" are the three mysteries of Body, Speech, and Mind. Wayman further writes: "Tsong-kha-pa's Mchan-'grel explains the "lord of body": displays simultaneously innumerable materializations of body ; "lord of speech" : teaches the Dharma simultaneously to boundless sentient beings each in his own language ; "lord of mind" : understands all the knowable which seems impossible.[5]

According to the Dalai lama, Adi Buddha is also seem in Mahayana Buddhism as representation of the universe, its laws and its true nature, as a source of enlightenment and karmic manifestations and a representation of the Trikaya.[6]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Wayman, Alex; The Buddhist Tantras: Light on Indo-Tibetan esotericism, page 53.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Jr., Donald S. (2013). The Princeton dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9781400848058. Entry on "ādibuddha".
  3. ↑ Wayman, Alex; The Buddhist Tantras: Light on Indo-Tibetan esotericism, page 53.
  4. ↑ Wayman, Alex; The Buddhist Tantras: Light on Indo-Tibetan esotericism, page 53.
  5. ↑ Wayman, Alex; The Buddhist Tantras: Light on Indo-Tibetan esotericism, page 53.
  6. ↑ http://hhdl.dharmakara.net/hhdlquotes22.html

Bibliography

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