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Indian Mahayana Buddhist practice included numerous elements of devotion and ritual, which were considered to generate much merit (punya) and to allow the devotee to obtain the power or spiritual blessings of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. These elements remain a key part of Mahayana Buddhism today. Some key Mahayana practices in this vein include:
Each guardian rules over a specific direction and also a class of non-human beings. These guardian deities are found in the earliest Buddhist sources and are shared by Mahayana and Theravada. The four guardians are: [11] Dhṛtarāṣṭra (Sanskrit; Pali: Dhataraṭṭha) - Guardian of the East. Leader of the gandharvas and piśācas.
The worship of Mahayana sutra books and even in anthropomorphic form (through deities like Prajñāpāramitā Devi) remains important in many Mahayana Buddhist traditions, including Newar Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism and East Asian Buddhism. This is often done in rituals in which the sutras (or a deity representing the sutra) are presented ...
Vajrapāṇi (Sanskrit, "Vajra in [his] hand") is one of the earliest-appearing bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhism. He is the protector and guide of Gautama Buddha and rose to symbolize the Buddha's power. Vajrapāṇi is extensively represented in Buddhist iconography as one of the three protective deities surrounding the Buddha.
Buddhist deities are an important element in all Buddhist mythologies. These deities include high level bodhisattvas who have extraordinary powers, cosmic Buddhas (in Mahayana), devas (heavenly beings who live for a very long time), nature spirits like Yakshas and fierce tantric deities or protectors.
Numerous traditions of Mahayana Buddhism rely on Mahākāla as a guardian deity (Dharmapala, "dharma protector"). Mahākāla is one of the most popular protector deities in Tibetan Buddhism and he is also sometimes used as a meditational deity in tantric Buddhist yogas. He is depicted in a number of variations, each with distinctly different ...
Tara (Sanskrit: तारा, tārā; Standard Tibetan: སྒྲོལ་མ, dölma), Ārya Tārā (Noble Tara), also known as Jetsün Dölma (Tibetan: rje btsun sgrol ma, meaning: "Venerable Mother of Liberation"), is an important female Buddha in Buddhism, especially revered in Vajrayana Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism.
Vajrapāni is one of the earliest Dharmapalas of Mahayana Buddhism and also appears as a deity in the Pali Canon of the Theravada school. He is worshiped in the Shaolin Monastery, in Tibetan Buddhism and in Pure Land Buddhism (where he is known as Mahasthamaprapta and forms a triad with Amitābha and Avalokiteśvara).