Literary references
The starting point of all the later-developed traditions of the
Buddha
was the great Buddha
myth
. The early idea of a series of buddhas in time, first 7 and later 24, soon allowed for the idea of a future buddha
Maitreya
, whose cult became popular throughout the Buddhist world. Next came the tendency to focus attention on other buddhas in buddha lands distributed through endless space.
Ratnasambhava
Ratnasambhava, the Dhyani Buddha of the south, surrounded by the eight mahabodhisattvas, Nepalese painting.
In the Indian
context
the most important of the new buddhas that came to be recognized were gradually systematized into a set of five Celestial or
Dhyani Buddhas
. The buddha who was usually placed at the centre of the group was
Vairochana
, the Illuminator, the universal sage or
chakravartin
buddha. He is often depicted using the gesture of preaching or by the symbol of the wheel of
dharma
. The buddha of the east,
Akshobhya
(the Imperturbable), is iconographically associated with Shakyamuni in the “earth-witness” posture. The cult of the Imperturbable buddha probably derives from the cult at
Bodh Gaya
, the historical place of the Buddha’s enlightenment. The buddha of the south was
Ratnasambhava
, the Jewel-Born, who represents the Buddha’s selfless giving, indicated by the gesture of giving gifts?right hand open, pointing outward and downward.
Amitabha
was the buddha of the western paradise, around whom an important devotional cult developed. The buddha of the north was
Amoghasiddhi
, “Infallible Success,” who represents the Buddha’s miraculous power to save, indicated by the hand gesture of giving protection?right hand raised, palm outward and pointing upward. These five celestial buddhas seem?in the early stages of their development?to have been celestial
manifestations
of various aspects of Shakyamuni.
Two of these buddhas developed an important mythology and cult of their own quite apart from their role in the group of five Dhyani Buddhas. The first of these was Amitabha, the great buddha who presided over the western paradise and became the central figure in the traditions of
Pure Land Buddhism
. The
Pure Land
tradition, which probably began in northwestern
India
about the beginning of the Common Era, was most successful in
China
and
Japan
, where it became the dominant Buddhist tradition. The second of the five great buddha figures with a very important independent history was Vairochana. This “central” buddha developed an important role throughout the Buddhist world and emerged as the central buddha figure in the
Vajrayana
traditions of Japan, particularly
Shingon
.
The
Dhyani Buddhas
prepared the way for the psychophysical theories of the
tantras
. The five were associated with the centre and four
compass
points, namely, the macrocosm,
conceived
as a unity of the Five Great Elements. They were also identified with the microcosm of the human personality understood in terms of the Five Components (
skandhas
)?
rupa
(materiality or form),
vedana
(feelings of pleasure or pain or the absence of either),
samjna
(cognitive perception),
samskara
(the forces that condition the psychic activity of an individual), and
vijnana
(consciousness)?and with the Five Great Evils (ignorance, wrath, desire, malignity, and envy), typifying normal phenomenal existence. At this stage mythology and psychological symbolization are inextricably bound together.
In the tantras, Buddhist mythology overlapped with
Hindu
mythology.
Akshobhya
, for example,
acquires
a fierce Tantric form that is reminiscent of the fierce form of the Hindu god
Shiva
; in this form he became known by the Buddhist names
Heruka
,
Hevajra
, or
Samvara
. He is known in Japan in this guise as
Fud?
(“Imperturbable”). The Indian god Bhairava, a fierce bull-headed
divinity
, was adopted by
Tantric
Buddhists as Vajrabhairava. Also called
Yamantaka
(“Slayer of Death”) and identified as the fierce expression of the gentle Manjushri, he was accorded quasi-buddha rank.
The bodhisattvas also developed manifold forms.
Maitreya
, the buddha-yet-to-come, was already known prior to the beginning of the Common Era and became the focus of a major devotional cult that spread across Asia. This early cult seems to have prepared the way for the Pure Land traditions involving Amitabha, which gradually
superseded
it. From the 1st century
ce
onward, a number of other celestial bodhisattvas were recognized, and cults of various kinds developed around them. Bodhisattvas who became popular included Manjughosha (“Gentle Voice”) or Manjushri (“Glorious Gentle One”), the representative of
divine
wisdom, and
Vajrapani
, “the one who wields the
ritual
thunderbolt [
vajra
]” and who, as lord of
yakshas
(a class of local Indian divinities), entered the pantheon as a great protector.
Avalokiteshvara
, the lord of compassion, first appeared in India and subsequently became an important figure in virtually every
Mahayana
and Vajrayana Buddhist tradition. He was recognized as the great
patron
of Tibet, who is believed to reincarnate in each of the
Dalai Lamas
. As
Guanyin
in China, Kannon in Japan, and Kwanseium in Korea, this
bodhisattva
coalesced with his feminine counterpart,
Tara
, and became a kindly madonna.
Kshitigarbha
Kshitigarbha, 13th-century Japanese painting on silk; in the Museum of East Asian Art, State Museums, Berlin.
The bodhisattva
Kshitigarbha
(“Womb of the Earth”), who had hardly any significance in India, Nepal, or Tibet, attracted a cult as lord of the underworld in
Central Asia
. Kshitigarbha and his cult spread to China and other areas of eastern Asia. Known as
Dizang
in Chinese and Jiz? in Japanese, he is lord of hell and therefore became the central figure in important and popular after-death
liturgies
.
Art and archaeology
It is mainly from artistic and archaeological remains that scholars have been able to trace the remarkable spread of Mahayana Buddhist mythology throughout Asia from the 1st century
ce
onward. The main points of departure for this mythology were northwestern India and the
Bay of Bengal
, especially the port of Tamralipti. Early Mahayana developments also affected South India,
Sri Lanka
, and
Southeast Asia
.
In India itself
Bihar
and
Bengal
remained Buddhist, largely late Mahayana and Vajrayana, until the 13th century. In
Java
and
Sumatra
there is iconographic evidence of the popularity of the buddhas, bodhisattvas, and fierce quasi-buddha figures mentioned above. There are even traces in
Myanmar
,
Thailand
, and
Cambodia
of images and paintings of late Mahayana and Vajrayana divinities. In Southeast Asia the island of
Bali
retains a living but mixed Hindu-Vajrayana Buddhist
culture
.
Bodhisattva: painted mural, China
Bodhisattva, detail of a painted mural, mid-5th century, Bei (Northern) Wei dynasty, in cave 272, Dunhuang, Gansu province, China.
Paintings and figures unearthed during the 20th century in Central Asia (Chinese Turkistan) revealed the manner in which Buddhist architecture, iconography, and painting passed from northwestern India to China and
East Asia
. Especially important are the paintings of buddhas and bodhisattvas in the
caves of Dunhuang
(4th to 10th century
ce
). These paintings reveal the popularity in China, Japan, and Korea of Amitabha-Amitayus, Vairochana, Maitreya, Manjushri, Kshitigarbha, and Avalokiteshvara (as the goddess Guanyin).
The main
repository
of Indian Mahayana and Vajrayana iconographic traditions is Tibet, where Buddhism was introduced from the 8th to the 13th century. Until the communist takeover of 1959, the Tibetans preserved and developed Indian (Pala) styles of iconography. They also preserved ancient techniques and styles of Indian Buddhist painting that were modified and enriched in some schools by much later influence from China.