Vairocana ("The Sun", "Solar" or "Shining" in SanskritMeaning of Sanskrit word "Vairocana" in Mahayana Buddhism), also known as Mahāvairocana (Great Sun), also known as Paramabuddha is a major Buddha from Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. He is often compared to the Sun, because both bestow their light impartially upon all beings. However, unlike the Sun, whose light can be blocked, and which disappears at night, Vairocana's light is seen by Buddhists as omnipresent, impossible to block, and shines eternally. Hence, he is called the "Great Sun".佛學大辭典 -【大日如來】(The Great Buddhist Dictionary - "Great Sun Thus Come One" entry) In East Asian Buddhism, Vairocana is called () or ().
In Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, Vairocana is the () of all Buddhas (the Dharma-body is the "true body" of all Buddhas, equivalent to the Ultimate Reality), which is formless, omnipresent, self-existent, eternal, indestructible, unable to be defiled, and is the source of all manifestations.佛光大辭典增訂版隨身碟,中英佛學辭典 -【三身】 (Fo Guang Great Dictionary Updated USB Version, Chinese-English Dictionary of Buddhist Studies - "Trikāya" entry)佛學大辭典 -【四種法身】(The Great Buddhist Dictionary - "The four types of Dharma-Body")佛學大辭典 -【實相】(The Great Buddhist Dictionary - "True Reality") The historical Gautama Buddha is one of the emanation bodies of Vairocana Buddha.佛學大辭典 -【法報應三身】(The Great Buddhist Dictionary - "The Three Types of Bodies: Dharma Body, Enjoyment Body, and Emanation body")Trikaya - Nirmāṇakāya
Three Types of Bodies According to the Three-Bodies teaching, every Buddha has three types of bodies,Trikāya - General definition (in Buddhism)Nichiren Buddhism Library - three bodies which are: Dharma Body - the true nature of all phenomena, the Ultimate Reality, visible only to those with the highest Awakenment, namely the Buddhas. Enjoyment Body - often of super-cosmic size and with supreme beauty, visible only to those whose Awakenment level is not lower than the first Bodhisattva stage. Emanation Body - physical forms projected into mundane worlds, visible to all common living beings.
In Mahayana Sutras, the name Vairocana can refer to both the Dharma-Body and Enjoyment-Body of Vairocana, while in Vajrayana, Vairocana represents the Dharma-Body which is identical to Dharma Realm, and sometimes the Dharma-Body and Enjoyment-Body of Vairocana are undifferentiated, Mahāvairocana is considered to be a Cosmic Buddha whose body is the entire universe.佛學大辭典 -【毘盧舍那】(The Great Buddhist Dictionary - "Vairocana" entry)
Three Types of BodiesMahayanaVajrayanaDharma BodyVairocanaVairocanaVairocanaEnjoyment BodyVairocanaVairocanaEmanation BodySakyamuni BuddhaSakyamuni BuddhaSakyamuni Buddha
Five Buddhas
Among the Five Buddhas of the Five Directions, Vairocana is the central figure, symbolizing both the source and destination of all the other four.
Five DirectionsEastWestSouthNorthCenterFive BuddhasAksobhya BuddhaAmitabha BuddhaRatna-sambhava BuddhaAmogha-siddhi BuddhaVairocana BuddhaFive FamiliesVajra FamilyPadma (Lotus) FamilyRatna (Jewel) FamilyKarma FamilyBuddha FamilyFive Elements Water (Blue)Fire (Red)Earth (Yellow)Wind (Green)Space (White)Five WisdomsGrand Round Mirror Wisdom(大圓鏡智)Miraculous Observing Wisdom(妙觀察智)Equality Wisdom(平等性智)Achievement of actions Wisdom(成所作智)Dharm Realm's body and nature Wisdom(法界體性智)Five Wisdom KingsTrailokyavijayaYamantakaKuṇḍaliVajrayakṣaAcala
Vairocana is not to be confused with Vairocana Mahabali, son of the asura Virochana, a character in the Yoga Vasistha. Vairocana Buddha is also not to be confused with another Buddha that appears in some Mahayana sources called "Rocana".
Manifestations
Vajra Realm VairocanaVairocana from Vajra Realm Mandala is called Vajra Realm Vairocana (金剛界大日如來), depicted as sitting in lotus position while making the Wisdom-Fist Mudra (智拳印) with both hands. This form of Vairocana, as well as Womb Realm Vairocana, are widely seen in Japanese and Korean Buddhism.Womb Realm VairocanaVairocana from Womb Realm Mandala is called Womb Realm Vairocana (胎藏界大日如來), sitting in lotus position with the Dharma Realm Dhyana Mudra (法界定印).Vairocana with Vairocana MudraVairocana Buddha with Vairocana Mudra (毗盧印) is a commonly seen manifestation of Vairocana in Chinese Buddhism.Omniscient VairocanaOmniscient Vairocana (Sanskrit: Sarvavid Vairocana) is a supreme manifestation of Vairocana seen in Tibetan Thangkas and some ancient Chinese temples. This form of Vairocana has four heads, sitting in lotus position with Dharma Realm Dhyana Mudra.Vairocana with Dharma-Wheel MudraVairocana with Dharma-Wheel Mudra (Sanskrit: Dharma-chakra Mudra) is a form of Vairocana often seen in Nepalese and Tibetan Buddhist artworks.Immovable Wisdom KingImmovable Wisdom King (Sanskrit: Acala Vidyā-Rāja) is a wrathful form of Vairocana. "Immovable" refers to True Thusness which is eternally changeless while manifesting all phenomena of the universe. Vairocana's cosmic formArtworks demonstrating Vairocana's cosmic form or Dharma-Body can be found in some ancient Chinese temples. Some of these artworks display Vairocana's cosmic form as a multi-layered complex, forming a fractal-like structure to demonstrate the cosmology of wholeness taught by Avatamsaka Sutra.
Overview
In Mahayana sutras
Vairocana ("Radiance" or "The Illuminator") is introduced in the Brahmajāla Sūtra (traditional Chinese: 梵網經; pinyin: Fànwǎng jīng), which states:
In the Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra, Vairocana is described as having attained enlightenment immeasurable eons ago and residing in a world purified by him while he was a bodhisattva. He also presides over an assembly of countless other bodhisattvas. The Buddhāvataṃsaka also sees Vairocana as a supreme cosmic Buddha who contains all world systems within his all-encompassing cosmic body.Takeuchi Yoshinori (editor). Buddhist Spirituality: Indian, Southeast Asian, Tibetan, and Early Chinese, page 161 The Avatamsaka sutra also states that the wisdom of the Buddha (the Tathagata) is present everywhere in the universe; indeed, it is present within every living being. Thus, the sutra states (in chapter 32, Manifestation of the Tathagata):Son of Buddha, the wisdom of Tathagata is present everywhere. Why? Son of Buddha, in the class of living beings there is no place where the wisdom of Tathagata is not present. Why is it that? The wisdom of Tathagata is not established due to grasping the discrimination/consciousness, because the omniscient wisdom, the self-existent wisdom and the non-obstructed wisdom perfectly appear in total disconnection with discrimination.According to Paul Williams, the Buddha "is said or implied at various places in this vast and heterogeneous sutra to be the universe itself, to be the same as 'absence of intrinsic existence' or emptiness, and to be the Buddha's all-pervading omniscient awareness." The very body of Vairocana is also seen as a reflection of the whole universe:The body of [Vairocana] Buddha is inconceivable. In his body are all sorts of lands of sentient beings. Even in a single pore are countless, immeasurable vast oceans.According to the Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra, the whole universe is a vast pure buddha-field which has been purified by Vairocana. This is the view of the Pure Land found in the Chinese Huayan tradition.Prince, Tony (2014). Universal Enlightenment, An introduction to the teachings and practices of Huayen Buddhism, pp. 222-223. . Kongting Publishing Company Ltd. Taiwan. According to this view, our world is just one small part of this universal Pure Land, which is named: "Ocean of worlds, whose surface and inside are decorated with an arrangement of flowers" (Sanskrit: ). It is also called the "Lotus Treasury World" (Chinese: , Skt. ), since it is an array of billions of buddha-lands (Skt. buddhakṣetra) located in a massive lotus flower shape.
In the cosmology of the Avatamsaka sutra, our Universe is just one of the immeasurable number of universes in a Multiverse called "Ocean of worlds, whose surface and inside are decorated with an arrangement of flowers" (Kusumatalagarbha-vyuhalamkara-lokadhatu-samudra). The Avatamsaka states that this entire cosmos has been purified by the Buddha Vairocana through his bodhisattva practices for countless aeons, after having met countless Buddhas. The sutra also states that our world is in Vairocana's buddhafield. Vairocana is closely associated with Shakyamuni Buddha; in some cases, he is even identified with him in the Avatamsaka Sutra. Huayan generally sees Shakyamuni as an emanation body (nirmanakaya) from the ultimate Buddha Vairocana ("The Illuminator").
In the Śūraṅgama mantra () taught in the Śūraṅgama sutra (), an especially influential dharani in the Chinese Chan tradition, Vairocana is mentioned to be the host of the Buddha Division in the centre, one of the five major divisions which dispels the vast demon armies of the five directions.
Vairocana is the central Buddha of numerous esoteric sutras (sometimes also called tantras), and he appears in sutras like the Vairocanābhisaṃbodhi Sūtra (Vairocana’s Awakening), the Vajrasekhara Sutra (Vajra Peak) and the Tattvasaṃgraha Tantra (Summation of Essential Principles).
Helen Hardacre, writing on the Mahavairocana Tantra, comments that Mahavairocana's virtues are deemed to be immanently universal within all beings: "The principle doctrine of the Dainichikyo is that all the virtues of Dainichi (Mahāvairocana) are inherent in us and in all sentient beings."Helen Hardacre, 'The Cave and the Womb World', in Tantric Buddhism in East Asia (Wisdom Publications, Boston, 2006), p. 215
Relationship with Śākyamuni
In the Buddhāvataṃsakasūtra, Śākyamuni Buddha is a magical emanation (nirmāṇakāya) of the cosmic Buddha Vairocana. Vairocana is certainly seen as a more cosmic and transcendent existence of Śākyamuni, who came to be seen as Vairochana's earthly manifestation. Similarly, the Brahmajala Sutra also states that Śākyamuni was originally named Vairocana, regarding the former as a physical incarnation (nirmāṇakāya) of the latter.
Vairocana is also mentioned as an epithet of Śākyamuni Buddha in the Samantabhadra Meditation Sutra (part of the Threefold Lotus Sutra). Thus, in Tiantai and Tendai, Vairocana is seen as synonymous with the Original Buddha of the Lotus Sutra's 16th chapter. The Samantabhadra Meditation Sutra states:Śākyamuni is called Vairocana, who pervades all places. This Buddha’s abode is called Eternally Quiescent Light: a place which is the Pāramitā of Permanence (nitya-pāramitā); a place which is established on the Pāramitā of Self (ātma-pāramitā); a place [where] the Pāramitā of Purity (śuddha-pāramitā) extinguishes the characteristics of existence; a place [where] the Pāramitā of Bliss (sukha-pāramitā)[leads to] the non-abiding of the characteristics of body and mind. It is a place [wherein] the existence or non-existence of the characteristics of all dharmas is not perceived. It is like the quiescence of liberation (i.e., nirvāṇa) and the culmination of the Prajñā Pāramitā because the phenomena (rūpa) there are permanently abiding dharmas; in like manner, you should contemplate the Buddhas of the ten directions.Dehn, Tyler (Rev. Jikai) (2023). "Buddha-Nature” (Foxing 佛性) in Zhanranʼs (湛然) Adamantine Scalpel Treatise (Jinʼgangpi Lun 金剛錍論), with special focus on its congruence with the Saddharmapundarika (Miaofalianhua Jing 妙法蓮華經) and Mahaparinirvana Sutras (Niepan Jing 涅槃經)", p. 78. Dissertation, Macquarie University
In East Asian Buddhism