Skip to content
Vajrapani
EntityQ1366849· pop 34· linked from 2,222 articles

Also known as Vajrapāṇi

' (Sanskrit; Pali: Vajirapāṇi,' 'holder of the thunderbolt', lit. meaning, "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.

Key facts

Buddha.name
Vajrapāṇi
Buddha.image
Vajrapani from Rig Sum Gonpo (Lords of the Three Families), view 1, collected by Sven Hedin in 1930, Efi Khalkha temple, Chahar, Inner Mongolia - Östasiatiska museet, Stockholm - DSC09310.JPG
Buddha.caption
Vajrapāṇi from Rig Sum Gonpo (Lords of the Three Families), collected by Sven Hedin in 1930, Efi Khalkha Temple, Chahar, Inner Mongolia. Housed in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm.
Buddha.sanskrit_name
वज्रपाणि Vajrapāṇi
Buddha.bengali_name
বজ্রপাণি
Buddha.pali_name
वजिरपाणि Vajirapāṇi
Buddha.chinese_name
金剛手菩薩(Pinyin: Jīngāngshǒu Púsà)
Buddha.japanese_name
(romaji: Kongōshu Bosatsu)
Buddha.tibetan_name
ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ་Wylie: phyag na rdo rjeTHL: chak na dorje
Buddha.khmer_name
វជ្របាណិ(vach-cheak-baa)
Buddha.korean_name
금강수보살(RR: Geumgangsu Bosal)
Buddha.tagalog_name
Baklapani
Buddha.thai_name
พระวัชรปาณีโพธิสัตว์(Phra Watcharapani Phothisat)
Buddha.mongolian_name
Очирваань
Buddha.vietnamese_name
Kim Cương Thủ Bồ Tát
Buddha.veneration
Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Image
Bodhisattva Vajrapani, India, western Himalayas, 12th-14th century AD, bronze - Linden-Museum - Stuttgart, Germany - DSC03834.jpg
Show 1 more fact
Commons category
Vajrapani
Sources (2)

via Wikidata · CC0

~24 min read

Article

26 sections
Contents
  • Etymology
  • Forms
  • Mantras
  • Legends
  • Meaning
  • Features and identifications
  • Identification with Heracles
  • In India
  • In China
  • In Japan
  • In Indonesia
  • In Cambodia
  • In Nepal
  • In Tibet
  • In Vietnam
  • In literature and art
  • Stories
  • Conversion of Ambattha
  • Vajrapāni and Maheśvara
  • Patron saint of Shaolin monastery
  • Gallery
  • References
  • Citations
  • General and cited references
  • Further reading
  • External links

' (Sanskrit; Pali: Vajirapāṇi,' 'holder of the thunderbolt', lit. meaning, "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.

Vajrapāni is also called Chana Dorji and Chador and extensively represented in Buddhist iconography as one of the earliest three protective deities or bodhisattvas surrounding the Buddha. Each of them symbolizes one of the Buddha's virtues: Manjushri manifests all the Buddhas' wisdom, Avalokiteśvara manifests all the Buddhas' immense compassion, and Vajrapāni protects Buddha and manifests all the Buddhas' power as well as the power of all five tathāgatas (Buddhahood of the rank of Buddha).

Gallery (16)

Connections

Categories