Five Tathāgatas
Representations of the five qualities of the Adi-Buddha / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, the Five Tathāgatas (Skt: पञ्चतथागत, pañcatathāgata; (Ch: 五方佛, Wǔfāngfó) or Five Wisdom Tathāgatas (Ch: 五智如来, Wǔzhì Rúlái), the Five Great Buddhas, the Five Dhyani Buddhas or the Five Buddha Families and the Five Jinas (Skt. "conqueror" or "victor"), are five Buddhas which are often venerated together, along with their consorts. Various sources provide different names for these male and female Buddhas, though the most common today for the males are: Akshobhya, Ratnasambhava, Vairocana, Amitābha, and Amoghasiddhi.[1]
They are sometimes seen as emanations and representations of the five qualities of the Adi-Buddha or "first Buddha", which is associated with the Dharmakāya.[1] Some sources also include this "first Buddha" as a sixth Buddha along with the five.[1]
The Five Buddha Families are a common subject of Vajrayana mandalas and they feature prominently in various Buddhist Tantras as the father and mother Buddhas, together : Vairocana with Buddhalocana, Ratnasambhava with Buddhamamaki, Amitabha with Pandaravasini, Amoghasiddhi with Samayatara, and Vajrakshobya with Dhatvisvari.[2]
The Five Tathagathas is the primary object of realization and meditation in Shingon Buddhism, a school of Vajrayana Buddhism founded in Japan by Kūkai.
In Chinese Buddhism, veneration of the five Buddhas has dispersed from Chinese Esoteric Buddhism into other Chinese Buddhist traditions like Chan and Tiantai. They are regularly enshrined in many Chinese Buddhist temples and regularly invoked in rituals, such as the Liberation Rite of Water and Land and the Yoga Flaming Mouth ceremony (瑜伽焰口法會), as well as prayers and chants.[3][4]
They are also sometimes called the "dhyani-buddhas", a term first recorded in English by Brian Houghton Hodgson, a British Resident in Nepal,[5] in the early 19th century, and is unattested in any surviving traditional primary sources.[6]