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Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
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Spirit name "AKSOBHYA (imperturbable)" | Buddhist / India | The second dbyani buddba or meditation buddha. One of five mystic spiritual counterparts of a human buddha in Vajrayana Buddhism. Emanations include HERUKA, MANJUSRI, VAJRAPANI and a large number of minor names. See also AMITABHA, AMOGHASIDDHI, RATNASAMBHAVA and VAIROCANA.... |
Spirit name "AMITABHA" | Buddhist / India | The fourth dhyani buddha or meditation buddha. One of five mystic spiritual counterparts of a human buddha in Vajrayana Buddhism. Color: red. Attributes: lock of hair, lotus, monk's robe and water jar. Amitabha is also taken as a tutelary god in Lamaism [Tibet] in which case his attributes include bell, jewel and three monkish robes. Emanations include PADMAPANI, MANJUSRI and many other minor names. See also AKSOBHYA, AMOGHASIDDHI, RATNASAMBHAVA and VAIROCANA.... |
Spirit name "AMOGHASIDDHI" | Buddhist / India | The fifth dhyanibuddha or meditation buddha. One of five mystic spiritual counterparts of a human buddha in Vajrayana Buddhism. Color: green. Attributes: staff and sometimes seven-headed snake. Amoghasiddhi is also taken as a tutelary deity in Lamaism [Tibet] in which case his attributes include bell, three monkish robes and prayer wheel. Emanations include Visvapani and many other minor names. See also AKSOBHYA, AMITABHA, RATNASAMBHAVA and VAIROCANA.... |
Goddess name "AVALOKITESVARA (merciful lord)" | Buddhist / India | Bodhisattva or buddhadesignate. One of the most important deities of the Mahayana sect of Buddhism. In Lamaism he is the tutelary god of Tibet. He equates with VIS NU in Hinduism and bears links with PADMAPANI. In cosmic mythology he is a creator deity. Color: white or red. Attributes: blue lotus, image of Amitabha (topmost pyramidal head), lotus, rosary, sword and water jar. NOTE: in Chinese Buddhism he is represented by the goddess Kuan-Tin, and in Japanese by KWANNON.... |
God name "Acala" | India / Buddhism | This god is protector of of the teaching & defends temples |
King name "Acala aka Achala" | Buddhist / India | Acala, is the best known of the Five Wisdom kings of the Womb Realm. Acala means "The Immovable One" in Sanskrit. Acala is also the name of the eighth of the ten stages of the path to buddhahood. Acala is the destroyer of delusion and the protector of Buddhism. Buddhist / India |
God name "Aizen-Myo-o" | Japan / Shinto | The god of love and lust. Originally a Hindu deity, Ragaraja, Aizen Myo-o became part of Buddhism, and Kobo Daishi Kukai transmitted the teaching of him to Japan. Japan / Shinto |
Spirit name "Akasagarbha (essence of tbe sky)" | Buddhist / Mahayana / / Lamaist / Tibet | Astral god. One of the BODHISATTVAS or spiritual meditation buddhas. He lives in the womb of the sky. Color: green. Attributes: Book, jewel, lotus and Sun disc. Also Khagarbha. In Japanese Buddhism this deity becomes the god Kokuzo.... |
"Amitabha" | Buddhist / India | A celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahayana school of Buddhism. According to these scriptures, Amitabha possesses infinite merits resulting from good deeds over countless past lives as a bodhisattva named Dharmakara. Buddhist / India |
Spirit name "Amoghasiddhi" | Buddhist | Fifth meditation Buddha. He is one of five mystic spiritual counterparts of the human buddha in Vajrayana Buddhism; a product of Adibuddha who represents the branch of the cosmos concerned with consciousness. Buddhist |
God name "BUDDHA" | Buddhist / India | The founder of Buddhism. The deity is regarded as having been an historical figure, born at Kapilavastu near Gorakhpur. He died at Kusinagara in circa 486 BC. His father was SUDDHODANA of the Sakya clan, his mother was MAYA and his wife YASODHARA. Buddha is, in certain respects, the equal of the Hindu god VIS NU. H... |
King name "Bhrkuti-Tara" | Buddhist / Tibet | The Nepalese queen of Tibet's first great religious king, songtsen Gambo and credited with the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet and China. In the Lamaeist Tradition, Bhrkuti-Tara is incarnate in all good women. Buddhist / Tibet |
King name "Binzuru-Sonja" | Japan | One of the pupils of Buddha, the first of the sixteen Rakan. Rakan with grey hair and long eyebrows. Originally he was a retainer of the king, Uuten. He became a priest and attained miracle power by performing Arakan's vow. It is said that he was praised by Shaka for he used the miracle power for the world and that he didn't enter Nirvana and made efforts cultivating ordinary people. He was worshipped on the above in Theravada Buddhism, however, many are worshipped in restaurants in China. He is enshrined in front of a temple in Japan. It is believed that stroking him eliminates distresses. Japan |
Deities name "Cakra (wheel)" | Hindu | Embodiment of the creator's mind. Emerging in the form of a six-spoked wheel (less frequently eight) which also epitomizes the påśśage of time, and is a symbol of wholeness and protection. Particularly åśśociated with VISNU and KRSNA, the cakra is a common attribute held by many deities. It is probably of great antiquity since it is known from the time of the Indus Valley civilization (prior to 1700 BC). In Jainism and Buddhism it is the wheel of the law which leads to perfection.... |
"Da-Shi-Zhi Buddhism" | China | A female Bodhisattva |
God name "Dadimunda" | Sri Lanka | Treasurer of the god Upulvan and protector of Buddhism. Sri Lanka |
God name "Dadimunda" | Singhalese Buddhist / Sri Lanka | Tutelary god. An attendant on the god UPULVAN to whom he acted as treasurer. The guardian of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. His sacred animal is an elephant. Also Devata bandara.... |
Deities name "Heruka" | Buddhist / Mahayana | God. One of the most popular deities in the pantheon, though probably owing much to the influence of the Hindu god S IWA. Originally an epithet for another Hindu god, GANESA, but in Buddhism seen as an emanation of AKSOBHYA. His SAKTI is NAIRAMATA and the product of their liaison is nirvana (eternal bliss). Typically he stands upon a corpse. In northeastern India, Heruka is worshiped as a compåśśionate god. Attributes: club, flayed human skin, image of Aksobhya, jewel, knife, fifty skulls, sword, staff and teeth.... |
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Once he was asked to Buddha by a disciple if God exists? He refused to answer. When he was harassed, he said that if you have a stomach ache, then focus on pain relief or study the doctor's prescription. "It's not my business or yours to know if there is a God - Our job is to eliminate the suffering of the world."
Buddhism provides the Dhamma or the "impersonal law" instead of God. However, it could not satisfy the thirst of human beings and the religion of self-help was to be converted into a religion of promise and hope. The Hinayana sect could not offer any promise of outside help to people. The Mahayana sect taught that the watchful and compassionate eye of Buddha are on all miserable beings, thus making a God apart from Buddha. Many scholars consider the evolution of God in Buddhism as a production (branch) of Hinduism.
Many Buddhists have adopted the local god and therefore the religion of "No God" has been transformed into a religion "Many-gods" - big and small, strong and weak, and male and female. "The God-man" appears on earth in human form and incarnates from time to time. Buddha was against the caste system prevalent in Hindu society.
On the Life of Buddha, Metaphysics & Philosophy of Buddhist Religion