The great tree which is Buddhism must spread wide and high within our conscious mind, but its roots must go deep down into our unconscious.
Myths and Symbols
Along with the teachings and practices of Buddhism and the community of practitioners, Buddhism also communicates through stories, myths and symbols. When we look at Buddhist art or read Buddhist texts we often encounter a very different realm from that of detailed lists and easily accessible practices. This is the realm of myth and symbol, which speaks to us on a deeper level than conscious awareness alone.
The Life of the Buddha
The central Buddhist myth is the Life of the Buddha, which traces the Buddha’s spiritual journey to Awakening. Buddhists tell this story again and again because, like all great myths, it is rich in meaning and provides a symbolic map of the path that all Buddhists undertake to follow.
Some elements of the story are seemingly realistic; others are more symbolic, such as the encounter of the Buddha-to-be with the demonic figure of Mara, who urges him to turn back just when he has reached the verge of Enlightenment. Other mythic or legendary Buddhist stories describe the Buddha’s previous lives.
Throughout history, Buddhists have depicted these stories artistically. The central Buddhist image is the seated Buddha, which appears on millions of shrines and provides the focal point for temples across the Buddhist world. These images are famous for the sense of peace they exude. For Buddhists, they express all the qualities of Enlightenment, and are a focus of Buddhist devotional rituals.
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
For Mahayana Buddhism (the main form of Buddhism in China and East Asia), framing the Buddha’s life in a historically recognisable setting did not fully express the scope and grandeur of his status as a perfectly enlightened being. It saw Enlightenment as a timeless state, and envisaged a universe filled with Buddha figures, as well as bodhisattvas – beings who are destined for Enlightenment but have not yet reached it and respond compassionately to the needs of humanity.
The symbolism associated with each of these figures includes not just their appearance but the implements they carry and the mantra, or sacred sound, with which they are associated.
Listen to modern settings of some of these traditional mantras here
The Five Buddhas
The principal Buddhas of the Mahayana are five ‘archetypal’ figures, each of whom is associated with a rich symbolism. The best known of the Buddhas is Amitabha (also known in Japan as Amida), the red Buddha of the western direction, who is associated with meditation, the setting sun and the warmth of compassion.
The other Buddhas are the blue Buddha, Akshobhya; the golden Buddha Ratnasambhava; the green Buddha Amoghasiddhi; and the white Buddha Vairocana.
Tara
Tara, a bodhisattva figure, is represented in numerous forms (as are the other figures mentioned here), but the most common is Green Tara. In this form Tara takes the form of a beautiful young woman who is adorned with jewels and silks. Her skin is a deep, lustrous green and in her right hand she holds the stem of a blue lotus flower. Tara embodies kindness and love in a very immediate form that is a constant source of support and encouragement. In other forms, Tara may be white or red, and she is sometimes a mature woman rather than a girl. In all these forms, Tara is loved and revered throughout Tibetan culture and far beyond.
Padmasambhava
Tradition says that Padmasambhava, or Guru Rimpoche, was a real person who helped establish Buddhism in Tibet in the Eighth Century. His greatest act was subduing the demonic forces that were awake in the country and turning them into protectors of Buddhism. Stories such as this give Padmasambhava’s life a mythic quality that raises him to the level of an archetypal figure who embodies the qualities of a wizard.
In his right hand Padmasambhava holds a vajra, a symbolic implement that is both a diamond and a thunderbolt, representing his spiritual power and his ability to overcome obstructions.
Manjushri
Manjushri is the personification of wisdom in the form of an elegant, youthful male figure. In one hand he carries a sword, representing the wisdom that cuts through confusion and unhelpful beliefs, and in the other he holds the stem of a lotus flower that supports a volume of the Perfection of Wisdom scriptures.
Avalokitesvara
Along with wisdom, Enlightenment includes compassion, and Avalokiteshvara (meaning ‘the lord who gazes down’) is its embodiment. He is sometimes represented in the form of prince, but often he has many arms enabling him to reach out to beings in many ways. He sometimes has many heads, so he can look in all directions. In China Avalokiteshvara transformed into the elegant female figure of Quan Yin.
Avalokitesvhara’s mantra, om mani padme hum, is perhaps the best known of all Buddhist mantras. Listen to a group chanting of the Avalokitesvara mantra
