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Vairocana ("The Sun", "Solar" or "Shining" in Sanskrit Meaning of Sanskrit word "Vairocana" in Mahayana Buddhism), also known as Mahāvairocana (Great Sun), is a major Buddhahood 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 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 "大日如來" (Great Sun Thus Come One) or "毘盧遮那佛" (Vairocana Buddha).
In Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, Vairocana is the Dharma-Body of all Buddhas (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") (2025). 9780691157863, Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691157863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
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 Dharmadhatu, 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)
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".
Vajra Realm Vairocana | Vairocana 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 Vairocana | Vairocana 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 Mudra | Vairocana Buddha with Vairocana Mudra (毗盧印) is a commonly seen manifestation of Vairocana in Chinese Buddhism. |
Omniscient Vairocana | Omniscient Vairocana (Sanskrit: Sarvavid Vairocana) is a supreme manifestation of Vairocana seen in Tibetan 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 Mudra | Vairocana with Dharma-Wheel Mudra (Sanskrit: Dharma-chakra Mudra) is a form of Vairocana often seen in Nepalese and Tibetan Buddhist artworks. |
Acala | Immovable 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 form | Artworks 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. |
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 . 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 Omniscience 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 Pure Land which is 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: ).Susumu, Otake, "Sakyamuni and Vairocana", in Gimello et al. (2012). Avataṃsaka Buddhism in East Asia: Huayan, Kegon, Flower Ornament Buddhism ; origins and adaptation of a visual culture, p. 37. Asiatische Forschungen: Monographienreihe zur Geschichte, Kultur und Sprache der Völker Ost- u. Zentralasiens, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, It is also called the "Lotus Treasury World" (Chinese: 華蔵世界, 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).Susumu, Otake, "Sakyamuni and Vairocana", in Gimello at al. (2012), p. 37. 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 Pure land.Susumu, Otake, "Sakyamuni and Vairocana", in Gimello at al. (2012), p. 38. Vairocana is closely associated with Shakyamuni Buddha, in some cases he is even identified with him in the Avatamsaka Sutra.Susumu, Otake, "Sakyamuni and Vairocana", in Gimello at al. (2012), p. 39. Huayan generally sees Shakyamuni as an emanation body (nirmanakaya) from the ultimate Buddha Vairocana ("The Illuminator").Lin, Weiyu (2021). Exegesis-philosophy interplay : introduction to Fazang's (643-712) commentary on the Huayan jing (60 juans) [Skt. Avataṃsaka Sūtra; Flower garland sūtra] — the Huayan jing tanxuan ji [record of investigating the mystery of the Huayan jing]. p. 32. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Library.
In the Śūraṅgama mantra (p=Léngyán Zhòu) taught in the Śūraṅgama sutra (links=no), an especially influential dharani in the Chan Buddhism, 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. (2025). 9780881399622, Buddhist Text Translation Society. ISBN 9780881399622
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
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
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 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
According to Fazang, while the nirmanakaya Shakyamuni taught the other Mahayana sutras, Vairocana teaches the Avatamsaka Sutra through his ten bodies which are: the All-Beings Body, the Lands Body, the Karma Body, the Śrāvakas Body, the Pratyekabuddha Body, the Bodhisattvas Body, the Tathāgatas Body, the Wisdom Body, the Dharma Body, and the Space Body.Lin, Weiyu (2021). Exegesis-philosophy interplay : introduction to Fazang's (643-712) commentary on the Huayan jing (60 juans) [Skt. Avataṃsaka Sūtra; Flower garland sūtra] — the Huayan jing tanxuan ji [record of investigating the mystery of the Huayan jing]. p. 33. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Library. Fazang sees these ten bodies as encompassing all phenomena (animate and inanimate) in the "three realms", i.e. the entire universe.Lin, Weiyu (2021). Exegesis-philosophy interplay : introduction to Fazang's (643-712) commentary on the Huayan jing (60 juans) [Skt. Avataṃsaka Sūtra; Flower garland sūtra] — the Huayan jing tanxuan ji [record of investigating the mystery of the Huayan jing]. p. 34. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Library.
In Chinese Buddhism and Japanese Buddhism, Vairocana was gradually superseded as an object of reverence by the popularity of Amitābha, due in large part to the increasing popularity of Pure Land Buddhism, but veneration of Vairocana still remains popular among adherents and remains a central object of devotion in Tendai, Shingon Buddhism, and the Huayan schools.
During the initial stages of his mission in Japan, the Catholic missionary Francis Xavier was welcomed by the Shingon monks since he used Dainichi, the Japanese name for Vairocana, to designate the Christian God. As Xavier learned more about the religious nuances of the word, he substituted the term Deusu, which he derived from the Latin and Portuguese Deus. Francis Xavier and the Land of the Rising Sun: Dainichi and Deus, Matthew Ropp, 1997.
A common basic mantra is the following:
Oṃ Vairocana Vaṃ
/ref> In the subsection detailing the ritual for celebrating Śākyamuni Buddha's Birthday (釋迦佛誕; Shìjiā Fó dàn), the manual states that the ritual's participants should chant the Mantra of Light seven times in front of a statue of the infant Buddha before bathing the statue of the Buddha with water (浴佛 Yùfó).
Most notably, the mantra is commonly used during the Shuilu Fahui ceremony (水陸法會), an elaborate, multi-day ritual that was first compiled during the Northern and Southern dynasties period and subsequently further extended during the Song dynasty, Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty dynasties. During the Shuilu Fahui ceremony, all enlightened and unenlightened beings in saṃsāra are invoked and invited to attend and partake in the physical and spiritual nourishment provided. In the most widely used version of the liturgy for the ceremony, the Shuilu fahui yigui ben
/ref> Today, the mantra and the liturgy remains in use during Shuilu Fahui ceremonies, which continues to be one of the most popular Chinese Buddhist rituals in contemporary times.
In addition, the mantra is also traditionally grouped as one of the "Four Great Blessings" (四大祝延) or "Praises of Blessings" (祝延讚), which is a quartet of mantras and prayers consisting of the Mantra of Light, the " Oṃ maṇi padme hūm̐" mantra, the Dhāraṇī of the Holy Tathāgata of Immeasurable Lifespan, King of Determined Radiance as well as a prayer for the health and longevity of the emperor (which has been updated in modern times to pray for the people instead). When considered within this grouping, the Mantra of Light is usually referred to by its first few syllables " Ong Amujia" (唵 阿穆伽), and its transliteration in most common Chinese liturgical texts such as the Chanmen Risong (禪門日誦; lit: "Daily Recitations of the Chan Buddhism Gate") and the Fomen Bibei (佛門必備, lit: "Essentials of the Buddhist Gate") is transliteration version 3 in the Mantra section above, with only minor differences between texts. In modern times, the "Four Great Blessings", inclusive of the Mantra of Light, continue to be recited by monastics during events such as the Buddha's birthday and during retreats.
In the 13th century, the Mantra of Light was widely popularized by the monk Myoe (1173–1232), and later by Shingon monks Eison and Ninshō in their ministries. Myoe famously taught the Mantra of Light as a way to purify bad karma and to achieve birth in Sukhavati (or other Pure Land if one wished), seeing it as an alternative to the Nianfo.Unno (2004), pp. 21-26. He even wrote a work on it, Recommending Faith in the Sand of the Mantra of Light (光明真言土砂勸信記; Kōmyō shingon dosha kanjinki). He recommended the mantra widely to his followers, especially to laypersons. Eison (1201–1290) is known for convening "Mantra of Light Assemblies" at Saidai-ji, which were joined by male and female monastics and laypersons who took the eight precepts for seven days and recited the Mantra of Light. Both the Mantra and the nembutsu were often incorporated by medieval Buddhists at one time or another, often in the same service. A common practice for the Mantra of Light was to sprinkle pure sand, blessed with this mantra, on the body of a deceased person or their tomb, based on teachings expounded in the Sutra. The belief was that a person who had accumulated much bad karma, and possible rebirth in Avici would be immediately freed and allowed a favorable rebirth into the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha. This practice is known as 土砂加持 in Japanese.
Today, the mantra remains one of the most popular mantras in Shingon Buddhism and is also used in Tendai, Zen and Kegon liturgy.
aḥ vi ra hūṃ khaṃEach syllable is correlated with earth, water, fire, air, space respectively, while Vairocana is the sixth element - consciousness (vijñana). In the Mahavairocana sutra the mantra appears as: Namaḥ samanta-buddhānām a vi ra hūṃ khaṃ. According to East Asian Vajrayana writers like Kakuban, this mantra can lead to enlightenment. According to translator Dale A. Todaro, the mantra's syllables have numerous symbolic correlations aside from the five elements, including: "the Five Buddhas (Mahavairocana, Aksobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, and Amoghasiddhi respectively); the five colors yellow, white, red, black, and blue; five organs (liver, lungs, heart, kidneys, spleen); five Chinese elements (wood, metal, fire, water, earth); and so on."
A slightly longer variation of this mantra, also found in Shingon is:
Oṃ a vi ra hūṃ khaṃ vajra dhātu vaṃThis version includes another mantra associated with the Vajra Realm Mandala.
There is another five element mantra of Vairocana, which is:Soothill, William Edward; Hodous, Lewis. A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms: With Sanskrit and English Equivalents and a Sanskrit-Pali Index, p. 293. 1977. Motilal Banarsidass Publ.Snodgrass, Adrian. The Matrix and Diamond World Mandalas in Shingon Buddhism, p. 748. Aditya Prakashan, 1988
A vaṃ raṃ haṃ khaṃAn alternate version sometimes appears with a Buddha vandana (homage) as follows:
Namaḥ samanta-buddhānām A vaṃ raṃ haṃ khaṃ"A" is the seed syllable mantra (bījamantra) of Vairocana in the Womb Realm, while "Vaṃ" is the seed syllable of Vairocana in the Vajradhātu mandala. Thus, this five element mantra contains both main seed syllables of Vairocana in the East Asian Esoteric tradition. Furthermore, these two seed syllables are sometimes combined into one mantra: "A-Vaṃ".
The dharani is as follows:FPMT, 2021. Ten Powerful Mantras for the Time of Death.Baruah, Bibhuti (2000) Buddhist Sects and Sectarianism, pp. 205-206. Sarup & Sons.
OṂ namo bhagavate sarva durgati pariśodhana rājāya tathāgatāyārhate samyaksambudhāya tadyathāOṂ śodhane śodhane sarva pāpam viśodhani śuddhe viśuddhe sarvakarmāvarana viśodhani svāhā! Skorupski, Tadeusz. The Sarvadurgatipariśodhana Tantra: Elimination of All Evil Destinies : Sanskrit and Tibetan Texts, Motilal Banarsidass, 1983, p. 126.
The Spring Temple Buddha of Lushan County, Henan, China, depicts Vairocana. With a height of 126 meters, it is the second tallest statue in the world ( see list of tallest statues).
The Daibutsu in the Tōdai-ji in Nara, Japan, is the largest bronze image of Vairocana in the world.
The larger of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan that were destroyed by the Taliban was also a depiction of Vairocana.
In Java, Indonesia, the ninth-century Mendut temple near Borobudur in Magelang was dedicated to the Dhyani Buddha Vairocana. Built by the Shailendra dynasty, the temple featured a three-meter tall stone statue of Vairocana, seated and performing the dharmachakra mudrā. The statue is flanked with statues of the bodhisattvas Avalokiteśvara and Vajrapani.
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