Vajrapani
Vajrapāṇi (Sanskrit, "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.
Vajrapani is extensively represented in Buddhist iconography as one of the three protective deities surrounding the Buddha. Each of them symbolizes one of the Buddha's virtues: Mañjuśrī manifests all the Buddhas' wisdom, Avalokiteśvara manifests all the Buddhas' compassion and Vajrapani manifests all the Buddhas' power as well as the power of all five tathāgatas.
Vajrapani is one of the earliest Dharmapalas and the only Buddhist deity to be mentioned in the Pāli Canon as well as be worshiped in the Shaolin Monastery, in Tibetan Buddhism and in Pure Land Buddhism (where he is known as Mahasthamaprapta and forms a triad with Amitābha and Avalokiteśvara). Manifestations of Vajrapani can also be found in many Buddhist temples in Japan as dharma protectors called Nio. Vajrapani is also associated with Acala, who is venerated as Fudo-Myō in Japan, where he is serenaded as the holder of the vajra. (Wikipedia)
Buddha and Vajrapani
#1: Buddha and Vajrapani, Gandhara 2nd Century
Image source: commons.wikimedia.org
Vajrapani’s first representations in India were identified with the thunder deity. As Buddhism expanded in Central Asia, and fused with Hellenistic influences into Greco-Buddhism, the Greek hero Hercules was adopted to represent Vajrapani. He was then typically depicted as a hairy, muscular athlete, wielding a short "diamond" club.
Vajrapani
Vajrapani (from Sanskrit vajra, "thunderbolt" or "diamond" and pani, "in the hand") is one of the earliest bodhisattvas of Mahayana Buddhism. He is the protector and guide of the Buddha, and rose to symbolize the Buddha's power.
Vajrapani was used extensively in Buddhist iconography as one of the three protective deities surrounding the Buddha. Each of them symbolizes one of the Buddha's virtues: Manjusri (the manifestation of all the Buddhas' wisdom), Avalokitesvara (the manifestation of all the Buddhas' compassion) and Vajrapani (the manifestation of all the Buddhas' power).
His taut posture is the active warrior pose (pratayalidha), based on an archer's stance but resembling the en garde position in Western fencing.
His outstretched right hand brandishes a vajra (a dorje) and his left hand deftly holds a lasso (noose or fetter)- with which he binds demons. He wears a skull crown with his hair standing on end. His expression is wrathful and he has a third eye. Around his neck is a serpent necklace and his loin cloth is made up of the skin of a tiger, whose head can be seen on his right knee.
The Pali Canon's Ambattha Suttanta tells of one instance of him protecting the Buddha's honor. A young Brahmin named Ambatha visited the Buddha and insulted him by saying the Shaykya clan (the enlightened one's family) were abjects who should revere the Brahmins. In return, the Buddha asked the Brahmin if his family was descended from a “Shakya slave girl”. However, Ambatha further insulted the Buddha by not answering his question. When he failed to answer the question for a second time, the Buddha warned him that his head would be smashed to bits if he failed to do so a third time.
(Note: there is a traditional belief that if you refuse to answer the question of an enlightened one three times, your head will split in seven pieces.)
Ambatha was frightened when he saw Vajrapani manifest above the Buddha's head ready to strike the Brahmin down with his thunderbolt. He quickly confirmed the truth.
Iconographically, he is encountered in a yellow peaceful form or a dark blue wrathful form. In peaceful form, he balances the vajra upon his palm in non-threatening way. In wrathful form, he wields a vajra in his right hand in warning as if to throw it and holds a lasso in his left hand.
Vajrapani is a member, along with Avalokiteshvara and Manjushri, of the trinity of Bodhisattvas known as the Three Family Protectors.
The three-headed six-armed Mahachakra is a wrathful form of Vajrapani in action.
Vajrapani
Lrft: Vajrapani
Right: Vajrapani Tibetan, 12th–13th century, Cast copper alloy, h. 12 in. (30.5 cm);
Image source: Multiple sources San Antonio Museum of Art
The three-headed six-armed Mahacakra Vajrapani
The three-headed six-armed Vajrapani Mahachakra tramples on two figures, wields the vajra in his right hand and devours a serpent while grasping its body. His consort wields a skullcup.
Mahacakra Vajrapani
The three-headed six-armed Mahachakra is a wrathful form of Vajrapani in action.
Image source: commons.wikimedia.org
Mahacakra Vajrapani
The three-headed six-armed Mahachakra is a wrathful form of Vajrapani in action.
Image source: commons.wikimedia.org
Buddha and Vajrapani
#1: Buddha and Vajrapani, Gandhara 2nd Century
Image source: commons.wikimedia.org
Vajrapani’s first representations in India were identified with the thunder deity. As Buddhism expanded in Central Asia, and fused with Hellenistic influences into Greco-Buddhism, the Greek hero Hercules was adopted to represent Vajrapani. He was then typically depicted as a hairy, muscular athlete, wielding a short "diamond" club.
Iconographical evolution of the Greek Herakles into the Japanese Shukongoshin.
Iconographical evolution of the Greek Herakles into the Japanese Shukongoshin.
Kongorikishi are an interesting case of the possible transmission of the image of the Greek hero Heracles to East Asia along the Silk Road. Heracles was used in Greco-Buddhist art to represent Vajrapani, the protector of the Buddha, and his representation was then used in China and Japan to depict the protector gods of Buddhist temples. This transmission is part of the wider Greco-Buddhist syncretic phenomenon, where Buddhism interacted with the Hellenistic culture of Central Asia from the 4th century BC to the 4th century AD.---Wikipedia.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
Vajrapani (Museum fur Indische Kunst, Berlin)
Wall painting of Seated Vajrapani
Wall painting, 57x 40 cm. Kizil, Cave of the Statues, ca. 500
Museum fur Indische Kunst (MIK III 8839)
Vajrapani, shown here gracefully seated on a wicker
stool, is often described merely as the guardian spirit
of the Buddha; actually he was one of the most fascinating and ambiguous, as well as one of the most
often and variously represented, personalities among
the Buddha's following. In his left hand he holds the
vajra, the thunderbolt, which here resembles a scepter
rather than a weapon. With his right he fans the Buddha, of whose figure only parts have been preserved.
Like No. 9, this fragment was originally part of a scene
of the Buddha preaching.
Vajrapani is elaborately draped in chains and strings
of beads or metal disks. He wears a brown skirt with
ruffled green borders, and suspended from his head-dress long green scarves whose ends almost touch the
ground. His divinity is indicated by a halo. On his
head is a diadem decorated with beads and disks, with
a white band hanging from either side; rising from it
are plumes of feathers at the sides and in the center
a large ornamented disk. Similar diadems appear in
Sasanian art — for example, on a stone relief of the third century A.D. from Sar Meshed that depicts King
Bahram II as a lion slayer (Ghirshman 1962, figs. 215,
216). Roman Ghirshman has pointed out that a royal
crown decorated with eagle feathers was originally
the symbol of the Avestian god of victory, Verethragna. Verethragna had the same function as Indra,
the Vedic god of war, who was included in the Buddhist pantheon.
Visible at the right edge of this fragment is the bare
knee of the Buddha, who was seated on a carpeted
throne. Below it are two sharp-beaked falconlike birds,
one perched on the ground, the other diving from
above.
Vajrapani's almond-shaped eyes, his narrow mustache, and his cross-shaped navel are characteristics
that are very commonly found in contemporary Indian art.
Vajrapani (Museum fur Indische Kunst, Berlin)
Wall painting of Vajrapani
Wall painting, 80.0 x 49.5 cm. Khocho, Temple a, 9th century
Museum fur Indische Kunst (MIK III 4459a,b)
This fragment of a painting was recovered from the
rubble in the side passage to the north of the cella. It
is also part of a Pranidhi scene. As it lay at the inner
corner of the external wall, we may assume that the
various series of pictures that extended along the walls
ended at each corner with a figure like this.
Depicted is a Vajrapani with an angry look on his
face; he has long, blue, wavy hair and beard; the eyes
and mouth are open wide. His left hand, which once
held the vajra, has been destroyed, but parts of his
armor are still visible. On the right can be seen the
remains of a decorative border, which separated this
picture from the one next to it.
Like all the paintings from this temple, the fragment
reveals the hand of a master.