Vajrapani bodhisattva

The mantra oṃ vajrapāṇi hūṃ phaṭ is associated with Vajrapāni.[9][10] His Seed Syllable is hūṃ.

Tibetan: ཨོཾ་བཛྲ་པཱ་ཎི་ཧཱུྂ༔

Vajrapāṇi (Sanskrit; Pali: Vajirapāṇi, meaning, "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.

Vajrapāni is extensively represented in Buddhist iconography as one of the earliest three protective deities or bodhisattvas surrounding the Buddha. Each of them symbolizes one of the Buddha's virtues: Manjushri manifests all the Buddhas' wisdom, Avalokiteśvara manifests all the Buddhas' immense compassion, and Vajrapāni protects Buddha and manifests all the Buddhas' power [1] as well as the power of all five tathāgatas (Buddhahood of the rank of Buddha).[2]

Vajrapāni is one of the earliest Dharmapalas of Mahayana Buddhism and also appears as a deity in the Pali Canon of the Theravada school. He is 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 Vajrapāni can also be found in many Buddhist temples in China, Taiwan and Japan as Dharma protectors guarding monastary and temple gates. Vajrapāni is also associated with Acala, where he is serenaded as the holder of the vajra.[3]

Vajrapani means one who holds the vajra, a thunderbolt-like weapon in his hand. He is the protector of Buddha and symbolises his power. He is a bodhisattva around the Buddha and also called Vajrasattva. He is thought to be the general of the yakshas as per the Golden Lotus-sutra. He forms a triad along with Bodhisattva Avalokiteswara and Amitabha in some forms of Buddhism.

    Vajrapani is mostly depicted with a wrathful,angry expression; holding the vajra in his right hand. He sometimes wears a skull-crown but usually a five-pointed crown representing the  five Dhyani Buddhas.

     Vajrapani has many forms. He is called Dhyani-Bodhisattva equivalent to Akshobhya. He is referred to as Acharya Vajrapani in his role as Dharmapala with a third eye, a bell and a lasso. He is called Nilambara-Vajrapani when he has one head and four arms and treading on snakes. As Mahachakra-Vajrapani he has three heads , six arms and carrying the vajra and snakes. He is also depicted with the head,wings and claws of Garuda, when he takes this form to protect the nagas who came to worship Lord Buddha from the birds who devour snakes.

      In different countries where Buddhism flourished he is seen in different depictions.In Nepal he is white in paintings.In Cambodia he has four arms. In Japan he is seen depicted in mandalas. In Tibet he is seen in many fierce forms. His Indian depictions are many. In Gandhara art he is the protector of the Buddha.He is on one side of the Buddha along with Padmapani on the other at Cave No.1  of Ajanta caves at Aurangabad in Maharashtra.

     Vajrapani is believed to rock the mountains with his weapon vajra as mentioned in some Buddhist texts.

Vajrapani,7th century,Ajanta caves, Maharashtra,India.

By Indischer Maler des 7. Jahrhunderts [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Vajrapani, 8th-9th century,Lalitagiri, Odisha.

I, Sailko [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Vajrapani,  wall painting , Caves of the Statues, Kizil, 406-425 AD,Ethnological Museum, Berlin.

By Daderot (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

 Vajrapani, 9th century, Tibet,British Museum,UK.

By Anonymus (British Museum) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Vajrapani, 1731, gilt bronze, Nepal, Norton Simon Museum.

Different names in different country :

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Sanskrit

वज्रपाणि

Vajrapāṇi

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Pāli

वजिरपाणि

Vajirapāṇi

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Chinese

金剛手菩薩

(Pinyin: Jīngāngshǒu Púsà)

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Japanese

金剛手菩薩こんごうしゅぼさつ

(romaji: Kongōshu Bosatsu)

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Khmer

វជ្របាណិ

(vach-cheak-baa)

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Korean

금강수보살

(RR: Geumgangsu Bosal)

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Thai

พระวัชรปาณีโพธิสัตว์

(Phra Watcharapani Phothisat)

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Tibetan

ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ་

Wylie: phyag na rdo rje

THL: chak na dorje

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Vietnamese

Kim Cương Thủ Bồ Tát

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Information

Venerated by

Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana