The Buddhist concept of Bodhisattva

1. THE BODHISATTVA DOCTRINE

4. Japan, Bodhisattva, Heian Period Late 12th Century, Wood with Gold Leaf Stone Statue at Ryutakuji Temple

7. Seated Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Kannon) 1300?400 AD. Gilded bronze. National Museum of Korea, Seoul, D801 Bodhisattva Dated +1224 Daiho-on-ji Temple, Kyoto

9. Avalokitesvara. Anuradhapura period, 8-9 century. Gilt bronze; solid cast.

10. ARAHANTS 734 AD, Kofukuji Temple, Japan (L) Ragora (M) Subodai (R) Furuna Otagi Nenbutsuji Temple, Arashiyama, Kyoto

11. Someone is called a Bodhisattva if he is certain to become a Buddha, a "Buddha" being a man who has first enlightened himself and will thereafter enlighten others. The change from an ordinary being to a Bodhi-being takes place when his mind has reached the stage when it can no longer turn back on enlightenment. Also he has by then gained five advantages; he is no more reborn in the states of woe, but always among gods and man; he is never again born in poor or low-class families; he is always male, and never a woman; he is always well-built, and free from physical defects; he can remember his past lives, and no more forgets them again. Translation by Edward Conze "Buddhist Scriptures" (Penguin Books, 1973)

12. MANJUSRI BODHISATTVA

13. 1) Herakles (Louvre Museum). 2) Herakles on coin of Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius I . 3) Vajrapani , the protector of the Buddha , depicted as Herakles in the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara . 4) Shukongōshin , manifestation of Vajrapani , as protector deity of Buddhist temples in Japan.