The Five Dhyani Buddhas, also called the Five Tathagatas or the Five Jinas ("victors"), are the five Buddhas at the heart of Vajrayana Buddhism: Vairocana, Akshobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha and Amoghasiddhi. Each heads one of the five Buddha families and stands for one aspect of enlightened wisdom. Pictured together, they form a mandala, with one Buddha at the centre and one in each of the four directions.
How they are shown
All five sit in meditation posture, usually with the crown and jewels of the enjoyment body, sometimes in plain monk's robes. They are told apart by colour, hand gesture, emblem and the animals that support their thrones. In the most common arrangement:
- Vairocana, white, at the centre: hands at the heart in the gesture of teaching; his emblem is the wheel, and lions support his throne. Our Vairocana guide describes his forms.
- Akshobhya, blue, in the east: right hand touching the earth; his emblem is the vajra, and elephants support his throne.
- Ratnasambhava, yellow, in the south: right hand lowered in the gesture of giving; his emblem is the jewel, and horses support his throne.
- Amitabha, red, in the west: hands in meditation, often holding an alms bowl; his emblem is the lotus, and peacocks support his throne.
- Amoghasiddhi, green, in the north: right hand raised in the gesture of fearlessness; his emblem is the crossed double vajra, and garudas support his throne.
The five families
Each Buddha heads a family of deities. Chenrezig, for example, belongs to Amitabha's lotus family, which is why Amitabha so often sits above him in paintings. In Vajrayana teaching the five are also the pure nature of the five "poisons" (ignorance, anger, pride, desire and jealousy), each transformed into one of five wisdoms: Amitabha's discriminating wisdom, for example, is desire transformed. Systems differ in the details. In some, such as the Guhyasamaja system, Akshobhya takes the centre and Vairocana the east, and some of these pairings change.
A name from Nepal
"Dhyani Buddha" ("meditation Buddha") is not found in the old texts, which speak of the Five Tathagatas or Five Jinas. The term was first recorded in English in the early 19th century by Brian Hodgson, a British official in Kathmandu, and became the usual name in Western books. The Five Buddhas are still part of living Buddhism in the Kathmandu Valley: the dome of Swayambhunath stupa is ringed by their images, and the ritual crowns of Newar Vajracharya priests carry all five.
In a painting
The Five Buddhas appear as a subject in their own right, side by side or arranged as a mandala, and very often as a row of small figures across the top of a painting of another deity. To recognise each one, look first at the colour, then at the right hand. In a well-painted set the five faces match in proportion and expression, the hand gestures are clearly different from one another, and the emblems are small but crisp.
