Vairocana (Tibetan: Nampar Nangdze; Chinese: Dari Rulai, the "Great Sun Buddha") is the Buddha whose name means "the illuminator", from a Sanskrit word for the sun. In Vajrayana Buddhism he is usually the white Buddha at the centre of the Five Buddhas, head of the Buddha family, and he stands for the wisdom of the dharmadhatu: awareness as open and all-pervading as space.
How he is shown
- White, the colour usually given to him among the Five Buddhas, though some texts describe him as golden.
- One face or four. In the forms taught in the Yoga Tantras he has four faces, turned to the four directions.
- His hands are held at his heart in the gesture of teaching, or rest in his lap in meditation.
- A dharma wheel, his emblem: the Buddha's teaching set in motion. Some of our paintings show him holding it at his heart.
- A throne supported by lions, the usual mount of his family.
- The crown, silks and jewels of a Buddha in his enjoyment form; in other paintings he wears a plain monk's robe.
The four-faced Vairocana
The best-known four-faced form is Sarvavid Vairocana, "the all-knowing" (Tibetan Kunrig), the central deity of the Tantra Purifying All Bad Rebirths (Sarvadurgatiparishodhana Tantra). The tantra describes him as white like a conch or the moon, with four faces, seated on a lion throne with his hands in meditation. Its rites are performed for the dead, to free them from bad rebirths.
The tantra has deep roots in the region. Early Tibetan chronicles record this Vairocana among the main images at Samye, Tibet's first monastery, founded in the 8th century, and Newar Buddhist funeral rites in the Kathmandu Valley still draw on a Sanskrit version of the text.
Vairocana in East Asia
Vairocana is also the Buddha of the Avatamsaka (Flower Garland) Sutra, and in the Huayan school of China the whole universe is understood as his body. The Great Buddha of Tōdai-ji in Nara, Japan, is a Vairocana, and in Japanese Shingon Buddhism he is Dainichi Nyorai, the Buddha at the centre of its two great mandalas.
Among the Five Buddhas
Vairocana is one of five Buddhas who together form a mandala, one at the centre and one in each direction. In most arrangements he takes the centre; in some, such as the Guhyasamaja system, he moves to the east and Akshobhya takes the centre. Our guide to the Five Dhyani Buddhas explains the whole set.
In a painting
The four faces show the painter's skill: each should be complete and evenly proportioned, the side faces turned naturally rather than squeezed against the front one. Look for a clean, luminous white, which is hard to paint well, and a wheel with crisp, evenly spaced spokes. Some of our paintings set him in an oval of peonies with dragons in the corners, worked in fine gold-coloured line on deep red or navy; others add smaller figures such as Amitabha, the Medicine Buddha, Vajrasattva and White Tara.
At a glance: a white Buddha, often with four faces, holding a wheel or making the teaching gesture at his heart.
