Studies in Indian Art c12.s3.10

c12.s3.10

We thus get the panel of the Dhyānī Buddhas, their corresponding Dhyānī Bodhisattvas, and the Mānuṣī Buddhas, all these together making up a triad, which in import and significance possessed great similarity with the philosophical Hindu triad. The meditative and detached Dhyānī Buddhas represented the prajñāna-ghana or adhyātma aspect, the active Bodhisattvas the prāṇika or adhidaiva aspect, and the mortal Buddhas the ādhibhautika or incarnate aspect of the Absolute. On the stable foundations of this Trinity a host of gods and goddesses were evolved in later Buddhism, and the scheme of the five Dhyānī Buddhas with the related Bodhisattvas is considered to be the most convenient synthesis for introducing order into an otherwise complex pantheon. The following chart illustrates the Divine Buddhas, the Bodhisattvas and the mortal Buddhas in proper relationship to one another and also to the different mudrās, vehicles, skandhas and position in a Stūpa :—