The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c16.t6: 6. Prajñāpāramitā
The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sādhanamālā and Other Cognate Tāntric Texts of Rituals c16.t6
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6. Prajñāpāramitā
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Prajñāpāramitā is the embodiment of the Mahāyāna Scripture of the same name which was, according to the Buddhist tradition, restored from the nether regions by Nāgārjuna in the second century A. D. Buddha is said to have entrusted this Book of Transcedental Knowledge to the care of the Nāgas in the nether regions, as in his time people were not sufficiently intelligent to grasp the true meaning of the doctrines it contained. The worship of Prajñāpāramitā was very popular among the Buddhists, and Ārya Asaṅga is credited to have composed one of the Sādhanas for her worship which is said to confer wisdom and erudition on her devotees Nine Sādhanas in the Sādhanamālā describe the procedure of her worship, and of these only two are assigned to the kula of the Dhyāni Buddha Akṣobhya. She too, like Mañjuśri, could not be assigned to any one of the Dhyāni Buddhas because the Prajñāpāramitā scripture was chronologically earlier than the Dhyāni Buddhas. The two Sādhanas describe the white and the yellow forms of the goddess. Images ³ of Prajñāpāramitā are found in Tibet ⁴ and China ⁵.
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³ See Bhattasali : IBBS, p. 42.
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⁴ Getty : GNB, pp. 131-132.
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⁵ Clark : TLP, II, pp. 140, 160.