Elements of Buddhist Iconography c8.140

c8.140

The Bodhisattva is eight-armed, the lower (normal) hands in namaḥkāra position, second right and left holding a rod (daṇḍa) and noose (pāśa), third right and left in varada mudrā, upper right holding the staff (khakkara, Jap. shakujō) with six rings. A standing Dhyāni Buddha in the crown. The central ornament of the chan-navīra is a Dharmacakra (Jap. rimbō) which rests immediately over the navel (cf. Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, V, 7, 1, 9, and Hiraṇyakeśin Gṛhya Sūtra, I, 6, 24, 1, as cited in my Yakṣas, II, 24). The lotus-seat is supported by an eight-sided column or axis, with eight protuberances, which axis rises from a pedestal representing four earth-planes. In the Zenith hangs the Supernal Sun (Amitābha), of which the lotus-seat is the reflection, ābhāsa.