Seed Syllable of Great Compassion in a Lotus

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The above Wallpaper has the Siddham syllable Hrīḥ -ह्रीः on a Lotus, with the Sky on the Back Drop.

hrIH is the Bijakshara (Seed Syllable) of Amitabha Buddha. It is also the Seed Syllable of Avalokiteshvara in the Tibetan Tradition. Therefore,  Hrih represents both Amitabha and Avalokitesvara. Bijaskharas are generally, the personification of the Buddha/Bodhisattva/Deity that they denote.

Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are often shown to seated/standing upon Lotus flowers. Therefore, this Hrih on Lotus, can be considered symbolically to represent Amitabha Buddha and/or Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva.

As a side note, Avalokiteshvara is more related to the Lotus. For instance, He is called ‘Padmapani’ & ‘Padmahasta’ (One who has Lotus in his Hands).  In the Maha Karunika Chitta Dharani, Popularly known as the Great Compassion Mantra, He is invocated as ‘Maha Padmanabha’ (The Great lotus-naveled one).

The blue sky symbolizes Emptiness/Voiness or Sunyata (शून्यता -śūnyatā), the fundamental doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism. That’s why, Blue is the color of Samantabhadra, the Adibuddha or the Primordial Buddha.

The consort of Samantabhadra is Samantabhadri, who is white in color. White Color symbolizes the aspect of the clarity of our mind i.e Wisdom or Prajna. The white clouds in the wallpaper denote this.

Avalokitesvara, is the form of all Buddhas’ compassion. One of his epithets include  ‘Mahakarunika’ (Mahākāruṇika – महाकारुणिक) – The Great Compassionate One.  Also, Buddha Amitabha due to his Great compassion created his own Buddha Kshetra – Sukhavati, so that people may easily take rebirth in his Pure Land.  So, Hrih is strongly associated with Great Compassion or Maha Karuna, another important concept in Mahayana Buddhism.

All together this Wallpaper subtly denotes, “Emptiness, Great Compassion, & Wisdom”, the Ultimate fundamentals of Mahayana Buddhism. It can be said that this wallpaper, captures the entire essence of Mahayana, very beautifully.

To read more about this Bija: See: http://jayarava.blogspot.com/2007/07/seed-syllable-of-great-compassion.html. The Name & Idea Seed Syllable of Great Compassion was taken from this post.

Wallpaper taken from this Taiwanese site: http://www.lifetv.org.tw/downlond/provide/table/ta_001.jpg

~ by Vinodh on May 21, 2009.