"Although born out of mire and wanted refuse, a lotus has a pleasing scent: like the wise Buddha's disciples though born among man with craving can shine brightly with wisdom."
~ Lord Buddha ~
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| (Image of Akshobhya Buddha) |
The name Akshobhya means "Immovable" or "Unshakable." Akshobhya's Mirrorlike Wisdom reflects all things calmly and uncritically and--reveals their true nature. One text says,"Just as one sees one's own reflection in a mirror, so the Dharmakaya is seen in the Mirror of Wisdom."10 Mirrorlike Wisdom antidotes the poison of hatred and anger.
In the mandala of the Five Dhyani Buddhas, Akshobhya is usually positioned in the east (which is at the bottom) but he is sometimes placed in the center. His color is blue. He rules over the element of water and personifies the skandha of form. In some systems, he is associated with the skandha of consciousness. Akshobhya's lotus throne is supported by the elephant, symbol of steadfastness and strength.
His symbol is the vajra, also called the thunderbolt or diamond scepter. It is depicted in this mandala above his head, directly below Vairochana. The vajra denotes enlightenment, the indestructible, adamantine nature of pure consciousness, or the essence of Reality. In some traditions the vajra signifies the union of man and the Buddha; one end of the vajra symbolizes the macrocosmic realm of the Buddha and the other end the microcosmic realm of man.
According to one legend, when he was a Bodhisattva he vowed never to give in to anger. In painting, however, he is portrayed, somewhat paradoxically, as a wrathful form with blue complexion, a vajra or diamond in one hand and touching the earth with his other. Often he is depicted riding on a blue elephant.
Akshobhya's mudra, shown here formed by his right hand, is the bhumisparsha mudra, the earth-touching gesture. It denotes unshakability. This is the mudra Gautama Buddha used to summon the earth to witness to his right to attain enlightenment when he was challenged by the Evil One, Mara.
Akshobhya's paradise is Abhirati, the Land of Exceeding Great Delight. Buddhists believe that whoever is reborn there cannot fall back to a lower level of consciousness. Akshobhya's bija is Hum and his mantra is Om Akshobhya Hum.
The Buddha Akshobhya established the enlightened intention that all sentient beings could to purify any degree of nonvirtue. Even the extreme nonvirtue of hatred, violence, and killing can be cleansed through relying on him as the focus of meditation, acknowledging and abandoning nonvirtuous actions, and invoking his blessings of purification. In the Akshobhya sutra, the Buddha Sakyamuni himself extolled the perseverence of Akshobhya in actualizing this intention so powerfully that countless beings have been saved from the intense suffering of lower states of existence.
Akshobhya meditation can liberate the not only the practitioner him or herself from the fear of inauspicious rebirth, but other beings as well. Akshobhya explicitly promised that the merit generated by reciting one-hundred-thousand of his long dyani mantra and creating an image of him could be dedicated to another person, even someone long deceased, and they would be assured of release from lower states of existence and rebirth in spiritually fortunate circumstances. Recognizing the superb opportunity of their own connection with Akshobhya, hundreds of people have either performed this practice themselves or sponsored it, dedicating the merit to others people for whom they felt compassionate concern.
Only an omniscient wisdom being can fully discern an individual's past actions and their outflows in present experience, but the Buddhist teachings indicate that death during the passage toward birth (by miscarriage or abortion), death before adulthood, violent or fearful death, and suicide are signs that the deceased might have difficulties in obtaining fortunate, spiritually well-endowed rebirth. Such beings could benefit from the merit of a hundred thousand Akshobhya recitations and the creation of an Akshobhya image.
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