Koan Study Group, Roshi Albrizze, Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Book of Equanimity (BN)|  | 
| A wash basin is a base thing.  Today, it would be as if a master asked one to fetch a roll of toilet  paper in answer to a question about the nature of the Great  Illuminator. | 
    
Case 42: Nanyo’s Wash Basin
PREFACE TO THE ASSEMBLY 
Washing bowls and filling the wash basin are both Dharma gates and Buddha's affair.
Carrying firewood and drawing water are nothing but marvelous activity and supernatural power.
Why can't one obtain liberating radiant splendor [releasing effulgence like splitting the atom] in shaking the earth?
MAIN CASE
Attention!
A monk asked Zen Master [Chu of] Nanyo, "What is the original body of the Cosmic Buddha Vairocana?"
Master Nanyo replied, "Go and fetch me the wash basin."
The monk brought the wash basin to him.
Master Nanyo said, "Now, go put it back."
The monk asked again, "What is the original body of the Cosmic Buddha Vairocana?"
Master Nanyo remarked, "The old Buddha is long gone."
APPRECIATORY VERSE 
 A bird soaring in air.
A bird soaring in air.A fish dwelling in water.
Rivers and lakes both forgotten, one aspires to clouds and heaven.
A thread of doubting mind, and they're facing ten-thousand miles apart.
How many people understand and repay such unselfish kindness?
Who is Vairocana?
Vii-ro-cha-na means "one who is like the sun" or "the radiating one."  In Chinese Vairocana is called Pe-Ru-Gher-Na or Da-Ze-Zu-Lai ("Great Sun Buddha"), in Japanese, Dainichi Nyorai or Roshana, in Tibetan, Rnam-par-snang-mdzad or Rnam-snang ("Maker of Brilliant Light").
   
Maha Vairocana ("Great  Illuminator") in Hinduism-influenced Mahayana Buddhism is conceived of as the "Supreme Buddha." This is how this deified figure is regarded by many Mahayana  Buddhists in Far East Asia, Tibet, Nepal, and Java. 
  
In the devotional Mi-tsung  sect of China and the Shingon sect of Japan, Vairocana is the chief object of  reverence and is regarded as the source of the entire universe -- a 
Maha Brahma ("Great Supremo" or powerful creator) figure made completely Buddhist.
   
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| Tibetan (manjushri.com) | 
The  characteristic hand gesture displayed throughout these two regions is the 
mudra of the  six elements, with the index finger of the left hand clasped by  the five fingers of the right. This pose symbolizes the uniting of the five  elements of the material world (earth, water, fire, air, and 
ether or separating space) with  the spiritual (
consciousness, 
prana, 
ch'i). 
   
The other gesture popular in Vairocana  statues is in the Dharma-chakra-mudra ("teaching gesture").   
As the supreme Buddha, Vairocana is usually located in the center of 
mandalas of the five tantric 
Dhyani Buddhas.
   
In paintings, Vairocana is colored white  to symbolize a pure consciousness.
  
Vairocana represents either the  integration or origin of the 
Dhyani Buddhas.  His wisdom is the  Wisdom of the 
Dharmadhatu ("realm of phenomena"). The Dharmadhatu is the Realm of Truth, in  which all things exist as they really are.
   
Vairocana's wisdom is also  referred to as the All-Pervading Wisdom of the 
Dharmakaya ("Body of the Dharma"), the absolute  Buddha nature.  Therefore, Vairocana's symbol is the 
dharmachakra, the "Wheel of the Buddha's Teaching." It denotes the teaching of the Buddha. Its eight  spokes represent the Noble Eightfold Path. 
MoreVairocana in Brief Wikipedia entry edited by Wisdom QuarterlyVairocana is a celestial 
buddha often interpreted, in Mahayana texts like the 
Flower Garland Sutra, as the 
Bliss Body of the historical Buddha (
Siddhartha Gautama). In Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, Vairocana is also seen as the embodiment of the Buddhist concept of 
emptiness. In the conception of the 
Five Wisdom Buddhas of 
Vajrayana Buddhism, Vairocana is at the center. His "consort" (a popular Hindu concept about gods) in 
Tibetan Buddhism is 
White Tara. (In the Tibetan tradition, there is an affiliated female figure
 for every one of the Five Wisdom Buddhas.)
 This glorious figure is not to be confused with 
Virocana, who appears in the eighth chapter of Hinduism's 
Chandogya Upanishad as the king of the Titans (
asuras). 
More PHOTOS: ANGKOR WAT (Cambodia) in its state of preservation is unrivaled. Its mightiness and magnificence bespeak a pomp and luxury surpassing that of a Pharaoh or a Shah Jahan, an impressiveness greater than that of the pyramids, an artistic distinctiveness as fine as that of the Taj Mahal.