84000 Glossary of Terms

Our trilingual glossary combining entries from all of our publications into one useful resource, giving translations and definitions of thousands of terms, people, places, and texts from the Buddhist canon.

ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ། | Glossary of Terms

  • ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།

  • རྡོ་རྗེ་ཐོགས་པ།
  • རྡོ་རྗེ་སྐྱེས་པ།
  • རྡོ་རྗེའི་ཐལ་མོ།
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • phyag na rdo rje
  • rdo rje skyes pa
  • rdo rje thogs pa
  • rdo rje’i thal mo
  • vajrapāṇi
  • kuliśapāṇi
  • Note: this data is still being sorted
  • Person
Publications: 48

Vajrapāṇi means “Wielder of the Vajra.” In the Pali canon, he appears as a yakṣa guardian in the retinue of the Buddha. In the Mahāyāna scriptures he is a bodhisattva and one of the “eight close sons of the Buddha.” In the tantras, he is also regarded as an important Buddhist deity and instrumental in the transmission of tantric scriptures.

  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
Definition in this text:

In the sūtra tradition, Vajrapāṇi was a yakṣa who acted as the Buddha Śākyamuni’s bodyguard. Also identified as being a manifestation of Śakra and could appear as a number of vajrapāṇis to guard the Buddha. With the advent of the Mantrayāna he is a bodhisattva. Also a euphemism for Indra or a group of vajra-wielding deities in Indra’s realm.

  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
Definition in this text:

He first appears in Buddhist literature as the yakṣa bodyguard of the Buddha, ready at times to shatter a person’s head into a hundred pieces with his vajra if they speak inappropriately to the Buddha. His name means that he wields a vajra. His identity as a bodhisattva did not take place until the rise of the Mantrayāna.

  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
Definition in this text:

A yakṣa and the protagonist of this sūtra who is counted among the bodhisattvas in attendance at the beginning of the sūtra and called the lord of the guhyakas (guhyakādhipati) throughout the work. He gives various teachings, receives a prediction of his future awakening as a buddha, and is the subject of various past life stories to explain his current responsibilities and attributes; he also hosts the Buddha Śākyamuni at his home for a meal. See the introduction for a discussion of his place in Buddhist literature.

  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • རྡོ་རྗེ་སྐྱེས་པ།
  • rdo rje skyes pa
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • phyag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
Definition in this text:

He first appears in Buddhist literature as the yakṣa bodyguard of the Buddha, ready at times to shatter a person’s head into a hundred pieces with his vajra if they were to speak inappropriately to the Buddha. His identity as a bodhisattva did not take place until the rise of the Mahāyāna in such sūtras as the Kāraṇda­vyūha Sūtra.

  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
Definition in this text:

One of the earliest bodhisattvas of Mahāyāna Buddhism, representing the skillful ability of the awakened state.

  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • phyag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
Definition in this text:

He first appears in Buddhist literature as the yakṣa bodyguard of the Buddha, ready at times to shatter a person’s head into a hundred pieces with his vajra if he speaks inappropriately to the Buddha. His identity as a bodhisattva did not take place until the rise of the Mantrayāna in such sūtras as the Kāraṇḍavyūha. However, although listed (paradoxically along with Avalokiteśvara) as being in the assembly that hears the teaching of this sūtra, in the sūtra itself he is grouped with the worldly spirits that Avalokiteśvara frightens.

  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • phyag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
Definition in this text:

An important bodhisattva, “Wielder of the Thunderbolt,” whose compassion is to manifest in a terrific form to protect the practicers of the Dharma from harmful influences.

  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • phyag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
This is an addendum to the general definition from the 84000 Glossary:

One of the bodhisattvas attending the delivery of this teaching.

  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • phyag na rdo rje
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
Definition in this text:

An important bodhisattva, “Wielder of the Vajra,” whose compassion is to manifest in a terrific form to protect the practitioners of the Dharma from harmful influences.

  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • phyag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • phyag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
Definition in this text:

A figure who takes on numerous identities in Buddhist literature, including a yakṣa bodyguard of the Buddha Śākyamuni, a bodhisattva, and an esoteric Buddhist deity instrumental in the transmission of tantric scripture.

  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • phyag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
Definition in this text:

Wrathful aspect of Vajrasattva; the Buddhist counterpart of Indra.

  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
Definition in this text:

An important bodhisattva who manifests in a terrific form to protect Dharma practitioners.

  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • phyag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
Definition in this text:

A figure who takes on numerous personas in Buddhist literature, including as a yakṣa bodyguard of Śākyamuni, a bodhisattva, and an esoteric Buddhist deity involved in the transmission of tantric scripture.

  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • phyag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • phyag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • kuliśapāṇi
Definition in this text:

A Buddhist deity and a legendary bodhisattva; in the MMK he is regarded as the master of powerful nonhuman beings.

  • Vajrapāṇi
  • རྡོ་རྗེའི་ཐལ་མོ།
  • rdo rje’i thal mo
  • vajrapāṇi AS
  • 金剛手
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • phyag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • phyag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
Definition in this text:

Vajrapāṇi appears throughout Buddhist literature in the overlapping roles of a yakṣa, bodhisattva, and esoteric deity. As the latter, he is frequently an interlocutor in and transmitter of tantric scripture.

  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • རྡོ་རྗེ་ཐོགས་པ།
  • ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • rdo rje thogs pa
  • phyag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
This is an addendum to the general definition from the 84000 Glossary:

Also called here the “general of yakṣas.”

  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
Definition in this text:

‟Vajra in Hand,” the deity who teaches the Bhūta­ḍāmara Tantra; in the first half of this text he is referred to primarily as Vajradhara.

  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
Definition in this text:

A Buddhist bodhisattva and protective yakṣa whose name can be translated “vajra-in-hand.”

  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • phyag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
Definition in this text:

First appearing in Buddhist literature as a yakṣa bodyguard of the Buddha Śākyamuni, Vajrapāṇi evolved into one of the primary transmitters of tantric scriptures, and is regarded as the head of the vajra clan (vajrakula) of esoteric Buddhism.

  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • phyag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi AD
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • phyag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • phyag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi
  • Vajrapāṇi
  • ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
  • lag na rdo rje
  • vajrapāṇi