Samantabhadra is the personification of Great Love, particularly as it is expressed through the activity of one who has taken the Bodhisattva vow. Her name means “Full of Virtue,” “Universal Love,” or “Universal Goodness.” In Japanese and Chinese Mahayana Buddhism, he is sometimes depicted as part of a triad, paired on the temple’s main altar with Manjusri, Bodhisattva of Wisdom, on either side of Vairochana, the Cosmic Buddha, or Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha. Samantabhadra rides a white elephant with six tusks: the white elephant is a symbol of purity in the East and the six tusks can represent the six paramitas or perfections which a Bodhisattva cultivates on her or his way to Buddhahood. (Chinese, P’u-hsien; Japanese, Fugen)
(Note: Festival descriptions are based on those compiled in Buddhist Festival Ceremonies, copyrighted 2002, Eugene Buddhist Priory.)
