Mahāsthāmaprāpta {Ch.

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

 大勢至 Dàshìzhì (often simplified in shìzhì 勢至) , Jp.

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

 勢至 Seishi Vi.

Vietnamese language

Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...

 Đại Thế Chí Bồ tát, Tib.

Standard Tibetan

Standard Tibetan is the most widely used spoken form of the Tibetan languages. It is based on the speech of Lhasa, an Ü-Tsang dialect belonging to the Central Tibetan languages. For this reason, Standard Tibetan is often called Central Tibetan...

 Thu-ch´en-Thob} is a bodhisattva

Bodhisattva

In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...

 mahāsattva

Mahāsattva

Mahāsattva, sanskrit word belonging to the vocabulary of Buddhism Mahāyāna, meaning literally "great being", is a great Bodhisattva practicing the Buddhism for a long time and reaching a very high level on the path to awakening , generally refers to the Bodhisattvas who have reached at least the...

 that represents the power of wisdom, often depicted in a trinity with Amitābha

Amitabha

Amitābha is a celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism...

 Buddha and Avalokiteśvara

Avalokitesvara

Avalokiteśvara is a bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. He is one of the more widely revered bodhisattvas in mainstream Mahayana Buddhism....

 bodhisattva, especially in the Pure Land Buddhism

Pure Land Buddhism

Pure Land Buddhism , also referred to as Amidism in English, is a broad branch of Mahāyāna Buddhism and currently one of the most popular traditions of Buddhism in East Asia. Pure Land is a branch of Buddhism focused on Amitābha Buddha...

.

Mahāsthāmaprāpta is one of the Eight Great Bodhisattvas in Buddhist Mahāyāna with Mañjuśrī

Manjusri

Mañjuśrī is a bodhisattva associated with transcendent wisdom in Mahāyāna Buddhism. In Esoteric Buddhism he is also taken as a meditational deity. The Sanskrit name Mañjuśrī can be translated as "Gentle Glory"...

, Samantabhadra

Samantabhadra

Samantabhadra , is a bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism associated with Buddhist practice and meditation. Together with Shakyamuni Buddha and fellow bodhisattva Manjusri he forms the Shakyamuni trinity in Buddhism...

, Avalokiteśvara

Avalokitesvara

Avalokiteśvara is a bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. He is one of the more widely revered bodhisattvas in mainstream Mahayana Buddhism....

, Akasagarbha

Akasagarbha

Ākāśagarbha Bodhisattva is one of the eight great bodhisattvas. His name can be translated as "boundless space treasury" or "void store" as his wisdom is said to be boundless as space itself...

, Kṣitigarbha

Ksitigarbha

Ksitigarbha is a bodhisattva primarily revered in East Asian Buddhism, usually depicted as a Buddhist monk in the Orient. The name may be translated as "Earth Treasury", "Earth Store", "Earth Matrix", or "Earth Womb"...

, Maitreya

Maitreya

Maitreya , Metteyya , or Jampa , is foretold as a future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. In some Buddhist literature, such as the Amitabha Sutra and the Lotus Sutra, he or she is referred to as Ajita Bodhisattva.Maitreya is a bodhisattva who in the Buddhist tradition is to appear on...

 and Sarvanivarana-Vishkambhin

Sarvanivarana-Vishkambhin

Sarvanivāraṇaviṣkambhin is a bodhisattva revered in Mahāyāna Buddhism...

.

In Chinese Buddhism, he is usually portrayed as a woman, with a likeness similar to Avalokiteśvara (Guan Yin). He is also one of the Japanese Thirteen Buddhas

Thirteen Buddhas

The Thirteen Buddhas is a purely Japanese grouping of important Buddhist deities, particularly in the Shingon sect of Buddhism. The deities are, in fact, mostly not Buddhas at all, but also include bodhisattvas and Wisdom Kings...

 in Shingon. In Tibetan Buddhism (Tantrism), Mahāsthāmaprāpta is equated with Vajrapani

Vajrapani

' is one of the earliest bodhisattvas of Mahayana Buddhism. He is the protector and guide of the Buddha, and rose to symbolize the Buddha's power. Vajrapani was used extensively in Buddhist iconography as one of the three protective deities surrounding the Buddha...

 who is one of his incarnations.

Unlike most bodhisattvas, Mahāsthāmaprāpta is one of the lesser known bodhisattvas, but is nonetheless regarded as powerful, especially in the Pure Land school where he takes an important role in the long Sutra of Infinite Life.

In the Shurangama Sutra

Shurangama Sutra

The ' is a Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtra, and has been especially influential in the Chán school of Chinese Buddhism.- Etymology :According to Ron Epstein, roughly means "indestructible." The word is composed of Śūraṅ , with Gama...

, Mahāsthāmaprāpta tells of how he gained enlightenment through the practice of Buddha recitation (Niànfó 念佛), or continuous pure mindfulness of the Buddha, to obtain samādhi

Samadhi (Buddhism)

In Buddhism, samādhi is mental concentration or composing the mind.-In the early Suttas:In the Pāli canon of the Theravada tradition and the related Āgamas of other early Buddhist schools, samādhi is found in the following contexts:* In the noble eightfold path, "right concentration" In Buddhism,...

. In the Contemplation Sutra

Contemplation Sutra

The Amitāyurdhyāna Sūtra , is one of the three major Buddhist sūtras found within the Pure Land branch of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Amitāyus is another name for the buddha Amitābha, the preeminent figure in Pure Land Buddhism, and this sūtra focuses mainly on meditations involving complex visualization...

, Mahāsthāmaprāpta is symbolized by the moon (wisdom) while Avalokiteśvara

Avalokitesvara

Avalokiteśvara is a bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. He is one of the more widely revered bodhisattvas in mainstream Mahayana Buddhism....

is symbolized by the sun.