The cosmic Buddha Ratnasambhava

The Mystery of the Crowned Buddha

Early images of the Buddha show him as a humble monk. But about a thousand years ago, images of crowned and jeweled Buddhas appeared across Asia. What historical or artistic forces might have shaped this dramatic royal Buddha imagery? Buddhist images wearing jewelry were not new to the Lightning Vehicle; bodhisattvas, or Buddhas-to-be, had worn jewelry for centuries. Buddhas, on the other hand, had not.

Here, however, the directional Buddha Ratnasambhava wears five kinds of jewelry, from necklace to anklet to crown. These adornments symbolize each of the directional Buddhas, so all five Buddhas are implicit in this one image, and the whole is present in its parts.