Of China's four great centers of Buddhist worship, Mt. Wutai in Shansi is dedicated to the cult of the Bodhisattva Manjusri and Mt. Omei in Szechwan to that of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra. Any reader of classical fiction will be familiar with these two great bodhisattvas, often pictured flanking Sakyamuni Buddha astride a lion and a white elephant.

Venerated as "presiding bodhisattvas," these two bodhisattvas occupy a position second only to Sakyamuni himself. Manjusri symbolizes "wisdom and discernment," while Samantabhadra symbolizes "performing vows." In this conjunction of wisdom and action we may gain an insight into the essence of Buddhism.

What is wisdom? Intellectual brilliance, knowledge of human nature, experience of the world? Another answer is the Buddhist idea of prajna.

Prajna is a Sanskrit term meaning "wondrous wisdom." Simply put, it is the realization of "conditional causation and the immateriality of the nature of all things." Buddhism holds that everything derives from brief conjunctions of primary causes; once the primary cause disappears, everything returns to an immaterial state. To become aware that vacuity is the eternal and unchanging nature of things is to attain wisdom.

Prajna is a supreme treasure of Buddhism. Those who hope to attain enlightenment must become aware of causation and immateriality, and so prajna is sometimes called the "Mother of all the Buddhas." Foremost among the buddhas as an exponent of prajna is Manjusri, the "son of the Dharma-king," whose leonine steed is a symbol of wisdom's indomitability.

Most believers know that Manjusri stands on the right of Sakyamuni and assists the Buddha in preaching salvation. In fact he long since surpassed the stage of a bodhisattva to become a buddha, venerated as the "Buddha of the race of honorable dragon kings." Whereas buddhas preach the dharma in the Land of Emerald or Pure Land, bodhisattvas descend into the world of decay to save mortal beings. Thus Manjusri, like Avalokitesvara, is a buddha who has trans-formed himself into a bodhisattva. This "bodhisattva spirit" manifests Mahayana Buddhism's ideal of self-salvation through saving others.

Manjusri is not just a buddha, he is the teacher of the seven ancient buddhas including Vipasyin Buddha, Kasyapa Buddha and Sakyamuni Buddha himself. In Buddhism's unlimited concept of time and space, Manjusri is also the teacher of all buddhas everywhere and in every age--past, present and future. All who wish to attain enlightenment must accept his teaching. Sakyamuni himself extolled Manjusri in these words: "As worldly children have parents, so Manjusri is the parent of the Buddhist Way leading to enlightenment."

Of course prajna wisdom is something every buddha and bodhisattva necessarily possesses; what distinguishes Manjusri is his strongly individual style of instructing all beings. He is not only famed for wisdom but for his debating skill and unconventionality. In expounding the truths of enlightenment he often resorts to rhetorical questions, contradiction and even brusque speech in his ripostes to Sakyamuni, in contrast to the reverential attitude displayed by other bodhisattvas. Such a method of leading others to enlightenment cuts through all preconceptions and displays a sublime freedom in following the heart's desire.

Some idea of Manjusri's style can be gained from looking at a section of the Sutra of Manjusri's Exposition of Mahaprajnaparamita.

According to the sutra, Manjusri was preaching that all beings must plant the roots of goodness by venerating countless buddhas before they can be entitled to hear the exposition of prajna wisdom. At this Sakyamuniasked: "How many buddhas have you venerated?"

Manjusri dealt with the question by answering: "Me? Both I myself and all the buddhas are illusory; there is no 'I' to venerate the buddhas, nor any 'buddhas' to receive my veneration."

Sakyamuni further queried: "You say the buddhas are illusory, but surely you yourself have a place within the Mahayana dharma and are part of it?"

Manjusri replied: "In my view all dharma is vacuity and no dharma-gate exists; there is no point in speaking of this or that dharma. So how can you say that there exists a dharma in which I have a place?"

Sakyamuni continued: "In that case do you possess unobstructed prajna wisdom?"

Denying all externals, Manjusri answered: "My very nature itself is unobstructed, so why should I seek to acquire unobstructed prajna wisdom?"

But surely Sakyamuni's grasp of prajna wisdom is just as profound as Manjusri's? Of course it is. Here Sakyamuni is simply using his dialogue with Manjusri to strip away our worldly preconceptions layer by layer, in order to reveal Buddhism's ultimate truths--"whatever is phenomenal is impermanent; nothing is independent of causation; nirvana is tranquility free from temptation and distress."

Enlightenment and the Buddhadharma or Buddha law are sought after by all Buddhist believers, yet even these are mere illusion and ultimately end in vacuity; so surely all our worldly strivings for fame and fortune are as so much mist, obscuring our vision? This is why Manjusri implores us to dispel all our attachments, to reject calculation and distinctions, and to aim instead for the supreme bliss that comes with freedom from all attachment, insight into the nature of existence and the refusal to distinguish between beauty and ugliness, high and low, or acceptance and rejection.

Manjusri's emphasis on subjectivity and individuality, his scant regard for traditional authority or external codes of conduct, and his characteristic blend of quick-wittedness, brusqueness and eccentricity were to exercise considerable influence over Ch'an Buddhism.

Manjusri also inspired another major school of Buddhism, the Hua-yen school, whose founder, Master Fa-shun (or Tu-shun) of the T'ang dynasty, was held to be a reincarnation of Manjusri.

Interesting anecdotes are told about the monk Tu-shun. As a young man he studied under Master Tao-chen of the Ch'an school and showed many signs of mysterious powers, before eventually settling on Mt. Chung-nan as a teacher. His fame spread far and wide, and a constant stream of disciples came to hear his preaching.

Towards the end of Tu-shun's life one independent-minded disciple begged leave to visit Mt. Wutai and worship at the shrine of Manjusri. Tu-shun said nothing to enlighten him as to the truth, but simply smiled and spoke the following hymn. "You may wander far and wide to worship on the slopes of Mt. Wutai; Manjusri is present here, why seek him elsewhere?"

Still the disciple did not realize. Reaching the foot of Mt. Wutai after a long and hazardous journey, he asked an old man the way to Manjusri's shrine. The old gentleman replied: "Manjusri is not on Mt. Wutai now, but on Mt. Chung-nan--he is the eminent monk Tu-shun!"

Stunned by this news the disciple immediately travelled back to Mt. Chung-nan, only to discover that Tu-shun had passed away a few days before.

This anecdote typifies Manjusri's way of teaching a disciple the impermanence of causation through direct experience.

As the embodiment of a profound wisdom, Manjusri's cult center on Mt. Wutai was one of China's four most flourishing centers of Buddhist worship, along with Kuan-yin's shrine on Mt. Pootoo, Ksitigarbha's shrine on Mt. Kiuhwa and Samantabhadra's shrine on Mt. Omei. Yet the cult of Manjusri in Taiwan has enjoyed far less popular influence than that of the "compassionate Bodhisattva" Kuan-yin or the "life-giver Bodhisattva" Ksitigarbha, due to weak representation of the Hua-yen sect and the difficulty of interpreting Manjusri's sutras, which mean that few monks were competent to transmit his teachings.

According to statistics compiled by folk religion scholar Juan Chang-jui, not one of Taiwan's multitude of Buddhist temples is exclusively dedicated to the cult of Manjusri. After all, perhaps, lay people's belief in Buddhism and Buddhist worship may stem from a worldly viewpoint of bringing them tangible success. They seek support from the bodhisattvas' spiritual power to guard them against evil, but they fail to cultivate inner awareness or attain the inner tranquility and joy that come from dispelling selfish attachments and external concerns about fortune or misfortune.

In contrast to Manjusri with his metaphysical ideas of prajna wisdom, Samantabhadra and his message of "great action" exemplifies a much more concrete aspect of Buddhism. His famous "ten great vows" constitute the code of conduct all Buddhists pledge to follow, which if faithfully carried out will lead them to Buddhism's supreme reward.

　What are these ten vows? In the "Hua-yen Sutra" these are listed as follows: (1) to revere all buddhas; (2) to extol Tathagata; (3) to cultivate veneration; (4) to repent past karma; (5) to delight in virtue; (6) to pray that buddhas truth be preached; (7) to petition the buddhas to dwell in the world; (8) constantly to follow Buddhist teachings; (9) constantly to comply with living beings; (10) to bestow merit on all things for their salvation.

Buddhism sets great store by making vows and carrying them out. Keeping a vow gives you the power to sweep away all karma hindrance and enjoy increased blessedness and wisdom. Thus, in addition to the common vows of Buddhism (also known as the Four Universal Vows--to become perfect in the supreme Buddha-law; to put an end to all passions and delusions however numerous; to study and learn all methods and means without end; to save all living beings without limit), there are also separate individual sets of vows made by each buddha and bodhisattva, such as Amitabha's 48 vows, the Medicine Master's 12 great vows, and Ksitigarbha's vow not to become a buddha until hell was emptied of living beings. Of course Samantabhadra's ten great vows are another example.

The first eight of Samantabhadra's ten vows teach people "above, to seek Buddhist truth," proceeding as they do from the starting-point of self-benefit; the last two vows go further and teach people "below, to transform all beings," turning from self-benefit to benefitting others in the bodhisattva spirit of Mahayana Buddhism.

The fifth vow "to delight in virtue" means that when you see someone do a virtuous deed through some prompting of the heart towards good, you should go along with their intention, praise them and encourage them to proceed further in the direction of good. The seventh vow "to petition the Buddha to dwell in the world" has an interesting background. Venerable monks who have attained enlightenment are considered as living reincarnations of the Buddha, and so believers should do all they can to venerate Buddha and ask him to be eternally present in the world in human form, and not return to nirvana with the death of such a monk.

"Constantly to comply with living beings" means that, recognizing the different natural capacities of living beings, one should use different methods to seek their salvation. Most people desire riches, so Buddhism has a god of wealth, Kuvera, and the disciple Sudhana, who allow living beings to approach the Buddha-law through their search for wealth; once their cult of Kuvera reaches a certain stage they may suddenly gain enlightenment and abandon wealth in favor of the Buddha-law, the ultimate aim of Buddhist teaching.

Today every disciple of Buddhism studies the "Vows of Samantabhadra." But one might be justified in wondering why it is, when the two great bodhisattvas Manjusri and Samantabhadra go hand in hand, that their teachings are so different--one so esoteric and the other so clear and practical.

In fact this very eclecticism is a feature of Buddhism, whereby the teaching of enlightenment can be aimed at the different capacities and intelligence of different people. Samantabhadra's ten great vows lead people into the gateway of Buddhist teaching, while Manjusri's prajna wisdom lets them attain ultimate release and freedom. Both aspects must go together.

For all the profundities of prajna wisdom, religion is something different from pure philosophical thought. Buddhist enlightenment is an experience which is gained step by step without departing from actuality. The two presiding bodhisattvas Manjusri and Samantabhadra are truly symbols of "cognition" and "action."

[Picture Caption]

Seated astride an azure lion, the Bodhisattva Manjusri is celebrated for his wisdom and assists the Buddha in preaching to all sentient beings.

The Bodhisattva Samantabhadra on his white elephant guides all disciples of Buddhism with his "ten great vows," symbols of Buddhism in action.

The bodhisattvas Manjusri and Samantabhadra flank the Vairocana Buddha (i.e., Sakyamuni) in a troika known as the Three Hua-yen Kings. Photo taken at the Hua Yen Temple, Taipei.

The Bodhisattva Samantabhadra on his white elephant guides all disciples of Buddhism with his "ten great vows," symbols of Buddhism in action.

The bodhisattvas Manjusri and Samantabhadra flank the Vairocana Buddha （i.e., Sakyamuni） in a troika known as the Three Hua-yen Kings. Photo taken at the Hua Yen Temple, Taipei.