Samantabhadra

Let me introduce you to Samantabhadra, a bodhisattva associated with practice and meditation...Apparently a very important dude in Buddhism, whom I only met today for the first time... 

Let's have a look at the symbols associated with Samantabhadra...

He is holding a lotus flower (symbol of infinite wisdom) and Lotus sutra (all you need to know about infinite wisdom), while siting on a white elephant (symbol of Buddhist practice, as well as purity), which is in turn standing on lotus flowers (lots more infinite wisdom)...

Together with Gautama Buddha and the bodhisattva Manjushri, bodhisattva Samantabhadra forms the Shakyamuni Triad in Mahayana Buddhism...

As I said, a very important dude...

Did you see the white fluffy stuff behind the Buddha gang? That's clouds...Here is another depiction where our three Mahayana amigos are actually standing on clouds...

I don't know what white fluffy clouds symbolise in 10 worlds of Buddhism, but in real world they mean rain...This is kind of important...Cause all the symbols associated with Samantabhadra's best mate, Manjushri, are calendar markers for monsoon season. I talked about this in my post "Manjushri"...

So what about Samantabhadra's symbols? He rides on a white elephant...Guess who else rides on a white elephant? Indra, the thunder and rain god...Why? Cause Indian elephants mate during Indian monsoon season...I talked about this in my post "Musth"...

Which is why in India, elephant is an animal calendar marker for monsoon season...Which eventually became deified as Ganesha...I talked about this in my post "Ganesha"...

As I already explained in my post about Manjushri, lotus blooms during peak monsoon season...

So both Samantabhadra's main symbols point to Jul/Aug, Indian monsoon season...Just like the Manjushri's symbols...

Cool right? It gets cooler...

Question: If both of Buddha's companions are symbols for the hottest and wettest part of the year in India, Monsoon season, what (or who) is Buddha symbol for?

In Tibetan Buddhism, Samantabhadra is also a name that refers to the Primordial Buddha (Adi-Buddha) also known as Vajradhara...

Vajradhāra, which means the giver of lightning, is also, the name of Indra, the thunder and rain god...Buddhists will of course tell you that  Primordial Buddha is blue cause "wisdom"...But maybe, he's blue cause "rain water"???

One other thing...Samantabhadra, the Primordial Buddha, is most often depicted having sex with his consort, Samantabhadri the Primordial Mother Buddha...This is called Yab-Yum, (Tibetan: "father-mother")...

How have a look at this: This is Ardhanarishvara, a composite form, a union, of the Hindu deities Shiva and Parvati. I talked about this in my post "Ardhanarishvara"... 

Ardhanarishvara, the union of Shia and Parvati, is depicted standing in front of a green tree, between Shiva's vehicle (bull) and Parvati's vehicle (lion, well it's supposed to be a lion anyway)...

Did I mention that bull is the animal calendar marker for summer (May,Jun,Jul) which starts in Taurus (Apr/May), the animal calendar marker for the beginning of the calving season of wild Eurasian cattle?

Also, did I mention that lion is the animal calendar marker for autumn (Aug,Sep,Oct) which starts in Leo (Jul/Aug), the animal calendar marker for the beginning of the mating season of Eurasian lions?

And did I mention that at the point between bull (summer) and lion (autumn), in Jul/Aug, is the peak monsoon season in India? Which supports the "Tree of life"...

BTW, that is the river Ganges pouring out of their union...Well, technically Ganges is pouring our of Shiva's forehead...

This is Ganga river water flow chart

And this is the local climate chart

The Ganga water flow starts rising in Jun, at the beginning of the wet season, in mid summer, the middle of the bull season, the middle of the season of Shiva, Shiva's forehead...The Ganga water levels peak during the peak monsoon...

Oh yeah, guess who is the son of Shiva (bull) and Parvat (lion)? Well, Ganesha (elephant) of course...

Sooo, I will leave you here to ponder the true essence of the Primordial Buddha...Have fun...I have to go and make dinner...

More about animal calendar markers found in ancient cultures, start here then check the rest of the blog posts I still didn't add to this page...Too lazy to do it, sorry...

PS: while we are talking about animal calendar markers for Jul/Aug in India, you definitely need to see this post about "The bitch of the gods"...