The Five Dhyani Buddhas
According to the mystical Buddhism in the cosmos there are five families of Buddha at the head of which 5 are transcendent Buddhas, or Tathagatas, symbolizing the purity of the five groups or aggregates of body and mind: form, feelings, perceptions, consciousness and will.
These Dhyani Buddhas, or exalted, who preside over the 5 elements, 5-way, the 5 colors and 5 wisdoms. They demonstrate the vitality of Buddhism transcending time and space, they look and different colors but we can also think of them as different manifestations of a single Buddha, representing aspects of the total experience of enlightenment upon which spiritual transformation.
These five figures probably derive from the meditative experience of the disciples of Buddha, and the centuries have established themselves as popular images of enlightenment. According to tradition, the initiation into Tantric Buddhism involves entering the mandala (sacred palace) of a Dhyani Buddha or a deity belonging to one of five types.
In the Supreme Yoga Tantra also bear the so-called samaya commitments, promises, or sacred, inseparable from that guru who gives initiation, are intended to preserve the purity of the behavior of the practitioner. The commitments should be recited three times daily in the morning and three in the evening, in a practice that takes the name of guru yoga in six sessions.
The commitments include the promise to the 5 Dhyani Buddha and allow the creation of the path, the method and wisdom of tantra purifies the impure aggregates 5, showing the 5 Dhyani.
They are:
- Dhyani Buddha Ratnasambhava
- Dhyani Buddha Amoghasiddhi
- Dhyani Buddha Akshobhya
- Dhyani Buddha Amitabha
- Dhyani Buddha Vairochana