Prajñāpāramitā Devī
sher chin ma) is a female Buddha that symbolizes and embodies Prajñāpāramitā, the perfection of transcendent wisdom.
This is because Prajñāpāramitā, the transcendent knowledge that sees all phenomena as illusory and unborn, is the true source of Buddhahood, the "mother" of all Buddhas and bodhisattvas.
She is the supreme teacher and eternal font of revelation...Even Buddhas and bodhisattvas pay homage to her, because to her they owe their omniscience.
The idea of the perfection of wisdom as a being like a mother is also mentioned in the Dà zhìdù lùn (Great Prajñāpāramitā Commentary) translated by Kumarajiva.
However, it is not clear what Faxian saw in India, and some scholars argue this passage is a reference to the worship of the sutra, not an image of the goddess.
[11]As a fully developed goddess, she appears in the Sādhanamālā (late eleventh or early twelfth century) which describes various forms of the devi.
Shaw describes the common way that the devi is depicted in Indian art as follows:Prajñāpāramitā is envisioned most often as golden in color and alternately as white.
Her identifying attribute is the Perfection of Wisdom text that she bears, supported on a lotus or clasped in an upraised hand.
A popular manner of envisioning and portraying the goddess, in India and beyond, is the two-armed form in which she makes a teaching gesture and clasps the stem of a lotus in each hand.
According to James B. Apple, in Vajrayana, Prajñāpāramitā Devī "represented the prototype and essence of all the female figures in Tantric interplay".
In tantric contemplative rites called sādhanas ("means of achievement"), a yogi would visualize the deity and recite mantras.
Tantric Buddhism also saw Prajñāpāramitā as being present in all women and promoted an attitude of respect and veneration for the feminine form.
This attitude is promoted by the mahasiddha Laksminkara in her Adhvayasiddhi which states:One must not denigrate women, in whatever social class they are born, for they are Lady Perfection of Wisdom (Prajñāpāramitā), embodied in the phenomenal realm.
[3] The Sādhanamālā, an important compendium of contemplative rites, contains nine Prajñāpāramitādevi sādhanas (meditative rituals with mantras and visualizations of deities).
The most common mantra in the SM for the deity is: oṃ dhīḥ śruti smṛti vijaye svāhā (which is also found in a work by Amoghavajra, Taisho no.
The Sādhanamālā also contains a sadhana which is said to be by Asanga, it gives the following seed syllable based mantra for Prajñāpāramitādevi: OṂ ĀḤ DHĪḤ HUṂ SVĀ HĀ.
[24] Some scholars have called attention to the similarities between Prajñāpāramitā Devi and other Buddhist deities such as Cundā (Cundī), and Tara.
[6] Prajñā deities are usually depicted with sutras in the form of books (pustakas) and they often make the dharmacakrapravartana (turning the dharmawheel) mudrā.
According to Tulku Urgyen, she is the feminine aspect of the Adi-Buddha, ultimate truth, called Samantabhadri, the "empty quality of luminous wakefulness.
"[27] According to Shaw, meditation and ritual practices centering on Prajñāpāramitā are still common in Tibetan Buddhism, especially among the Sarma (New Translation) schools.
[27] Indeed, the Dharmakaya as Prajñāpāramitā Devī is the ground of all female Buddhas and all dakinis (sacred feminine deities), including the great Tibetan yogini Yeshe Tsogyal.
According to Jerome Edou "In the biography of Machig, Prajnaparamita is called Yum Chenmo, the Great Mother, spontaneous Dharmakaya free of origination, existence and cessation.
She appears as a four-armed deity, seated in meditation posture, adorned with many attributes..."[30] Machig Labdrön describes Prajñāpāramitā Devī as follows:The Primordial Mother, Yum Chenmo, is the ultimate nature of all phenomena, emptiness, suchness [Skt.
[31] Prajñāpāramitā Devī as is a central object of devotion at the Hiraṇyavarṇa Mahāvihāra (Gold-colored Great Monastery, also known as Kwa Baha) in Lalitpur, Nepal.
"[31] Nepalese devotees worship the goddess seeking healing, success in education and business and for positive (karmic) merit.
[32] Numerous Prajñāpāramitā Devī statues survive in Cambodia and many of them are quite different from the South Asian depictions of the deity.
The 8th-century Kalasan temple in Central Java contains an image that has been identified as the related goddess Tara, which shares some similarities with Prajñāpāramitā Devi, such as being deemed mother of Buddhas.
Several large statues have been found and studied by modern archeologists and scholars, indicating the importance of the deity in Java and Sumatra during the Singhasari and Majapahit eras.
Havell described the statue as:deserving to be considered as one of the highest spiritual creations of all art: sitting on the lotus throne, the symbol of purity and divine birth.
In the pose of the yogini - her face has the ineffable expression of heavenly grace, like the Madonnas of Giovanni Bellini - Prajñāpāramitā, has the consort of the Adibuddha, would be seen as the mother of the universe.
