No matter men, women, young and old, one or two Bodhisattva names can be said. But do you know the meaning of Bodhisattva? Bodhisattva is the transliteration of the Sanskrit word Bodhisattva, which means "aware of sentient beings", "the path of sentient beings", and "the path of

When it comes to Bodhisattvas, everyone is familiar with them. No matter men, women, young and old, one or two Bodhisattva names can be said. But do you know the meaning of Bodhisattva?

Bodhisattva is the transliteration of Sanskrit Bodhisattva, which means "aware of sentient beings", "the way of sentient beings", and "the way of heart". In Mahayana Buddhism, Bodhisattvas have a high status, second only to Buddhas. Because they all want to become Buddhas in the future, we can regard Bodhisattvas as "selected Buddhas".

In Buddhism, various Buddhas play the role of "leaders", responsible for pointing out the direction and clarifying the path. The work of the Bodhisattva is more similar to the executor, responsible for implementing the purpose and doctrine of Buddhism, in order to save all living beings struggling in the sea of ​​suffering, and to "save" them to Pure Land , and to relieve all troubles and be happy forever.

Bodhisattvas communicate with the secular world a lot, so compared to Buddhas, their images are more amiable in the hearts of believers. In addition, the Bodhisattva's spirit of ", I don't go to hell, who will go to hell" is also in line with the spirit of "even thousands of people will go" advocated by the Chinese. Therefore, after Buddhism was introduced to in China, the faith of Bodhisattva quickly developed.

At the beginning, Chinese believers selected the three most famous ones from the Bodhisattvas and formed the "three great bodhisattvas", namely Manjushri , Samantabhadra and Guanyin. Over time, believers felt a little awkward because the odd number did not quite conform to traditional Chinese habits. We Chinese like to be paired together, but now people like "six" and "eight", while ancient people prefer "four". For example, Confucian has " Four Books ", aristocratic education has "four techniques", book classification uses "four laws", women must follow " Four Virtues ", etc.

At the beginning, Buddhism did not have this priority, but with the deepening of Buddhist sinicization, Buddhist children began to prefer the "Four", and concepts such as "Four Imperials", "Four Symbols", "Four Great Vajras", and "Four Continents" became popular. In the face of this trend, the "three great bodhisattvas" have also been "expanded", and the leader of the Netherworld Sect, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, was "absorbed" as a new member.

The four great bodhisattvas each have their own division of labor and characteristics. Manjushri Bodhisattva represents "great wisdom", Samantabhadra Bodhisattva represents "great practice", Guanyin Bodhisattva represents "great compassion", and Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva represents "great vow". Because the four great Bodhisattvas aim to save sentient beings to the other shore, believers believe that they can walk down the lotus throne and come to the world to save the people. In order to facilitate the Bodhisattvas to "work" and worship with good men and women, Chinese Buddhists have established their own temples for Bodhisattvas -

Manjushri Bodhisattva is in charge of Shanxi, using Mount Wutai as the temple.

Samantabhadra Bodhisattva is in charge of Sichuan, using Mount Emei as the temple.

Guanyin Bodhisattva sits in Zhejiang, using Putuo Mountain as the temple.

Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva sits in Anhui, using Jiuhua Mountain as the temple. The four major temples of

are also called the Four Great Foshans. Buddhists believe that the four great Foshans are formed by the "four great" of Buddhism. The so-called "Four Elements", also known as ", Four Realms, ", refers to the four basic elements that constitute the color method: earth, water, fire and wind. "Putuo Mountain Chronicle" states that Jiuhua Mountain corresponds to "earth", Emei Mountain corresponds to "fire", and Wutai Mountain and Putuo Mountain correspond to "wind" and "water".

It is worth mentioning that the four major Foshans also have different levels. Mount Wutai is the first of the four great Foshans, because its owner, Manjushri Bodhisattva, is the Buddha's left servant and has the highest status. Because Tibetan Buddhism also highly praised Manjushri Bodhisattva, Mount Wutai became the only temple in my country that combines Han Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism. The Dalai Lama, Panchen Lama, Chapter Jia Hutuktu and others have all practiced in Mount Wutai, and some are buried here after their deaths.