Samantabhadra — “the Universally Worthy,” “the All-Good” — is the great bodhisattva of practice, meditation, and the active application of the Buddhist path: the embodiment of the vows and deeds of the bodhisattva, who completes the trinity of wisdom and compassion with the perfection of practice. Where [manjushri] is wisdom and [avalokiteshvara] is compassion, Samantabhadra is enlightened action made manifest.
The Bodhisattva of Practice
Samantabhadra embodies practice and the vow — the actual carrying-out of the bodhisattva path in deed, the application of wisdom and compassion through tireless beneficial action. He is most famous for his “Ten Great Vows,” set forth in the Avatamsaka (Flower Garland) Sutra — vows to honour all Buddhas, to praise them, to make offerings, to confess faults, to rejoice in the merits of others, to request teachings, to ask the Buddhas to remain in the world, to follow the teachings, to serve all beings, and to dedicate all merit to the liberation of all. These vows became a foundational framework of Mahayana practice.
The Rider of the White Elephant
Samantabhadra is most often depicted riding a great white elephant with six tusks — the six tusks representing the overcoming of attachment in the six senses, or the six perfections (paramitas), and the elephant symbolizing the steady, powerful, unstoppable progress of practice. Serene and majestic, he embodies the patient, methodical, all-encompassing application of the path, the “universally worthy” conduct that extends compassion and wisdom into every action and every realm.
The Bodhisattva of the Sacred Mountain
Samantabhadra is one of the principal bodhisattvas of the Mahayana, often paired with Manjushri as attendants of the Buddha (the two representing practice and wisdom, the elephant and the lion). In China he is Puxian, venerated at the sacred Mount Emei, held to be his abode; in Japan he is Fugen, important especially in the Tendai and esoteric schools and as a protector of those who uphold the Lotus Sutra. In Samantabhadra, Buddhism gave form to enlightened practice and the bodhisattva vow — the universally worthy bodhisattva on his six-tusked elephant, the embodiment of the tireless, all-encompassing application of wisdom and compassion in deed, the completion of the path in action.