# Huayan Three Sages Hall

Huayan Three Sages Hall expresses the Buddha realm and bodhisattva conduct within Huayan thought.

## Perfect Cause and Effect: One Buddha Fruit and Two Bodhisattva Practices
Within the teaching system of the Avataṃsaka Sutra, the Huayan Three Sages directly represent the complete path of Buddhist practice, from “beginning to practice” to “full graduation”:
“The Buddha represents the perfection of the fruit stage, while the two bodhisattvas represent the cultivation of the causal stage. With causes, there can be fruit.”
**Vairocana Buddha (fruit): **The name means “Great Sun Tathagata” or “all-pervading.” He is the pure Dharma-body Buddha, not a historical figure. The saying “all Buddhas of the ten directions share one Dharma body” means the fundamental essence of the universe and all phenomena, the self-nature that we ourselves inherently possess. Self-nature is one principle and is present everywhere.
**Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva (cause): **Since the Dharma body has no form or appearance, how can the infinite merits of self-nature be brought forth? This requires the cooperation of the two bodhisattvas. Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra therefore represent the methods and means of cultivation, the practices of the causal stage.

## Understanding and Practice Correspond: Mañjuśrī Teaches “Seeing Through,” Samantabhadra Teaches “Letting Go”
In Buddhist practice, if one only has the wisdom of Mañjuśrī and studies theory every day, becoming a “Buddhist studies expert” but failing to practice personally, it is of no use. One must learn from Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, work steadily and sincerely like a white elephant, and put the six pāramitās and the myriad practices into real life to serve the public. This is true practice; this is letting go.
**Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva: representing the “wisdom that realizes” (the gate of understanding)**
Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva sits on the left, riding a mighty blue-maned lion and holding a jeweled sword. He represents the absolute reason and wisdom inherent in self-nature. The lion’s roar represents breaking through all superstition and attachment; the jeweled sword represents cutting off emotional attachment and afflictions. The first step in learning Buddhism must be guided by wisdom. If one has not seen through the truth of the universe and life and does not understand it clearly, blind practice can easily become superstition. Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva teaches us to be rational and to see through.
**Samantabhadra Bodhisattva: representing the “principle realized” (the gate of practice)**
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva sits on the right, riding a six-tusked white elephant with a steady body and solid gait. He represents practice, genuine effort, and implementation. Among animals, the elephant walks most steadily and has the deepest strength. The six tusks represent the six pāramitās: generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, meditation, and wisdom.

## Ultimate Destination
The ultimate destination to which Huayan guides practitioners is the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss.
**Mañjuśrī vows to seek rebirth: **Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva is foremost in wisdom, and in the sutra he also vows to be reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss.
**Samantabhadra’s Ten Great Vows guide beings to the Land of Ultimate Bliss: **In the final chapter of the Avataṃsaka Sutra, the “Chapter on Samantabhadra’s Conduct and Vows,” Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, through the Ten Great Vows such as paying homage to all Buddhas and extensively making offerings, personally leads the forty-one Dharma-body great beings of the Huazang Sea assembly in a grand journey to be reborn together in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss.

## How Modern People Can Bring the “Huayan Three Sages” into Daily Life
**Center, Vairocana Buddha: **Remind yourself that you possess the same self-nature and Buddha-nature as the Buddha. Do not give up on yourself.
**Left, Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva: **Remind yourself: in today’s conduct, when facing society’s many temptations and disturbances, am I drifting with the current and acting emotionally, or am I maintaining rational clarity, the wisdom of Mañjuśrī?
**Right, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva: **Remind yourself: the principles I understand and the good habits I value—did I truly put them into practice today, truly do them, with Samantabhadra’s genuine effort?