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China / Tibet: an image of Vajrasattva sacred to the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition. Photo by Robert Aichinger (CC BY-SA 3.0 License)

Vajrasattva is a bodhisattva in the Mahayana, Mantrayana and Vajrayana Buddhist traditions. In the Japanese Vajrayana school of Buddhism, Shingon, Vajrasattva is the esoteric aspect of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra and is commonly associated with the student practitioner who through the master's teachings, attains an ever-enriching subtle and rarefied grounding in their esoteric practice. In Tibetan Buddhism Vajrasattva is associated with the Dharmakaya and also with purification practice. Vajrasattva appears principally in two Buddhists texts: the Mahavairocana Sutra and the Vajrasekhara Sutra. In the Diamond Realm Mandala, Vajrasattva sits to the East near Akshobhya Buddha. Photo by Robert Aichinger (CC BY-SA 3.0 License).