Japan: The bodhisattva Fugen Bosatsu (Samantabhadra), hanging scroll, painting on silk, Heian Period (12th Century), Tokyo National Museum

Samantabhadra (Sanskrit, 'Universal Worthy') is a bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism associated with practice and meditation. Together with Gautama Buddha and his fellow bodhisattva Manjusri, he forms the Shakyamuni trinity in Buddhism. He is the patron of the Lotus Sutra and, according to the Avatamsaka Sutra, made the ten great vows which are the basis of a bodhisattva.

In Japan, this bodhisattva is often venerated by the Tendai and in Shingon Buddhism, and as the protector of the Lotus Sutra by Nichiren Buddhism. In the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, Samantabhadra is also the name of the Adi-Buddha – in indivisible Yab-Yum with his consort, Samantabhadri.

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