By Victor M Fontane
At the beginning, before anything existed the five Dhyani Buddhas appeared. They are aspects of the dharmakaya, “dharma-body”, which embodies the principle of enlightenment in Buddhism.
Initially, two Buddhas appeared to represent wisdom and compassion: Akshobhya and Amitābha. A further distinction embodied the aspects of power or activity and the aspect of beauty or spiritual riches. In the Golden Light Sutra, an early Mahayana next, the figure s are named Dundubishvara and Ratnaketu, but over time their names changed to become Amoghasiddhi and Ratnasambhava. The central figure came to be Vairocana.
When these Buddhas are represented in mandalas, they may not always have the same color or be related to the same directions. In particular, Akshobhya and Vairocana may be switched. When represented in a Vairocana mandala the Buddhas are arranged like this:
Amoghasiddhy (North)
Amitābha (West) Vairocana (Principal deity/meditator) Akshobhya (East)
Ratnasambhava (South
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