Samantabhadra’s Connections

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Allied with

• Manjushri

  Samantabhadra and Manjushri flank the Buddha as his two chief bodhisattva attendants in the Avatamsaka Sutra — Manjushri wielding the sword of insight and Samantabhadra riding the elephant of steadfast practice, wisdom and action yoked as inseparable halves of the path.

Member of

• Eight Great Bodhisattvas

  The Eight Great Bodhisattvas — Avalokiteshvara, Manjushri, Vajrapani, Kshitigarbha, Akashagarbha, Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhin, Maitreya, and Samantabhadra — appear together as the chief attendants in the Buddha's assemblies, each embodying a distinct perfection of the bodhisattva path.

Equivalent to

• Fugen(Japanese),Puxian(Chinese)

  Fugen, Puxian, and the Buddhist Samantabhadra are all forms of the bodhisattva of universal virtue, transmitted from Sanskrit across East Asian Buddhist traditions, each riding a white six-tusked elephant as symbol of patient cultivation.

  ⚠ The Tibetan Kuntuzangpo (Samantabhadra) is the Nyingma Primordial Buddha, doctrinally distinct from the bodhisattva Samantabhadra despite sharing the Sanskrit name.

Associated with

• Gautama Buddha

  Samantabhadra appears as a chief bodhisattva in Gautama Buddha's assembly in the Lotus Sutra, where his ten great vows define bodhisattva practice.