Sarvanivarana Vishkambhin (सर्वनिवारणविष्कम्भिन्)

Sanskrit. ‘Every Hindrance Obstructing’ or ‘Every Obstacle Impeding’. Name of the mediator bodhisattva, who is one of the Eight Great Bodhisattvas (fig.). He is the personification of the Buddha’s purifying qualities and is invoked to remove or eliminate all the obstacles in order to insure a successful meditation, especially the five mental obstacles or nivarana (निवारण) towards the Three Jewels, i.e. desire, hostility, idleness, distraction and worry, and doubts. Unlike the other seven of the Eight Great Bodhisattvas, Sarvanivarana Vishkambhin is not an important subject to individual worship. In Tantric Buddhism, he is usually placed in the lineage of Amoghasiddhi, one of the five dhyani buddhas, and sometimes in the lineage of Akshobhya, and by some he is considered a form of Vajrapani (fig.). In iconography, he is usually depicted holding a flower in one hand, and sometimes with a chintamani in the other. 回