Akanishta

Akanista. “Lower-to-None.” Uppermost and most ethereal plane of the Form Realm, where Tantric teachings and transformations take place. Highest and sublest plane of the Rupadhatu in the Mount Meru world system.


Akanishta is the highest peak of Existence-as-Form. It is a Heaven presided over by Ishvara (Shiva) who is called the Great God, the Auspicious One. It is the Heaven of Samantabadhra Buddha.

Akanishta Realm (Skt.) (Tib. ogmin): the highest conceivable realm or Heaven of the Buddhist cosmological system. It is on this level that the Buddhist purelands of Sukhavati (Amitabha Buddha), Abhirati (Akshobhya Buddha) and the Khechara pureland of Vajrayogini are found.

    1) Non-higher. The highest Buddhafield. There are six places that have this name, from the eighth paradise of the gods of the fourth Concentration up to the absolute Akanishta, which is inconceivable.

2) the highest of the heavens of the Form realm.

3) The 'highest;' the realm of Vajradhara, the Enlightened sphere of Dharmakaya Buddha. Can also refer to the highest abode of gods in the Form realms.

4) For a discussion of the various types of Akanishtha, see Gyurme Dorje's translation of Longchen Rabjam's phyogs bcu mun sel.

5) Often used as a synonym for 'Dharmadhatu.'

6) ultimate (don gyi 'og min)

    Akanishta , literally "which is not below," the Unexcelled Buddhafield. In general, the highest of all buddhafields; according to Vajrayana, the place where bodhisattvas attain final Buddhahood. There are, in fact, six levels of Akanishta, ranging from the highest Heaven of the Form realm up to the ultimate Pure land of the Dharmakaya.

    Akanishta realm ('og min gyi zhing). The highest Buddha realm.

The highest of The Six Realms is Akanishta Heaven. Akanishta Heaven is somewhere we can be reborn and be beautiful, young, fabulous, gorgeous, we never get old, lots of Food, everything is wonderful and we can party for thousands of years. Always, really. And then your merits run out and you take Rebirth in the Three Lower Realms. But you can take Rebirth in Akanishta Heaven. Heaven in Buddhism is not a place such as in the Judeo-Christian type of Thinking, where you go there and just hang out at the right side I mean, with God for the rest of Eternity,

 According to the Omniscient Longchenpa, that there is nothing above them, and there are no features from elsewhere that surpass them. So, the name 'Akanishtha' is used throughout the teachings to refer to different abodes, which all share the common characteristic of being the highest, in relation to specific criteria. The great Indian master Buddhaguhya distinguishes six different ways of using the name Akanishtha. Longchenpa speaks of three types of Akanishtha in relation to The Three Kayas.

 The highest Heaven of the Form realm. According to Mahayana, Buddhas first reach full Enlightenment in Akanishtha, and then manifest Enlightenment through a nirmanakaya Body in the Human realm.

Akanishtha (Tib. འོག་མིན་སྟུག་པོ་བཀོད་པའི་ཞིང་ཁམས་, Wyl. 'og min stug po bkod pa'i zhing khams) or Omin Chenpo (Tib. འོག་མིན་ཆེན་པོ་, Wyl. 'og min chen po), in Vajrayana, also refers to the pure Sambhogakaya field from which emanate all pure nirmanakaya fields. In the three kaya Mandala Offering of the Longchen Nyingtik Ngöndro, Akanishtha is also referred to as 'the highest Heaven of great bliss, the realm of Ghanavyūha' (Tib. སྟུག་པོ་བཀོད་པ་, Wyl. stug po bkod pa)

 The highest plane of existence found at the summit of the Rupadhatu is known as Akanistha or Ogmin (og min) in Tibetan and at level of existence there reside the Akanistha Devas (og min lha). As we ascend upward through the celestial planes of the Rupadhatu we find that the bodies of Light of the Devas residing on each plane progressively become more subtle, clear, and pure. So when we are ready to attain Buddhahood after an existence as a human being on earth we find ourselves reborn in the Akanistha Heaven because there on that plane the manifest Form which embodies the enlightenment experience of a Buddha is the one most suitable.

That is to say we acquire a subtle and highly refined Body of Light by Virtue of our Rebirth in the Akanistha realm. Here in this Akanistha Heaven we continue to practice in order to purify our stream of Consciousness of all obscurations even the most subtle and Unconscious of obscurations. Once purified of all shadows we attain Buddhahood in Akanistha as the Sambhogakaya. That is to say we now have realized the Sambhogakaya Form.

This is how one attains Buddhahood according to the Sutra system of the Mahayana. According to Bon one must first be reborn in Akanistha as an Akanistha Deva in order to possess a suitable Body or Form for Enlightenment. Here the individual attains the Sambhogakaya and then descends into the lower worlds in order to manifest as the Nirmankaya on the physical earth plane. The Mind of The Buddha is the Dharmakaya which possesses the twofold purity that is an intrinsic purity as well as a freedom from all adventitious taints.

This Dharmakaya is inconceivable and inexpressible; it is without limits. But the manifestation of The Buddha's Energy (thugs rje) is the Sambhogakaya in a purified Form of Light and energy. It is something visible. This is the Speech aspect of The Buddha. The great Bodhisattvas, when they have attained the higher Bhumis or stages can perceive this glorified Body.

But there are also the countless Suffering beings of the Kamadhatu who with their obscurations cannot perceive the Sambhogakaya, and for their sakes The Buddha manifests innumerable projections or emanations (nirmitas) of his forms into all inhabited worlds and these are known as Nirmanakayas or Emanation Bodies (sprul sku). These bodies can be perceived by beings whose minds are obscured by the Kleshas (passions) and by sense desires. The Sambhogakaya is like the sun in the sky and its Light shines everywhere.

There is only a single sun in the sky but there are many reflected images of this single sun in the many vessels of water on the ground. These reflected images are the Nirmanakayas. But only when the practitioner has attained the path of vision (the Darshana narga, the third among the Five Paths) have we sufficiently purified our obscurations so that we can see the Sambhogakaya and hear its teachings directly. Ignorant Sentient beings are only capable or perceiving the Nirinanakaya


Akanishta realm of all-encompassing purity (dag pa rab 'byams 'og min zhing) -


Akanishta realm of Padmajala ('og min pad ma drva ba'i zhing) - The pure realm of Guru Rinpoche.


1) Akanishta realm ('og min)
2) Gandavyuha Akanishta;
3) the densely arrayed Buddha-field of Akanishta

Realm of Akanishtha; Akanishtha realm ('og min gyi zhing). The highest Buddha realm.

Akanishta realm of all-encompassing purity (dag pa rab 'byams 'og min zhing) -

Akanishta realm of Padmajala ('og min pad ma drva ba'i zhing) - The pure realm of Guru Rinpoche.

Akanishtha is also the name of Vairochana's Buddha field.

Source

rywiki.tsadra.org