The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1478 page)

 
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Manjushri Institute
.

Religious and educational foundation established at Conishead Priory in Britain in 1976 by students of the
Geluk
Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

 
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(Jap., Monju, Tib., ’Jam.pa’i.d-byangs). A great
bodhisattva
of the
Mah
y
na
tradition of Buddhism closely associated with learning, knowledge, and transcendental wisdom (
prajñ
). Mañju
r
is prominent in Buddhist
Tantra
and is frequently invoked in ritual and depicted in mystic diagrams and
ma
alas
. In iconography he is portrayed with the sword of wisdom in his right hand and a book to his left-hand side. In Tibet, great teachers are often regarded as incarnations of Mañju
r
, e.g.
Tsong
Khapa. He also appears in angry form, and as a
yidam
of that sort, is especially important in
Gelugpa
.
Mañju
r
's name means Gentle Holy One, yet he has a terrifyingly wrathful form as the bull-headed Yam
ntaka (Slayer of Death), who as Vajrabhairava has been chief protector of the
Geluk
since his
s
dhana
(ritual practice) was institutionalized by Tsong Khapa. Vajrabhairava—the most common form of Yam