The second great Bodhisattva Manjusri[40] has other similar names, such as Manjunatha and Manjughosha, the word Manju meaning sweet or pleasant.  He is also Vagisvara, the Lord of Speech, and Kumarabhuta, the Prince, which possibly implies that he is the Buddha’s eldest son, charged with the government under his direction.  He has much the same literary history as Avalokita, not being mentioned in the Pali Canon nor in the earlier Sanskrit works such as the Lalita-vistara and Divyavadana.  But his name occurs in the Sukhavati-vyuha:  he is the principal interlocutor in the Lankavatara sutra and is extolled in the Ratna-karandaka-vyuha-sutra.[41] In the greater part of the Lotus he is the principal Bodhisattva and instructs Maitreya, because, though his youth is eternal, he has known many Buddhas through innumerable ages.  The Lotus[42] also recounts how he visited the depths of the sea and converted the inhabitants thereof and how the Lord taught him what are the duties of a Bodhisattva after the Buddha has entered finally into Nirvana.  As a rule he has no consort and appears as a male Athene, all intellect and chastity, but sometimes Lakshmi or Sarasvati or both are described as his consorts.[43]

His worship prevailed not only in India but in Nepal, Tibet, China, Japan and Java.  Fa-Hsien states that he was honoured in Central India, and Hsuean Chuang that there were stupas dedicated to him at Muttra.[44] He is also said to have been incarnate in Atisa, the Tibetan reformer, and in Vairocana who introduced Buddhism to Khotan, but, great as is his benevolence, he is not so much the helper of human beings, which is Avalokita’s special function, as the personification of thought, knowledge, and meditation.  It is for this that he has in his hands the sword of knowledge and a book.  A beautiful figure from Java bearing these emblems is in the Berlin Museum.[45] Miniatures represent him as of a yellow colour with the hands (when they do not carry emblems) set in the position known as teaching the law.[46] Other signs which distinguish his images are the blue lotus and the lion on which he sits.

An interesting fact about Manjusri is his association with China,[47] not only in Chinese but in late Indian legends.  The mountain Wu-t’ai-shan in the province of Shan-si is sacred to him and is covered with temples erected in his honour.[48] The name (mountain of five terraces) is rendered in Sanskrit as Pancasirsha, or Pancasikha, and occurs both in the Svayambhu Purana and in the text appended to miniatures representing Manjusri.  The principal temple is said to have been erected between 471 and 500 A.D.  I have not seen any statement that the locality was sacred in pre-Buddhist times, but it was probably regarded as the haunt of deities, one of whom—­perhaps some spirit of divination—­was identified with the wise Manjusri.  It is possible that during the various inroads of Graeco-Bactrians, Yueeh-Chih, and other Central Asian tribes into India, Manjusri