gangs chen mtsho

གངས་ཆེན་མཚོ

• Infinite Ocean [deity = gang chen mtsho IW

• Immense Ocean; Gangchentso, Infinite Ocean. Syn gang chen mtsho RY

• Skt.: Hemasagara. A name applied to the buddhas of the five families as they appear in Buddhist cosmology. Our universe, the Saha world, is said to appear within the thirteenth of twenty-five lotus flowers inside the alms bowl of Vairochana-Hemasagara. (The term is translated as Great Glacial Lake in Myriad Worlds) ASP

• An abbreviated name for the five cosmic buddhas from which, according to Mahayana cosmology, all of existence emanates. This name, which translates as "Great Glacial Lake," presumably derives from the scented water that is said to pour down from the pores of the bodies of these buddhas and gather in pools, out of which various universes and pure realms manifest. The manner in which this occurs is said to be inconceivable, with each and every atom being pervaded by buddhas, pure realms, and samsaric worlds. The atoms of these realms, in turn, are pervaded in just the same way. The five buddhas from which these manifestations occur are rnam par snang mdzad gang chen mtsho/Vairocana Mahāhimasāgara, mi bskyod pa gangs chen mtsho/Akṣobhya Mahāhimasāgara, rin chen 'byung ldan gangs chen mtsho/Ratnasambhava Mahāhimasāgara, snang ba mtha' yas gangs chen mtsho/Amitābha Mahāhimasāgara, and don yod grub pa gangs chen mtsho/Amoghasiddhi Mahāhimasāgara. This presentation of Buddhist cosmology is described in detail by Longchenpa in his zab don rgya mtsho'i sprin, pp. 42-44. CJD