Interpenetration (Buddhism) in the context of "Yab-Yum"

⭐ In the context of Yab-Yum imagery, Interpenetration (Buddhism) is most directly represented by what symbolic pairing?

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⭐ Core Definition: Interpenetration (Buddhism)

The Huayan school of Buddhism (traditional Chinese: 華嚴; simplified Chinese: 华严; pinyin: Huáyán, Wade–Giles: Hua-Yen, "Flower Garland," from the Sanskrit "Avataṃsaka") is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty (618–907). The Huayan worldview is based primarily on the Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra (Chinese: 華嚴經; pinyin: Huáyán jīng, Flower Garland Sūtra) as well as on the works of Huayan patriarchs, like Zhiyan (602–668), Fazang (643–712), Chengguan (738–839), Zongmi (780–841) and Li Tongxuan (635–730).

Another name for this tradition is the Xianshou school (賢首, Xianshou being another name for patriarch Fazang). The Huayan School is known as Hwaeom in Korea, Kegon in Japan and Hoa Nghiêm in Vietnam.

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👉 Interpenetration (Buddhism) in the context of Yab-Yum

Yab-yum (Tibetan: ཡབ་ཡུམ། literally, "father-mother") is a common symbol in the Tibetan Buddhist art of India, Bhutan, Nepal, and Tibet. It represents the primordial union of wisdom and compassion, depicted as a male deity in union with his female consort through the similar ideas of interpenetration or "coalescence" (Tibetan: ཟུང་འཇུག Wylie: zung-'jug; Sanskrit: yuganaddha), using the concept of Indra's net to illustrate this.

The male figure represents compassion and skillful means, while the female partner represents insight. In yab-yum the female is seated on the male's lap. There is a rare presentation of a similar figure but reversed, with the male sitting on the female's lap, called yum-yab.

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