Sarvanëvaraá¹Âaviá¹£kambhin is a bodhisattva revered in MahÃÂyÃÂna Buddhism. He is one of the Eight Great Bodhisattvas with Mañjuà Ârë, Samantabhadra, Avalokiteà Âvara, MahÃÂsthÃÂmaprÃÂpta, ÃÂkÃÂà Âagarbha, Ká¹£itigarbha and Maitreya. His name means "He who blocks (viá¹£kambhin) all of the hindrances (sarva nivÃÂraá¹Âa)."
He is invoked to remove or eliminate all the obstacles to insure a successful meditation.
Although the eight MahÃÂsattvas belong to the current MahÃÂyÃÂna, the term nivÃÂraá¹Âa is most commonly used in the Theravada texts where it refers to the five mental obstacles: desire (kamacchanda), hostility (vyapada), laziness (thinamiddha), distraction and worry (uddhachcha-kukuchcha), doubts (vichikicha) towards the Three Jewels. SarvanivÃÂraá¹Âaviá¹£kambhi is best known to meditators and is not an important subject to individual worship like the other seven mahÃÂsattvas. In terms of the name of the bodhisattva himself, the word is most often spelt in the irregular form nëvaraá¹Âa.
In Tantric Buddhism, he is usually placed in the lineage of Amoghasiddhi Buddha, one of the five Dhyani Buddhas, more rarely of Akshobhya Buddha. He is sometimes considered a form of VajrapÃÂá¹Âi, though this is most likely a confusion with the mahÃÂsattva MahÃÂsthÃÂmÃÂprÃÂpta which VajrapÃÂá¹Âi is one of its incarnations.
In iconography, he has often a flower in one hand, sometimes with a wishing gem (cintÃÂmaá¹Âi).
He is mentioned in the Lotus Sutra, in which he pays homage to Avalokiteà Âvara, and in the Mahavairocana Tantra. He is also the main interlocutor in Ratnamegha and TathÃÂgata-guá¹Âa-jñÃÂnÃÂcintya-viá¹£ayÃÂvatÃÂra-nirdeà Âa sutras.
The mantra of this great bodhisattva to remove all obstacles and disturbances mentioned in the VairocanÃÂbhisaá¹Âbodhi Sà «tra is as follows:
In the Dharanisamgraha (Collected Dharanis), the bodhisattva's spell is: