. the mandala as metropolis 723
They are surrounded by bodhisattvas in four other assembly rooms:
Kongōshu and other diamond assembly bodhisattvas are
housed to the right, Kannon and other lotus assembly bodhisat-
tvas are housed to the left, the Mother of All Buddhas (Butsumo
) resides in the Universal Knowledge Hall above, and the five wis-
dom kings (godaimyōō ) reside in the Mantra-Holders Hall
below. This first central layer of the mansion symbolizes Dainichi’s
equivalents of Akṣobhya (top/east), Ratnasambhava (right/south), Amitābha (bottom/
west), and Amogasiddhi (left/north); and the bodhisattvas Samantabhadra (southeast),
Mañjuśrī (southwest), Avalokiteśvara (northwest), and Maitreya (northeast).
Figure 2. Womb World concentric layout (ten Grotenhuis 1999, 36, fig. 17).