Who is the Buddhist Goddess Cundi?

(Buddha's Wisdom) Who is CUNDI? Even Vajrayana Buddhists can't answer

Goddess Cundi in Buddhism

Cundī (Sanskrit, Chinese 準提, Pinyin Zhǔntí, Japanese Juntei, Tibetan ལྷ་མོ་སྐུལ་བྱེད་མ།, Wylie lha mo skul byed ma, THL lha-mo kül-jé-ma) or Cundā (Chinese 羅馬化) is a female Indian Buddhist deity who remains popular in East Asian Buddhism.

In Chinese Mahayana Buddhism, she is associated with the practice of the well-known Cundī dharani, which is performed along with a specific mudra (hand gesture), as well as the use of a circular mirror [1, 2].

She is considered to be able to purify negative karma, provide protection, support spiritual practice that allows one to quickly attain Buddhahood [3].

This deity is also called by various other names and epithets, including:

• 准提菩萨像轴.明代.纸本设色描金.台北故宫博物院藏,
• Cundavajrī,
• Saptakoṭi Buddha-bhagavatī ("The Blessed Buddha of the Seventy Million," 七俱胝佛母),
• "Zhunti Buddha Mother" (Chinese 準提佛母, Zhǔntí Fómǔ),
• Saptakoṭibuddhamatṛ ("Mother of Seventy Million Buddhas," with Sanskrit reconstruction of 佛母 being speculative) [1, 2].

Cundi in the China monumentis 1667

Some depictions of Cundī share many iconographic and symbolic elements with another female Buddhist deity, Prajñāpāramitā Devi [Buddhism's Sophia, the anthropomorphic representation of the "Perfection of Wisdom" as a female deva].

As such, some images of these goddesses are difficult to identify [4, 5]. In Tibetan Buddhism she is known by the name Lhamo Cunda, Chunde, or Cundi ("Lhamo" in Tibetan is devi in Sanskrit, a term of veneration meaning "goddess") [6, 7]. More