Nyorai
Nyorai, the Sino-Japanese translation of the Sanskrit term tathagata, literally means "come thusly" (i.e., derived from truth). In the Buddhist scheme of things, it refers to "being" in the highest state of reality, in other words, to the Buddha. Originally the term referred only to the Historical Buddha, Prince Siddhartha Gautama; then in the Hinayana (also called Theravada) tradition it was also applied to a few other entities designated in Japanese by such names as Joko and Miroku. With the development of the Mahayana tradition, the term nyorai came to be suffixed to a great number of entities, including Amida and Yakushi, which share certain iconographic features.
In contrast to bodhisattvas (bosatsu), which are adorned with decorative accessories, the nyorai wear no such decorations, with the exception of Dainichi Nyorai (sometimes referred to in English as the Cosmic Buddha) in the Esoteric tradition. Although the bodies of nyorai are presumed to possess all "thirty-two signs" distinguishing them as such, Buddhist images usually show only a limited number of these - namely, the snail-coil hair, third eye, very large ear-lobes, three-layered neck, and webbing between the fingers - while the rest are omitted.
