Vairocana, also called Mahavairocana (“Great Illuminator”), the supreme Buddha, as regarded by many Mahayana Buddhists of East Asia and of Tibet, Nepal, and Java, is given reverence by Buddhists of the Yogacara school in China and Japan, (which will lead to the foundation of the Shingon sect in Japan).

Legend claims that he transmitted to a supernatural personage, Vajrasattva, the Yoga doctrine, which is in turn introduced into China in 719 by Vajrabodhi.