The sanctum of the Great Stupa is adorned with the brilliant splendor of Vermillion. The central Buddhist image here is that of Dainichi Nyorai (the cosmic Buddha who represents the very ground of reality in Shingon Buddhism). The Shingon tradition envisions the ideal world as a harmonious union of two opposed realms known as the Diamond and Womb Realms. This ideal union is portrayed in the Great Stupa by this image of Dainichi Nyorai, which is of the Womb Realm, surrounded here by four Buddha images representative of the Diamond Realm. The sixteen pi 'llars depict sixteen bodhisattvas, or saints, of the ideal world, while in each of the four corners are portraits of two of the eight patriarchs who transmitted the Shingon tradition.