Bhadrapāla [跋陀婆羅] (; Baddabara): The name of several figures appearing in various sutras: (1) In the Accumulated Treasures Sutra, the son of a wealthy man who went to Shakyamuni Buddha to seek the answers to questions that troubled him.
(2) In the Upholder of the Age Sutra, a bodhisattva who vowed to protect and propagate the Law in the age after Shakyamuni Buddha’s death when the Buddha’s teachings would perish. For this he was praised highly by Shakyamuni, who prophesied that he would enjoy immeasurable benefits.
(3) One of the eighty thousand bodhisattvas described in the “Introduction” (first) chapter of the Lotus Sutra as attending the assembly on Eagle Peak where Shakyamuni preached the sutra. In the “Never Disparaging” (twentieth) chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Bhadrapāla is identified with one of those who slandered Bodhisattva Never Disparaging and as a result fell into the Avīchi hell. After undergoing great suffering there for a thousand kalpas and paying for his offenses, he once more encountered Bodhisattva Never Disparaging and accepted his teaching.