What Does This Sound Like? Deities Family.

[Son]

Vajradara emanates the five Dhyani Buddhas,
Vairocana, Akshobhya, Amitabha, Ratnasambhava, and Amogasiddhi, heading the Buddha families which include the Bodhisattvas,
Samantabhadra, Vajrapani, Avalokiteshvara, Ratnapani, and Vishvapani or Maitreya.

The Shakyamuni trinity includes Manjushri, the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra and "Shakyamuni." In my mind I sort of represent this trinity--in relativity with the five Dhaynis--as being sort of in the center, as in Shakyamuni lying above Vajradara with Manjushri and Samantabhadra on other sides, and the Dhyani Buddhas in a circle around Vajradara

Another sort of conventional trinity seems to be Manjushri (for wisdom) and Avalokiteshvara (for compassion) implicated by Vajrapani (for power), a Bodhisattva trinity.

What school or specific sub-tradition does this sound like...?

Also, is Manjushri part of a family, or anyway his many forms seems to imply that he is very general?

Does Vajrasattva belong to the Akshobhya family?

Bhaisajyaguru is the Buddha of healing, not being a Bodhisattva where does he exist in this scheme, or is he related to Akshobhya (I read that Akshobhya was formerly the Healing Bodhisattva before Bhaisajyaguru)? And, where does Ksitigarbha exist in this scheme?

Thank you for your effort with my confused questions.

[Spirituality]

With the stress on Vajrasattva and Manjusri I'd say this is Gelugpa Buddhism.

However, it's not an aspect of the tradition best suited for a beginner. Start with a Lam Rim course, or the FPMT Discovering Buddhism course instead.

[Son]

Hm, Gelugpa yes, thank you. I was beginning to think no one was interested in these questions.
But, I have to ask what's not an aspect best suitable for a beginner? Also, I'm not a beginner. Really I just need answers to the questions about Manjushri and Ksitigarbha and in what family, if any, is Vajrasattva.

[Spirituality]

To me the question seems like one a beginner would ask who has no idea of priorities on the path. I may be mistaken: I've studied hard over the past few years, but I've only been practicing in a particular tradition (Gelugpa) for a year. I'm sure I still miss many details and nuances.

Still, the understanding of Buddha families seems to me relevant only from the perspective of either academic research or practical tantra. If the first, I can't help you, but perhaps some Tibetologist can. If the second, you would not have had to ask which tradition, because you'd already have a guru. That guru would in turn be from a specific lineage and would know all about Buddha families. Especially the ones his Buddhas were in.

I guess the question becomes, why do you ask? One reason nobody has responded so far may be because people are too polite to write something like the above...

[Son]

Actually my questions sort of resolved themselves in a very interesting and self-sufficient way. In no small part with your help. But I do like this thread, it just seems that most others aren't interested in something like this. It's not that I'm interested because I have no idea of priorities on the path. One shouldn't be concerned only with priorities. Priorities need all the unnecessary things within them.

[Spirituality]

Glad to hear it helped in some way.