Lit. "Shaka triad." A group of 3 Buddhist images composed of *Shaka 釈迦 flanked by 2 attendants. This triadic format appears in India in the art of Gandhara and Mathura, which have triads consisting of Shaka flanked to the left and right either by bodhisattvas *bosatsu 菩薩 thought to be *Miroku 弥勒 and *Kannon 観音 or by Rengeshu 蓮華手 (Sk: Padmapani) and Kongōshu 金剛手 (Sk: Vajrapani). It is thought that the 3 divisions or families of early Esoteric Buddhism (the Buddha, Lotus and Vajrafamilies) evolved from this latter triad of Shaka, Rengeshu and Kongōshu, which is also reflected in the composition of early mandalas *mandara 曼荼羅, such as the *Shōugyō mandara 請雨経曼荼羅. In Theravada Buddhism, Shaka is often represented flanked by Anan 阿難 (Sk: Ananda) and Daikashō 大迦葉 (Sk: Mahakasyapa), his two chief disciples, and this format is also common in the Zen 禅 sect. Another pair of attendants mentioned in early texts is that of *Bonten 梵天 and *Taishakuten帝釈天.
In Japanese examples of the Shaka triad, Shaka is most commonly flanked by either the bodhisattvas Yakuō 薬王 (Sk: Bhaisajyaraja) and Yakujō 薬上 (Sk: Bhaisajyasamudgata) or *Fugen 普賢 and *Monju 文殊, and there is also at least one example of Shaka flanked by Kannon and *Kokūzō 虚空蔵. Although statuary representations of the Shaka triad predominate, there are also pictorial representations.