Maharakta Ganapati Outline Page

A new outline page for Maharakta Ganapati has been added to the Himalayan Art Resources website along with additional links and cataloguing.

Sakya Deities & Lineages Painting Set

Images of various Anuttarayoga Tantric meditational deities accompanied by the initiation & teaching lineages of the Sakya & Ngor Tradition.

Sakya Anuttarayoga Iconography Painting Set

Images of various Anuttarayoga Tantric meditational deities of the Sakya Tradition. The paintings are from the Kham region of Eastern Tibet and likely commissioned and created in the Dege area.

Bhutadamara Vajrapani

I know I have posted this image of Bhutadamara in the past but this image today is a different scan and possibly better than the previous images. As we all know it is very hard to find good iconographic representations for Bhutadamara. I believe this image is probably the best painted example currently known to exist. The physical painting itself belongs to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City (see full painting).

A new Bhutadamara painting from the Field Museum in Chicago has been added to the HAR webpage - HAR #54374.

Bhutadamara Vajrapani:

In Vajrayana Buddhism there are the three famous bodhisattvas, elevated to ishtadevata - Buddha status - which represent the essential characteristics of all the buddhas of the ten directions and three times. Manjushri represents wisdom, Avalokiteshvara compassion and Vajrapani power. All three of these deities have many Tantric forms and practices associated with them.

According to Vajrayana, Vajrapani is the caretaker and guardian of all the Tantra teachings and texts taught either by Shakyamuni or in the form of Vajradhara. Vajrapani is also the special deity for removing the various types of obstacles that arise during intensive Tantric practice.

The practice of the specific form of Vajrapani known as Bhutadamara is found in the Kriya, Charya and Anuttarayoga Tantras. Within Anuttarayoga it arises from the exclusive explanatory tantra to the Hevajra called the Vajrapanjara Tantra (chapter two).

Within the Sakya School in general and the Lamdre Tradition in particular Vajrapani in the form of Bhutadamara is the foremost practice for removing obstructions on the path of a practitioner. The basic meditation and explanatory teachings of Bhutadamara used in the Sakya Tradition are based on the ritual text (sadhana) of the Indian Pandit Trailokyavajra and the teachings coming down through Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, the sons Sonam Tsemo and Dragpa Gyaltsen, and Ngorchen. The standard meditation text is written by Ngorchen Konchog Lhundrub, (1497-1557). The Tibetan commentary most commonly used was written by the great Zhuchen Tsultrim Rinchen and called the Shining Sun. A shorter commentary was written by the Tsarpa teacher Zimwog Lhagsam Zangpo.

Historical Background from the Shining Sun Commentary

"...generally it is said, in the precious Tantras of the great secret Vajrayana there are immeasurable deities of great accomplishment and deities for accomplishing the increase of activities; this is the main [method] of the deity accomplishing the increase of activities, making firm the common attainments. Practicing this is also the method for the arising of the supreme attainment. This is special for pacifying obstacles, daemons, hindrances, bhutas, rakshas, and the like - commonly, and the four maras which are obstructions to enlightenment - [specifically]. All the great superior teachers [of Sakya] say; 'before entering any retreat it is foremost to do the Achala or Vajrapani retreat first.' To elaborate, of the six great [Vajrapani practices]: the Powerful [1] Great Wheel [Mahachakra], [2] Fierce Garuda, [3] Dharma Protector for the Benefit of Beings, [4] Tantra of the Great Stick, [5] Mantra of the Wrathful Acharya and the [6] Subduer of Daemons, the latter one, the Subduer of Daemons Bhutadamara is the most well known and found in many Tantras. The [long] Bhutadamara Tantra of 160,000 verses has remained in Oddiyana." [(See Kriya Tantra Toh.747, for the short Bhutadamara Tantra)].

"...of the many mahasiddhas to come to Tibet, Acharya Tathagata Rakshita made famous the teachings of the short Charya Tantra of Bhutadamara. In the Vajravali of Acharya Abhayakaragupta there are three mandalas of Bhutadamara, these, extracted from the Tantras contain the essence letters, the long mantra is not taught. Both Trailokyavajra and the Omniscient Buton Rinchen Drup wrote from this Charya Tantra..."

"...now, for the Non-dual Anuttara uncommon explanatory Tantra to the Hevajra, called the Vajrapanjara, it is said; Trailokyavajra's greater and lesser Bhutadamara meditations are based on this - which is found in the Sadhanasamgraha [Sadhanamala]. For the lineage of Atisha the text is found in the Narthang Gyatsa, a very famous collection of teachings. Also, there are the texts of Ngorchen Konchog Lhundrub and Panchen Drangti who wrote the abridged Sadhanasamgraha. Again, Lhachen Shakya Palwai who actually saw the face of Bhutadamara wrote a meditation and initiation text. From the various meditation texts, that of Ngorchen Konchog Lhundrub is used as the basis for the explanation of the practice." [from the commentary of Zhuchen Tsultrim Rinchen].

Jeff Watt, 12-1998 [slightly updated 11-2010]

The Village & Temples of Tsarang (Charang), Nepal

The village of Tsarang is just south of the walled town of Lo Monthang, the capital of the Kingdom of Mustang in North Western Nepal. The village of Tsarang (Charang) has numerous stupa structures, a monastery with a main temple (gompa) and a fortress (dzong). The monastery is made up of several buildings and structures. Some are in the process of being renovated and others are in a state of serious disrepair. The inner walls of the main temple are painted with murals depicting the deities of the Medicine Buddha mandala. They have recently been cleaned and restored. It has been suggested by some local informants that depictions and rituals of Medicine Buddha are a special object of devotion in the Kingdom of Mustang and can be found in the temples of almost every Mustang village.

By far one of the most interesting buildings in the small walled monastic complex is located at the back of the property, looking like nothing but a ruin, almost falling over a cliff. The structure is referred to locally as the Ani Gompa, or Ani Lhakang (nunnery). Navigating the only entrance, a set of small wooden double doors, flanked by a Wheel of Life and murals of the Four Guardian Kings, arriving inside, it is imediately noticable that the roof has large gaping holes, numerous rafters with blue sky behind. The floor is an uneven surface of mud and dirt and the entire place seems like it could collapse at any momenent. Yet despite all of that, the inner walls are completely decorated with brightly coloured murals, some of which appear to have been cleaned and restored in very recent years. It is like an oasis of colour and palacial grandeur, unexpected, awesome and immediately comforting and strangely well grounded, stable and solid.

The inner layout of the room, clearly a temple or shrine room of some sort, is not completely typical. The main inner wall at the front of the room (across from the door) has a large depiction of the Buddha Vajradhara, the primordial Buddha, surrounded by the lineage teachers of the Sakya Lamdre - based on the Hevjra Tantra and teachings of the Indian mahasiddha Virupa (depicted with six different forms in the murals of the main temple). On the viewer's left hand side is a very large painting of Padmasambhava surrounded by a Nyingma lineage. On the right side of the room is a large painting of a Drugpa Kagyu teacher surrounded by a Drugpa Kagyu lineage. The side walls of the room appear to depict the Five Symbolic Buddhas accompanied by smaller buddhas representing the One Thousand Buddhas of the Age. To the immediate right and left of the entrance are protector deities of the Sakya Tradition on one side and protectors of the Drugpa Kagyu Tradition of the other side.

Despite being called an Ani Gompa, the structure is more likely to be a Lamdre Lhakang or a building created for use during the Monastic Summer Retreat - and later painted. As a backdrop to the monastery, on the steep cliff sides of the valley surrounding the village are evidence of extensive cave dwellings both for religious as well as secular use. Only some of these caves are accessible, most are not. Only a small percentage of the caves have been explored by trained climbers and cultural specialists.

Mahakala Visual Model - Updated

A new visual model page has been added to further simplify the identification of all the figures of the Panjara Mahakala painting HAR #87227. It has already been discussed previously but, this painting is both unique and special because it is so clear and easy to follow and also because it represents precisely the form of Mahakala described in the Vajrapanjara Tantra along with so many of the other deity forms described in that same tantra, such as White Prajnaparamita, Vajra Tara, Bhutadamara Vajrapani, etc. This is one of the only paintings in existence that depicts the correct iconographic form of the Vajrapanjara Tantra Mahakala as passed on through the Lamdre (Margapala) tradition of Sakya.

Hevajra Resource Page

A new Hevajra Resource Page has been added to the HAR website. Additional new pages have also been created and added to the Hevajra section. See the new Hevajra Masterworks Page and the Hevajra Deity Forms Page. The many scattered and miscellaneous Hevajra pages have been brought together under the Resource Page. The main topics of the new page are mediums, mandalas, reading a mandala and deity forms.

The Masterworks page on the HAR website is based almost exclusively on art and aesthetics while maintaining a standard of iconographic accuracy. From a religious perspective, a Sakya perspective, or a Lamdre perspective, the Masterworks Page would change and reflect predominantly iconography and the chronology of small changes in iconography that reflect changes in the teachings and commentaries that have taken place over the last millennium. A religious Masterworks page might also include unique and rare subjects that pertain to Hevajra in general, or to the specific Lamdre system such as the Hevajra Balimta Offering painting.

Mapping a Mandala: Hevajra - A Visual Model

Paintings of the Hevajra Mandala are quite numerous and at times of a very high artistic quality. This painting from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is one of the finest and best preserved in the world. It was painted in 1461 as recorded by inscription on the reverse of the composition and very likely commissioned at Ngor Monastery in Tsang Province, Tibet. Ngor was founded by Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo (1382-1456) and this painting was likely commissioned by a principal student or nephew less than five years after the founders passing.

Aside from the artistic qualities of this Hevajra mandala it is perhaps the best, or clearly one of the best, iconographic examples of a Hevajra Mandala in the world. Anybody who is interested in the practice of Hevajra or engages in the practice should know this painting and should study this painting. Every figure depicted in the mandala is clear, iconographically detailed, and correct. Two mandala elements stand out as being particularly detailed, the Eight Great Cemeteries and the Eleven Wrathful Ones. Each of the Wrathful Ones is correctly coloured and holds the correct object, or mudra, in the right hand.



Reading a mandala is often very difficult without insider knowledge and the benefit of the explanatory literature. Painted mandala compositions are generally read from the center out and then all of the figures immediately outside of the mandala circle, followed by the top register, and then finishing with the bottom register. The important sections of the MFA Hevajra painting have been divided into colours; blue for the essential deities, red for the Eight Great Charnal Grounds, yellow for the lineage teachers and green for the miscellaneous deities added by the donor or artist. Click on the image to see the greyscale/coloured Numbered and Names Key for this painting.

Visual Models for Practice: Vajrayogini

Vajrayogini is one of the easier deities to find good images for. My favourite, in most cases, is an Eastern Tibetan painting, HAR #290, likely based on the Dege Parkhang block print of the same subject. It belongs to the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City. The full composition of the painting has Khyentse Wangpo at the top left (our left) and Loter Wangpo on the right. The painting is clear, with clean lines, and a reasonably well formed body. The subject is not an easy form to create with the head looking up to the sky and the body twisted to the left side. It is one of the more unusual of the Vajrayogini postures.

There are other good forms such as HAR #61139. The posture of this Yogini is a little more standard. Paintings like HAR #81541 are great as well because they have all of the lineage teachers portrayed above and the two other yoginis from the Marmo Korsum at the sides. This is not so unusual to see. However, this painting is particularly nice because it has the Sakya Trizin at the bottom left corner along with his son and seated in the right corner is his wife. The first of these paintings belongs to a private collection in New York State and the second belongs to a private collection in Washington, D.C.

Painting HAR #98956 is also quite good unfortunately we do not have a large image that we can look at. The form of the deity is well balanced. It has a shape similar to the painting of HAR #290 as shown above. This painting belongs to the Hahn Cultural Foundation in Seoul, Korea.

Visual Models for Practice

What are the best visual models for the different Sakya Generation Stage (kye rim) practices? This has always been an interest of mine ever since I first began to learn of Deity Yoga, also called Generation Stage Yoga. What do you think the best images are to model personal practice after?

I will offer two candidates, the first is Bhutadamara Vajrapani from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Of all the forms of Bhutadamara as a central figure this one appears to me to be the most animate, the most correct proportionally, and the most visually pleasing. Many of the forms don't quite look right. A common problem with many Bhutadamara paintings is that the two main arms extending to the sides are often too short. That is not an issue here. However, in this Natural History Museum image the left hand holding the vajra lasso seems more upraised than usual, but that is fine. There is nothing iconographically wrong with this. The Dege Parkhang line drawing of Bhutadamara is close in form to the image above but just doesn't have the animation and life that the Natural History painting has.

Why is Bhutadamara important in the Sakya tradition? This form of Vajrapani is described in chapter two of the Vajrapanjara Tantra, an exclusive explanatory Tantra to the Hevajra Root Tantra in Two Sections. Vajrapani with four arms is a special deity method for removing obstacles at the outset of Tantric practice and most specifically for practitioners of Shri Hevajra. In the Sakya Tradition any serious practice of Hevajra would be framed within the Lamdre system. Bhutadamara therefore is an essential practice for Lamdre and a required retreat, a minimum of one month in duration, prior to embarking on a six month Hevajra retreat. Again, within the Sakya Tradition Bhutadamara is generally recommended as an uncommon preliminary practice prior to other retreats and serious endevours such as Chakrasamvra, Vajrayogini and the other complex Anuttarayoga meditation practices.

Bhutadamara is not commonly depicted as a central figure in a painting. He is more often included amongst the secondary figures surrounding either Shri Hevajra or Panjaranata Mahakala in one of those two more popular painted compositions.

View all Bhutadamara images.

For practices other than Hevajra it is also suitable to do the practice and retreat of Nila Achala, blue in colour, and in a kneeling posture [see Outline Page]. Lobpon Sonam Tsemo wrote a long commentary on the practice of Nila Achala which is considered definitive even in these later times.

My second candidate for the best visual form, at the risk of being accused of cheating, is a Hevajra Torma Offering depiction in the Rubin Museum of Art. The reason it could be considered cheating is because it is the only one that I know of that exists. Even Sakya Lamas have been surprised when they see the image for the first time. It is not common to paint the front visualization for the Hevajra Torma ritual. The painting is extremely clear in its detail. When reading the Tibetan text and looking at the image at the same time everything in the iconography makes sense. The text was definitely the basis for the composition.

These are my two choices that I offer up as being the best visual models for those two specific subjects in Deity Yoga meditation. Do you have better examples? Do you have other visual forms you think should be highlighted, compared and discussed?

Simhanada Lokeshvara: A Golden Dharma

Explanation of the Iconographic Form of the Deity

Simhanada is included as one of the practices in the Thirteen Golden Dharmas of Sakya. It was considered important by the early teachers and kept safe as one of the special practices passed down by Bari Lotsawa Rinchen Drag to Sachen Kunga Nyingpo (1092-1158).

Originally taught by the Indians Chandragomi and Suvarnadvipa, it entered Tibet in the 11th century with Rinchen Zangpo, Jowo Atisha, Bari Lotsawa and others. The deity form and meditation practices are now found in all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. A stone sculpture relief of the deity can also be found carved on a rock face in Hangzhou, China, at the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Simhanada Lokeshvara was popularized in Mongolia and China by Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltsen (1182-1251) when he cured Godan Khan of leprosy using the special healing techniques of Simhanada Lokeshvara.

See the Simhanada Lokeshvara Outline Page on the HAR website.