Wrathful deities

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Fierce deities
)
Mahakala statue, holding a flaying knife (kartika) and skullcup (kapala)

In

Tantric Buddhism by the late 10th or early 11th century.[2][1]

Overview

Vajrayogini, a semi-wrathful dakini who is also known as sarvabuddhaḍākiṇī, the all-buddha Dakini.

In non-Tantric traditions of

Chogyam Trungpa, "wrathful yidams work more directly and forcefully with passion, aggression, and delusion — conquering and trampling them on the spot."[8]

In Tantric Buddhist art, fierce deities are presented as terrifying, demonic-looking beings adorned with bone ornaments (

Sanskrit: aṣṭhimudrā) such as human skulls and other ornaments associated with the charnel ground, as well as being often depicted with sexually suggestive attributes. According to Rob Linrothe, the sensual and fierce imagery represents "poison as its own antidote, harnessed obstacles as the liberating force" and notes that they are "metaphors for the internal yogic processes to gain enlightenment".[9]

They often carry ritual implements, or some of the ashtamangala, or "Eight Auspicious Symbols", and are depicted trampling on (much smaller) bodies personifying the "obstacles" that the deity defeats.

Tantric deities

Yidams

In Indo-Tibetan

yab-yum
of a Buddha and consort in sexual union.

Gallery

Wisdom Kings

In

Five Tathagatas. In Chinese Buddhism, the Eight Wisdom Kings and Ten Wisdom Kings are regarded as manifestations of different bodhisattvas and buddhas.[13][14][15]

Protectors

The Protectors (Sanskrit pāla) or Dharmapāla (Dharma protectors), are powerful beings, often Devas or Bodhisattvas who protect the Buddhist religion and community from inner and outer threats and obstacles to their practice.[16] A Dharmapala can also be a Garuda, Nāga, Yaksha, Gandharva, or Asura.[17] Other categories of Protectors include the Lokapālas or "Four Heavenly Kings" and Kṣetrapālas or "Protectors of the Region".

Eight Dharmapalas

A common Tibetan grouping of Dharmapāla is 'The Eight Dharmapalas' (Tibetan: དྲག་གཤེད, Wylie: drag gshed), who are understood to be the defenders of Buddhism. They are supernatural beings with the rank of bodhisattva who "are supposed to wage war without any mercy against the demons and enemies of Buddhism".[18] The Eight Dharmapala are:[19]

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Linrothe 1999, p. 12.
  2. ^ Linrothe 1999, p. x.
  3. ^ Linrothe 1999, p. 13.
  4. ^ Linrothe 1999, p. 25.
  5. .
  6. ^ "Berzin, Alexander; Making Sense of Tantra". Archived from the original on 2020-05-17. Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  7. ^ Linrothe 1999, p. xi.
  8. ^ Chögyam Trungpa. The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa: Volume 3, Shambala, 2003, page 438.
  9. ^ Linrothe 1999, pp. xi–xii.
  10. .
  11. ^ "Wrathful Deities". Archived from the original on 2020-05-17. Retrieved 2007-06-30.
  12. .
  13. OCLC 64281400. Archived from the original on 2023-03-11. Retrieved 2021-08-27.[page needed
    ]
  14. .
  15. ]
  16. .
  17. ^ "Wrathful Guardians of Buddhism: Aesthetics and Mythology". February 2001. Archived from the original on 2020-06-02. Retrieved 2008-08-31.
  18. ]

Sources

External links