Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Mandala of Buddhasamayoga (Buddhist Deity)

(item no. 770)
Origin Location Tibet
Date Range 1400 - 1499
Lineages Sakya and Uncertain
Size 26.67x24.13cm (10.50x9.50in)
Material Ground Mineral Pigment on Cotton
Collection Rubin Museum of Art
Catalogue # acc.# P1998.28.1
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Object/Concept

Interpretation / Description

Buddhasamayoga (Tibetan: sang gye nyam jor. English: Secret Union of the Enlightened One) arising from the tantra of the same name.

In the central mandala is Heruka is blue in colour with four faces, eight arms and two legs with the consort Ishvari. They are accompanied by eight attendant figures: Gauri, Chauri, Pramoha, Vetali, Pukkashi, Chandali, Ghashmari and Dombini.

Wrathful in appearance, blue in colour, he has four faces and eight hands. The first pair embrace the consort Ishvari. In a dancing posture atop a corpse he stands in the center of a lotus surrounded by eight seated figures of various colour. In the outer mandala are four offering goddesses and four door keeper goddesses: horse-faced, boar-faced, crow-faced and dog-faced. At the four corners of the top and bottom are sixteen seated buddha figures all identical in appearance.

Principal Deities of the Six Mandalas:
Heruka (central mandala)
Vairochana (East)
Ratnsambhava Vajra Surya (South)
Amitabha Padmanarteshvara (West)
Amoghasiddhi Vajra Hayagriva (North 1)
Vajradhara/Vajrasattva (North 2)

Secret Lineage: Vajradhara, Vajrapani, Jnana Dakini, Chodze Dharma Vajra, Drozang Nyingpo, Khache Rinchen Dorje, Teja Deva, Zangkar Lotsawa Pagpa Sherab, Nyen Tsultrim Bar, Go Rinchen Zangpo, Zhonnu Sengge, Wangchug Rinchen, Shakya Vajra, Chokyi Dragpa, Upa Sangbum, Lotsa Chogden, Bagton Shontsul, Ngaggi Wangchug, [etc.]. (Lineage folios 103-107).

Jeff Watt 3-2000

Secondary Images
Related Items
Thematic Sets
Mandala: Mandala Main Page
Collection of Rubin Museum of Art: Painting Gallery 8
Hindu Deity: Shiva Iconography (Buddhist List)
Buddhist Deity: Buddhasamayoga
Collection of Rubin Museum of Art: Mandala