Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Nairatmya (Buddhist Deity)

རྡོ་རྗེ་བདག་མེད་མ། 无我佛母(萨迦派本尊)
(item no. 90017)
Origin Location Tibet
Date Range 1500 - 1599
Lineages Sakya, Ngor (Sakya) and Buddhist
Material Ground Mineral Pigment on Cotton
Collection Navin Kumar
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Deity

Interpretation / Description

Vajra Nairatmya (Tib.: rdo rje bdag med ma. English: the Selfless One, or Egoless One): surrounded by the teachers of the Meditation Beyond Thought Lineage.

"Vajra Nairatma, [with] a body black in colour, one face and two hands. The right [hand] holds aloft a curved knife and the left a skullcup to the heart, and carrying a katvanga [in the bend of] the elbow. Having three eyes and bared fangs. Yellow hair bristling upwards. A crown of five dry human skulls and a necklace of fifty. Adorned with the five ornaments of bone. Wearing a lower garment of tiger skin. Standing on a corpse seat in a dancing manner with the left leg extended in a half [vajrasana] posture." (Konchog Lhundrub, 1497-1557).

Vajra Nairatmya as a meditational deity is from the Hevajra and Samputa Tantras - both early and important texts of the Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism. Nairatmya is a meditational deity and partner to Hevajra. There are many different forms and combinations of forms for the two deities, alone, or as a couple in ecstatic embrace.

Jeff Watt 1-2013

Meditation Beyond Thought Lineage of Teachers:
1. Vajradhara
2. Tachog (Rta mchog)
3. Vinapa
4. Indrabhuti
5. Lakhsminkara (lcam legs smin)
6. Lila Vajra (sgeg pa'i rdo rje)
7. Gundhiripa
8. Padma Vajra (younger)
9. Palden Chokyi De (dpal ldan chos kyi sde)
10. Bhadrapa
11. Kotalipa (tog rtse pa)
12. Shinglopa (shing lo pa)
13. Karnapa
14. Viravajra (dpa' bo rdo rje)
15. Drogmi Lotsawa ('brog mi lo tsa ba)
16. Seton Kunrig (Se ston kun rig)
17. Shangton Chobar (mgon po chos 'bar)
18. Sachen Kunga Nyingpo (sa chen kun dga' snyin po)
19. etc.

(Sakya Lam 'bras slob bshad, volume 20, VA, page 263. Tog rtse ba'i bsam gyis mi khyab pa'i blama rgyud).

Related Items
Thematic Sets
Collection of Navin Kumar Gallery (Painting Masterworks)
Buddhist Deity: Deities (Female)
Buddhist Deity: Vajra Nairatmya Main Page
Subject: Margapala/Lamdre Lineage [1] (Ngor set)
Buddhist Deity: Nairatmya, Lineage Sets
Buddhist Deity: Vajra Nairatmya (Masterworks)
Collection of Navin Kumar Gallery: Painting
Subject: Margapala/Lamdre (Lotus Pair 1)