The Nyingjei Lam Collection has been updated and the various subject categories have been divided into separate and easy to browse pages.

The collection includes outstanding examples of Tibetan sculpture as well as works from Eastern India, Kashmir and Nepal. A great strength of the collection is the exquisite portrait bronzes. (See Nyingjei Lam on the Asian Art web site).

Subject Categories:
1. Buddhas
2. Indian Teachers
3. Tibetan Teachers
4. Deities
5. Protectors
6. Miscellaneous

 Buddhakapala, meaning the skull of the enlightened one, is a meditational deity belonging to the Wisdom Class, or Mother Tantra, of Anuttarayoga Tantra of Tantric Buddhism.

There are several different forms of Buddhakapala. Sometimes he appears with a consort and sometimes without. He can appear in single aspect or with a mandala of eight or twenty-five retinue deities.

In the most basic form Buddhakapala appears as described below.

"Buddhakapala is blue with one face and four arms. The right two hold a double-sided drum and a curved knife. The left two hold a skullcup and a katvanga staff. Having three eyes and the pile of hair adorned with a vishva-vajra and crescent moon, a crown of five dry skulls and a necklace of fifty wet, adorned with the six mudras, an elephant hide as a lower garment, standing in a dancing manner, half vajra, expressing the nine moods of dance. [He] embraces the consort Vishvasukha Matri, red, [holding] in the right a curved knife and a skullcup in the left embracing the Lord, surrounded by the eight goddesses." (Based on Ocean of Meditational Deities text of Taranata, 1575–1634).

Mahakala, Chaturmukha (Four-faced Great Black One) associated with the Guhyasamaja Tantra along with the Twenty-five and Fifty Chapter Mahakala Tantras. Aside from the Sarma Tradition Chaturmukha later Nyingma Revealed Treasure Traditions (terma) of Chaturmukha arose.

According to the Sakya Tradition this form of Mahakala with four faces and four arms is rarely depicted in art and virtually never shown to those who are uninitiated. The early Sakya Teachers devised a simplified form of the deity to be depicted on paintings as a place card-holder for the true image and form which was considered too secret and dangerous to display publicly. The simplified form is that of what has come to be known as Brahmanarupa Mahakala. (See below for a short history).

Drogdze Wangmo, (English: the Powerful Friend): protector of the Nyingma Terma (Treasure) Tradition. This protector deity was popularized in the 18th and 19th centuries by the Mindrolling Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.

"...One Mother, Mistress of the Three Realms, with a body maroon in colour, ferocious and frightful in appearance, with one face and two hands. In the right, eating the heart of an enemy, blood dripping and warm. Reflecting the Three Realms - the left holds a mirror. Wearing an upper garment of white silk, a tiger skin lower garment and a fresh human skin cloak. Dark brown hair hanging downward, earrings, a crown of five dry skulls and a necklace of fifty fresh, a garland of bones and a long necklace; standing haughtily with the left leg extended..." (Min-ling Lochen Dharmashri, 1654-1718. Tibetan source text TBRC W18, part II, pp.261-262).

The Milarepa Main Page has been updated with additional images.

As a sub-theme of the Five Forms of Tsongkapa, the mahasiddha form is sometimes depicted as the central figure of a composition surrounded by smaller figures of the Eighty-four Mahasiddhas. So far six paintings have been identified with four of them included on the HAR website.

Two of the HAR images belong to sets likely likely including depictions of the other forms of Tsongkapa: HAR #65347, 77237. Three of the remaining paintings appear to have all been created based on a single model. Two of these are HAR #74042 and 90748. All of the individual compositions and sets of paintings identified thus far depict the Eighty-four Mahasiddhas according to the Vajrasana System.

Garwa Nagpo, Damchen (English: the Avowed Blacksmith), the principal attendant deity in the entourage of the Tibetan worldly protector Dorje Legpa. Garwa Nagpo can typically be found in art as a retinue figure in paintings of Dorje Legpa or as an independent figure in a painted composition with his own retinue of attendant figures.

Garwa Nagpo is generally found as a standard protector deity in the Karma Kagyu and Nyingma Traditions. Some Gelug monasteries and incarnate lama traditions (trulku) have also adopted Garwa Nagpo as their special protector deity.

Dorje Legpa and his retinue, including Damchen Garwa Nagpo, were originally believed to be subjugated in Tibet by Padmasambhava in the 8th century. They are avowed, oath-bound, protectors and perform the specific function of safeguarding the Nyingma Terma (treasure) tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.

General Description: Wrathful with one face and two hands, he is dark blue in colour, with three eyes, bared fangs and bright orange or brown hair flaming upward. The right hand holds aloft a vajra hammer and the left a blacksmith's bellows made of striped tiger skin. Adorned with a crown of five dry skulls and earrings he is lavishly attired in variously coloured full-length garments and felt boots. Riding atop a brown goat with two horns he is surrounded most often by grey or dark brown smoke along with licks of orange and yellow flame.

Damchen Garwa Nagpo can be accompanied by an assortment of retinue figures as described in the various ritual texts belonging to the different Nyingma Traditions of 'Revealed Treasure' (terma). Also, Garwa Nagpo is sometimes depicted with the accompanying figures of a black bear, fox, wild blue mule and a grey wolf. The animals function as servant-like messengers for the protector.

The Tsang Nyon Heruka page has been updated with the addition of a short biography.

Dorje Rabtenma, (English: the Vajra Stable One), a form of the protector goddess Shri Devi originating in the Nyingma Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Dorje Rabtenma is commonly found as the protector deity located in the bottom registers of paintings belonging to the schools originating with the Pagdru Kagyu of Pagmodrubpa. Subsequently, based on the numbers of images reproduced in paintings, the deity was predominantly practiced in the Shalupa and Tsarpa sub-schools of the Sakya Tradition.

A better quality and higher resolution image has been uploaded. This is perhaps one of the finest early examples of Newar painting from Kathmandu, Nepal. The image is also extrordianry because of the subject of Maharakta Ganapati an emanation of Avalokiteshvara. He is an elephant headed deity, red in colour, with twelve arms standing in a dancing posture with a giant blue rat underfoot. In the upper left corner is the mahasiddha Virupa. At the upper right side is Bhutadamara Vajrapani in the unique form associated with Maharakta Ganapati.