Himalayan Art Resources

Buddhist Deity: Vajrasattva Main Page

Vajrasattva Masterworks

- Art History

- Iconography

- Religious Context


Videos:
- Vajrasattva Introduction
- Vajrapani & Vajrasattva Confusions

Vajrasattva is a Buddhist deity originating in India and primarily functioning universally as a Tantric practice for the purification of sins and defilements. Vajrasattva also has a number of different forms used as meditational deities (ishtadevata, yidam), guruyoga or purification.

Fact Sheet:
- Identity: Deity
- Tantra Class: Yoga & Anuttarayoga Tantra
- Source Text: Abhidhanottara Tantra (25th chapter), Hevajra Tantra, Chakrasamvara Tantra, others
- Function/activity: Purification, Meditational Deity (Ishtadevata)
- Metaphor: Variable

Visual Characteristics:
- Appearance: Peaceful
- Colour: White
- Attributes: Vajra & Bell
- Consort: Vajragarvi, others
- Mount: none

The Sanskrit Spelling of the Name Vajrasatva:
"3. See n.2. A word about the spelling of the suffix sattva as satva throughout the essay. In this I follow Dr. Gauriswar Bhattacharya 2010 who has convincingly demonstrated that in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit the word satva is consistently spelt with one rather than two 't's." (Revisiting a Kashmiri-Style Buddhist Image of Vajrasatva with Consort by Pratapaditya Pal. Asianart.com. September 19, 2016).

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Jeff Watt 4-2005 [updated 7-2011, 4-2017, 12-2019]