Himalayan Art Resources

Painting Set: Amoghapasha (Five Deity)

Amoghapasha Main Page | Amoghapasha Outline Page

Amoghapasha, Five Deities (Tibetan: don yo shag pa. English: Unfailing Lasso): five registers from the top of a set of four (or more) paintings. The lower and main portion of each painting is the Amoghapasha Dharani Sutra written on a black background. (See deity identification key).

The four registers exhibited here are only the top portions of four individual works. The lower portion is a text panel that is identical for all four and contains the Amoghapasha Dharani Sutra, a text belonging to the Mahayana Sutra Literature of Northern Buddhism.

Paintings such as these were created to overcome particular obstacles or inauspicious events. The donor could be an individual, a family, or a community either lay or monastic. The reason to paint and copy the Amoghapasha Dharani would generally be determined through a divination performed by a religious figure respected in the community.