Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Ushnishavijaya (Buddhist Deity) - (three faces, eight arms)

གཙུག་གཏོར་རྣམ་པར་རྒྱལ་མ། ཚེ་ལྷ། 尊圣佛母(本尊)
(item no. 65445)
Origin Location Tibet
Date Range 1400 - 1499
Lineages Sakya and Buddhist
Size 29.60cm (11.65in) high
Material Metal, Mercuric Gild, Painted Face/Hair, Precious Stone, Stone Inset: Turquoise
Collection Rubin Museum of Art
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Deity

Appearance: Peaceful

Gender: Female

Interpretation / Description

Ushnishavijaya (Tibetan: tsug tor nam par gyal ma. English: Victorious Crown Ornament): goddess of long-life, white in colour, with three faces and eight hands, seated inside a stupa.

"Ushnishavijaya, the colour of an autumn moon; with three faces, white, yellow and blue and eight hands. Each face has three very large eyes. The first right hand holds a visvavajra, second a white lotus with Amitabha residing, third an arrow and the fourth in supreme generosity. The first left holds a vajra lasso, second a bow, third bestowing protection and fourth in meditative equipoise holding an auspicious nectar vase; complete with silks and jewel ornaments, seated in [vajra] posture. Within the outer circle of the stupa, on the right [side of the chaitya], above a moon is Avalokiteshvara with a body white in colour; the left hand holds a lotus. On the left [of the chaitya], above a sun is Vajrapani, blue; the left hand holds an utpala with vajra; standing in a peaceful manner and adorned with silks and jewels." (Jamyang Kyentse Wangpo, 1820-1892).

Ushnishavijaya is often accompanied by the deities Amitayus and White Tara. Together they are known as the Three Long-life Deities of Tantric Buddhism. The practice is common to all Schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

Jeff Watt 6-2005

Secondary Images
Related Items
Exhibition Appearances
Exhibition: Female Buddhas at RMA

Thematic Sets
Sculpture: Figurative, Stone Inlay
Artist: Sonam Gyaltsen & Atelier (Sculpture)
Artist: Sonam Gyaltsen & Atelier (RMA)
Buddhist Deity: Ushnishavijaya Religious Context
Collection of RMA: Selected Sculpture
Collection of Jourdan-Barry
Sculpture: Gilding & Cold Gold
Collection of RMA: Best of Collection (Sculpture)
Artist: Sonam Gyaltsen & Atelier (Peaceful Figures)
Collection of Rubin Museum of Art: Painting Main Page
Subject: Masterworks (Iconography, 图像学)
Sculpture: Sonam Gyaltsen & Atelier (Gilded Masterworks)
Buddhist Deity: Ushnishavijaya Iconography
Buddhist Deity: Ushnishavijaya (Anomalies & Inaccuracies)
Buddhist Deity: Ushnishavijaya (Early Sculpture)
Collection of Rubin Museum of Art: Sculpture (Gallery 1)
Buddhist Deity: Ushnishavijaya Main Page