Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Vajravega (Buddhist Protector)

རྡོ་རྗེ་ཤུགས། 金剛力
(item no. 101512)
Origin Location China
Date Range 1300 - 1399
Lineages Buddhist
Material Ground: Textile Image, Embroidery
Collection Private
Catalogue # Potala Palace, Lhasa
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Deity

Interpretation / Description

Vajravega (T. dor je shug): the pricipal protector deity for the Kalachakra Tantra and practices.

The Wheel of Time (Kalachakra) is a principal meditational deity in Tantric Buddhism. Like most deities in Buddhism, the Wheel of Time is a construct, a creation of symbolic elements and characteristics formed to personify a particular text called the Kalachakra Tantra and to function as a mnemonic device. The metaphor for the practice of the Wheel of Time is time itself; the moments passing, the minutes and hours in the day, years, lunar and solar cycles, along with the rhythms and cycles of the human body.

Jeff Watt 1-2005

Secondary Images
Related Items
Exhibition Appearances
Exhibition: Tibet, Treasures from the Roof of the World

Thematic Sets
Subject: Jonangpa Tradition
Buddhist Protector: Vajravega (Protector) Main Page
Textile: Masterworks (纺织品, འཐག་དྲུབ་མ།)
Painting Style: Khyenri - Wrathful Deities
Painting Tradition: Khyenri Main Page