Item: Simhamukha (Buddhist Deity)

Simhamukha, Dakini (Tibetan: seng ge dong chen kha dro ma. English: the Dakini Having a Lion Face) from the tradition of Bari Lotsawa Rinchen Drag.

Typically appearing with a body dark blue in colour, she has one face - that of a white lion, three red round eyes blazing fiercely with a gaping mouth, a beard, eyebrows and hair flowing upward. The right hand holds aloft a curved knife to the sky, left a skullcup of blood to the heart, carrying a khatvanga staff tipped with a trident in the bend of the elbow. Adorned with a tiara of five skulls, bone ornaments, she wears a tiger skin skirt. She stands with the right leg drawn up in a mood of great fierceness.

The dakini Simhamukha is a tutelary deity arising out of the Chakrasamvara cycle of Tantras and belongs to the Anuttarayoga 'wisdom' classification. The Sarma tradition Simhamukha is unrelated to the deity of the same name and appearance in the Nyingma 'terma' (treasure) traditions. In the Terma tradition, of the many forms of Padmasambhava, Simhamukha is a secret form of Guru Rinpoche.

Gelugpa Lineage: Vajradhara, Dakini Simhamukha, Vajrasana, Bari Lotsawa Rinchen Drag, Sachen Kunga Nyingpo (1092-1158) and the five Holy Superiors of Sakya, Rongpa Dorje Gyaltsen, Sanggye Yeshe, Yak De Panchen, Gyalwa Tsongkapa (1357-1419), etc.

Jeff Watt 6-1998