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Kshitigarbha, Bodhisattva - Essence of the Earth - is one of the eight principal Mahayana students, or 'heart sons,' of Buddha Shakyamuni.

The 'Eight Heart Sons,' including such notables as Manjushri and Avalokiteshvara, figure prominently in the various Mahayana Sutras of Northern Buddhism. Kshitigarbha is particularly associated with bringing help and comfort to those in the underworld realm of hell beings.

Originating with the Kshitigarbha Bodhisattva Purvapranidhana Sutra, Kshitigarbha has remained primarily a character of the Mahayana Sutras. There are only a few Tantric texts and rituals that include him and because of that he does not have a fixed and readily identifiable iconographic appearance like Lokeshvara or Manjushri.

A landscape style horizontal composition is not so common for 'tangkas' in Himalayan style art. The idea and layout for these compositions very much follow a mural style where most temple walls are longer in the horizontal than the vertical elevation. Unique to the landscape style, there are often three figures or deities, side by side, portrayed as the central theme.

Generally the deities Vajradhara and Vajrasattva only have the standard two eyes. However, there are some examples of Vajradhara with three eyes. When the deity appears in a painting it is in most cases easy to identify and distinguish between Vajradhara and Vajrasattva by colour and context. With sculpture it is much more difficult since both deities can have the same iconographic form.

A selection of Vajravidarana works of art, painting and sculpture, has been added to the Masterworks Main Page.

The Vajravidarana Main Page has been updated.

Vajravidarana is a male meditational deity. He can appear as white and peaceful, green and semi-peaceful/semi-wrathful, or blue and wrathful. Four different mandala forms are found in the Kriya classification of Tantra and one wrathful form with a seventy-five deity mandala in the anuttarayoga classification of Tantra. There are also  several traditions of Vajravidarana as a solitary figure without any retinue.

Although a meditational deity, Vajravidarana is very much a deity of purification and belongs to the group known as the Five Cleansing Deities. The form with a Seventy-five Deity Mandala is also included as an important branch initiation and practice in the Margapala (Lamdre) teaching cycle of the Sakya Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.

The Three Lords of the World Page, with Manjushri, Lokeshvara and Vajrapani, has been updated with additional images and context.

Vajrapani and the Tantric meditational deity Vajrasattva can easily be confused because they can have the same identical appearance. The only possible way to distinguish between the two is through inscriptions written on the base of a sculpture, or if a painted composition, then through a study of the iconographic context and related deities in a composition, along with any inscriptions. Vajrapani is by far the earlier figure in Buddhist narrative and Vajrasattva only arises from the later Tantra literature as a meditational deity. It is very likely that Vajrasattva is modeled on the form and some of the function that was originated in the character of Vajrapani.

The sculptural examples in this gallery are believed by the museums and private collections in which they reside, based on iconography, to be the female Buddha Tara. The two most common forms of Tara are the Green and the White followed by the Eight Fears and Twenty-one Taras. Those forms are the general models used for identifying female sculptural figures as Tara. What is unusual about the forms in this gallery are their non-standard hand gestures or leg postures which do not conform to the well known iconography of the Green or White Tara. The examples are also not likely to be part of a larger set such as the Eight or Twenty-one. Is it even possible to positively identify each example as a form of Tara?

The Vajradhara Main Page has been updated with additional images and links.

The principal form of Shadbhuja Mahakala is accompanied by seventy-five (75) retinue figures. In the Tibetan language the retinue are referred to in general as 'gonpo' (mgon po. English: lords). This numbering of 75 and commonly using the word 'gonpo' a standard epithet also used in reference to Mahakala, has led to the mistaken Western academic notion that there are 75 forms of Mahakala in Tibetan Buddhism. Iconographically there are fewer forms but text references might allude to an infinite number.

The Seventy-five Lords of Pure Lineage:

- The Ten Guardians of the Directions, (Tibetan - chog yong chu)

- The Eight Great Gods, (Tib. - lha chenpo gye)

- The Eight Great Nagas, (Tib. - lhu chenpo gye)

- The Eight Great Planets, (Tib. - za chenpo gye)

- The Four Worldly Guardians, (Tib. - jig ten kyong wa shi)

- The Twenty-eight Constellations, (Tib. - gyu kar nyi shu tsa gye)

- The Nine Great Bhairavas, (Tib. - jig je chenpo gu)

A gallery of sculpture depicting Tara in a standing posture has been added to the Bodhisattva Main Page and the Tara Main Page.

A gallery of Dorje Drolo Initiation Cards has been added to the Dorje Drolo Main Page.

A Dorje Drolo Page has been added to the Masterworks Main Page.

The Vajrapani Main Page has been updated with additional images and identification of forms.

The Bhutadamara Vajrapani Page has been updated. Bhutadamara originates from several different Tantra texts spanning a number of different Tantra classifications. In the Sakya, Ngor, Tsar, Dzongpa and Jonang Traditions he is especially associated with the larger practices of the meditational deity Shri Hevajra.

The Mahachakra Vajrapani Main Page has been updated. Mahachakra is a complex meditational deity belonging to the highest classification of Tantric Buddhism. He has several variant forms but all retain the essential characteristics of the three faces and six arms.

(from the Mitra Gyatsa) "...above a lotus and sun seat, Brahma and Indra, is Vajrapani with a blue cape, three faces and six hands. The right [face] is white, left red, each with three eyes. With six hands, the first two hold a vajra and a wrathful gesture upraised. The middle two are folded respectfully embracing the consort...possessed of beauty, blue [in colour], holding a curved knife and skullcup. The lower two grasp a snake, at the [level of the] waist, as food. The right leg is bent, left straight." (Description: rgyud sde kun btus, vol.23, folio 215).

The Dorje Drolo Main Page has been updated with additional images and information.

Dorje Drolo is a wrathful emanation of Padmasambhava and most often associated with the set of Eight Main Manifestations and the life story of Guru Rinpoche. He also functions as a guruyoga practice/meditational deity.

For the purpose of subduing daemons and spirits of Tibet and the surrounding Himalayan regions Padmasambhava, at the thirteen mountain retreats each known as the Tiger's Den, appeared as the wrathful Dorje Drolo. At many of these locations Guru Rinpoche left impressions of his feet and hands in the rocks. The Eight Manifestations of Padmasambhava belong to the Revealed Treasure (Terma) of the Nyingma Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.

In the Mahayana Buddhist Tradition, for the standing bodhisattva figure, there is an understood sculptural model, or appearance, that has become standardized over the centuries in Himalayan and Tibetan art. The model used is based on classical Indian ideas of aesthetics grounded in the textual ideas of godly/heavenly appearance along with the influence of numerous cultures and artists for over a millennium.

Principal Standing Bodhisattva Forms:

- Manjushri

- Lokeshvara

- Vajrapani

- Maitreya

- Unidentified Forms



Seated Postures:

- Relaxed Posture

- Thinking Posture (Lokeshvara)

- Others...

The Black Jambhala Main Page has been updated with additional images and information.

The bliss whorl design in Himalayan and Tibetan art can have a similar appearance to the svastika shape. Because of this similarity between the two shapes it is then possible to misidentify the symbol being observed. It is important to know the differences and also the definition and forms of the bliss whorl.