Vaishravana Page - Updated
The Vaishravana Main Page has been updated with information and images.
There are three divisions in the study of Vaishravana iconography. The first, discussed above, is [1] Vaishravana as part of the group of Four Guardian or Direction Kings. These four are based on narrative descriptions found in the early Sutras. The second [2] classification of Vaishravana iconography is where the Four Guardian Kings are included in a larger retinue of a Tantric Mandala such as Medicine Buddha, Pancha Raksha or the Tara Seventeen Deity Mandala. The third division [3] contains all of the forms of Vaishravana as found in the Tantra literature where the deity is either the principal figure for meditation, or visualized in front of the Buddhist practitioner. These forms of Vaishravana generally have the function of wealth-bestowing. Vaishravana in his form known as Vaishravana Riding a Lion is the most common in art and most popular Tantric form of the deity. The Sakya Tradition preserve and teach seventeen different forms of Vaishravana (example 1, example 2).