Buddhist Deity: Ekajati Religious Context
Ekajati Main Page Subjects, Topics & Types:
- Ekajati Outline Page
- Sadhanamala
- Primary Figure
- Secondary Figures
- Related Deities
- Ekajati (Nyingma Tradition)
- Universal Deities
- Protector Deities Main Page
- Meditational Deity Page
- Deities According to Function
- Colours & Activities
- Complex Specific Subjects
- Metaphor
- Confusions
- Others...
Ekajati is a complex deity of Indian origin that should be understood as functioning as a:
1. Meditational Deity with many different forms.
2. Retinue Figure accompanying popular deities such as Lokeshvara and Tara.
3. Protector Deity, represented both as a central figure and as a retinue figure.
Older more traditional forms of practice of Green Tara describe the Three-deity Green Tara with the goddess Marichi standing to the right side of Tara and a semi-wrathful Ekajati standing on the left side. Ekajati is also an important (3) Protector Deity in both the Nyingma and Sarma (Sakya, Kagyu, Jonang, Gelug) Traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.
In the Nyingma Tradition Ekajati is the principal protector for the 'Revealed Treasure' Traditions. She manifests in numerous forms, both as a standard wrathful figure, black, with one face and two arms and appearing in her more famous guise with only one eye, one tooth, and one breast, sometimes even with only one leg as in the Drigung Kagyu Treasure Tradition (see detail lower left).
Database Search: All Images
Jeff Watt 4-2007 [updated 9-2009, 4-2017, 12-2018, 12-2019]
bod brgyud nang bstan lha tshogs chen mo bzhugs so, 2001. ISBN 7-5420-0816-1. Page 626-628.
84000: TRANSLATING THE WORDS OF THE BUDDHA:
Toh 476. The Tantra of Ekajaṭa. རལ་པ་གཅིག་པའི་རྒྱུད། · ral pa gcig pa'i rgyud. ekajaṭatantra.
Volume 83 (0968), pages 489-494. Maha Yogeshvara Shri Jagata Mitra Ananda. Indian maha pandita Vajra Shri Kalarudra. Tibetan translator Bhikshu Jampa'i Pal.
(The images below are only a selection of examples from the links above).
