Buddhist Deity: Eight Heruka Religious Context

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Eight Pronouncement Heruka

Subjects, Topics & Types:
- Description (below)
- Outline Page
- Origins: Eight Vidyadhara
- Types: Individual, Group, Revealed Treasure
- Nyingma Heruka
- Confusions
- Others...

Videos:
- Eight Pronouncement Heruka (Part 1)
- Eight Pronouncement Heruka (Part 2)

Eight Pronouncement Heruka:
The Eight Heruka are believed to have been discovered by eight Indian teachers known as the Eight Vidyadhara. The were found in a stupa at the Cool Grove Charnel Ground some several miles from the modern day location of Bodhgaya. There are several competing origin myths. The figure of Mahottara is also included in the origin myths of the Eight Heruka and in some rituals combined into a mandala practice with 725 deities in total.

Revealed Treasure:
Mahottara is also the central figure for many systems of the Eight Heruka (kagye) according to numerous Revealed Treasure traditions. Sometimes Vajarmrita is replaced and substituted with Mahottara and represents the qualities of enlightenment. Regardless of the origin myths the source text for the Mahottara and Eight Heruka appears to be a Revealed Treasure discovery of Nyangral Nyima Ozer (1124-1192) titled the Kagye Desheg Dupa (The Eight Great Deities: Assembly of Sugatas.' The Kagye Rangshar is a Terma of the Norther Treasure Tradition. The Treasure of the The Palchen Dupa of the Longchen Nyingtig is said to have been based on the Kagye Rigdzin Yongdu revealed by Ngari Panchen Pema Wangyal of Mustang.

Three Principal Systems: Kagye Nam Sum
- Kagye Desheg Dupa of Nyangral Nyima Ozer (1124-1192)
- Kagye Sangwa Yongdzog of Guru Chowang (1212-1270)
- Kagye Rangshar of Rigdzin Godem (1337–1408)

Database Search: Heruka, Miscellaneous | Mandalas

Jeff Watt 6-2003 [updated 5-2017]

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Lotsawa House: Kagye Series

Curating a Treasure: The Bka' bryad bde gshegs 'dus pa in the Development of Rnying ma Tradition. Nicholas Trautz. Revue d'Etudes Tibetains, no. 55, Juillet 2020, pp.495-521.

The Legacy of the Eight Teachings: Revelation, Ritual, and Enlightened Violence in Classical Tibet. Nicholas Trautz. Ph.D. diss., University of Virginia, 2019.

(The images below are only a selection of examples from the links above).