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Tibet / China: 'The Fifth Dalai Lama's Descent from the Pure Lands' (18th century). Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso, the Great Fifth Dalai Lama (1617–1682), was a political and religious leader in seventeenth-century Tibet. Ngawang Lozang Gyatso was the ordination name he had received from Panchen Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen who was responsible for his ordination.<br/><br/> He was the first Dalai Lama to wield effective political power over central Tibet, and is frequently referred to as the 'Great Fifth Dalai Lama'.
Manjusri is a bodhisattva associated with <i>prajna</i> (insight) in Mahayana Buddhism. In Tibetan Buddhism, Manjusri manifests in a number of different Tantric forms. Yamantaka (meaning 'terminator of Yama' i.e. Death) is the wrathful manifestation of Manjusri, popular within the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Other variations upon his traditional form include Guhya-Manjusri, Guhya-Manjuvajra, and Manjuswari.<br/><br/> He is one of the Four Great Bodhisattvas of Chinese Buddhism, the other three being Ksitigarbha, Avalokitesvara, and Samantabhadra. In China, he is often paired with Samantabhadra.<br/><br/> In Tibetan Buddhism, Manjusrī is sometimes depicted in a trinity with Avalokitesvara and Vajrapani.
Maitreya (Sanskrit), Metteyya (Pāli), Maithree (Sinhala), or Jampa (Tibetan) is a bodhisattva who in the Buddhist tradition is to appear on Earth, achieve complete enlightenment, and teach the pure dharma. According to scriptures, Maitreya will be a successor of the historic Śakyamuni Buddha.<br/><br/> The prophecy of the arrival of Maitreya references a time when the Dharma will have been forgotten on Jambudvipa. It is found in the canonical literature of all Buddhist sects (Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana), and is accepted by most Buddhists as a statement about an event that will take place when the Dharma will have been forgotten on Earth.
Vajrayoginī (Sanskrit: Vajrayoginī; Tibetan: Dorje Naljorma, Wylie: Rdo rje rnal ’byor ma; Mongolian: Огторгуйд Одогч, Нархажид, Chinese: 瑜伽空行母 Yújiā kōngxíngmǔ) is the Vajra yoginī, literally 'the diamond female yogi'.<br/><br/> She is a Highest Yoga Tantra Yidam (Skt. Iṣṭha-deva), and her practice includes methods for preventing ordinary death, intermediate state (bardo) and rebirth (by transforming them into paths to enlightenment), and for transforming all mundane daily experiences into higher spiritual paths.<br/><br/> Vajrayoginī is a generic female yidam and although she is sometimes visualized as simply Vajrayoginī, in a collection of her sādhanas she is visualized in an alternate form in over two thirds of the practices. Her other forms include Vajravārāhī (Tibetan: Dorje Pakmo, Wylie: rdo-rje phag-mo; English: the Vajra Sow) and Krodikali (alt. Krodhakali, Kālikā, Krodheśvarī, Krishna Krodhini, Sanskrit; Tibetan:Troma Nagmo; Wylie:khros ma nag mo; English: 'the Wrathful Lady' or 'the Fierce Black One' ).<br/><br/> Vajrayoginī is a ḍākiṇī and a Vajrayāna Buddhist meditation deity. As such she is considered to be a female Buddha.
In Tibetan Buddhism, Dorje Pakmo (pronounced 'Dorje Phakmo'; Sanskrit: Vajravārāhī, a form of Vajrayogini; Wylie Tibetan script transliteration: Rdo-rje phag-mo; English: 'The Diamond Sow'), also known as Sera Kandro, is believed to be the reincarnation of the consort of the wrathful deity Demchok (Heruka).<br/><br/> She is the highest female incarnation in Tibet and the third-highest ranking person in the Lamaist hierarchy after the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama. She was listed among the highest-ranking reincarnations at the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama, recognized by the Tibetan government and acknowledged by the emperors of Qing China.<br/><br/> Her seat, Samding (literally, 'the temple of soaring meditation') was in many ways unique in that about half of the inhabitants were monks and the other half were nuns, while the head of the monastery with all its branches was (and still is) a woman. It is a Geluk Ani gompa (or nunnery) - which also housed some monks - and is built on a hill on a peninsula jutting into the sacred lake, Yamdrok Tso.
Phagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo (Tibetan: ཕག་མོ་གྲུ་པ་རྡོ་རྗེ་རྒྱལ་པོ; Wylie: phag mo gru pa rdo rje rgyal po), was one the three main disciples of Gampopa Sonam Rinchen who established the Dagpo Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism; and a disciple of Sachen Kunga Nyingpo (1092-1158) one of the founders of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism.<br/><br/> He was the elder brother of Kathog Dampa Deshek (1122-1192), who founded Kathog monastery and the Kathog branch of the Nyingma school.
A dakini (Sanskrit: ḍākinī; Tibetan: khandroma) is a tantric deity described as a female embodiment of enlightened energy. In the Tibetan language, dakini is rendered khandroma which means 'she who traverses the sky' or 'she who moves in space'. Sometimes the term is translated poetically as 'sky dancer' or 'sky walker'.<br/><br/> The dakini, in all her varied forms, is an important figure in Tibetan Buddhism. She is so central to the requirements for a practitioner to attain full enlightenment as a Buddha that she appears in a tantric formulation of the Buddhist Three Jewels refuge formula known as the Three Roots. Most commonly she appears as the protector, alongside a guru and yidam (enlightened being).<br/><br/> Although dakini figures appear in Hinduism and in the Bön tradition, dakini are particularly prevalent in Vajrayana Buddhism and have been particularly conceived in Tibetan Buddhism where the dakini, generally of volatile or wrathful temperament, act somewhat as a muse for spiritual practice.<br/><br/> Dakini are energetic beings in female form, evocative of the movement of energy in space. In this context, the sky or space indicates shunyata, the insubstantiality of all phenomena, which is, at the same time, the pure potentiality for all possible manifestations.
The Heart Sūtra (Sanskrit: प्रज्ञापारमिताहृदय Prajñāpāramitā Hṛdaya; Chinese: 般若波羅蜜多心經) is a Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtra. Its Sanskrit name Prajñāpāramitā Hṛdaya literally translates to 'Heart of the Perfection of Transcendent Wisdom'.<br/><br/> The Heart Sūtra is often cited as the best known and most popular of all Buddhist scriptures. The core teaching is the remphasis of sunyata / dependent origination as the cardinal doctrine of Buddhism.<br/><br/> The Pāla Empire was one of the major middle kingdoms of India and existed from 750–1174 CE. It was ruled by a Buddhist dynasty from Bengal in the eastern region of the Indian subcontinent, all the rulers bearing names ending with the suffix Pala (Modern Bengali: পাল pāl), which means protector. The Palas were often described by opponents as the Lords of Gauda. The Palas were followers of the Mahayana and Tantric schools of Buddhism.
Kalachakra (Sanskrit: Kālacakra) is a Sanskrit term used in Tantric Buddhism that literally means 'time-wheel' or 'time-cycles'.<br/><br/> The Kalachakra tradition revolves around the concept of time (kāla) and cycles (chakra): from the cycles of the planets, to the cycles of human breathing, it teaches the practice of working with the most subtle energies within one's body on the path to enlightenment.<br/><br/> The Kalachakra deity represents a Buddha and thus omniscience. Since Kalachakra is time and everything is under the influence of time, Kalachakra knows all. Whereas Kalachakri or Kalichakra, his spiritual consort and complement, is aware of everything that is timeless, untimebound or out of the realm of time. In Yab-yum, they are temporality and atemporality conjoined. Similarly, the wheel is without beginning or end.
The Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the other three being the Kagyu, Sakya and Gelug.<br/><br/> 'Nyingma' literally means 'ancient', and is often referred to as the 'school of the ancient translations' or the 'old school' because it is founded on the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan, in the eighth century.<br/><br/> The Tibetan script and grammar was actually created for this endeavour. In modern times the Nyingma lineage has been centered in Kham in eastern Tibet.
Avalokiteśvara (Sanskrit: अवलोकितेश्वर lit. 'Lord who looks down') is a bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. He is one of the more widely revered bodhisattvas in mainstream Mahayana Buddhism.<br/><br/> The original name for this bodhisattva was Avalokitasvara. The Chinese name for Avalokitasvara is Guānshìyīn Púsà (觀世音菩薩), which is a translation of the earlier name 'Avalokitasvara Bodhisattva'. This bodhisattva is variably depicted as male or female, and may also be referred to simply as Guānyīn in certain contexts.<br/><br/> In Sanskrit, Avalokitesvara is also referred to as Padmapāni ('Holder of the Lotus') or Lokeśvara ('Lord of the World'). In Tibetan, Avalokiteśvara is known as Chenrezig, སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་ (Wylie: Spyan ras gzigs) and is said to be incarnated in the Dalai Lama, the Karmapa and other high lamas.<br/><br/> Mahāyāna Buddhism relates Avalokiteśvara to the six-syllable mantra: 'oṃ maṇipadme hūṃ'. Due to his association with this mantra, in Tibetan Buddhism Avalokiteśvara is also called Shadakshari, which means 'Lord of the Six Syllables'. Recitation of this mantra along with prayer beads, is the most popular religious practice in Tibetan Buddhism.
Tara (Sanskrit: तारा, tārā) or Ārya Tārā, also known as Jetsun Dolma (Tibetan: Rje btsun sgrol ma) in Tibetan Buddhism, is a female Bodhisattva in the Mahayana tradition who appears as a female Buddha in Vajrayana Buddhism. She is known as the 'mother of liberation', and represents the virtues of success in work and achievements. In Japan she is known as Tarani Bosatsu, and less well known as Tuoluo in Chinese Buddhism.<br/><br/> Tara is a tantric meditation deity whose practice is used by practitioners of the Tibetan branch of Vajrayana Buddhism to develop certain inner qualities and understand outer, inner and secret teachings about compassion and emptiness. Tara is actually the generic name for a set of Buddhas or bodhisattvas of similar aspect. These may more properly be understood as different aspects of the same quality, as bodhisattvas are often considered metaphoric for Buddhist virtues.
Namkhai Nyingpo (8th/9th century CE) (Wylie: gNubs Nam-mkha’i sNying-po) is counted amongst the principal 'twenty-five disciples' of Padmasambhava.<br/><br/> Namkhai Nyingpo was a realized practitioner of Shantarakshita’s tradition of Sutrayana and 'gradual' Mahayana, as well as simultaneously being one of the most accomplished Tibetan practitioners of the Chinese Ch’an School (East Mountain Teachings), which transmits the Tönmun or 'sudden' tradition of the Mahayana.<br/><br/> In addition, Namkhai Nyingpo was also a realized master of the Dzogchen path (Atiyogayana) of 'self-liberation' (Wylie: rang grol), as well as a Master of the Tantric Path (Tantrayana) of transformation (specifically, the three Outer Tantra yana and the Inner Tantra yana bar Dzogchen according to the scheme of the Nyingmapa).<br/><br/> 'Namkhai Nyingpo' (Tibetan; Sanskrit: Akasagarbha) may be rendered in English from the Tibetan as 'essence of space' or 'matrix of the sky'.
In the practice of the Guhyasamāja Tantra, the central deity of the Guhyasamāja is blue-black Akshobhyavajra, a form of Akshobhya, one of the five transcendent lords (pañcatathāgata).<br/><br/> Akshobhyavajra holds a vajra and bell (ghanta) in his first two hands, and other hands hold the symbols of the four other transcendent lords: wheel of Vairocana and lotus of Amitabha in his right hands, and gem of Ratnasambhava and sword of Amoghasiddhi in his left hands.<br/><br/> The maṇḍala consists of thirty-two deities in all.
Vajrayoginī (Sanskrit: Vajrayoginī; Tibetan: Dorje Naljorma, Wylie: Rdo rje rnal ’byor ma; Mongolian: Огторгуйд Одогч, Нархажид, Chinese: 瑜伽空行母 Yújiā kōngxíngmǔ) is the Vajra yoginī, literally 'the diamond female yogi'.<br/><br/> She is a Highest Yoga Tantra Yidam (Skt. Iṣṭha-deva), and her practice includes methods for preventing ordinary death, intermediate state (bardo) and rebirth (by transforming them into paths to enlightenment), and for transforming all mundane daily experiences into higher spiritual paths.<br/><br/> Vajrayoginī is a generic female yidam and although she is sometimes visualized as simply Vajrayoginī, in a collection of her sādhanas she is visualized in an alternate form in over two thirds of the practices. Her other forms include Vajravārāhī (Tibetan: Dorje Pakmo, Wylie: rdo-rje phag-mo; English: the Vajra Sow) and Krodikali (alt. Krodhakali, Kālikā, Krodheśvarī, Krishna Krodhini, Sanskrit; Tibetan:Troma Nagmo; Wylie:khros ma nag mo; English: 'the Wrathful Lady' or 'the Fierce Black One' ).<br/><br/> Vajrayoginī is a ḍākiṇī and a Vajrayāna Buddhist meditation deity. As such she is considered to be a female Buddha.
Machig Labdrön (Tibetan: མ་གཅིག་ལབ་སྒྲོན་, Wylie: Ma-gcig Lab-sgron) was a renowned 11th century Tibetan Tantric Buddhist practitioner and teacher.<br/><br/> Machig Lapdrön was a great Tibetan yogini who originated several Tibetan lineages of the Indian tantric practice of Chöd. Machig may have come from a Bönpo family and, according to Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, developed Chöd by combining native Tibetan Bönpo shamanism with the Dzogchen teachings.<br/><br/> Machig's Chöd, also known as Mahamudra Chöd, has been widespread in Tibet since Machig's lifetime. It is also called 'The Beggars' Offering' or 'The Cutting-Off-Ritual.' Chöd is a visionary Buddhist practice of cutting attachment to one’s corporeal form (in terms of the dualistic proclivity to relate to one's corporeal form as a reference-point that proves one’s existence).<br/><br/> In some lineages of the Chöd practice, chodpas and chodmas (practitioners of Chöd) use a bell, small drum (a Chöd damaru), and a thigh-bone trumpet (kangling) made of human bone (often obtained from the charnel ground of sky burials).
A dakini (Sanskrit: ḍākinī; Tibetan: khandroma) is a tantric deity described as a female embodiment of enlightened energy. In the Tibetan language, dakini is rendered khandroma which means 'she who traverses the sky' or 'she who moves in space'. Sometimes the term is translated poetically as 'sky dancer' or 'sky walker'.<br/><br/> The dakini, in all her varied forms, is an important figure in Tibetan Buddhism. She is so central to the requirements for a practitioner to attain full enlightenment as a Buddha that she appears in a tantric formulation of the Buddhist Three Jewels refuge formula known as the Three Roots. Most commonly she appears as the protector, alongside a guru and yidam (enlightened being).<br/><br/> Although dakini figures appear in Hinduism and in the Bön tradition, dakini are particularly prevalent in Vajrayana Buddhism and have been particularly conceived in Tibetan Buddhism where the dakini, generally of volatile or wrathful temperament, act somewhat as a muse for spiritual practice.<br/><br/> Dakini are energetic beings in female form, evocative of the movement of energy in space. In this context, the sky or space indicates shunyata, the insubstantiality of all phenomena, which is, at the same time, the pure potentiality for all possible manifestations.
The Cakrasaṃvara Tantra, Chinese: 胜乐金刚 shènglè jīngāng; Tibetan: Korlo Demchog Gyud (Tibetan: འཁོར་ལོ་སྡོམ་པ / བདེ་མཆོག; Wylie: Khor lo sdom pa / bde mchog gi rgyud) is considered to be of the mother class of the Anuttara Yoga Tantra in the Indo-Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist tradition.<br/><br/> The central deity of the mandala, a heruka known as Saṃvara (variants: Saṃvara & Saṃbara) or simply as Śrī Heruka, is one of the principal iṣṭha-devatā, or meditational deities of the Sarma schools of Tibetan Buddhism.<br/><br/> Saṃvara is typically depicted with a blue-coloured body, four faces, and twelve arms, and embracing his consort Vajravarahi (in Chinese 金刚亥母 jīngāng hàimǔ) in the yab-yum position. Other forms of the deity are also known, with varying numbers of limbs. Saṃvara and consort are not to be thought of as two different entities, as an ordinary husband and wife are two different people; in reality, their divine embrace is a metaphor for the union of great bliss and emptiness, which are one and the same essence.
A dakini (Sanskrit: ḍākinī; Tibetan: khandroma) is a tantric deity described as a female embodiment of enlightened energy. In the Tibetan language, dakini is rendered khandroma which means 'she who traverses the sky' or 'she who moves in space'. Sometimes the term is translated poetically as 'sky dancer' or 'sky walker'.<br/><br/> The dakini, in all her varied forms, is an important figure in Tibetan Buddhism. She is so central to the requirements for a practitioner to attain full enlightenment as a Buddha that she appears in a tantric formulation of the Buddhist Three Jewels refuge formula known as the Three Roots. Most commonly she appears as the protector, alongside a guru and yidam (enlightened being).<br/><br/> Although dakini figures appear in Hinduism and in the Bön tradition, dakini are particularly prevalent in Vajrayana Buddhism and have been particularly conceived in Tibetan Buddhism where the dakini, generally of volatile or wrathful temperament, act somewhat as a muse for spiritual practice.<br/><br/> Dakini are energetic beings in female form, evocative of the movement of energy in space. In this context, the sky or space indicates shunyata, the insubstantiality of all phenomena, which is, at the same time, the pure potentiality for all possible manifestations.
Yeshe Tsogyel, also known in the Nyingma tradition as the Great Bliss Queen, is a semi-mythical female deity or figure of enlightenment (dakini) in Tibetan Buddhism. She lived from 757 to 817, and is most identified as the mystic spiritual Yab-Yum consort of the great Indian tantric teacher Padmasambhava ('the Lotus-Born One'), who was invited to Tibet by the Emperor Trisong Detsen.<br/><br/> A dakini (Sanskrit: ḍākinī; Tibetan: khandroma) is a tantric deity described as a female embodiment of enlightened energy. In the Tibetan language, dakini is rendered khandroma which means 'she who traverses the sky' or 'she who moves in space'. Sometimes the term is translated poetically as 'sky dancer' or 'sky walker'.
A dakini (Sanskrit: ḍākinī; Tibetan: khandroma) is a tantric deity described as a female embodiment of enlightened energy. In the Tibetan language, dakini is rendered khandroma which means 'she who traverses the sky' or 'she who moves in space'. Sometimes the term is translated poetically as 'sky dancer' or 'sky walker'.<br/><br/> The dakini, in all her varied forms, is an important figure in Tibetan Buddhism. She is so central to the requirements for a practitioner to attain full enlightenment as a Buddha that she appears in a tantric formulation of the Buddhist Three Jewels refuge formula known as the Three Roots. Most commonly she appears as the protector, alongside a guru and yidam (enlightened being).<br/><br/> Although dakini figures appear in Hinduism and in the Bön tradition, dakini are particularly prevalent in Vajrayana Buddhism and have been particularly conceived in Tibetan Buddhism where the dakini, generally of volatile or wrathful temperament, act somewhat as a muse for spiritual practice.<br/><br/> Dakini are energetic beings in female form, evocative of the movement of energy in space. In this context, the sky or space indicates shunyata, the insubstantiality of all phenomena, which is, at the same time, the pure potentiality for all possible manifestations.
A dakini (Sanskrit: ḍākinī; Tibetan: khandroma) is a tantric deity described as a female embodiment of enlightened energy. In the Tibetan language, dakini is rendered khandroma which means 'she who traverses the sky' or 'she who moves in space'. Sometimes the term is translated poetically as 'sky dancer' or 'sky walker'.<br/><br/> The dakini, in all her varied forms, is an important figure in Tibetan Buddhism. She is so central to the requirements for a practitioner to attain full enlightenment as a Buddha that she appears in a tantric formulation of the Buddhist Three Jewels refuge formula known as the Three Roots. Most commonly she appears as the protector, alongside a guru and yidam (enlightened being).<br/><br/> Although dakini figures appear in Hinduism and in the Bön tradition, dakini are particularly prevalent in Vajrayana Buddhism and have been particularly conceived in Tibetan Buddhism where the dakini, generally of volatile or wrathful temperament, act somewhat as a muse for spiritual practice.<br/><br/> Dakini are energetic beings in female form, evocative of the movement of energy in space. In this context, the sky or space indicates shunyata, the insubstantiality of all phenomena, which is, at the same time, the pure potentiality for all possible manifestations.
Vajrayoginī (Sanskrit: Vajrayoginī; Tibetan: Dorje Naljorma; Chinese: Yújiā kōngxíngmǔ) is the Vajra yoginī, literally 'the diamond female yogi'. She is a Highest Yoga Tantra Yidam (tutelary deity), and her practice includes methods for preventing ordinary death, intermediate state and rebirth (by transforming them into paths to enlightenment), and for transforming all mundane daily experiences into higher spiritual paths.<br/><br/> Maṇḍala is a Sanskrit word that means 'circle'. In the Hindu and Buddhist religious traditions their sacred art often takes a mandala form. The basic form of most Hindu and Buddhist mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point.<br/><br/> Mandalas have spiritual and ritual significance in both Buddhism and Hinduism. The term is of Hindu origin and appears in the Rig Veda as the name of the sections of the work, but is also used in other Indian religions, particularly Buddhism. In the Tibetan branch of Vajrayana Buddhism, mandalas have been developed into sandpainting. They are also a key part of anuttarayoga tantra meditation practices.
Fanciful map of Tibet in the form of a female demon, showing major monasteries and rivers and including Amdo and Kham to the north and east (right), areas now incorporated within Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai
'Thugs' (literally 'thag', or practitioners of 'thaggi') deceived and strangled travellers: painting by an Indian artist, for Captain James Paton, Assistant to the Resident at Lucknow, 1829-1840.<br/><br/> Thuggee (from Hindi ṭhag ‘thief’, verb, thugna, to deceive, from Sanskrit sthaga ‘cunning’, ‘sly’, ‘fraudulent’, ‘dishonest’, ‘scoundrel') is the term for a particular kind of murder and robbery of travellers in South Asia and particularly in India.<br/><br/> Thuggee trace their origin to the battle of Kali against Raktabija; however, their foundation myth departs from Brahminical versions of the Puranas. Thuggee consider themselves to be children of Kali, created out of her sweat. This is similar to the way Kali was created from aggression and willingness to fight Durga.<br/><br/> According to some sources, especially old colonial sources, Thuggee believe they have a positive role, saving humans' lives. Without Thuggee's sacred service, Kali might destroy all human kind.
Tantra is an esoteric current of Hinduism. The word Tantra also applies to any of the scriptures (called "Tantras") commonly identified with the worship of Shakti. Tantra deals primarily with spiritual practices and ritual forms of worship, which aim at liberation from ignorance and rebirth, the universe being regarded as the divine play of Shakti and Shiva. Tantrism originated in the early centuries CE and developed into a fully articulated tradition by the end of the Gupta period. It has influenced the Hindu, Sikh, Bön, Buddhist, and Jain religious traditions. Along with Buddhism, Tantra in its various forms has spread to Tibet, East Asia and Southeast Asia.
Kalachakra (Sanskrit: Kālacakra) is a Sanskrit term used in Tantric Buddhism that literally means 'time-wheel' or 'time-cycles'.<br/><br/> The Kalachakra tradition revolves around the concept of time (kāla) and cycles (chakra): from the cycles of the planets, to the cycles of human breathing, it teaches the practice of working with the most subtle energies within one's body on the path to enlightenment.<br/><br/> The Kalachakra deity represents a Buddha and thus omniscience. Since Kalachakra is time and everything is under the influence of time, Kalachakra knows all. Whereas Kalachakri or Kalichakra, his spiritual consort and complement, is aware of everything that is timeless, untimebound or out of the realm of time. In Yab-yum, they are temporality and atemporality conjoined. Similarly, the wheel is without beginning or end.
In Hinduism, Matangi is one of the Mahavidyas, ten Tantric goddesses and a ferocious aspect of Devi, the Hindu Divine Mother. She is considered as the Tantric form of Sarasvati, the goddess, she governs speech, music, knowledge and the arts. Her worship is described to acquire supernatural powers, especially gaining control over enemies, attracting people to oneself, acquiring mastery over the arts and gaining Supreme Knowledge. Matangi is often associated with pollution, inauspiciousness and the periphery of Hindu society, which is summed up in her most popular form Ucchishta-Chandalini or Ucchishta-Matangini. She is described as an outcaste (Chandalini) and offered left-over or partially-eaten food (Ucchishta) without washing his hands or food after eating; both of which are considered to be impure in classical Hinduism. Matangi is often pictured emerald green in colour. While Ucchishta-Matangini carries a noose, a sword, a goad, and a club, his other well-known form Raja-Matangi plays the veena and pictured often with a parrot.
This fierce goddess plays an important role in Tantric Buddhism. Her demonic characteristics are effectively expressed by her attributes: a staff topped by skulls, a curved knife and a skull bowl.
Yamantaka or Vajrabhairava is a deity of the Anuttarayoga Tantra class popular within the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Yamantaka is seen as a wrathful manifestation of Manjusri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, and in other contexts functions as a dharmapala.<br/><br/> Within Buddhism, 'terminating death' is a quality of all buddhas as they have stopped the cycle of rebirth, samsara. Yamantaka represents the goal of the Mahayana journey to enlightenment, or the journey itself.
In Tibetan Buddhism, Dorje Pakmo (pronounced 'Dorje Phakmo'; Sanskrit: Vajravārāhī, a form of Vajrayogini; Wylie Tibetan script transliteration: Rdo-rje phag-mo; English: 'The Diamond Sow'), also known as Sera Kandro, is believed to be the reincarnation of the consort of the wrathful deity Demchok (Heruka).<br/><br/> She is the highest female incarnation in Tibet and the third-highest ranking person in the Lamaist hierarchy after the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama. She was listed among the highest-ranking reincarnations at the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama, recognized by the Tibetan government and acknowledged by the emperors of Qing China.<br/><br/> Her seat, Samding (literally, 'the temple of soaring meditation') was in many ways unique in that about half of the inhabitants were monks and the other half were nuns, while the head of the monastery with all its branches was (and still is) a woman. It is a Geluk Ani gompa (or nunnery) - which also housed some monks - and is built on a hill on a peninsula jutting into the sacred lake, Yamdrok Tso.
In Tibetan Buddhism, Dorje Pakmo (pronounced 'Dorje Phakmo'; Sanskrit: Vajravārāhī, a form of Vajrayogini; Wylie Tibetan script transliteration: Rdo-rje phag-mo; English: 'The Diamond Sow'), also known as Sera Kandro, is believed to be the reincarnation of the consort of the wrathful deity Demchok (Heruka).<br/><br/> She is the highest female incarnation in Tibet and the third-highest ranking person in the Lamaist hierarchy after the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama. She was listed among the highest-ranking reincarnations at the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama, recognized by the Tibetan government and acknowledged by the emperors of Qing China.<br/><br/> Her seat, Samding (literally, 'the temple of soaring meditation') was in many ways unique in that about half of the inhabitants were monks and the other half were nuns, while the head of the monastery with all its branches was (and still is) a woman. It is a Geluk Ani gompa (or nunnery) - which also housed some monks - and is built on a hill on a peninsula jutting into the sacred lake, Yamdrok Tso.
Saichō (最澄, September 15, 767 – June 26, 822) was a Japanese Buddhist monk credited with founding the Tendai school in Japan, based around the Chinese Tiantai tradition he was exposed to during his trip to China beginning in 804.<br/><br/> He founded the temple and headquarters of Tendai at Enryaku-ji on Mt. Hiei near Kyoto. He is also said to have been the first to bring tea to Japan.
A dakini (Sanskrit: ḍākinī; Tibetan: khandroma) is a tantric deity described as a female embodiment of enlightened energy. In the Tibetan language, dakini is rendered khandroma which means 'she who traverses the sky' or 'she who moves in space'. Sometimes the term is translated poetically as 'sky dancer' or 'sky walker'.<br/><br/> The dakini, in all her varied forms, is an important figure in Tibetan Buddhism. She is so central to the requirements for a practitioner to attain full enlightenment as a Buddha that she appears in a tantric formulation of the Buddhist Three Jewels refuge formula known as the Three Roots. Most commonly she appears as the protector, alongside a guru and yidam (enlightened being).<br/><br/> Although dakini figures appear in Hinduism and in the Bön tradition, dakini are particularly prevalent in Vajrayana Buddhism and have been particularly conceived in Tibetan Buddhism where the dakini, generally of volatile or wrathful temperament, act somewhat as a muse for spiritual practice.<br/><br/> Dakini are energetic beings in female form, evocative of the movement of energy in space. In this context, the sky or space indicates shunyata, the insubstantiality of all phenomena, which is, at the same time, the pure potentiality for all possible manifestations.
In Hinduism, Matangi is one of the Mahavidyas, ten Tantric goddesses and a ferocious aspect of Devi, the Hindu Divine Mother. She is considered as the Tantric form of Sarasvati, the goddess, she governs speech, music, knowledge and the arts. Her worship is described to acquire supernatural powers, especially gaining control over enemies, attracting people to oneself, acquiring mastery over the arts and gaining Supreme Knowledge. Matangi is often associated with pollution, inauspiciousness and the periphery of Hindu society, which is summed up in her most popular form Ucchishta-Chandalini or Ucchishta-Matangini. She is described as an outcaste (Chandalini) and offered left-over or partially-eaten food (Ucchishta) without washing his hands or food after eating; both of which are considered to be impure in classical Hinduism. Matangi is often pictured emerald green in colour. While Ucchishta-Matangini carries a noose, a sword, a goad, and a club, his other well-known form Raja-Matangi plays the veena and pictured often with a parrot.