Guru Padmasambhava Traditional Thangka

Guru Padmasambhava Traditional Thangka is handpainted in Nepal. The size of this painting is 70 x 50cm.

Padmasambhava - The Lotus-Born

Padmasambhava was a historical teacher who is said to have converted Tibet to Buddhism. He was a renowned scholar, meditator, and magician, and his mantra suggests his rich and diverse nature.

Padmasambhava, Means The Lotus-Born, was a sage guru from Oddiyāna who is said to have transmitted Vajrayana Buddhism to Bhutan and Tibet and neighboring countries in the 8th century.

In those lands he is better known as Guru Rinpoche ("Precious Guru") or Lopon Rinpoche, or, simply, Padum in Tibet, where followers of the Nyingma school regard him as the second Buddha. He said: "My father is the intrinsic awareness, Samantabhadra.

My mother is the ultimate sphere of reality, Samantabhadri. I belong to the caste of the non-duality of the sphere of awareness. My name is the Glorious Lotus-Born. I am from the unborn sphere of all phenomena. I consume concepts of duality as my diet. I act in the way of the Buddhas of the three times."

Iconography of the Lotus-Born

The khatvanga, a danda with three severed heads denoting the three kayas (the three bodies of a Buddha: the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya), crowned by a trishula and dressed in a sash of the Himalayan Rainbow or Five Pure Lights of the Mahabhuta is a particular divine attribute of Padmasambhava and intrinsic to his iconographic representation.

His two eyes are wide open in a piercing gaze. On his body, he wears a white vajra undergarment and, on top of this, in layers, a red robe, a dark blue mantrayana tunic, a red monastic shawl decorated with a golden flower pattern, and a maroon cloak of silk brocade. He has one face and two hands.

In his right hand, he holds a five-pronged vajra at his heart; and in his left, which rests in the gesture of equanimity, he holds a skull-cup in the center of which is a vase of longevity filled with the nectar of deathless wisdom.

Cradled in his left arm is a three-pointed khatvanga representing the consort Mandarava. On his head, he wears a five-petalled lotus hat. Wrathful and smiling, he blazes magnificently with the splendor of the major and minor marks. He is seated with his two feet in the royal posture.

The Eight Manifestations of Padmasambhava

Padmasambhava is said to have taken eight forms or manifestations representing different aspects of his being wrath, pacification, According to Rigpa Shedra, the eight principal forms were assumed by Guru Rinpoche at different points in his life. The Eight Manifestations of Padmasambhava belong to the tradition of the Revealed Treasures.

Guru Orgyen Dorje Chang

The vajra-holder, shown dark blue in color in the attire of the Sambhogakaya. Depicted in union with consort.

Guru Shakya Senge

He is from Bodh Gaya, Lion of the Sakyas, who learns the Tantric practices of the eight Vidyadharas. He is shown as a fully ordained Buddhist monk.

Guru Pema Gyalpo

Guru Pema Gyalpo of Uddiyana, the Lotus Prince, king of the Tripitaka. He is shown looking like a young crowned prince or king.

Guru Pema Jungne

Guru Pema Jungne Lotus-arisen, the Saviour who teaches the Dharma to the people. He is shown sitting on a lotus, dressed in the three robes of a monk, under which he wears a blue shirt, pants, and heavy Tibetan boots, as protection against the cold.

He holds the diamond-scepter of compassionate love in his right hand and the yogi's skull-bowl of clear wisdom in his left.

He has a special trident called khatvanga of a wandering Yogi and wears on his head a Nepalese cloth crown, stylistically designed to remind one of the shapes of a lotus flower. Thus he is represented as he must have appeared in Tibet.

Guru Loden Chokse

Guru Loden Chokse of Kashmir, the Intelligent Youth, the one who gathers the knowledge of all worlds. He is shown in princely clothes, beating a hand-drum and holding a skull-bowl.

Guru Nyima Ozer

Guru Nyima Ozer, the Sunray Yogi, who illuminates the darkness of the mind through the insight of Dzogchen. He is shown as a naked yogi dressed only in a loin-cloth and holding a Khatvanga which points towards the sun.

Guru Dorje Drolo

Guru Dorje Drolo, the fierce manifestation of Vajrakilaya (wrathful Vajrasattva) known as "Diamond Guts", the comforter of all, imprinting the elements with Wisdom-Treasure.

Guru Senge Dradog

Guru Senge Dradog is from Nalanda University. He is known as the Lion of Debate, promulgator of the Dharma throughout the six realms of sentient beings.

He is shown in a very fierce form, dark blue and imitative of the powerful Bodhisattva Vajrapani, holding a thunderbolt scepter in one hand and a scorpion in the other.

The mantra of Guru Padmasambhava

Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hum

(Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hum)