24 K Gold Vajrabhairava Yamantaka Thangka Painting

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Double your traffic. Payment | Checkout | Shipping | Policies 24 K Gold Vajrabhairava Yamantaka Thangka Painting This is an amazing original Vajrabhairava Yamantaka Thangka Painting from Nepal. I hand carried it back with me from my last trip there knowing someone would love to have it. The details are outstanding and it must have taken the artist a long time to make. He took great care with the painting of this Thangka. Real 24 K Gold paint was used as an accent. Some history and background of Vajrabhairava: In Vajrayana Buddhism Vajrabhairava also known as Yamantaka is a wrathful, buffalo-headed meditational deity or Yidam of the Highest Yoga Tantra class and/or a dharma protector. Vajrabhairava is one of the principal three meditational deities of the Gelug school. The others are Chakrasamvara and Guhyasamaja. He is also one of the main yidams in the Sakya school where he comes in a variety of appearances. In both schools Vajrabhairava is seen as the wrathful manifestation of Manjushri, the Buddha of wisdom. In the other schools of Tibetan Buddhsim Yamantaka seems to be mostly revered as a protector. The practices there involve different activities for various purposes. There are also some Yamantaka terma revelations in the Nyingma and Kagyu schools. Although practiced early on in Tibet by the Sakya and Kagyu Traditions, it was Tsongkapa, founder of the Gelug Tradition, who instituted Vajrabhairava as the principal Gelugpa meditation practice. In Sanskrit Vajrabhairava stands for 'Adamantine Terrifier'. Regardless which manifestation of Vajrabhairava you are looking at he is always depicted as fear inducing and intimidating. Not only is he terrifying to look at but according to the Vajrabhairava Tantra he also has conquered all evil spirits including the Lord of Death Yama. That's why he is also called Yamantaka, the Slayer of Death. It seems that the term Yamantaka and Yamari is used in a more general way than Vajrabhairava which is restricted to the buffalo-headed yidam of the Gelug and Sakya schools. Forms of Vajrabhairava The Ngor Mandala collection of the Sakya tradition alone lists eight different forms/lineages of the blue/black buffalo-faced Vajrabhairava (which include the two Gelug ones) and four of red Rakta or blue Krishna-Yamari (all without the buffalo head). All the former are yidams (=meditational deities) whereas Yamaraja (sometimes also called Dharamaraja ) is a Dharma protector. There is also an emanation of Yamantaka (called Yamantaka or Yamantakrt ) in the Ten Wrathful Ones / Uncommon Protection Wheel in the Vajrabhairava and Guhyasamaja practices. They all embody the wrathful aspect of Manjushri and Vajravetali the wrathful nature of Saraswati. Appearance The full form of Vajrabhairava has nine heads, the central one being that of a buffalo, and the top-most being that yellow Manjushri with a slightly wrathful expression. The three right faces are yellow, blue and red and the three left are black, white and smoky. Each face has three large round eyes, bared fangs and frightful expressions; brown hair flows upward like flames. He has thirty-four hands and sixteen legs. The first pair of hands hold a curved knife and skull cup to the heart. The remaining hands hold a multitude of weapons with the second and last set holding in addition the fresh outstretched hide of an elephant. He is adorned with bracelets, necklaces and a girdle all formed of interlaced bone ornaments, a necklace of snakes and a long necklace of fifty human heads. The right legs are bent pressing down on a man, animals and various gods. The left legs are extended straight and press upon eight birds and various gods; standing above a sun disc and multi-colored lotus completely surrounded by the orange flames of pristine awareness. Meaning Anuttara Yoga Tantra is divided into father- (Tib: pha-rgyud ) and mother-tantra (Tib: ma-rgyud ). The former emphasizes practices involving the energy-wi... read more

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