050
The Heruka Buddha, Yamantaka ("Yama-Destroyer") or Vajrabhairava
("Adamantine Rage")
Thangka, painting
Cotton support with opaque mineral pigments in waterbased (collagen) binder
18.25 x 28.0 inches
Central or Eastern Tibet
Ca. 17th century
Indeterminate style
Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, manifests himself in the form of Vajrabhairava
("Adamantine Rage") in order to overcome the lord of Death, Yama.
Thus, he is also known as Yamantaka, "Yama-destroyer." His muiltiple
heads include that of Manjushri, at the top, and that of the buffalo-headed
Yama. Embracing his prajna, Vajravetalya ("Adamantine-graveyard-ghost"),
Vajrabhairava holds the flaying-knife and skull cup in his principle hands.
A freshly flayed elephant skin, symbolic of vanquished ignorance, is held
in his upper-most hands. Despite the complex imagery, Vajrabhairava communicates
the idea that adamantine wisdom of ultimate reality triumphs over suffering
and death.
Cathleen Cummings
Museum #: 92.065
Huntington Archive Image Scan #: T1038