The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c11.s3: 3. Kṣitigarbha
The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sādhanamālā and Other Cognate Tāntric Texts of Rituals c11.s3
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3. Kṣitigarbha
c11.s3.1
² For further information see Getty: GNB. p. 90, et. seq.
c11.s3.2
Colour—Yellow or Green Symbol—Kalpa Tree on Jar
c11.s3.3
The third Bodhisattva Kṣitigarbha (matrix of the earth) is rarely represented. He is described twice in the Niṣpannayogāvalī. In one, he is identical with his sire Vairocana with the Cakra symbol. In another, Kṣitigarbha is described in the following words:
c11.s3.4
Kṣitigarbhaḥ pīto dakṣiṇena kṛtabhūsparśo vāmenābjastha-kalpadrumadharaḥ. NSP, p. 58.
c11.s3.5
“Kṣitigarbha is yellow in colour, shows the earth-touching mudrā in the right hand, and a lotus with the wish-giving tree (kalpavṛkṣa) in the left.”
c11.s3.6
Kṣitigarbha is illustrated four times in the Peiping collection in different forms.³ He is also found in Tibet.⁴ Fig. 51 is a Nepalese drawing of the deity.
c11.s3.7
³ Clark: TLP, II. pp. 8. 9, 56, 274.
c11.s3.8
⁴ Gordon: ITL, p. 60.
c11.s3.9
Under Lokanātha Sādhana in the Sādhanamālā a further description occurs of the Bodhisattva Kṣitigarbha. Here he is described in verse as:
c11.s3.10
Kṣitigarbhaḥ śyāmavarṇaḥ kalaśaṃ cābhayaṃ tathā. Sādhanamālā, p. 49.
c11.s3.11
“Kṣitigarbha is of green colour, and shows in his two hands the jar and the Abhaya mudrā.”
Cites (2)
- Sādhanamālā — Sanskrit
- Niṣpannayogāvalī — Abhayākaragupta, Sanskrit