The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c13.s8: 10. Māyājālakrama
The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sādhanamālā and Other Cognate Tāntric Texts of Rituals c13.s8
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10. Māyājālakrama
c13.s8.1
Faces—Five Hands—Twelve
c13.s8.2
Āsana—Pratyālīḍha Colour—Blue
c13.s8.3
As the Sādhanā for the worship of this particular form of Avalokiteśvara, occurs originally in the Māyājāla Tantra, this peculiar name has been given to the deity. This is the only fierce form of Lokeśvara known to the Indian Buddhists, although fiercer forms are to be met with in the Tibetan Buddhist Iconography. The Dhyāna given in the Sādhanamālā describes him in the following terms :
c13.s8.4
“Bhagavantaṃ Ārya-Avalokiteśvaraṃ kṛṣṇavarṇaṃ pratyālīḍhasthaṃ sūryamaṇḍalasthitaṃ pañcamukhaṃ trinetraṃ dvādaśabhujaṃ sitaraktadakṣiṇamukhadvayaṃ tathā pītaharitavāmamukhadvayaṃ dakṣiṇabhujaiḥ ḍamaru-khaṭvāṅga-aṅkuśa-pāśa-vajra-śaradharaṃ, vāmabhujaiḥ tarjanī-kapāla-raktakamala-maṇi-cakra-cāpadharaṃ daṃṣṭrākārālasakalavadanaṃ ṣaṇmudropetaṃ sārdramuṇḍamālālaṅkṛtaśarīraṃ nagnaṃ sarvāṅgasundaraṃ ātmānaṃ jhaṭiti pratyākalayya...”
c13.s8.5
Sādhanamālā, p. 86
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“The worshipper should think himself as Ārya-Avalokiteśvara, whose colour is blue. He stands in the Pratyālīḍha attitude, on the orb of the sun. He is five-faced, three-eyed, twelve-armed, with the two right faces of white and red colour, and two left of yellow and green colour. He carries in his right hands the 1. Ḍamaru, 2. the Khaṭvāṅga, 3. the goad, 4. the noose, 5. the Vajra and the 6. the arrow, and in the left hands the 1. raised index finger, 2. the Kapāla, 3. the red lotus, 4. the jewel, 5. the discus, and 6. the bow. His faces look terrible with bare fangs. He wears the six bone ornaments and his person is embellished by the garland of heads. He is nude and appears beautiful in all limbs. Thus quickly meditating...”
c13.s8.7
One illustration of this form of Lokeśvara occurs in the *Two Lamaistic Pantheons* of Clark ¹. His statue can be seen in Nepal at Svayambhūkṣettra. A Nepalese drawing of this form is illustrated in the Appendix.
c13.s8.8
¹ Clark: TLP, II, p. 267
Linked texts (1)
- Sādhanamālā — Sanskrit