Heruka Chakrasamvara in the Kagyu Tradition
Heruka Chakrasamvara in the Kagyu Tradition (Main figure)
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(Top to bottom): Buddha Shakyamuni, Buddha Vajradhara, Heruka Chakrasamvara, Four-faced Mahakala and Dorje Shugden.
Heruka is the principle deity of the Chakrasmavara Tantras. He is a meditational Buddha of the highest yoga tantra classification, which means that his practice has the potential to bring us directly towards enlightenment within one lifetime. Heruka’s practice uniquely utilises desire as a means towards achieving liberation from samsara or suffering. Heruka is also one of the main tantras that most of the 84 Mahasiddhas of ancient India relied upon in order to gain their great attainments.
According to ancient lore, there is a god named Maha Ishvara or Mahadeva, and his consort Uma or Kalaratri. They reside at the top of Mount Meru and have their emanations stationed at 24 sacred places in India. As the highest of the worldly gods, Mahadeva is extremely powerful and used to constantly revel in sexual pleasure with his consorts. His worshippers were likewise overcome by his energies and acted in all manner of strange and licentious ways. His influence was great and began to drag mankind deeper into desire and ignorance.
In order to subdue him, Buddha Vajradhara (the form that Buddha Shakyamuni took to reveal the tantras) emanated as Heruka, taking on the appearance of Mahadeva. His body was smeared with ash and the crescent moon adorned the matted hair atop his head. Though he emanated in a form that mirrored Mahadeva, his nature is that of innate great bliss and emptiness, which are the special qualities of a fully enlightened Buddha.
Using his psychic powers, Mahadeva examined the mysterious Heruka and realised that he was no match against him. He was subdued and offered himself and his consort as the cushions for Heruka’s feet, to show the universe the Heruka was indeed greater. Together with his retinue of daka and dakinis, Heruka emanated in each of the 24 sacred sites where Mahadeva had stationed his emanations, where they reside to this day. Those who practice Heruka invoke upon these dakas and dakinis from the 24 sites to converge at specific parts of the body during their daily sadhanas to manipulate the body’s psychic energy channels. This in turn gathers the psychic winds and elements, which coupled with certain meditations, allows the Heruka practitioner to achieve great spiritual attainments.
The form of Heruka Chakrasamvara depicted here is one of the main practices of the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism. All schools of Buddhism treasure Heruka’s practice, including the Gelug School in which it is also a main practice. The distinguishing iconographic feature of this Kagyu lineage of Heruka is that the single left leg of Vajravarahi/Vajrayogini (Heruka’s consort) descends down to the ground. In other forms, such as those favoured by the Gelug School, both of Vajravarahi/Vajrayogini’s legs are wrapped around Heruka’s waist in the embrace of union.
Four-faced Mahakala is a Dharma protector associated explicitly with the Heruka Tantras and is propitiated by Heruka practitioners for spiritual protection and for the granting of material necessities so that they can concentrate on their spiritual practice. Four-faced Mahakala has a very close connection with Dorje Shugden. In his previous lives as great lamas and teachers, Dorje Shugden relied on Four-faced Mahakala as one of his primary protectors. In fact, when Dorje Shugden arose in his current form, it was Four-faced Mahakala together with Setrap Chen that enthroned him as a Dharma protector in his own right.
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Yet another beautiful art thangka of Heruka Chakrasamvara Buddha Shakyamuni, Buddha Vajradhara, Four-faced Mahakala and Dorje Shugden. Heruka, in the Vajrayana Buddhism of Tibet is a fierce protective deity and is an emanation of the buddha Aksobhya. Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.