Guhyasamaja (Main figure)

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(Top to bottom): Buddha Shakyamuni, Lama Tsongkhapa, Heruka Chakrasamvara, Guhyasamaja, Yamantaka, Four-Faced Mahakala, Six-Armed Mahakala, Kalarupa and Dorje Shugden.

Deity: Guhyasamaja (Sanskrit)
Alternative names: Sangwa Dupa (Tibetan); Guhyasamaja Akshobhyavajra (Sanskrit)
Guhyasamaja is one of the three Kingly Tantras (Tibetan: Sang De Jig Sum) of the Gelug order as proliferated by Lama Tsongkhapa. The other two tantras are Vajrabhairava and Heruka Chakrasamvara. ‘Guhyasamaja’ literally means ‘secret assembly’. This refers to the practice of the gathering and manipulation of the psychic winds in the body in order to accomplish the awakening of the mind. Guhyasamaja is called the King of Tantras as comprehension of this tantric system allows one to understand the inner workings of all other tantric systems. It is said that the survival of the tantras depends on the continued proliferation and practice of this tantric system.

The complete tantric text consists of 17 chapters, though a separate “explanatory tantra”, also known as the Guhyasamaja Uttaratantra, is sometimes considered to be the former’s 18th chapter. Many scholars believe that the original work consisted of the first twelve chapters and chapters thirteen to seventeen were later added as explanatory material. There are five principal lineages for this form of the meditational deity Akshobhyavajra Guhyasamaja. They are the Atisha, Marpa, Go Lotsawa, Khache and Chag traditions. .

Deity: Heruka Chakrasamvara (Sanskrit)
Alternative names: Khorlo Demchok (Tibetan)
Heruka is the principle deity of the Chakrasamvara 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 was a god named Maha Ishvara and his consort Kalaratri. They resided at the top of Mount Kailash and had their emanations stationed at 24 sacred places in India. As the highest of the worldly gods, Maha Ishvara was 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 Maha Ishvara. Heruka even had human ash smeared all over his body and a crescent moon in his matted and piled up hair to match the god. Though he emanated in a form that mirrored Maha Ishvara, his nature was that of innate great bliss and emptiness, which are the special qualities of a fully enlightened Buddha.

Using his psychic powers, Maha Ishvara 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 that Heruka was indeed greater. Then together with his retinue of dakas and dakinis, Heruka emanated in each of the 24 sacred sites where Maha Ishvara had stationed his emanations, and his emanations reside there to this day. Those who practise 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 Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The distinguishing iconographic feature of this Gelug lineage of Heruka is that Vajravarahi/Vajrayogini’s legs are wrapped around Heruka’s waist in the embrace of union.

Deity: Yamantaka (Sanskrit)
Alternative names: Vajrabhairava (Sanskrit); Shinje She (Tibetan); Dorje Jigje (Tibetan)
Yamantaka or Vajrabhairava is the manifestation of Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Stainless Wisdom. From amongst the many lineages of practices to enter Tibet, two translators Ra Lotsawa and Mal Lotsawa were known to have disseminated the main transmissions of Yamantaka. This tantra utilises anger as a means to purify all delusions and it is the only tantra that has the potential to purify extreme negative karma associated with the most heinous crimes.

It was the Indian master Lalitavajra who was the first to reveal the Yamantaka Tantra. Lalitavajra was a 10th century scholar-master from Nalanda Monastery in Bihar, India. His main yidam (meditational deity) was Manjushri. One day, he had a pure vision of Manjushri exhorting him to travel to the land of Oddiyana in order to retrieve the Yamantaka Tantra. This master made the long journey there and encountered a special dakini, Vajra Vetali, who is better known as Yamantaka’s consort along with other dakinis who eventually revealed the entire Yamantaka Tantra to him. Unfortunately, they refused to allow him to take the texts with him. He was only allowed to memorise as much of the texts as he could in the short time he was in their presence. Upon their departure, this master quickly put down in words whatever he had memorised and the practice lineage descended down in this manner.

Deity: Buddha Shakyamuni (Sanskrit)
Alternative name: Sangye Shakya Tupa (Tibetan)
Shakyamuni is the historical Buddha of our current era and together with Maitreya and Buddha Kashyapa, they are collectively known as the Buddhas of the Three Times – past, present and future. The Buddha of the Past is Kashyapa; the Buddha of the Present is Buddha Shakyamuni; and the Buddha of the Future is Maitreya. Before he became Buddha Shakyamuni, he was a prince known as Siddhartha who renounced his courtly life in pursuit of an answer to sickness, old age and death. He attained complete enlightenment under a Bodhi tree in a place that is now known as Bodhgaya. This sacred location is a major power place for Buddhists from around the world. In fact, the Buddha recommended pilgrimage to four places: Bodhgaya as the place of his enlightenment, Lumbini as the place of his birth, Sarnath Park near Varanasi as the place where he gave his first teachings and Kushinagar as the place of his Mahaparinirvana or place of his great passing.

Deity: Lama Tsongkhapa (Tibetan)
Alternative name: Sumati Kirti (Sanskrit); Lobsang Drakpa (Tibetan)
Lama Tsongkhapa founded the Gelug tradition based upon the teachings he received from various masters including those from the Drikung Kagyu tradition. However, he primarily based his tradition on teachings from the Kadampa masters. Lama Tsongkhapa is known to have been an emanation of the Buddha Manjushri and best known for two great works, the Lamrim Chenmo (Graduated Stages on the Path to Enlightenment) and Ngarim Chenmo (Graduated Stages on the Path of Tantra).

Deity: Four-Faced Mahakala (English)
Alternative names: Chaturmukha Mahakala (Sanskrit); Gonpo Shel Shi (Tibetan)
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 as a lama relied on Four-Faced Mahakala as one of his primary protectors.

Deity: Six-Armed Mahakala (English)
Alternative names: Shadbhuja Mahakala (Sanskrit); Gonpo Chagdrugpa (Tibetan)
Six-Armed Mahakala is an emanation of Avalokiteshvara and propitiated is the protector of the highest scope of the Lamrim. He is propitiated in a similar manner as Kalarupa but mainly towards the study, contemplation and realisation of the highest scope of the teachings.

Deity: Kalarupa (Sanskrit)
Alternative name: Damchen Chogyal (Tibetan)
The Dharma Protector Kalarupa is a manifestation of Manjushri. He is the principle protector of the Vajrabhairava Tantras and also one of the main protectors of the Gelug order. He was one of the main protectors of Lama Tsongkhapa himself and he is propitiated as a Lamrim protector of the lower scope. That means that Kalarupa is relied upon during the study and contemplation of the lowest scope of the lamrim in order to clear inner obstacles and gain insight into the Lamrim teachings.

Deity: Dorje Shugden
Dorje Shugden is the emanation of the bodhisattva of wisdom, Manjushri and he has taken the form of a Dharma Protector in order to safeguard Buddha’s teachings especially the special teachings on the Middle Way view. Reminiscent of Manjushri’s form, Dorje Shugden carries a meandering sword and rides a snowlion that represents the fearlessness of a fully enlightened Buddha. Thus, he has great strength to overcome obstacles of the body, speech and mind and to create suitable conditions for our spiritual practice to flourish.