Who is yamantaka

It incorporates Guhyasamaja and Chakrasamvara practices. Yamantaka practice incorporates both Father and Mother tantra. Berzin explains:. Yamantaka, the Death Destroyer, arguably the fiercest of all the fierce deities in Buddhism, is a highest yoga tantra practice. Yamantaka helps practitioners with obstacles to practice, and particularly with anger. Yamantaka thangka by Kayla Komito Sacred Art. If you have the mandala you put the important jewel on the roof top and the queen of England does so with the crown jewels.

In that sense Heruka male and female is the outstanding mother tantra, and likewise, in the Gelugpa tradition, the Guhyasamaja tantra is consid-ered the outstanding father tantra. Yamantaka has elements of both Father and Mother Tantra — although his practice is generally considered Father Tantra — as indicated by the symbolism of their visualized implements: the Khatvanga Mother Tantra and suggestive of Tummo practice, see below and Yamantaka specifically carries the triangular stove and intestines, standing for illusion body and Father Tantra practice.

Mother Tantra Khatvanga carried by Vajrayogini has three heads and topped with a Vajra. Yamantaka also carries this Khatvanga. What is a khatanga? There are different kinds of these sticks they carry around.

One is the trident [tib. The khatanga normally is the exclusive sign of the mother tantra, but Yamantaka carries a khatanga, too. That gives you another message: just like the Heruka or Hevajra tantras have a method of developing the psychic heat power [tib. Yamantaka carries many implements, which are the most direct symbols of his practice, benefits and completeness — and it is here we have suggestions of the blend of Father and Mother Tantra.

Yamantaka, a ferocious emanation of Manjushri, conquered Yama, Lord of Death. Katanga — transforming into nature of great practice too — tummo Remaining left hands 1. Under the left feet: eight powers 1. Legend and myth are the languages of the subconscious, according to various schools of psychology. The legend of Yamantaka is no different.

At that level, the symbolism is clear. Deeper into the legend you gain a lot more in terms of mysterious symbolism and messaging. The story is told of a monk, a hermit really, who was in his fiftieth year of isolated meditation in a cave in the mountains. Just as he was about to achieve a profound insight, two thieves burst into his cave, with a stolen Water Buffalo. Then, out of spite, the two thieves also beheaded the monk. The monk, who had attained great siddhis, became suddenly very angry and, using his great powers, arose bodily with the head of the bull in place of his own.

He killed the two thieves, then — even more furious, now, that his bloodlust had risen — he went on a killing rampage all over Tibet, as Yama, the personification of Death. And Manjushri transformed himself into Yamantaka, looking very similar to Yama but ten times more powerful and horrible, and Manjushri as Yamantaka then defeated Yama and made him into a protector for Buddhism.

Anger and hate arise from ego and clinging. The monk was so attached to his achievement, his anger could not be stopped — except by the wisdom of Manjushri. The Buddha of Wisdom used fierce appearance to fight fierce appearance, manifesting as Yama with a water buffalo bullhead, only many times more ferocious. All to say, in Yamantaka practice, we can overcome anger — and, ultimately, death — by understanding appearances are deceptive, attachment is the root of samsara, and escape lies in Emptiness.

Yamantaka YabYum with Wisdom consort. Culture Tibetan. Title Yamantaka with His Consort. Year s. Medium Gilded copper alloy with traces of pigment. Materials copper alloy , pigment. Some rights reserved. Copyright and other proprietary rights in material on this site may be held by individuals or entities other than or in addition to VMFA. The Museum does not warrant that the use of materials displayed on this site will not infringe on the rights of third parties, such as artists or artists' heirs holding the rights to these works.

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Known by his epithet Yamantaka Slayer of Yama, the Lord of Death , Vajrabhairava personifies the victory of spiritual wisdom over death. So with understanding, we want to cut through these grosser levels with all the confusion — with a lot of strength — and get down to the subtlest level.

Now, normally we get down to that subtlest level when we die. In other words, our mental activity during that short period of death is just this subtlest, subtlest level. We have all these habits of our confusion — all these habits of compulsive behavior based on confusion and disturbing emotions — and because of the momentum of so many lifetimes of being under the influence of these habits, what happens?

New rebirth — samsaric rebirth — with another cluster or configuration of these habits being activated and generating the next samsaric life filled with the same types of compulsive behavior and confusion. So what we want to do is to be able to overcome that kind of death and instead be able, in our meditation, to get to that subtlest level of mental activity.

So this is basically the tantra path of the highest class of tantra. Yamantaka gShin-rje gshed, gShin-rje mthar-byed is specifically the type of practice that is done to overcome death.

This is, just in very general terms, a little bit of what is Yamantaka all about for those who might not have so much of a background. In the Gelug tradition this became very, very strongly practiced. In this system of putting together the three practices of these three deity systems — Guhyasamaja, Chakrasamvara, and Yamantaka or Vajrabhairava two names — Yamantaka is the container within which the other two practices can be included. And all the protector practices that are done in the Gelug tradition are all done within the context of oneself arising as Yamantaka.

Yamantaka practice became especially popular and widespread not only among the Tibetans, but also in the Mongol and Manchu regions in which Tibetan Buddhism spread. First about my own background. One needs to be very serious about any type of tantra practice. Do I not like this? Not that I want to scare anybody, but be realistic. Shantideva points out that there are two supports of it:. Yamantaka is the name for all three, but in the Gelug tradition the main thing that we practice is Vajrabhairava.

Vajrabhairava is sometimes called just Yamantaka. Vajrabhairava is the one with the buffalo head and the Manjushri head above it, and he appears in three basic forms. So we have:. But all of these have a buffalo head and a Manjushri head on top. So what does this tell us? It tells us that there are many, many ways and many appearances of all these various Buddha-figures.

And underlying it is what? For some disciples, one type of form is more helpful; for other types of disciple, another form is helpful. Okay, enough of art history or iconography. There are many variants of everything.

Welcome to the world of Tibetan Buddhism! The traditional account of how Buddha gave these teachings was that he arose in the form of Yamantaka — just as when Buddha gave the teachings of other tantras, like Guhyasamaja and Chakrasamvara, he arose in that form and gave the teachings — and he gave these teachings in , chapters. That was kept in the Dharmaganja Stupa — it was kept inside — which was venerated by all the dakinis. So everybody really thought this was very special and worshipped there.

These teachings were first spread from Urgyen to India in the tenth century by a great master from Nalanda Monastery called Lalitavajra, and then to Tibet in the next century, in the eleventh century. From Tibet it spread to Mongolia, and then the Manchus took it up and it was a big practice in Beijing, where the Manchus ruled.

This is what we hear from the Buddhist version of the history. How did something like this develop in Ogyen, in Oddiyana? First of all, where is Oddiyana? Where is Ogyen? It has been identified archaeologically as Swat Valley in northwestern Pakistan, present-day Pakistan. Remember Yamantaka is the one that puts an end to Yama Yama is the Lord of Death , and remember I explained the whole reason why you want to get rid of ordinary death.

Now, personally I find this very interesting. In other words, if we can see that history corroborates and fits together okay with the Buddhist version, then our confidence I think is a little bit stronger.

Yama is a common figure that we find in Indo-Iranian culture, both on the Indian side and the Iranian side. Yama is mentioned in the tenth book of the Rg Veda. He was the first mortal to die, and thus, because of that, he became the Lord of Death. You find that in so many cultures — some sort of judge who acts as the Lord of Death. Later, Yamantaka becomes associated with Manjushri, who embodies wisdom or the understanding of reality.

Sometimes Yama is called Dharma. This is earlier than when Hinduism itself became codified, so it was in the pre-Hindu Indian tradition. There are three forms: Outer, Inner and Secret Dharmaraja.

So already you get that name Dharmaraja in the non-Buddhist context. In Buddhism there are many protector deities that have been incorporated, and many of them come from an earlier Indian non-Buddhist context some even come from an Iranian context.

They are tamed and then given a pledge by Guru Rinpoche — or by many other figures — to protect practitioners. So another name for Yama is Kalarupa, and you find this in the protector practices. Sometimes the study of Sanskrit and Tibetan is quite useful for clearing up some of these confusing issues. In the Upanishadic period, what we also find is that you have directional protectors.

There are either eight or ten directional protectors, and Yama is one of them. But because Yama appears in this general Indian context as one of the directional protectors, then in the Yamantaka practice, in Guhyasamaja practice — in so many different practices — then in the Buddhist context, you call in the fifteen directional protectors, and Yama is one of them. Yama also appears as one of the eight directional protectors that appear, one each, in the eight charnel grounds that surround many anuttarayoga tantra mandalas, such as Yamantaka, Vajrapani Mahachakra, Chakrasamvara, Vajrayogini and Hevajra.

He also appears as one of the eight non-Buddhist deities found, one each, in eight of the skullcups held by Hevajra. So it comes from this general Indian background. Buddhism is an Indian religion, an Indian system, and it shares many, many, many things in common with what later becomes Hinduism and Jainism. And all these different Indian traditions have their own variant of them, their own version.

But if you understand the way that ancient Indian society functioned, then you see that all of these people lived together, and so you have this common pool there. Then it becomes a little bit more understandable. All the various Indian deities, these various figures, are always riding on top of something.

And so Yama rides on a male water buffalo. So already in this iconography or mythology — whatever you want to call it — already you have Yama associated with a water buffalo.

And he becomes a guardian of the hells. Now, soon after that, Yama becomes incorporated into the Shiva complex of Hindu deities. In Hinduism you have a whole group of deities or figures around Shiva and then a whole group around Vishnu and Krishna you get two divisions within later Hinduism. Another name for Shiva is Bhairava.

In the Shiva tantra context plus you get tantra in the Shaivite system and in the Buddhist one, you get a very parallel development and parallel names.

In many of the tantra systems, you find very similar variants in both the Hindu side meaning the Shiva side and the Buddhist side. Many things in terms of the Kalachakra myth you find in a Hindu variant as well, for example. Now, when we learn this, what is the effect on us in terms of our practice? Or you could try to look at it to see that what is said in the Buddhist version does have some historical reference, that the whole development of tantra is really a general thing going on in India, a general way of practicing, and that you have different schools, whether Hindu or Buddhist, each working with it and trying to find the most efficient method for attaining their goals liberation or enlightenment the way that each of them define it.

You have to remember when we talk about tantra and the accounts of how Buddha taught tantra not to think in terms of the historical Shakyamuni Buddha. Because a Buddha in Mahayana is one that teaches the entire universe. A Buddha that appears and teaches the tantras is yet another type of Buddha. So now we have to qualify what I just said. Are they all Shakyamuni?