Who is palden lhamo

Classification: Paintings. Accession Number: Timelines Himalayan Region, A. Visiting The Met? Browse the Collection. Offerings to the Goddess Palden Lhamo late 16th century. Public Domain. Open Access. New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. How could they bear to not be given Your compassionate hand?

Thus please come forth to face the great murderers, the malevolent enemy. O Lady who performs the actions of war and weapons; Dakini, I summon You with this sorrowful song:. As with all Tantric Deities, every element and color of the image has many layers of meaning. As a higher Tantra practice — Palden Lhamo, typically, should not be practiced until the practitioner already has one Higher Tantric Empowerment — her symbols actually carry three-layers of meaning.

Palden Lhamo has one face and two arms. On the inner level of symbolism, she holds in her mouth the demon of mental afflictions. Her red hair rising upward represents the blazing fire of perfect wisdom jnana that incinerates all worldly conceptions vikalpa , which are the underlying causes of all misery.

She wears the five-skull crown showing that she has extinguished the five poisons greed, anger, ignorance, pride, and jealousy. The Tantric symbol of the sun of wisdom marks her navel, and the moon of compassion marks her crown.

The peacock-feather parasol of ultimate attainment rises above her head. A long necklace of fifty severed heads is strung on a wire representing intestines. The fifty heads correspond to the fifty worldly states of mind that must be cut off. Tibetan: pal den lha mo, mag gyi zor le, gyal mo.

Sanskrit: Shri Devi, Yakshi Remati. According to Himalayan Art:. Magzor Gyalmo is regarded as a wrathful emanation of the peaceful goddess Sarasvati , although popular in both Hinduism and Buddhism, the Buddhist deity is more properly known as Vajra Sarasvati and of a different entity and nature than the Hindu goddess Sarasvati.

Within the Buddhist Tantric tradition Vajra Sarasavti is believed to be an enlightened deity while the Hindu form of the goddess is believed to be worldly in nature and not enlightened.

Amongst the many forms of Shri Devi, the specific form of Magzor Gyalmo, blue-black and wrathful, is recognized by having one face and two hands, holding aloft with the right hand a vajra tipped staff and in the left a skullcup held to the heart.

She rides side-saddle atop a mule. Above her head is a large peacock feather parasol. In the Sakya and related Traditions there is a snake ornament for the right ear and a lion for the left.

In the Gelug Tradition this is reversed and the lion is an ornament for the right and the snake for the left. According to the lunar calendar the special day for worship of Magzor Gyalmo is the 14th of the month.

It is found in the Nyingma Tantra section, vol. TBRC w Thinking of Her cannibal-demon face — with the garland of fifty blood-dripping decapitated heads hanging around Her neck — love is probably the last thing that jumps to mind. Your hands probably shake as you make a tea offering to this ferocious persona. Palden Lhamo, bottom centre, is one of the many emanations of Enlightened Feminine bottom right. To Tibetan Buddhists, She is a national icon of Tibet, the protector of the Dharma and special protector of the Dalai Lama — and the angry parent who keeps you on track.

But Her voice, visage, and mantra are the protective mother power personified. Gorgeous Tangkha of Palden Lhamo and her two attendants plus the four queens. Here we see Palden Lhamo on her mule, with her Makara-headed attendant to the left and Lion-headed attendant to the right. She is surrounded by the Queens of the Four Seasons, with the Tashi Tsering Che-nga long life sisters of the Himalayas below the sea of blood, and with H.

Giclee prints are available on Etsy. She rides her mule across a swirling ocean of blood and fat, amidst a dark maelstrom of wind and fiery sparks. She is blue-black in colour, with one face and two arms. She is adorned with black silks, a flayed human skin, a hair loincloth, and both jewel and bone ornaments. She wears broken chains around her ankles, a crown of five dry white skulls, a long garland of fifty freshly severed heads, a serpent necklace and belt, and her forehead, cheeks, and chin are smeared respectively with human ash, blood, and fat.

She has three round red eyes, four sharp canine teeth, and her tawny hair streams upward like fire. A human corpse lies within her mouth, a roaring lion leaps from behind her right ear, and a poisonous snake darts from behind her left ear. She has a protruding stomach, sagging breasts, and thin limbs. The sun blazes from her navel, the crescent moon adorns her crown, and a canopy of peacock feathers floats above her head. The bridle and reins of the mule are fashioned from poisonous serpents, and the three eyes of her mule gaze over the past, present, and future.

In the bottom corners are the four goddesses who accompany and flank Palden Lhamo in each of the four directions. The turbulent landscape depicts swirling oceans of blood, clouds, lightning, hail, and sharp rocky peaks. Countless black spirits, black birds, black dogs, black animals, and black women follow in the retinue of Paldan Lhamo. She is an attendant of Palden Lhamo. Detail from the stunning image created by Jampay Dorje Ben Christian. Both are important divinities of the dakini class of protective goddesses.

Makaravaktra protects followers of the Buddha from dangers arising from the underworld, and Simhavaktra protects from dangers arising in the upper world. They serve Palden Lhamo and help extend her power to both worlds. The Shadow can either be embraced or feared. Palden Lhamo embraces the wrathful nature — our Shadow. Why practice or meditate on such a ferocious emanation of Enlightenment? According to Venerable Losang Samtem,. Alternate spelling of Palden Lhamo.

We need to be open to receive the blessings of these deities. A 21 Tara tankha. Tara manifests in many emanations, not just these 21 Taras, but in wrathful forms such as Palden Lhamo and Dakini forms such as Vajrayogini. Tibetan Buddhists often begin their day with the lovely recitation of the Praise to the 21 Taras, a soothing and uplifting practice of lightness and comfort.

Yet, for many lay practitioners, even those who do not have initiation into the practice, the Palden Lhamo tea ceremony is a short, but important, daily practice.

In the West, where ferocious and wrathful emanations of the Buddhas are easily misunderstood, teachers normally recommend full initiation prior to practicing. Certainly, to practice the actual sadhana of Palden Lhamo this is required. She rode away on a horse saddled with her son's flayed skin. This is a gruesome story, but do remember it's a myth. There are many ways to interpret this.

I see it as an act of contrition. She took the child of her body back into her body, taking ownership, in a sense, of what she had created. The flayed skin saddle represents the karma of what she had done that she was still "riding.

When the king returned and realized what had happened, he screamed a curse and seized his bow. He struck Palden Lhamo's horse with a poisoned arrow, but the queen healed her horse, saying, "May this wound become an eye to watch the twenty-four regions, and may I be the one to end the lineage of the malignant kings of Lanka. In some versions of this story, Palden Lhamo was reborn into a hell realm for what she had done, but, eventually, she stole a sword and a bag of diseases from the hell-protectors and fought her way to earth.

But she had no peace. She lived in a charnel ground, starving herself, not washing, turning into a frightful hag. She cried out for a reason to live. At this, the Buddha appeared and asked her to become a Dharmapala. She was astonished and moved that the Buddha would trust her with this task, and she accepted. It is a sacred lake and a place of pilgrimage for those seeking visions. Since then, high lamas and regents have visited this lake to receive visions that would lead them to the next rebirth of the Dalai Lama.

In , the regent Reting Rinpoche said he received a clear vision, including a vision of a house, that led to the discovery of the 14th Dalai Lama. The 14th Dalai Lama wrote a poem for her, which reads in part,. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile.