The deity of death and temptation within Buddhist cosmology, he is a demon king who tried to prevent the Buddha from attaining enlightenment by disturbing his meditation and sending beautiful women to seduce him. Often represented by an enormous elephant, cobra or bull, in the anthropomorphic form he is usually depicted as a demon riding an elephant with numerous tusks.
Link copied!
A term used by the Gautama Buddha to refer to himself or other Buddhas in the Pali canon. It is…
In Hindu Puranic and epic literature, one of the seven maharishis (great sages). He is also known as the royal…
Also known as Manjughosa and Vaigsvara, he is a bodhisattva who is associated with prajna (wisdom) in the Mahayana and…
A deity who represents the combined aspects of Vishnu (Hari) and Shiva (Hara). Also known as Shankaranarayana, the fused body…
An epithet for one of Alokiteshwara’s forms, it is Sanskrit for "the one with eleven heads." The tenth face represents…
A representation of the Hindu god Vishnu, which shows him reclining atop a coiled form of the serpent Ananta, on…
A mudra or gesture in South Asian iconographic traditions, in which the thumb is held close to the palm and…
A sacred text belonging to the Tibetan Buddhist canon, comprising commentaries, treatises and a collection of abhidharma (ancient Buddhist texts).…