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Guru Dragpo, Padmasambhava’s Fierce Emanation

18th century
Not on view
Guru Dragpo is the wrathful form of Padmasambhava, the renowned founder of Tibetan Buddhism who established the Nyingma School in the eighth century. The wild figure wears a skull diadem and a tiger-skin apron decorated with severed heads; a flayed elephant skin acts as his shawl. He wields a ritual tool (vajra) above his head and holds a multi-limbed blue scorpion in his lower hand. His corpulent figure is engulfed in a flaming aureole. In the upper register are, from left, the bodhisattvas Manjushri and Shadakshari Lokeshvara, the Buddha Amitabha, and Padmasambhava himself, wearing the yellow cap of his Nyingma School. In the lower register appear other deities in Guru Dragpo’s retinue, including Vajrapani at left and the yaksha Jambhala, god of wealth, at center.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Guru Dragpo, Padmasambhava’s Fierce Emanation
  • Date: 18th century
  • Culture: Tibet
  • Medium: Distemper on cotton
  • Dimensions: Image: 24 in. × 17 1/2 in. (61 × 44.5 cm)
    Framed: 33 1/16 × 25 13/16 in. (84 × 65.5 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts, 2015
  • Object Number: 2015.269
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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