The Names that Encode Many Aspects of the “Lotus-Born” Guru

This unusual sculpture carved from stone is perhaps the earliest depicting Padmasambhava, the Precious Guru (Guru Rinpoche), in his eight manifestations. Among all the great masters who brought Buddhism to Tibet, Padmasambhava, whose name means “Lotus-Born, ” is unparalleled. Although the historical record makes scant mention of him, a vibrant biographical tradition developed in the centuries after the Tibetan Empire’s collapse (ca. 842), establishing his place at the epicenter of Tibetan Buddhism, both figuratively and iconographically.1 According to later histories, the Indian monastic Shantarakshita advised the Tibetan emperor Tri Songdetsen (742–ca. 800) to invite Padmasambhava, a tantric master, to accomplish what they could not: ritually subdue the local gods and demons so Buddhism could be established in Tibet.

The earliest surviving mentions of Padmasambhava seem to indicate that he operated under several aliases.2 He became the focal point of the Ancient (Nyingma) tradition, which traces its lineages to his teachings. Regardless of sectarian affiliation, every Tibetan monastery contains statues and paintings of this cultural hero, for all of Tibet’s traditions are thought to stem from Padmasambhava and his activities.

Aspects Revealed

Nyangrel Nyima Wozer (1124–1192) was the first of the great Buddhist treasure revealers. These tertons claim to be reincarnations of Padmasambhava’s eighth-century disciples who are empowered to recover his concealed texts and relics, known as treasures (terma) in later centuries. As the preeminent architect of this tradition, Nyangrel compiled the Copper Island Biography of Padmasambhava (Namtar Zanglingma).3 The first text to structure a complete narrative of the Precious Guru’s life, it began with his origin story of being discovered on the pistil of a lotus in northwest India and ended with his final departure from Tibet. Nyangrel incorporated the scattered threads of Padmasambhava lore, preserving the precedents of details available to him, including the multiple monikers that accumulate throughout the story. In the earliest surviving versions of the Copper Island—texts that are closest to Nyangrel’s twelfth-century original—Padmasambhava goes by a dozen names and epithets.

Many years after completing the Copper Island, Nyangrel had a meditative vision in which he traveled to a pure realm and met eight distinct Padmasambhavas, each positioned at the cardinal and intermediate directions of a mandala.4 The “eight names of the guru” (guru tsen gye) became a standard set, encoding key moments of Padmasambhava’s life into monikers that inspired each aspect’s iconography, despite scant descriptive details in textual references.

Iconography of the Eight Names

This sculpture (fig. 1) from the Alain Bordier collection represents the normative set of Padmasambhava’s eight names in a typical composition. The central figure is his most popular form, named Padmasambhava in Sanskrit and Pema Jungne in Tibetan, also known as Lake-Born Vajra (Tsokye Dorje), referencing his miraculous birth on a lotus.

At bottom left and right are his two fierce aspects, Sengge Dradrok and Dorje Drolo, unmistakable with ferocious faces and corpulent bodies wreathed in flames. Nothing in the Copper Island suggests that these names should be depicted so monstrously. Dorje Drolo was the last of the Guru’s names to be standardized. Here, he displays his characteristic iconography—a vajra in the right hand and three-sided dagger, or purba, in the left—suggesting that the sculpture was created at a time when Padmasambhava’s lore was already popularized by two expanded fourteenth-century biographies.5 These texts repeat the eight names several times, further establishing them as the definitive set for Padmasambhava’s aspects.6

Directly above the fierce aspects are his manifestations as the tantrika Nyima Wozer and the monk Shakya Sengge, the latter of whom appears identical to renderings of Buddha Shakyamuni. Above them are the two king types, Loden Chokse and Pema Gyelpo, though only the latter is royalty. Loden Chokse is a tantrika who thrives in the charnel grounds; his royal attire adds symmetry to the visual pairing but lacks any precedent in narrative descriptions. The arrangement could also acknowledge an alignment of Nyima Wozer and Loden Chokse as transgressive tantric yogins, compared with the monk Shakya Sengge and king Pema Gyelpo, who are bound by social norms.

The final pairing below the triad at the apex includes Pema Jungne, wearing scholar’s robes on the right, and Orgyen Dorje Chang, shown with his consort Mandarava at left. The depiction of a couple facing outward is unusual, reminiscent of Indic images of the Hindu deities Shiva and Parvati.

Hierarchy of Padmasambhava’s Three Bodies

Finally, the top triad includes Padmasambhava’s most subtle and refined aspects. At the apex of the sculpture is Amitayus, who signifies his ultimate empty essence, known as the “truth body ” (dharmakaya). Slightly below is the four-armed Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, representing his blissful luminous nature as the “complete enjoyment body ” (sambhogakaya). The figure at top right, portrayed with his consort in a dynamic standing posture and ensconced in flames, is less immediately recognizable. It is most likely Hayagriva, the fierce meditational deity of the lotus buddha family. He is appropriately placed in the position of Padmasambhava’s “magically emanated body ” (nirmanakaya). Hayagriva is also included in a similarly composed metal sculpture of Padmasambhava’s aspects in the Rubin Museum (fig. 2). The iconography of Hayagriva seen here—with one face, two arms, and standing with his consort—is said to stem from the early treasure revealers, including Nyangrel.7

An early mandala painting shows the same form of Hayagriva at its center, surrounded by the manifestations of Padmasambhava on the lotus petals of the inner mandala.8 It is dated to the fourteenth century on iconographic and stylistic grounds and provides a context for this carved image and its possible date. 

Form and Material 

The Padmasambhava sculpture featured here follows Indian compositions, most notably depictions of the Events of the Buddha’s Life, in which a large central image is surrounded by smaller figures. Such portable reliefs made of soft stone phyllite and dated to the eleventh through thirteenth centuries are found across the Buddhist world.9 Carved images of teachers with episodes from their lives in the same stone and format also survive but present different stylistic features.10 

This sculpture also might have been carved from phyllite, a brown-beige-colored soft stone, but the central image is made from white stone, possibly soapstone. If so, it could explain the slightly worn features of the central figure’s face and right hand, the elements that protrude the most on the sculpture. The rest of the central figure, set in shallower relief and protected by its placement in the niche, retains crisper details. Examples of miniature sculptures in soapstone portraying Tibetan teachers are rare.11 Stone sculptures were typically painted, as traces of pigments here indicate. 

Visual Conventions

The structurally common composition of the figures arranged around the main image includes a throne back reminiscent of Nepalese visual conventions. Such thrones, with elaborate torana-like arches, mythical garuda birds at the top, and stacked animals on either side of the throne, are often found in architectural settings—for instance, stone sculptures carved into the niches of stupas or fountains—as well as paintings. 

Given the scarcity of stylistically equivalent sculptural examples, it is helpful to consider painted representations that parallel the sculpture’s visual conventions. Possibly contemporary with this carving is an early thangka painting of Karmapa with His Footprints in the Rubin Museum collection  (fig. 3).12 It shares several visual elements with the sculpture: the throne back, an oval-shaped mandorla (body radiance), stacked animals on either side of the throne, entwining lotus vines that encircle each of the vignettes around the central figure,13 and the arrangement of the teacher’s lotus throne, including two small blooms at the lower forefront. 

A distinct element in the painting is a parasol that replaces the garuda-topped torana-like arch. However, a painting from about the thirteenth century in a private collection that portrays another famous Indian master, Padampa Sanggye, exhibits the same style of throne as the sculpture, complete with the garuda at the throne’s apex. It also displays all the other elements described above. Additionally, similar vines encircling single figures painted around a focal point on the ceiling of the Luri stupa cave and generally dated to the thirteenth to early fourteenth century provide another temporal reference to this visual convention. 

Teacher depictions appear to emerge from a shared cultural environment, in which Nepalese and Indian conventions were skillfully employed to create Tibetan Buddhist images. Unlike the earlier Indian sculptures, often treasured as portable souvenirs from sacred sites, these images seem intended to inspire devotional reverence in their patrons, who were disciples of the lineages represented by these masters.