Item: Nagaraja Buddha

Buddha Nageshvara Raja (Tibetan: sang gye lu'i gyal po. English: the Enlightened One, King of Nagas) with a white face and blue body surrounded by two hundred and fifty one (251) miniature forms of Krodha Vajrapani. The name means 'king of the naga serpents.' (See the Nageshvara Raja Buddha Main Page).

Appearing in the classic form of a 'renounced one,' a nirmanakaya buddha, in the aspect of a monk, Nagaraja has one face and two hands, seated in vajra posture with the right leg over left. His face is white and his body is blue. Held at the heart and joined in the gesture (mudra) 'which prevents lower rebirths' the index fingers of the two hands are pointed upward and touching while the remaining fingers are entwined. Beautiful, at peace, adorned with blue-black tufts of hair and shaded by the hoods of seven snakes he wears the traditional patched saffron robes of a monk. Seated above a moon disc and lotus, water-born, he is surrounded by a blue and orange nimbus.

Nagaraja Buddha has a special relationship with the naga serpents and spirits of the waterways, oceans, lakes and the under world. For this reason he is especially worshiped and practiced when diseases believed to be caused by nagas arise. He is also a member of the Thirty-five Confession Buddhas.

Lineage of teachers from India: Buddha Nagendra Raja, Arya Nagarjuna, Chandrakirti, Lord Dipamkara Atisha (982-1054), etc.

Jeff Watt 2-2016