Item: Teacher (Lama) - Machig Labdron

Machig Labdron (1055–1149).

Machig Labdron is white in colour, peaceful, with one face and two hands standing in a dancing posture with the right leg drawn up. She holds upraised a drum in the right hand and a bell in the left, adorned with peaceful sambhogakaya ornaments.

Directly above the central figure in ascending order are Shakyamuni Buddha, Prajnaparamita, Vairochana and Vajradhara. Vairochana is accompanied by the Five Symbolic Buddhas. At the top left corner is Manjushri Riding a Lion. At the top right corner is Green Tara. Below those two are Padampa Sanggye (d.1117) and red Vajrayogini. There are two unidentified deities and two teachers with the figure on the left from India and the figure on the right an unidentified Karmapa with a black hat.

At the bottom center is a black coloured Yogini, a form of Krodha Kali, holding a flayed human skin and a bone trumpet. On the right side is a wrathful raksha-like female figure, Chang Shon (spyang zhon), riding a nine-headed wolf. On the left side is a warrior-like protector figure, Tsen Gu, red in colour, riding a horse.

Jeff Watt 1-2025