Item: Vaishravana (Buddhist Protector) - Riding a Lion

Vaishravana (Tibetan: nam tho se. English: the Son of Namto); Guardian King, God of the Northern Direction.

Tibetan: Nam to se

With a stern look, one face and two hands, the right holds the pole of a victory banner of variously coloured fluttering silks. The left holds in the lap a mongoose pressed against the left side. Adorned with a gold and jewel crown, earrings and elaborate flowing multi-coloured garments, pants and boots, he sits in a pleasant palace courtyard atop a white snow lion with an orange mane, above a white lotus, surrounded by a pink nimbus and dark green areola.

At the top center is the Lord Tsongkapa (1357-1419), wearing a yellow pandita hat, performing the Dharma Teaching mudra (gesture) while holding two lotus flowers supporting a sword and book. At the lower left side is the 1st Dalai Lama, Gendun Drup (1391-1474), holding the stem of a white lotus with the right hand and a book in the left. On the right side is the 1st Panchen Lama, Lobzang Chokyi Gyaltsen (1570-1662), with the right hand in the earth witness mudra and the left holding a book in the lap.

Along the sides and in the lower foreground are 8 horseman scattering precious jewels. Each has their own colour and holds their own unique hand objects. They have the same basic appearance and dress as Vaishravana and serve as his main attendants.

"With vajra armour, a garland of jewel ornaments and the beautiful heavenly banner - fluttering, illuminated in the middle of a hundred thousand Wealth Bestowers; homage to Vaishravana, chief among the protectors of the Teaching." (Nyingma liturgical verse).

Vaishravana, leader of the Yaksha race, is a worldly guardian worshipped as both a protector and benefactor. He, with his wife - a naga princess, lives on the north side of the lower slopes of mount Meru in the Heaven of the Four Great Kings in a sumptuous palace bathed in green emerald light. As the leader of the Four Direction Guardians, he at the head of the others, swore an oath of protection before the buddha Shakyamuni. The stories and iconography of the Four Guardians arise primarily from the Mahayana sutras and are common to all schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Lord Atisha popularized the meditation practice of Vaishravana in the 11th century.

Jeff Watt 10-98