Hayagriva

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Hayagriva statue, Samye Ling Center, Scotland. Note the green horse's head on top of his head.

Hayagriva (Skt. Hayagrīva; T. rta mgrin; C. Matou Guanyin; J. Batō Kannon; K. Madu Kwanŭm 馬頭觀音). Literally, "Horse-necked one".[1] An important deity in Chinese, Tibetan and Japanese Buddhism, who is regarded as a wrathful manifestation of Avalokiteshvara.

He is usually shown with a horse's head protruding from the crown of his head.[1]

In early Buddhism

The Princeton Dictionary states:

The name “Hayagrīva” belonged to two different Vedic deities, one an enemy of Vishnu, another a horse-headed avatāra, or manifestation, of that deity. Eventually the two merged, whence he was absorbed into the Buddhist pantheon. In early Buddhist art, Hayagrīva frequently appears as a smallish yakṣa figure attending Avalokiteśvara, Khasarpaṇa, Amoghapāśā, and Tārā; by the mid-seventh century, however, Hayagrīva had merged with Avalokiteśvara to become a wrathful form of that bodhisattva.[1]

Tibetan Buddhism

In the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, Hayagriva is one of the principal deities of the Eight Great Sadhana Teachings,[2] who symbolizes enlightened speech and is referred to as "Lotus-like Speech" (པདྨ་གསུང་, pad+ma gsung).[3]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Buswell & Lopez 2014, s.v. Hayagrīva.
  2. ↑ Jigme Lingpa, Patrul Rinpoche & Getse Mahapandita 2006, Glossary, s.v. "Eight Great Sadhana Teachings".
  3. ↑ Hayagriva, Rigpa Shedra Wiki

Sources

Further reading

Print:

  • Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé, The Treasury of Knowledge: Systems of Buddhist Tantra (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2005)

Web: