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58 Wrathful Deities of the Bardo

From Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia
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From the eighth to the twelfth day, the Tathagatas appear in their horrifying and awe-inspiring demonic aspects, as herukas and their consorts. They have three heads, six arms, and four feet and represent the unbounded, unrestricted quality of the energy of the Buddha families. All the basic energy of all the Wrathful Herukas is concentrated in the dark brown Great Glorious Heruka (Chemchog Heruka); he is the terrifying aspect of Vairochana. Vajra-Heruka is dark blue and is the


wrathful form of Vajra-Sattva (Akshobhya). The horrific aspect of Ratnasambhava is the yellow Ratna-Heruka, while Amitabha Buddha's dark counterpart is the reddish black Padma-Heruka, and that of Amogha-Siddhi's the dark green Karma-Heruka.


On the thirteenth day manifest the Kerimas, the Eight Wrathful Ones, and Htamenmas, terrifying zoomorphic deities; they have the heads of various animals - of a lion, tiger, black fox, wolf, vulture, dark red cemetery bird, crow, and an owl. On the fourteenth day, the visions of the Chonyid Bardo end with a rich array of deities, among them Four Female Door Keepers with animal heads and other powerful


zoomorphic deities and Yoginis. If all the opportunities for liberation in the first two Bardos were missed, the process moves to the Sidpa Bardo, or the Bardo of Seeking Rebirth, with its specific challenges.


Source

www.thangkar.com