Dharmapala Thangka CentreIconography


Tibetan Iconography

Tseringma

The Himalayan goddess Tseringma [Auspicious Lady of Long Life] and her four sisters represent the formidable spiritual power held in the towering peaks of that range.

In the eighth century, the Great Adept Padma Sambhava was said to have tamed them to the extent of demonstrating for them the supremacy of the Buddha Dharma, its teaching of wisdom and love holding the spiritual key to the evolutionary purpose of divine as well as human life.

By the eleventh century, the great yogi Milarepa was confronted by them once again, as they put him to the test of his principles to see whether he was motivated by wisdom and altruism or by selfish ambition.

When he finally responded to their aggressive attacks by offering his own body as a sacrifice to nourish them, they were persuaded of his authenticity and renewed their pledge to protect the Dharma and its practitioners.