The Great Manifestation of Avaloketishvara Bodhisattva - Mahakala

Mahakala is one of the most popular protector deities in Tibetan Buddhism, and he is also sometimes used as a meditational deity (yidam) in tantric Buddhist yogas. 

He is depicted in a number of variations, each with distinctly different qualities and aspects. He is generally depicted as a wrathful deity. 

What is the meaning of Mahakala? Mahakala: “Great Time." Mahakala is one of the most popular guardians in the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon. 

Here he tramples a corpse while wielding a flaying knife and a blood-filled skull cup, signifying the destruction of impediments to enlightenment. 

In the crooks of his elbows he supports a gandi gong, a symbol of his vow to protect the community of monks. His principal companions, Palden Remati and Palden Lhamo, appear to his left, and Legden Nagpo and Bhutadamara are at his right. 

At lower left is Brahmarupa blowing a thighbone trumpet. He is especially revered by the Sakya order, which commissioned this work. 

This thangka, one of the earliest and grandest of this subject, can be related to murals preserved in the fifteenth-century Kumbum at Gyantse monastery, central Tibet, likely painted under Newari direction.

Mahakala appears as a protector deity in the various traditions of Vajrayana Buddhism, like Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, Shingon, and Tibetan Buddhism. 

Numerous traditions of Mahayana Buddhism rely on Mahakala as a guardian deity (Dharmapala, "dharma protector"). Mahakala is one of the most popular protector deities in Tibetan Buddhism, and he is also sometimes used as a meditational deity (yidam) in tantric Buddhist yogas. 

He is depicted in a number of variations, each with distinctly different qualities and aspects. He is generally depicted as a wrathful deity. 

Mahakala is also an important deity in East Asian Buddhism, where he is generally known as a protector figure. In Japanese Buddhism, Mahakala transformed into a more friendly wealth and luck deity, known as Daikokuten.

Mahakala is commonly regarded as the emanation of different beings in different cases, such as Hevajra, Vajradhara, Amitabha, and Avalokiteshvara or Akshobhya Buddha.

Different tantric cycles, like Guhyasamaja and Chakrasamvara, each contain Mahakala as an emanation of their central Buddha deity. 

Mahakala is almost always depicted with a crown of five skulls, which represent the transmutation of the five klesas (negative afflictions) into the five wisdoms. 

He also wears a garland consisting of fifty severed heads; the number fifty is in reference to the number of letters in the Sanskrit alphabet and is symbolic of the pure speech of Buddha. 

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