Shechen Monastery Tshechu || Eight Manifestation of Guru Rinpoche in Sechen Monastery

Eight manifestation of Guru Rinpoche || Guru Tshengye Cham || Guru Rinpoche
The Eight Manifestations
1. Guru Tshokye Dorje (Lake-born Vajra) wears a blue brocade robe and peaceful blue-green mask. These colors call to mind the guru’s miraculous birth from a lotus flower on Lake Dhanakosha in the kingdom of Oddiyana (today’s Swat Valley, Pakistan) as an eight-year-old fully enlightened being. He was adopted by the childless King Indrabhuti and raised in the royal palace as the crown prince. He dances with a phurba [ritual dagger] in one hand and a small bell in the other.
2. Guru Shakya Sengye (Lion of the Shakya clan) appears dressed in a monk’s robe and a peaceful golden mask that resembles the Buddha’s face with his hairstyle of tight black-blue curls. He also holds a monk’s begging bowl in his left hand like Buddha Shakyamuni. The guru received this designation when he renounced the palace, took monastic ordination, and sought to deepen his dharma practice.
3. Guru Loden Chogse (Proclaimer of Wisdom) emerges wearing a brocade robe and a peaceful ivory mask. His hair is styled in a top-knot, and he wears a crown. He holds a damaru in his right hand and a wisdom mirror in the left. The Guru was recognized in this aspect once he had mastered the Vajrayana teachings and practiced in the sacred sites in India.
4. Padmasambhava (Lotus Essence) is dressed in a red and gold monk’s robe and the red, pointed hat of a Buddhist scholar. He carries a skull-cup in his right hand and forms the teaching mudra with his left hand. This manifestation resulted from the time during which he and his spiritual consort Princess Mandarava retreated to the cave at Maratika in Nepal to perfect longevity practices. Her father, the King of Zahor, was displeased with this arrangement and sentenced them to be burned to death. All were amazed to find that Padmasambhava had transformed the pyre into a lake, and there they both sat safely on a lotus blossom.
5. Guru Nyima Ozer (Sunbeam) is costumed in a golden brocade robe with a yellow bearded mask and carries a trident. This designation arose from his time meditating and teaching the esoteric practices in India’s eight renowned cremation grounds, where spiritual adepts would practice among the dead as a way to intensify their powers. During this chapter the guru developed legendary abilities and performed miracles such as causing the sun to stand still.
6. Guru Padma Gyalpo (Lotus King) dances in a red brocade robe and orange-tinged mask while carrying a small drum and mirror in his hands. The guru assumed this appearance when he returned to Oddiyana where evil chieftains attempted to set him on fire. Unable to burn him, they converted to Buddhism and offered their kingdom to the guru.
7. Sengye Dradog (Lion’s Roar) wears a blue brocade robe and a terrifying blue mask with four sharp fangs and a crown of five skulls. While the guru was at Bodhgaya, the site where the Buddha attained enlightenment, 500 non-Buddhist opponents threatened to obliterate the Buddhist doctrine. The guru overcame their menacing challenges with concentration, intellectual debate, and miraculous powers.
8. Guru Dorje Droloe (Wild, Wrathful Vajra) - the most wrathful emanation - wears a brocade robe and terrifying dark red mask crowned with five skulls and matted red and blue dreadlocks. He holds a phurba in one hand and a dorje [scepter] in the other. Legends recount that assuming this form, he rode on the back of his consort-turned tigress from Singye Dzong in the East to Taktsang (Tiger’s Nest Cave) in the West and subdued obstructive spirits, converting them to guardian protectors of Buddhism
video: Shelnang
Sechen Monastery