The Kagye (in full Drubpa Kagye, "the eight great practice teachings") are eight wrathful meditation deities of the Nyingma school, the Eight Herukas, together with the teachings for practising them. They belong to the Mahayoga class of Nyingma tantra, and Nyingma tradition holds that Padmasambhava taught all eight in Tibet. A Kagye thangka gathers them into one assembly, usually around a central heruka, as the enlightened body, speech, mind, qualities and activity of all Buddhas.
How they are shown
- Chemchok Heruka, "the great supreme heruka" (Sanskrit Mahottara), often stands at the centre: dark maroon or brown, with many heads rising in tiers, many arms and outspread wings, in union with his consort. In one widely painted form he has twenty-one faces and forty-two arms.
- The other herukas surround him, each in his own blaze of flames, with his own colour, faces and implements, and often with a consort.
- The dress of a heruka: crowns of skulls, garlands of heads, bone ornaments, and elephant and tiger skins. Their fierceness is aimed at ignorance, not at beings.
- Above them, many paintings place Samantabhadra, the primordial Buddha, often in union with his consort, together with teachers such as Padmasambhava.
- Below, protectors and smaller figures, some riding animals, fill the landscape.
The eight deities
Five of the eight are wisdom deities, each linked with one aspect of enlightenment:
- Yamantaka, the wrathful form of Manjushri: enlightened body.
- Hayagriva, a wrathful form of Avalokiteshvara, with a horse's head in his hair: enlightened speech.
- Yangdak Heruka: enlightened mind.
- Chemchok Heruka: enlightened qualities.
- Vajrakilaya: enlightened activity.
The other three are counted as worldly or semi-worldly deities: Mamo Bötong, linked with the fierce goddesses called mamo; Jikten Chötö, "offering and praise to the worldly gods"; and Möpa Drakngak, "fierce mantra".
Where the teachings come from
Nyingma histories tell that the eight teachings were hidden by a dakini in a stupa in the Cool Grove charnel ground (Sitavana) near Bodh Gaya. Eight Indian masters, the eight vidyadharas, each received one of them, and Padmasambhava is said to have received the teaching that joins all eight in one mandala. He later taught them in Tibet, and later treasure revealers brought them out again. The three principal Kagye cycles were revealed by Nyangral Nyima Özer in the 12th century, Guru Chöwang in the 13th, and Rigdzin Gödem in the 14th.
In a painting
A Kagye thangka is one of the most crowded subjects in thangka painting: nine or more wrathful figures, each with several heads and arms, ornaments, flames and often a consort. Look for clear separation between the figures, so that each heruka reads on its own; flames that are lively but controlled; and faces that are fierce but carefully drawn, especially the stacked heads of the central figure. Wings, skins and garlands should stay crisp rather than blur together. Some of our paintings show Chemchok Heruka in union with a red consort amid dark flames, the other herukas around him and teachers above.
It is a meditation image of the Nyingma tradition, best suited to a shrine or practice space.
