Sugat Arts Center

02/04/2025

Dorje Drolö (རྡོ་རྗེ་གྲོ་ལོད་) is one of the Eight Manifestations of Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) in Tibetan Buddhism. He appears in a fierce, wrathful form and is associated with subjugating negative forces, protecting the Dharma, and transforming ignorance into wisdom.

Key Features of Dorje Drolö
1. Wrathful Expression:
• He has a fearsome, fanged face with wide, bulging eyes, symbolizing his power to destroy illusion and ego.
• His expression embodies compassionate ferocity, meaning he uses his wrathful energy for the benefit of all beings.
2. Tiger Mount:
• Dorje Drolö is often depicted riding a flying tiger, which represents fearlessness, swiftness, and mastery over the animalistic mind.
• According to legend, Padmasambhava manifested as Dorje Drolö in the caves of Paro, Bhutan, where he tamed local spirits by riding a tiger.
3. Flaming Aureole:
• Surrounding flames represent wisdom fire, which purifies ignorance and negative karma.
4. Vajra (Dorje) and Dagger (Phurba):
• He holds a vajra (thunderbolt), symbolizing indestructible wisdom.
• In some depictions, he carries a phurba (ritual dagger), which is used to pin down negative forces.
5. Subjugating Evil:
• Often, Dorje Drolö is seen trampling demons or human figures, symbolizing the destruction of ego and ignorance.

Significance and Role
• Guardian of Hidden Treasures (Termas): Dorje Drolö is believed to be a protector of hidden teachings (termas) that Guru Rinpoche left for future generations.
• Destroyer of Delusions: His energy is used in Ta***ic practices to cut through illusion and speed up spiritual awakening.
• Connection to Bhutan: He is especially venerated in Bhutan, where he is said to have subdued powerful spirits and made the land safe for Buddhism.

31/03/2025

12/09/2024

10/05/2024

Vajrasattva is a Bodhisattva that symbolizes primordial purity. Meditating upon him helps us to purify the mind of greed, hatred, and delusion. At his heart he holds a vajra thunderbolt, which represents his upaya, or his skill in liberating beings by means of compassion. At his waist he holds a bell representing wisdom.

Vajra means “thunderbolt,” although it can also mean “diamond.” The thunderbolt was the most powerful force, while the diamond was the most indestructible object known. The vajra that he holds is almost identical to some of the stylized thunderbolts held by Zeus in ancient Greek statues. “Sattva” means “being.”

Vajrasattva is therefore the “Thunderbolt being.” This makes him a kind of Buddhist Zeus, although his thunderbolts are destructive only of that which holds us back from awakening.

Below is the text of the 100-syllable mantra of Vajrasattva. You’ll find a link to an audio version of the mantra at the foot of this article. If you want to see the script for this mantra, visit the excellent article at Visible Mantra.

09/05/2024

Regularly chanting the Kuber mantra, "Om Zambala Zalendhraye Soha" or the Buddha mantra for success, helps you attract wealth, prosperity and abundance in life. It is not just about attracting wealth; it's also about developing financial wisdom which means you can make smarter decisions related to money.

01/05/2024

Tara, who Tibetans also call Dolma, is commonly thought to be a Bodhisattva or Buddha of compassion and action, a protector who comes to our aid to relieve us of physical, emotional and spiritual suffering.
Tara has 21 major forms, each of which has a different color and spiritual attribute.
Of these 21 forms, two are especially popular among Tibetan people

As we see in the image , Green Tara is usually depicted as a compassionate being ready to step down from her lotus throne to offer comfort and protection from all of the sufferings we experience in the world.
She is shown “in a posture of ease and readiness for action. While her left leg is folded in the contemplative position, her right leg is outstretched, ready to spring into action. Green Tara’s left hand is in the refuge-granting mudra (gesture); her right hand makes the boon-granting [giving] gesture. In her hands she also holds closed blue lotuses (utpalas), which symbolize purity and power

30/04/2024

White Tara (Seto Tara) is associated with long life. Her mantra is often chanted with a particular person in mind. She’s another representation of compassion, and she’s pictured as being endowed with seven eyes (look at the palms of the hands, soles of the feet, and her forehead) to symbolize the watchfulness of the compassionate mind.

The first thing about White Tara is that she is white. This is not the whiteness of northern European skin, which is actually light brown. She’s white like a flower, or moonlight, or snow. She’s also known as Seto Tara, Seto meaning the color white, but also meaning pale, bright, or light. Additionally, white has the connotation of purity, so that Seto can mean pure, as well.

She is an enlightened being appearing in the form of a young goddess, adorned with silks, jewels, and flowers.

She sits cross-legged in meditation. She’s on a lotus, which symbolizes purity. The Buddha himself said that just as a lotus grows from muddy water, but has pure, unspoiled petals, he lives in the world untouched by it. In other words, although he was surrounded by selfishness and hatred, he himself was free of those things.

She has more than two eyes! She has a third eye in the center of her forehead, symbolizing the awakening of her vision as an enlightened being. She also has eyes in the palms of her hands and on the soles of her feet. These symbolize the fact that although she offers help in the world, she does not do so blindly, but is able to help people move toward awakening.

Her right hand is open in a gesture of giving.

Her left hand holds the stem of a blue lotus (Sanskrit, utpala) which blossoms above her shoulder. This type of lotus opens at sunset and blooms at night. It has a sweet scent that symbolizes the way that an ethical life has an uplifting effect on the world.

The fact that she is the color of moonlight and holds a flower that blooms at night, suggests that White Tara appears in the form of a moon goddess.

As mentioned above, her mantra is often chanted with a particular person in mind. Disciples of a teacher might well chant the mantra with the wish that the teacher live long and be healthy, for example. Or one might chant the mantra for a friend who is ill