This is the third of a series of articles on The Art of Awakening: A User's Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Art and Practice is an extraordinary resource and essential for practitioners and artists. Topics for these short excerpts and articles include:
The Symbolism of the Deity
"Tenpe Nyima [the son of Choying Tobden Dorje] says:
As a symbol of all phenomena being one taste in suchness, deities have one face. Three faces symbolize three liberations, or the three bodies. Two hands symbolize means and knowledge, while four hands symbolize the four immeasurables. Six hands can symbolize the six wisdoms (five wisdoms along with self-arising wisdom) or the six perfections. Four legs symbolize the four means of magnetizing and two legs symbolize ethical discipline and meditative absorption. The cross-legged position symbolizes the equality of existence and peace, while the standing position symbolizes being unflagging in the service of beings. Three eyes symbolize seeing throughout the three times and four fangs symbolize uprooting the four types of birth. Male and female consorts symbolize the union of means and knowledge.
The nakedness of the female consort symbolizes the freedom from the overlay of the concepts connected with phenomenal characteristics. The consort being sixteen years of age symbolizes her being endowed with the sixteen joys pertaining to immutable great bliss. Her flowing hair symbolizes the boundless expansion of wisdom from basic space. Union with her secret space represents the fusion of calm abiding and insight.'
Shechen Gyaltsap says:
When the deity has a male appearance it represents skillful means and immutable great bliss, while a female appearance represents knowledge and emptiness suffused with the excellence of all aspects. The union of male and female symbolizes that bliss and emptiness are beyond unity and separation.
Image from the Cleveland Museum of Art: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1982.147