Skip to main content
 

The Eight Herukas - List

  5.00/5.00 - (1 votes for article, provide comments and help us improve if required.)

The eight Herukas of the Nyingma Mahayoga tradition are said to have been received by Padmakara (the founder of Tibetan Buddhism) from the Eight Vidyadharas, or Eight Great Acharyas.

The Eight Herukas - ListThe Eight Herukas - ListThe Eight Herukas - ListThe Eight Herukas - List
The Eight Herukas - List

The Heruka (or literally blood drinker) in Vajrayana Buddhism is a representation of wisdom taking the form of wrathful deities, or enlightened beings that adopt a fierce countenance to benefit all sentient beings. In East Asia, there are a similar set named the Wisdom Kings.

The Eight Herukas

01. Yamantaka. (Enlightened Body)

The wrathful Manjushri, the representation of body.
The Mañjushri Body or Yamantaka represents enlightened body. Although usually Mañjushri represents enlightened speech, in the Kagyé he represents enlightened body. Yamantaka is the same as the yidam deity known as Vajrabhairava, on which the followers of the Riwo Ganden tradition (i.e. the Gelugpas) meditate.

02. Hayagriva. (Enlightened Speech).

Hayagriva is the Heruka (Hero) of the Lotus Padma Buddha Family.
The emanation of all the speech of the Buddha arises as Avalokiteshvara, the form of compassion, in order to tame the wildest beings, Avalokiteshvara manifests as extremely wrathful Hayagriva. The wrathful Avalokiteśvara, Hayagriva, therefore the representation of speech.
Avalokiteśvara embodies the compassion of all the buddhas, and so he is connected with the enlightened mind, but in his manifestation, as Hayagriva, he represents enlightened speech.
Hayagriva is the most active and wrathful form of both Avalokiteshvara and Amitbabha.
The consort of Hayagriva in most practices is Vajravarahi. It is through the combination of the horse neigh (Hayagriva) and the sow grunt (Vajravarahi) that the great demon Ego is defeated in our world, Vajravarahi is the blissful wisdom Dakini aspect of Tara. Glorious Hayagriva and Vajravarahi together banish the hindrances from following the path. The sixty four sacred places are said to have been created when created when Hayagriva battled Rudra (Ego) to save the world.
In some tantras, Green Tara is consort of Hayagriva, Tara and Vajravarahi are, in essence, one.

03. Vishuddha/Sri Samyak/Yangdak Heruka/Shri Heruka.

The wrathful Vajrapani representation of mind, and is similar to the deity known as Chakrasamvara (who descends from Akshobhya) who has a consort of Vajravārāhī.
The name of the female consort can vary between Tantra systems depending on the Tantra source literature and the specific description for example Vajragarvi in the Sakya liturgy.

04. Mahottara or Mahottra or Mahashri Heruka. (Tib. Chem Chok or chemchok ཆེ་མཆོག་ཧེ་རུ་ཀ་).

The wrathful Samantabhadra, the representation of enlightened qualities or the fundamental goodness of human nature and is orientated South.
Each of the aspects of Mahottara Heruka represents the transformation of internal states and essences that are the primary subjects of Tantric practice. In this thangka, a painted cloth used in shrines or displayed outdoors at religious festivals, Mahottara Heruka has nine wrathful heads, eighteen arms, and eight legs. He is dark blue, as are his three central heads. Three heads on his right are white, and the left heads are dark red. Mahottara Heruka usually stands in union with his consort (Akashadhatvishvari, the 'Queen of the Realm of Space', who is also known as Khrodeshvari, the 'Wrathful Queen', and in Tibet) light blue, with one face, two arms, and two legs. They stand upon a red solar disk that rests on a white lunar disk on top of a broad lotus throne. Beneath their feet are archetypal demons in human form. Under the solar and lunar disks are a large variety of gods, demons, ghosts, men, and animals, each embodying powers and qualities that Mahottara Heruka is able to control. Together with the archetypal demons, they represent all the aspects of samsara, the realms of mortality and mis­ery that are to be transcended by Buddhist practice.
Mahottara Heruka holds a skull cup in his first left hand and a vajra (thunderbolt) in his right, demonstrating his perfection of both wis­dom (skull cup) and compassion (vajra). Each of his other hands hold aloft a different buddha or bodhisattva. These represent all the peaceful deities in the Buddhist pantheon. Mahottara Heruka himself embodies all the wrathful deities of the pantheon. In this way, Mahottara Heruka is understood to encompass the entire pantheon of peace­ful and wrathful deities. By worshipping or engaging in the practice of any bud­dha or bodhisattva, one is worshipping or practicing one aspect of Mahottara Heruka. The worship or practice of Mahottara Heruka alone includes the entire pantheon.

05. Vajrakilaya/Vajrakumara or Diamond son.

Vajrakilaya represents enlightened activity and is the very wrathful form of Vajrasattva, the representation of purification.
In peaceful form, he is Vajrasattva, in semi-wrathful form he is Vajravidarana (Tib. Dorje Namjom), in wrathful or Bodhisattva form he is Vajrapani, and in extremely wrathful form he is Vajrakilaya.
Vajrakilaya is the Heruka of activity and represents the Enlightened activity of all of the Buddhas. This aspect of the Buddha is the “sharp weapon” against the big three enemies, the “demons” of craving and greed, hate and hostility, and ignorance and misapprehension.
Vajrakilaya's symbolic weapon is a Phurba (Kila in Sanskrit) or Vajra Kila literally meaning a Diamond Peg (or knife), it also represents all of his activities. In most representations and visualizations of this great deity, two of his hands hold a Phurba weapon between them.

06. Matarah.

The wrathful Akasagarbha, the representation of calling and dispatching.

07. Lokastotrapuja-natha.

The wrathful Ksitigarbha, the representation of worldly offering and praise.

08. Vajramantrabhiru.

The wrathful Maitreya, the representation of wrathful mantras.

Synonyms/tags: the wisdom kings




Or, per your interest, look at other related links;

  Buddhist Wisdom Kings
  The Eight Vidyādharas

Or, why not search for other related lists on our site;

This list was published by Here There, Everywhere and is a printable check-list; To print, hold down the key marked "ctrl", and whilst holding that down, press the "p" key.
This is a downloadable list, select here, if you would like to download the The Eight Herukas - List as an excel or .csv file. Or find the print function on your browser (top right, three dots, print) and print to a pdf printer if you would like to download as a pdf file, or print to a pdf file.

If you are interested in advertising with us reach out via the contact page below. If you would like to share viewers, and your site is related with great content, then feel free to use the code below on your site then reach out via our contact page and we will look for a place to mention you.


Otherwise, suggest improvements, request additional items, report typos, errors or misspellings, ask us questions or just say hello via the comments here below, we are always pleased to hear from you.

Comments HistoryBe a pioneer and write the first comment.

Note: Current average rating of 5.00 based on 1 reviews and ratings. (1-Low, 5-High)

Note: Comments and ratings help this site get better; if you see something missing, see something wrong, have a question, or want to suggest something to improve then comment below and join the dialogue;

Comments



Looking for something else? Then search the rest of the internet here. If you do like what you see then come back sometime and create your own checklist here. If the item does not have a checkbox next to it, its probably a folder which you can open by clicking. If there are actions listed against an item on the right hand side you can visit websites, download as excel/csv for xls, or create an ical calendar entry.

If you found this page useful, share it, or like us using the buttons on the bottom right, it helps us to improve.

This webpage with information about The Eight Herukas has the following attributes;
The list was authored by .

« Go look for more free lists & checklists