Nine demeanours of a wrathful deity
Nine demeanours (or styles) of a wrathful deity (Skt. navanāṭyarasa; Tib. གར་གྱི་ཉམས་དགུ, gar gyi nyam gu, Wyl. gar gyi nyams dgu) — there are three of the body, three of the speech and three of the mind.[1]. Some lists differ slightly from each other.
Jamgön Kongtrul says in his Treasury of Knowledge
- Graceful (Skt. śṛṅgāra; Wyl. sgeg pa) on account of their ornaments and radiance;
- Heroic (Skt. vīra; Wyl. dpa' ba) on account of their display of dignity;
- Ugly (Skt. bībhatsa; Wyl. mi sdugpa) on account of their menacing stares and frowns;
- Jovial (Skt. hāsya; Wyl. dgod pa) on account of their smiles and bursts of laughter (ha ha'i sgra);
- Fierce (Skt. raudra; Wyl. drag shul) on account of their thunderous exclamation of hi hi and hūṃ phaṭ;
- Fearsome (Skt. bhayānaka; Wyl. 'jigs su rung ba) on account of the gnashing of their teeth, the bowing of their heads, and the brandishing of their weapons;
- Compassionate (Skt. karuṇā; Wyl. snying rje) on account of the blinking of their red eyes and their youthfulness;
- Awesome (Skt. adbhūta; Wyl. rngam pa) on account of the radiance of their faces and their clicking of the palate; and
- Peaceful (Skt. śānta; Wyl. zhi ba) on account of their supple, slender, and gentle eyes that are focused on the tip of the nose.[2]
A slightly different list, as found for example in the Palchen Düpa sadhana is as follows:
The three of the body are:
- enticing/seductive/captivating (Wyl. sgeg pa)
- heroic (Wyl. dpa' ba)
- terrifying/ferocious (Wyl. 'jigs su rung ba)
The three of the speech are:
- menacing laughter (Wyl. rgod pa)
- harsh and threatening/stern (Wyl. gshe ba)
- ferocious/wrathful and thunderous (Wyl. drag shul)
The three of the mind are:
- compassion (Wyl. snying rje)
- yearning (to tame others)/magnificent power (Wyl. rngams pa)
- peace/tranquillity (Wyl. zhi ba)
Alternative translations
- Dramatic sentiments
- Dramatic airs (Gyurme Dorje, Treasury of Knowledge book 6)
- Emotions of drama (Farrow and Menon, Concealed Essence of Hevajra Tantra)
- Moods of dance
- Utilizations of dance
Notes
- ↑ One source for these nine demeanours is the Hevajra Tantra, 2nd segment, chapter 5, v. 26. (Tib. སྒེག་ཅིང་དཔའ་བོ་མི་སྡུག་པ། །རྒོད་ཅིང་དྲག་ཤུལ་འཇིགས་རུང་བ། །སྙིང་རྗེ་རྔམ་དང་ཞི་བ་ཡིས། །གར་དགུའི་རོ་དང་ལྡན་པ་ཉིད།)
- ↑ See Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye. The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Six, Parts One and Two: Indo-Tibetan Classical Learning and Buddhist Phenomenology. Edited by Gyurme Dorje. Translated by Gyurme Dorje. Boston, MA: Snow Lion, 2013: page 213