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Yamantaka यमान्तक ~ Gyuto Monks ~ Destroyer of Death ~ Tantric Tibetan Buddhist Overtone Chant Yamāntaka (Sanskrit: यमान्तक Yamāntaka) or Vajrabhairava (Tibetan: གཤིན་རྗེ་གཤེད་, རྡོ་རྗེ་འཇིགས་བྱེད།, Wylie: gshin rje gshed; rdo rje 'jigs byed; simplified Chinese: 大威德金刚; traditional Chinese: 大威德金剛; pinyin: Dà Wēidé Jīngāng; Korean: 대위덕명왕 Daewideok-myeongwang; Japanese: 大威徳明王 Daiitoku-myōō; Mongolian: Эрлэгийн Жаргагчи Erlig-jin Jarghagchi) is the “destroyer of death“ deity of Vajrayana Buddhism. Sometimes he is conceptualized as “conqueror of the lord of death“ Of the several deities in the Buddhist pantheon named 'Yamāntaka', the most well known, also called as 'Vajrabhairava' belongs to the Anuttarayoga Tantra class of deities popular within the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Etymology Yamāntaka is a Sanskrit name that can be broken down into two primary elements: Yama (यम), –the god of death; and antaka (अन्तक) –destroyer. Thus, Yamāntaka means “Destroyer of Death” or “Conqueror of Death“. While Yamāntaka is therefore Yama's nemesis, his representation mirrors Yama in many ways: he too often rides a buffalo and often depicted with a buffalo's head. Because of this mirroring of appearance and similarity in name, it is not hard to find texts and books (which would appear to be reliable sources of much material) conflate both Yamāntaka and Yama as being the same deity when they are not. Within Buddhism, “terminating death“ is a quality of all buddhas as they have stopped the cycle of rebirth, samsara. So Yamāntaka represents the goal of the Mahayana practitioner's journey to enlightenment, or the journey itself: On final awakening, one manifests Yamāntaka – the ending of death. In Vajrayana Buddhism, Vajrabhairava, also known as Yamantaka, is (1) a wrathful, buffalo-headed meditational deity (Tib: yi-dam) of the Highest Yoga Tantra class and/or (2) a dharma protector. Vajrabhairava is one of the principal three meditational deities of the Gelug school (Tib: gsang bde ‘jigs gsum; the others are Chakrasamvara and Guhyasamaja). He is also one of the main yidams in the Sakya school where he comes in a variety of appearances (with different mandalas). In both schools, Vajrabhairava is seen as the wrathful manifestation of Manjushri, the Buddha of wisdom. In the other schools of Tibetan Buddhsim, Yamantaka seems to be mostly revered as a protector. The (mostly secret and arcane) practices involve different activities for various purposes. There are also some Yamantaka terma revelations in the Nyingma and Kagyu schools. From amongst the many lineages of practice to enter Tibet, the main transmissions of Vajrabhairava were those of the two translators Ra Lotsawa and Mal Lotsawa. Although practiced early on in Tibet by the Sakya and Kagyu Traditions, it was Tsongkapa, founder of the Gelug Tradition, who instituted Vajrabhairava as the principal Gelugpa meditation practice. Yamantaka (Skt. Yamāntaka; Tib. གཤིན་རྗེ་གཤེད་, shinjé shé, Wyl. gshin rje gshed) — literally 'The Destroyer or Slayer of Yama, the Lord of Death', is a wrathful form of Manjushri. Forms Sarma In the Sarma tradition, the Yamantaka Tantras are classified as the second category of Father Tantra, known as the Anger class. There are sometimes said to be three forms of Yamantaka: Red Yamari, Black Yamari and Vajrabhairava. In the Kagyé Yamantaka also appears as one of the eight deities of Kagyé (see image), where he is also known as Manjushri Body (Tib. འཇམ་དཔལ་སྐུ་, jampal ku, Wyl. 'jam dpal sku). The instructions related to this form of Yamantaka are based on the so-called “four chakras“: secret or abiding chakra, chakra of existence, cutting chakra, and chakra of manifestation. In the Longchen Nyingtik, the Yamantaka practice related to Palchen Düpa is called “Overpowering Yama, Lord of Death“ (Tib. འཇམ་དཔལ་གཤིན་རྗེ་འཆི་བདག་ཟིལ་གནོན་, Wyl. 'jam dpal gshin rje 'chi bdag zil gnon). Other Yamantaka is also one of the four male gate keepers. ~ ~ ~ for the benefit of all sentient beings as limitless as space
