达摩多罗的行旅形象与九至十世纪初敦煌壁画中的旅者十分相似，一说他是玄奘的化身，另一说他是新疆地区保护旅者的神袛。据说达摩多罗所在的寺院外常有一只老虎咆哮，他把自己的饭食分给老虎，久而久之，猛虎被其收服，从此护卫寺院，因此达摩多罗又被人称为“伏虎罗汉”。传说他能施法变出老虎，消灭邪魔。（以上摘自“龘藏”）
---------------------------------------------------
Dharmata (Dharmatala) the upasaka (Tibetan: ge nyen dhar ma ta) of Central Asian or Chinese origin - the layman attendant to the Sixteen Great Arhats. Dharmata, although always appearing in relation to the Arhats, is not an arhat himself. He belongs to the Tibetan and Chinese narrative of the Sixteen Great Arhats.
Dharmata, considered by some to be an emanation of Avalokiteshvara, belongs to a thematic set of paintings known as 'Shakyamuni Buddha and the Sixteen Great Elders.' The full group comprises twenty-five figures: the buddha Shakyamuni, together with the two foremost disciples - Shariputra and Maudgalyayana, the Sixteen Great Elders, the attendant Dharmata, the patron Hvashang and the Four Guardians of the Directions; Vaishravana, Virupaksha, Dritarashtra and Virudhaka. As a late addition, Dharmata was possibly attached to the group of Elders during the time of the Chinese Tang Emperor (9th - 10th century). Hvashang was the last of the group to be added in the 15/16th century.
Dharmata (along with Hvashang) is ONLY depicted in compositions with Shakyamuni Buddha and the Sixteen Elders. These depictions can be in a single painting containing all of the figures or created in sets of paintings up to twenty-three in number. Both Hvashang and Dharmata are narrative figures belonging to the iconographic story of Shakyamuni and the Sixteen Great Elders. They are never employed as meditational deities. (See Hinayana Buddhism represented in Tibetan Art).
"To the noble upasaka Dharmata, with the hair in a topknot and a load of books, gazing upward at Amitabha in the sky; homage to the One holding a fly-whisk and vase." (Sakya liturgical verse).
