Amoghapasha Five Deity Mandala (Unfailing Lasso. Tibetan: don yod zhags pa lha lnga'i dkyil 'khor). (See the Amoghapasha Main Page and Outline Page).

Amoghapasha, which means unfailing lasso, refers to an unfailing compassion like a lasso which brings all sentient beings out of suffering and into a state of happiness leading to enlightenment. Amoghapasha is a complicated deity subject in Tantric Buddhist iconography. He is easily mistaken for Avalokiteshvara in most artistic depictions. The two deities are frequently conflated together by Western scholars. Sometimes Amoghapasha is described as a form, or emanation, of Avalokiteshvara and again at other times, such as with this mandala of Amoghapasha, a retinue figure while Avalokiteshvara is the central deity in the mandala. It begs the question, why is this mandala called the Five-deity Amoghapasha if the central deity is Avalokiteshvara? It all comes down to naming conventions in Buddhism. The very idea of a compassionate deity called Amoghapasha comes out of a number of Indian Sanskrit texts that all have Amoghapasha in the title. In these texts both Avalokiteshvara and Amoghapasha are described along with different appearances and functions for each. In consequence, the principal name for all of these forms of the two deities, regardless of which one of the two is at the center of the mandala, are called Amoghapasha - mandala, meditation, or ritual.

At the center of the mandala sits Avalokiteshvara, white in colour with one face and two hands. He holds the stems of two lotus blossoms in the hands while sitting with the right leg pendant. Below the central figure is the male attendant Rakta Amoghapasha, red in colour, peaceful in appearance and having four hands. At the left is Red Hayagriva, male, wrathful in appearance with four hands. At the top is Ekajati, female, wrathful in appearance, blue-black in colour with one face and eight hands. At the right side is the female attendant Bhrikuti, peaceful, white in colour, with four hands.

Around the outer circle of the mandala are the Eight Auspicious Emblems along with four deity figures seated on the edge of the circle. Beginning at the upper right is Medicine Buddha, lower right Green Tara, lower left yellow Vasudhara and upper left Shakyamuni Buddha.

In the top register starting on the left side is Avalokiteshvara, identical to the central figure of the mandala, followed by the Indian and Nepalese lineage teachers in the tradition of this Amoghapasha meditation system. In the bottom register beginning on the left side is the donor figure depicted as a monk seated in front of an array of shrine objects and musical instruments. Following that are the eight offering goddesses, the wealth deity Yellow Jambhala, the group known as the Three Deity Shadakshari Lokeshvara and finally the naked black form of Jambhala, a wrathful wealth deity.

There are a number of different Amoghapasha mandala configurations that still exist in the Newar and Tibetan Buddhist Traditions. There are also numerous solitary forms that do not have elaborate mandalas or retinue figures. The most common of these forms are typically depicted in Nepalese sculpture. They generally have one face and multiple arms, six, eight or ten, and are shown in a standing posture.

Jeff Watt 10-2008