Rta mgrin (Hayagriva)

In Tibetan Buddhist practice, buddhas and bodhisattvas can express benevolent and wrathful sides. Rta mgrin (Sanskrit: Hayagriva) is a wrathful emanation of Spyan ras gzigs (Sanskrit: Avalokiteshvara), the bodhisattva of compassion. Shown in yabyum (sexual embrace, or “father-mother”) pose with his female consort, Rta mgrin represents compassion; goddess Nges ‘byung (Sanskrit: Nairatmya) represents wisdom. The couple’s union symbolizes the essence of enlightenment, accessed by practitioners through concentrated meditation on such a deity.