Vairocana
The central Buddha family is that of Vairocana, ‘Radiance’, whose gesture is the mudra known as the Wisdom Fist. Sitting in the usual diamond posture, he clasps the index finger of his left hand with his right hand, making the gesture of the unity of all things in the context of ultimate reality. He transforms delusion and ignorance into a Mirror-like Wisdom which allows things to be seen in their ultimately perfect form. His colour is white and his vehicle is the lion.

THE VAJRA AND BELL
The vajra or dorje in Tibetan, which is the quintessential symbol of the ‘diamond Thunderbolt vehicle’ or the Tantric Vajrayana Buddhist path. The Dorje literally means ‘lord of the stones,’ implying an indestructable hardness and brilliance like the diamond, the adamantine stone that cannot be cut or broken. The vajra essentially symbolises the inpenetrable, immovable, immutable, indivisable, and indestructable state of enlightenment or Buddhahood. The vajra also symbolises the male principle of method or skillful means. It is held in the right or male hand.
The ritual hand-bell or vajra ghanta represents the feminine principle of the perfection of wisdom. The bell is described as proclaiming the sound of emptiness, which arises from the voidness of its form, radiates in all directions, and dissolves back into silence or emptiness.
The vajra and bell are the two main ritual implements that symbolise the perfections of of method or skillful means and wisdom or emptiness. When paired the vajra is held in the right hand and the bell in the left, representing the inseparable union of method and wisdom. Their union is the coincidence of great bliss and and compassion as pure emptiness and form and therefore represent two aspects of the great oneness

VAJRAPANI
Vajrapani, Holder of the Diamond Thunderbolt (symbolising the power of compassion,) is the angelic Boddhisattva who represents the power of all the Buddhas, just as Avalokiteshvara represents their great compassion, Manjushri their wisdom and Tara their miraculous deeds. Vajrapani is an archetype deity of feirce determination and symbolises unrelenting effectiveness in the conquest of negativity. His posture is in the active warrior’s pose based on the archer’s stance. In his hand he holds the vajra or dorje in Tibetan, which is the quintessential symbol of the ‘diamond vehicle’ or the Tantric Vajrayana Buddhist path. The Dorje literally means ‘lord of the stones,’ implying an indestructable hardness and brilliance like the diamond, the adamantine stone that cannot be cut or broken. The vajra essentially symbolises the inpenetrable, immovable, immutable, indivisable, and indestructable state of enlightenment or Buddhahood. As the indestructable weapon of the wrathful deities, the vajra also symbolises the male principle of method or skillful means. It is held in the right or male hand.

VAJRASATTVA and PRAJNAPARAMITA - GREAT FATHER-MOTHER
Tibetan Buddhism is an outwardly polytheistic religion, with numerous divinities and other supernatural beings. There is however an uncompromising belief that all gods belong to the world of phenomena and are thus - like all things- subject to change, death and reincarnation. In contrast, the supreme truth is immortal, unchanging, absolute and eternal. This ultimate truth is known as the Adi Buddha, or Primordial Buddha. His essence is said to be pure consciousness, the same consciousness that lies in the heart of every individual. For this reason, everyone is thought to have a gateway to Adi Buddha, the ultimate reality, within themselves. Vajrasattva, although conceived as a deity, is one aspect of this supreme being.
Vajrasattva is a tantric archetype deity; a celestial Bodhisattva meaning a Buddha who persists in a Bodhisattva form to help other beings on the path. Sattva means ‘spiritual hero or heroine’ and Vajra (diamond thunderbolt) is associated with power and maleness. He is the god of purification and symbolises the purity of the Absolute or ultimate reality. Vajrasattva holds the vajra before his heart in his right or male hand and a bell in the left, female hand. The vajra essentially symbolises the inpenetrable, immovable, immutable, indivisable, and indestructable state of enlightenment or Buddhahood. The vajra also symbolises the male principle of method or skillful means. The vajra and bell are symbolic of compassion and wisdom, male and female, magic body and clear light; the two essential elements which create the great mystical union.
Vajrasattva is sitting in the father-mother union posture with his female consort. This posture is typical for many Tibetan deities and is not to be understood only as an ecstatic sexual union. Like Vajrasattva’s ritual gesture of embrace, the union symbolically means the union of compassion and wisdom. Vajrasattva’s consort symbolises transcendent wisdom (prajnyaparamita). The goddess holds a ceremonial knife in her right hand in order to exterminate the fundamental evil of ignorance, while with her left hand offering a skull bowl filled with ambrosia, symbolising the purification of ignorance. She looks deeply into his eyes and he reflects her. Their faces reflect the highest harmony. Prajnyaparamita is regarded as the mother of all Buddhas, because those who walk in transcendent wisdom reach enlightenment.
WISDOM and COMPASSION: THE HEART OF TIBETAN CULTURE
The father-mother union is a manifestation of the Buddha’s highest spiritual essence, of enlightenment as the union of wisdom and compassion. More than metaphorical, to the devout Tibetan this image is concrete evidence to the existance of great spiritual attainment. The female represents transcendent wisdom: the direct awareness of reality as the Buddha experienced it and taught it. The male represents compassion for all beings, which is the natural expression of such wisdom. Wisdom knows the ultimate nature of reality, its absolute freedom and total relativity. To Buddhists, the “root of all evil,” is our desparate clinging to self-image and self-satisfaction. Wisdom comes through experiencing the perfect ‘transparency”of the self, which leads to to utter freedom from self-concern. Such transparency of self gives a clear veiw of others; such freedom from self-concern makes room for concern for others. Wisdom is the bliss of seeing through the delusion of self-occupation to reveal the underlying dimension of freedom. Compassion is the expression of such bliss to others.
Compassion is also sensitivity to others’ suffering. It sees them imprisoned in self-involvement, and reaches out to show them the way to freedom. The quintessential Buddhist art, in the broadest sense, is the liberating of all beings from suffering; its fruition is the discovery of truth, beauty, goodness, and the capacity for bliss inherent in enlightened life.
As modern depth psychology has come to recognise, images such as this represent the deepest archetypes of the unconscious , integrating the powerful, instinctual energies of life into a consciously sublimated and exalted state. And if we look at it this way, we will be able to appreciate one of Tibet’s most precious gifts to civilization. We will see that the Tibetans have given us a method for transmuting even the darkest, most dread-filled phenomena of the human pyche- such as the fear of death and the drives to lust and hatred- into creative energy that can triumph over them and turn them into the highest spiritual enlightenment.

VAJRASATTVA
Tibetan Buddhism is an outwardly polytheistic religion, with numerous divinities and other supernatural beings. There is however an uncompromising belief that all gods belong to the world of phenomena and are thus - like all things- subject to change, death and reincarnation. In contrast, the supreme truth is immortal, unchanging, absolute and eternal. This ultimate truth is known as the Adi Buddha, or Primordial Buddha. His essence is said to be pure consciousness, the same consciousness that lies in the heart of every individual. For this reason, everyone is thought to have a gateway to Adi Buddha, the ultimate reality, within themselves. Vajrasattva, although conceived as a deity, is one aspect of this supreme being.
Vajrasattva is a tantric archetype deity; a celestial Bodhisattva meaning a Buddha who persists in a Bodhisattva form to help other beings on the path. Sattva means ‘spiritual hero or heroine’ and Vajra (diamond thunderbolt) is associated with power and maleness. He is the god of purification and symbolises the purity of the Absolute or ultimate reality. Vajrasattva is considered to be the counterpart of Vajradhara, the quintessential tantric female Buddha form. They are both connected with the ultimate-reality-perfection wisdom.
Vajrasattva holds the vajra before his heart in his right or male hand and a bell in the left, female hand. The vajra and bell are symbolic of compassion and wisdom, male and female, magic body and clear light; the two essential elements which create the great mystical union.
He is depicted holding the diamond vajra, or thunderbolt, an emblem of the indestructibility of sunyata - the name given by Buddhists to the imperishable final state of reality. The vajra or dorje in Tibetan, is the quintessential symbol of the ‘diamond vehicle’ or the Tantric Vajrayana Buddhist path. The Dorje literally means ‘lord of the stones,’ implying an indestructable hardness and brilliance like the diamond, the adamantine stone that cannot be cut or broken. The vajra essentially symbolises the inpenetrable, immovable, immutable, indivisable, and indestructable state of enlightenment or Buddhahood. The vajra also symbolises the male principle of method or skillful means. It is held in the right or male hand.

WHEEL OF LIFE
The Wheel of life is a visual depiction of the various states of human life. TheWheel of Life reminds all sentient beings that the supreme aim is ever and always Enlightenment. Ceaselessly recreated through the centuries, and often found on the entrance of monastries, it has accompanied rough nomads and refined scholars on the many roads of the quest and of devotion, recalling to each person the passing of time and the Four Noble Truths: all beings inevitably endure suffering; the cause of suffering is desire; the cause of desire can be contained; and to contain the cause of desire, one must follow the Buddha path.
After death, the spirit, which is eternal leaves the temporary husk of the body and enters what is known as the Bardo, an intermediary world between death and birth. Here the spirit has many visions, both pleasant and terrifying, which can be handled or not, depending on how one lived during one’s earthly existance and how adept one was at meditiation.
The innermost circle of the wheel are the three animals. The pig, the snake and the rooster represent the three poisons inherent in the human personality, symbolising ignorance, hatred or envy and greed respectively. A second circle surrounds it, half white, half black. Whoever is ensnared by these poisons, those with bad karmas descend to one of the three underworlds; an ominous place where evil spirits relentlessly torment. The buddha here carries a flame, a flame of hope, because no life in any of these worlds is eternal. In the light segment, those with good karmas climb towards three positive heavens and eventually nirvana, or absolute freedom from samsara, represented by the silver thread that extend into the heavens of Amitabha and Maitreya. As it happens, people can be incarnated into six worlds where the being must be reborn according to his own acts of body, speech and mind. The twelve surrounding segments unfold the steps of human existance. Starting at the lower left, the old man seeking his path remains in the grip of ignorance, which is spiritual blindness. Then, continuing clockwise, the potter turning a pot shapes his destiny by his own acts; the monkey leaping from branch to branch refers to uncontrolled consciousness; two people in a boat represent name and form, spirit and body symbolising separation between the conscious and unconscious mind. Next the house with five windows and one door brings the acknowledgement of the five senses as well as the important “sixth,” which leads to the loving couple representing contact through the senses, the consequence of perception. Emotions come next with a woman offering a man a drink, the symbol of longing or ‘thirsting for’, this leads to sensual attachment, the tendency to cling to the object of desire: a man gares at the fruit of a tree. In the next image the young woman suggests procreation, new life developing. Next comes actual birth, a new life followed by death. At this stage, there are two possibilities. Rebirth will take place after a stay in one of the six worlds and the cycle will recommence. Or nirvana will be attained, illustrated by a Buddha and a Boddhisattva in higher realms.
The wheel is held by a hideous demon, symbolising the human tendency to cling to material existance or otherwise interpreted as samsara, or illusory reality.

WHITE TARA
The great goddess of Wisdom manifests herself in the Taras, White Tara being the most gentle manifestation. Traditionally she is described, as being born from the tears shed by the Boddhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara. He is the archangel of Tibet and is reincarnated in the Dalai Lama. When he wept seeing the extent of suffering in the world, from his tears sprang the lotus flowers from which the Taras were born. As goddesses of divine energy and transcendent wisdom, they gave Avalokiteshvara the courage to continue his impossible task of delivering all beings from suffering.
White Tara has a queenly demeanor befitting to her nature, which is to offer peace, prosperity, long life, health, and good fortune.
With her right hand she makes the boon-granting gesture and with her left hand she holds the lotus. She sits with both legs raised and crossed in the diamond pose. An eye in her forhead and in the palm of each hand signifies her ability to see the suffering in every corner of the world where her great compassion may be needed. She is the mother of all Buddhas and the compassionate saviour of all beings.