Dorje Legpa ( Tib .: rdo rje legs pa ; also: Damchen Dorje Legpa , Tib.: dam can rdo rje legs pa ) or known as Vajrasadhu is a protector of the Buddha's teachings who is particularly important in Tibetan Buddhism.
History and Myth[]
Dorje Legpa was originally a god of gambling and war worshiped in the Tibetan Bon religion. According to tradition, at the time of the first spread of Buddhist teachings in Tibet, Dorje Legpa opposed the great tantric master Padmasambhava in Tsang Province in order to stop the spread of Buddhism in the country. Through Padmasambhava's special power, Dorje Legpa was subdued and bound to the Buddhist teachings as an oathbound protector Dorje Legpa is iconographically depicted riding a snow lion or a billy goat, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, brandishing a hammer made of meteoric iron in his right hand, and with his left hand raising to his mouth the torn-out heart of an enemy of the teachings. Like all Tibetan wrathful deities, his body is depicted surrounded by flames according to legend in his previous life Dorje Legpa was Putapa, son of brahmin parents. He became a monk at twelve, and is said to have completed his monastic training in just three years. Then, at age eighteen, he is said to have completely abandoned his home and gone to dwell in ascetic retreat in the charnel ground Cool Grove in a hut made of kusha grass. Gradually a rumor spread about Putapa that he was engaging in improper practices, and he became known as Siddha of Evil Mantras. The local king heard these rumors and feared the practice of evil mantras would undermine his rule, so he sent his ministers to kill Putapa. The minister went to Cool Grove and questioned the ascetic, but Putapa denied practicing evil mantras and swore he dwelt in wholesome discipline only. Nevertheless, the ministers burned him alive inside his grass hut. Before he died, Putapa swore to be reborn as the son of a Yaksha demon, to have immense power in the world, to be able to cast down lightning and hail, and to have power over the life-breath of all living beings. Right after this, to the northwest of Mount Meru, a Mu demon who was the embodiment of hatred, and a female Mara who was the embodiment of lust, had sex. Seven months later on the first day of the last winter month of a tiger year, the mother produced an iron placental sack which fell at the base of a poison tree. When the mu father picked it up and looked inside, he saw a single child made out of iron, who immediately flew up to Mount Meru and reduced the four continents of our world system to ash. He bound the gods and demons who lived on Meru under his power. The lords of the Mu, Za, Naga, and Tsen demons all offered him their life essence. With these four as his retinue, the iron child began harming all living beings. Angered that they could not control him, the parents prayed that he would be enslaved by an "even greater power....from the realm of space." And so he apparently was, though no specific subjugating deity is mentioned in this account.
In another version of the myth of Dorje Legpa's birth, the god Heruka, in the form of a Rakshasa, and goddess Krodhishvari, in the form of a Rakshasi, produced five daughters. The eldest of these mated with the king of the Maras, and from their union was born Dorje Legpa on the seventeenth day of the twelfth month. His mother urged him to eat the hearts of tigers, goats, and cats, and to protect the teachings of Shri Heruka. Because the boy had a birthmark in the shape of a thunderbolt at his heart, he was determined to be part of the Buddha Family, and consequently received empowerment by Vajrapani. It is said that he was enthroned as the great spirit that has power over our world system until the teachings of 5,000 buddhas disappear.
In yet another version of the myth, the "Ten Chapter Tantra of Dorje Legpa Garwa Nagpo," the deity's parents were a cat-headed rakshasa and a monkey-headed female Mara. They lived in a cube-shaped stone castle in a city of yamas in India. It was surrounded by swirling dust storms, whirling sword-blades, blazing fire, lightening, thunder, and hail. The rakshasa and mara lived there, eating the flesh and blood of sentient beings and having sex. From their union came five children. The main one was born with the head of a wolf and he had four siblings that had the teeth of tigers, lions, and jackals, claws like vulture talons, and the horns of scorpions. They were black demons of the charnel ground that attacked the life-force of all living things.
One day, the wolf-headed demon killed a goat that belonged to the sage Tramena. Tramena went to the Buddha and told him that there was a terrible hungry ghost that was preying on the beings of the three worlds, and needed to be subdued, which he promptly was by Vajrapani. Another source asserts that Dorje Lekpa manifested as an iron hawk to kill beings in the sky, an iron wolf to kill those on earth, and a solitary iron man who caused much injury and violence. This being angered hayagriva who promptly split his head into pieces, before resurrecting and empowering him as the lord of the gods and demons who arise from the eight classes of consciousness. Also, according to the "Ten Chapter Tantra," Dorje Legpa took on different deity forms in each of the different realms of rebirth. He was born first as "All-Joyful" the king of the wealth gods. Then he was born as an asura lord of death who had a rat's head, took cat hearts as offerings, and made weapons, called Garwa Nagpo, or "Black Ironsmith." He was also born as the son of the king of Lanka, and named "Tiger Tamer," who took tiger hearts as offerings. Born as animal, he was called "Blue Iron Wolf," a wolf who killed flocks of goats to eat. As this deity he received goat hearts as offerings. As a hungry ghost, he was a Tsen demon who lived in a maroon-colored castle in a rocky crag.
Gallery[]
