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Kangiten: Japan's Elephant-Headed Deva of Bliss

Kangiten - the name is Japanese for "god of bliss" - is a deva venerated mainly in the Shingon and Tendai schools of Japanese Buddhism, and Wikipedia identifies him as...

Tingsha: The Small Cymbals of Tibetan Buddhist ...

Tingsha - Tibetan ting-shags, in Wikipedia's Wylie transliteration - are small cymbals used in prayer and rituals by Tibetan Buddhist practitioners. As Wikipedia describes them, two cymbals are joined by...

Kalachakra: The Wheel of Time in Vajrayana Budd...

Kalachakra - the name means "wheel of time" or "time cycles", Wikipedia explains - is a polysemic term in Vajrayana Buddhism and Hinduism: the name of a series of Buddhist...

Sitatapatra: The White Umbrella Goddess of Budd...

Sitatapatra - whose Sanskrit name Wikipedia glosses as "White Parasol", from sita ("white") and atapatra ("parasol" or "umbrella") - is described by Wikipedia as a bodhisattva and protector against supernatural...

Jambhala: The Buddhist Wealth Deity and His Fiv...

Jambhala - also written Dzambhala, Dzambala or Zambala - is the Buddhist deity of fortune and wealth, and Wikipedia places him in the Jewel Family, notes he is sometimes equated...

Vajrapani: Meaning and Iconography of the Thund...

Vajrapani - the name means "holder of the thunderbolt", literally "vajra in [his] hand" in Sanskrit - is one of the earliest-appearing bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhism, Wikipedia records. He is...