Jambhala: The Buddhist Wealth Deity and His Five Forms

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 with the Hindu deity Kubera, and records the belief that he is an emanation of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. On the name, Wikipedia glosses dzam as "deity or gathering", bhah as "gold or wealth" and la as "to honor". The Durbar Square range includes a hand-painted thangka of him.

Five Jambhalas, one purpose

There are five different wealth Jambhalas, each with his own practice and mantra, Wikipedia explains; they are described by Wikipedia as manifestations of the compassion of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, holding the essence of generosity, with the aspiration to help the poor and those suffering ill fortune. Wikipedia's five: the Green Jambhala, chief of the five, is the manifestation of Buddha Amoghasiddhi; the White Jambhala is the compassionate manifestation of Chenrezig, born from his right eye according to the Tibetan legend Wikipedia recounts, in which the lama Atisha, unable to feed a starving man, resolved to offer his own flesh before Chenrezig appeared and promised to manifest as a god of wealth; the Red Jambhala is the manifestation of Vajrasattva; and the Black Jambhala, also identified with Kubera, is the manifestation of Amoghasiddhi, popularized in Tibet by Bari Lotsawa and the Kashmiri teacher Shakyashri Bhadra.

Yellow Jambhala and the jewel-spitting mongoose

Wikipedia calls the Yellow Jambhala the most popular and powerful of the wealth gods, and names him an emanation of Buddha Ratnasambhava. He has a yellow body, and as Wikipedia describes him his left hand holds a mongoose named Nehulay that spews forth precious jewels from its mouth, while his right hand holds a gem-shaped fruit. Wikipedia adds a detail worth keeping: an ordinary image of the heavenly king Vaishravana holds a precious pagoda pouring out treasures, and in Tibetan images that pagoda is replaced by the treasure-emitting mongoose.

Practice, and the water-pouring custom

In the material Wikipedia presents, Jambhala practice rests on bodhicitta: practitioners generate the altruistic intention of compassion and practise generosity. One custom has a legend attached: as the same source recounts, when the jealous Devadatta threw rocks at the Buddha, they struck the White and Yellow Jambhalas on their heads, and the Buddha healed Jambhala by pouring a nectar-like substance onto his head - after which, the legend says, pouring water over Jambhala's head became a way for students to invoke his bestowal of material and spiritual wealth.

The Jambhala at Durbar Square

The Hand-Painted Jambhala Thangka ($543) shows him golden-yellow, seated on a lotus with one leg pendant, crowned and garlanded: in the painting a purple mongoose rests on his left hand and a pink gem-like fruit sits in his right, with offerings laid out below him - matching the Yellow Jambhala description Wikipedia gives. The listing presents the piece as hand-painted.

Hand-painted Jambhala thangka: golden-yellow deity seated on a lotus, a purple mongoose on his left hand and a pink gem-like fruit in his right

Sources

  • Wikipedia: Jambhala (names, etymology, the five Jambhalas and their manifestations, Yellow Jambhala's iconography, practice and legends)
  • Durbar Square product listing (technique and price)
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