Heruka

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Heruka ( also known by his Sanskrit name Chakrasamvara, Tibetan: Korlo Demchog) is a principal Deity (Tantric Buddha) of the class of Mother Tantra in Tibetan and Indian Buddhism. Heruka represents the embodiment of indivisible bliss and emptiness.

Heruka is typically depicted with a blue-coloured body, four faces, and twelve arms, and embraces his consort Vajravarahi. Other forms of the deity are also known, with varying numbers of limbs. Heruka and consort are not to be thought of as two different entities, as an ordinary husband and wife are two different people; in reality, their divine embrace are a metaphor for the union of great bliss and emptiness, which are one and the same essence.

Chakrasamvara is the principal tantric deity whose practice is especially observed by members of the Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism.

The name "Heruka" is made up of the prefix "he-" meaning "hey!" and "ruka", a rich term implying many levels of subtle meaning - richness, royalty, etc are implied by "ruka". It is linked to the Sanskrit word "Rc" which is where the name "Rgveda" comes from. The famous bodhisattva of the second chapter of the Mahayanasutra "Sovereign King of Golden Splendour" (suvarnabhasottamendraraja) is called "Ruciraketu" - "He Who Flys the Banner of Riches (ruchira)" - is a lay emanation of Heruka.

As Bhagavan Padmasambhava said in the Bar-do Tho-dol (Antarabhavatantra - "Tibetan Book of the Dead"): "The crucial point is indeed that those who have meditated on the formal description of these Herukakaya (bodies of Heruka, and also made offerings and praise to them, or, at the very least, have simply seen their painted and sculpted images, may recognise the forms that arise here and attain moksha (liberation)." Translated by Vajra Gyurme Dorje.