The Four Forms of Hevajra

In the Vajrayana school of Buddhism, Hevajra features as one of the primary enlightened beings. It can be a bit confusing to some as to whether or not Hevajra is actually a Buddha, a bodhisattva, or something entirely different; this is why Hevajra is typically just referred to as being an enlightened deity that is the personification of desirable traits.

Hevajra is actually described as having four forms, both in the Samputa tantra and the Hevajra tantra.

Samputa Tantra Forms All of the four Hevajra forms that are describe in the Samputa tantra are said to be dancing on a sacred lotus, a blood-filled skull cap, a corpse, and a sun disk throne.

· Kaya Hevajra. This form of Hevajra is described as being the “Shaker of all the Three Worlds.” He is pictured as standing in a dancing posture, atop the lotus, blood-filled skull cap, corpse, and the sun disk. He has two arms, and his skin is black. He has just one face, three red round eyes. In his left hand he clutches a skull cap that is brimming with blood, which in his right hand he wield a five-pronged vajra club. He is also depicted as embracing Vajranairatma, who is his consort. His consort has blue skin, and is holding a skull cup and a curved knife.

· Vak Hevajra. This form of Hevajra is depicted also standing in a dancing posture, atop the lotus, blood-filled skull cap, corpse, and the sun disk. He has four arms, and his skin is black. He has one face, three red round eyes. In his outer left hand he holds a blood-filled skull cap, while his outer right hand wields the five-pronged vajra club. His other two arms are embracing Vajravarahi, who is his consort.

· Citta Hevajra. This form of Hevajra is shown as standing in the dancing posture, atop the lotus, blood-filled skull cap, corpse, and the sun disk. He has six arms and is black in color. He has three faces, with each face being a different color; black, white, and red. Each of his three faces has three round bloodshot eyes. His hair is light yellow in color and is shown as streaming upwards. Atop his head he wears a diadem that contains five skulls. Around his neck he wears a necklace that is made up from fifty recently severed human heads. The first pair of his hands holds a vajra and a bell in one hand, while the other hand embraces Vajrasrnkhala, who is his consort. The other two left hands hold a bow and a skull cup, while the other two right hands hold a trident and an arrow.

· Hrdaya Hevajra. This form of Hevajra is shown to be standing in the dancing posture, atop the lotus, blood-filled skull cap, corpse, and the sun disk. He has sixteen arms and four legs; two of the legs hold the dancing position while his other left legs stands up straight, with the right leg extended. His skin is black, and he has eight faces. His central face is black and depicted as laughing wildly, while the face to the right of that is white, the face to the left of that is red. Each of his eight faces has three bloodshot eyes. He has tawny hair that flows upwards, and is crested with a double vajra. On his head he wears a diadem that is made up of five dry human skulls, while his necklace is made up of fifty freshly severed heads. The first pair of his hands holds a bell and a vajra, while also embracing Nairatma, who is his consort. Nairatma is blue and is holding a skull cup and a curved knife in her two hands. Hevajra’s other left hands hold a noose, jewel, pointed forefinger, skull, trident, lotus, and a bow. His other right hands hold a trident, hook, skull cup, wheel, arrow, club, and a sword.

Hevajra Tantra Forms

All of the forms of Hevajra described in the Hevajra tantra are said to be standing in a posture that indicates he is advancing, while standing atop a corpse, sun-disk, and a multi-colored lotus.

· Kaya Hevajra. Dark blue in color, with two arms, he is described as holding a vajra club in his right hand, while his left hand is clutching a skull cup that is marked with a vajra. He is embracing Vajranairatma, who is his consort. Upon his left shoulder he rests a khatvanga staff, and his body is adorned with the six ornaments that hold great symbolic meaning.

· Vak Hevajra. This form of Hevajra is shown as having four arms and is also dark blue in color. In one of his right hands he holds the sacred vajra, and in his other hand he clutches a skull cup filled with blood. His second pair of arms embraces Vajravarahi, who is his consort.

· Citta Hevajra. This form of Hevajra is depicted as having six arms. He is shown as being dark blue in color, and having three faces. The left face is red, the right face is white, and the center face is blue. Each of his three faces has three blood shot eyes, along with four bared fangs. His tawny colored hair streams upwards. Two of his right hands hold a knife and a vajra, while two of his left hands hold firm a trident and a bell. His third pair of hands embraces Vajrasrinkkhala, who is his consort.

· Hrdaya Hevajra. This sixteen-armed and four-legged form of Hevajra has eight faces. He is typically depicted as being sixteen years old, nude, with black skin. All of his eyes have bloodshot eyes, bared fangs, and a vibrant tongue; his brow is said to be knotted in a frown. Each of his sixteen hands holds skull cups, each with something sacred contained within them. He is also shown as embracing Vajranairatma, who is his consort.

While the wrathful appearing images of Hevajra may indicate that he is an angered deity, the truth is that he should be considered to be more of a protective deity who is called upon to offer protection and relief from the suffering that is plaguing all of us.