Eight Great Naga Kings

From Rigpa Wiki
Revision as of 19:43, 7 July 2019 by Sébastien (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.

The Eight Great Naga Kings (Skt. nāgarāja; Tib. ཀླུའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ཆེན་པོ་བརྒྱད་, lü gyalpo chenpo gyé, Wyl. klu'i rgyal po chen po brgyad) — a list of great naga kings, who where amongst the audience when Buddha Shakyamuni taught the Dharma. They are frequently mentioned in Vajrayana practices.

The Great Tibetan Dictionary gives the following list, while admitting there are other lists as well:

1. Vasuki (Skt. Vāsuki; Tib. Norgyé, Wyl. nor rgyas)
2. Padma (Skt.; Tib. Pema, Wyl. pad ma)
3. Karkotaka (Skt. Karkoṭaka; Tib. Tobgyu, Wyl. stobs rgyu)
4. Takshaka (Skt. Takṣaka; Tib. Jokpo, Wyl. 'jog po)
5. Mahapadma (Skt. Mahāpadma; Tib. Pema Chenpo, Wyl. pad ma chen po)
6. Shankhapala (Skt. Śaṅkhapāla; Tib. Dungkyong, Wyl. dung skyong)
7. Kulika (Skt.; Tib. Rikden, Wyl. rigs ldan)
8. Shesha (Skt. Śeṣa; Tib. Tayé, Wyl. mtha' yas )

Further Reading

  • Beer, Robert. The Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols (Chicago: Serindia, 2003), pages 72-74.