Tantric Buddha Vairochana as Vajrasattva

c. 1150–1200

Tantric Buddha Vairochana as Vajrasattva, c. 1150–1200. Central Tibet. Gum tempera, ink, and gold on cloth; overall: 111 x 73 cm (43 11/16 x 28 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1989.104 The seated Buddha dominating the composition is identified as Vairochana because of his hand gesture, the mudra communicating supreme enlightenment in which the index finger of one hand is grasped by the fingers of the opposite hand. His golden color and the tiny vajra—a six-pronged ritual object representing a thunderbolt—balanced on top of his finger suggest that he is in the guise of Vajrasattva, the summation of all enlightened beings. In his crown is the image of a monk, who is probably the guru of the donor, the small monastic figure at the lower right next to the lotus pedestal. A mantra written behind the figures invokes their living presence in the thangka painting.