structural:summarization, quality:corruption
Iconography

Padmasambhava has one face and two hands. He is wrathful and smiling. He blazes magnificently with the splendour of the major and minor marks. His two eyes are wide open in a piercing gaze. He has the youthful appearance of an eight-year-old child. His complexion is white with a tinge of red. He is seated with his two feet in the royal posture.

On his head he wears a five-petalled lotus hat, which has three points symbolizing the three kayas, five colours symbolizing the five kayas, the sun and moon symbolizing skillful means and wisdom, a vajra top to symbolize unshakable samadhi, and a vulture's feather to represent the realization of the highest view.

Padmasambhava wears a white vajra undergarment. On top of this, in layers, a red robe, a dark blue mantrayana tunic, a red monastic shawl decorated with a golden flower pattern, and a maroon cloak of silk brocade. Also, he wears a silk cloak, Dharma robes and gown. He is wearing the dark blue gown of a mantra practitioner, the red and yellow shawl of a monk, the maroon cloak of a king, and the red robe and secret white garments of a bodhisattva.

In his right hand, he holds a five-pronged vajra at his heart. His left hand rests in the gesture of equanimity, In his left hand he holds a skull-cup brimming with nectar, containing the vase of longevity that is also filled with the nectar of deathless wisdom and ornamented on top by a wish-fulfilling tree.

Cradled in his left arm he holds the three-pointed khatvanga (trident) symbolizing the Princess consort Mandarava, one of his two main consorts. who arouses the wisdom of bliss and emptiness, concealed as the three-pointed khatvanga. Other sources say that the khatvanga represents the Lady Yeshe Tsogyal, his primary consort and

main disciple. Its three points represent the essence, nature and compassionate energy (ngowo, rangshyin and tukjé). Below these three prongs are three severed heads, dry, fresh and rotten, symbolizing the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya. Nine iron rings adorning the prongs represent the nine yanas. Five-coloured strips of silk symbolize the five wisdoms The khatvanga is also adorned with locks of hair from dead and living mamos and dakinis, as a sign that the Master subjugated them all when he practised austerities in the Eight Great Charnel Grounds.

Around him within a lattice of five-coloured light, appear the eight vidyadharas of India, the twenty-five disciples of Tibet, the deities of the three roots, and an ocean of oath-bound protectors