Ögyen Chenrézigs yab-yum
four-armed black Chenrézigs yab-yum
Ögyen Chenrézigs Yab-yum (o rGyan sPyan ras gZigs nak po yab yum) is a form of Padmasambhava and Yeshé Tsogyel in union manifesting as the yidam of compassion. They each hold a conch. They hold crystal teng’ars in their right hands, and green lotuses bearing crystal tsé-gu dorjes. He is black and wears emerald-green robes. A raven flies above his head. She is black with flame-coloured hair. She wears lapis lazuli ornaments and sings with a voice like a shang.
Ngak’chang Rinpoche says of Ögyen Chenrézigs:
He is the vivid black yogi in ecstatic embrace with the luminous black yogini. He wears the emerald green robes of the nine vehicles, in which each display of method completes itself, of itself, as the self-fulfilling accomplishment of Ati-yoga. His consort Yeshé Tsogyel is naked in display of the active compassion which cannot be veiled either by mundane contrivances or societal expediency. The flaming furnace of her hair warms the hearts of all beings and incites the cheerful courage which dispels the need to take refuge in depression. She wears lapis lazuli ornaments whose rich piercing blue displays her ability to overpower all attempts to retract into
the narrow confines of heartlessness. She sings with a voice like a shang bell in order that all beings receive the transmission of non-referential kindness. Padmasambhava and Yeshé Tsogyel both wear conch earrings as the sign that they have dissolved the heartless atrophication that lies in arrogant conformity. Their kindness is unconditioned by hard-hearted conservatism, and free of all reverential reference points.
Their naked feet display their direct contact with the ground of reality and
their ability to open their hearts to every perceptual position.
Khandro Déchen says of Ögyen Chenrézigs:
Unseen in the thangka image of Ögyen Chenrézigs is the phurba which he wears in his belt. It is highly unusual to find a
phurba carried by a peaceful or joyous yidam, because it is almost always depicted as
a wrathful implement. But here the phurba represents the decisive energy of kindness which cuts through all barriers to the effectiveness of compassion. The phurba is a nine-pronged conch phurba. It stabs the hard-heartedness of dualistic reasoning. The offering images of deer and gZi stones in this thangka are particular to Ögyen Chenrézigs
yab-yum, both in terms of harmony and protection. The blood-filled conches with
long-life arrows are particular to the Aro gTér as representations of united male and female energy.
