Black Ögyen Jampalyang
Khrodakala Uddiyana Manjushri
This vivid thangka painting executed in 1998 by Khandro Déchen depicts Jampalyang in wrathful form which is unique to the Aro gTér. There are other wrathful forms of Jampalyang, but this manifestation of Padmasambhava in the form of the wrathful epitome of penetrating insight exists nowhere else.
His gown is red, grey, and indigo in colour. According to the Aro gTér, these three colours are the wrathful equivalents of red, white, and blue – the yogic colours of the gö-kar-chang-lo’i dé. The yung-drungs are depicted in grey and red as the wrathful manifestations of the male and females thig-lés. His shawl is also of the three wrathful colours.
The obsidian mélong he holds in his upper left hand is ornamented by the five-fold reality flag of Khyungchen Aro Lingma. This chö-phen with its five separate five-fold streamers is unique to the Aro gTér, and is found in many practices in which the mélong is employed – particularly within the Khandro pawo nyi-da mélong gyüd.
The mélong appears in many awareness images of the Aro gTér because it is the primary symbol of the gTérma cycle. Khyungchen Aro Lingma is always depicted as holding a mélong with a reality flag of this type.
