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Nyima Oser, One of the Eight Manifestations of Padmasambhava
OriginTibet
Date18th century
Dimensions7 1/2 × 6 × 5 in.
MediumGilt copper alloy
Classification(s)
Credit LineRubin Museum of Art, Gift of the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation
Object numberF1997.31.22
Himalayan Art Resources Number700022
Project Himalayan Arthttps://rubinmuseum.org/projecthimalayanart/essays/padmasambhava-and-his-manifestations/
DescriptionThis sculpture portrays Padmasambhava, “Precious Teacher” (Tibetan: Guru Rinpoche), in one of his eight manifestations known as Rays of the Sun (Tibetan: Nyima Oser). According to his legendary life story, for five years Padmasambhava practiced in a charnel ground, a gruesome place where dismembered corpses are left to be feasted upon by vultures and wild dogs. With the power of his practice, like the “rays of the sun,” he was able to clear the demonic darkness and terror accumulated in these surroundings. The sculpture shows him as a tantric practitioner, or siddha, seated on an animal hide with the sun—the attribute of Nyima Oser —above his left shoulder at the end of a lasso.Not on view
ca. 1659-1671
mid-19th century
early 19th century
18th-19th century
late 19th century
ca. 18th century
