Six Sages

Six Sages (sprul sku thub drug)

• The six sages, who form one sub-category of the assembly of the forty-two peaceful deities. manifest respectively on behalf of the six classes of living beings- gods, antigods, humans, animals, tormented spirits, and hells- to provide a direct antidote to the dissonant mental states that ensnare sentient beings in the six realms of cyclic existence. They comprise: Indraśakra, the sage of the gods (lha'i thub pa dbang po brgya byin), Vemacitra, the sage of the antigods (lha ma yin gyi thub pa thag bzang ris), Śākyasiṃha or Śākyamuni, the sage of humans (mi'i thub pa shākya senge), Sthirasiṃha, the sage of animals (byal song thub pa senge rab brtan), Jvālamukha, the sage of the tormented spirits (yi dvags kyi thub pa kha 'bar ma), and Yama Dharmarāja, the sage of the hells (dmyal ba'i thub pa chos kyi rgyal po). GD (from the Glossary to Tibetan Elemental Divination Paintings)