NEPAL, DEBUT DU XVIEME SIECLE

Amongst the followers of the Kadampa school Vajrasattva, ‘Diamond Being’, is the Primordial Buddha heading the group of five Buddha families or tathagatas. He is seated in vajrasana on a lotus base and represented as a bodhisattva. He holds his two attributes, the vajra and ghanta, in a manner characteristic of him, namely the diamond sceptre in front of his chest and the priest-bell at his left hip. The attributes stand for the male and female poles of the cosmic polarity that will be transcendent, symbolizing the highest goal of the tantric Buddhist practice.