Guru Dorje Drolö is a wrathful form of Padmasambhava, the beloved Indian master who established Vajrayana Buddhism in Tibet and neighboring Himalayan regions. Guru Padmasambhava was renowned for his remarkable abilities to teach and liberate sentient beings—not only through peaceful means but also by awesomely radical wrathful methods. Wrathful activity represents an overflowing of compassion that simply cannot wait to come to the benefit of beings and which refuses to be obstructed by conventional considerations.

Such were his miraculous powers that Guru Padmasambhava was able to manifest as eight different deities according to the specific dispositions and circumstances of the people and places he visited. In one such form Guru Padmasambhava manifests as the ecstatically wrathful Guru Dorje Drolö in order to tame worldly forces, remove obstacles, guard terma (hidden Dharma treasures), and multiply positive attributes for success in Dharma practice.

Guru Dorje Drolö’s powerful appearance is striking to behold. Riding a wild tigress in a highly energetic and terrifying posture, he lunges diagonally forward, toward the left foreground, brandishing a thunderbolt phurba dagger (Skt. kila) in his left hand, while above his head his right hand wields a nine-pronged thunderbolt vajra with the tips open. Guru Dorje Drolö’s three eyes are wide open, flashing with the power of a thousand lightning bolts, while his two sharp fangs jut out, concealing his lower lip in a menacing grin. With his curly hair tightly bound, Guru Dorje Drolö is adorned with conch earrings, ornamental bone jewelry, and a garland of freshly severed heads, which represent the vanquishing of hatred and jealousy. His dark brown body is clothed in a stainless white inner robe covered by a flowing light blue and red sash that is draped over a dark blue silk overcoat embroidered with the four power animals. A green belt is knotted around his waist, and he wears his own unique gray boot (sak lham). Guru Dorje Drolö’s fierce countenance expresses the unyielding commitment to awakening practitioners from the abysmal sleep of ignorance.