The Buddhist deity Guhyasamaja

Guhyasamaja means “secret union,” and this sculpture of just such a union embodies many symbolic secrets. Among the most important of these secrets, the two figures in sexual embrace represent wisdom and compassion—the two components of the Buddhist enlightened state—in dynamic balance.

Originally, the large male Guhyasamaja’s central hands held the bell of emptiness and the symbolic thunderbolt of means. His other hands would have held symbols corresponding to the buddhas of the four directions, making Guhyasamaja an epitome of all buddhas.

The secret union embodied in Guhyasamaja echoes an important relationship that held for centuries between Tibet and China. This relationship involved elaborate exchanges of religious icons like Guhyasamaja between the two societies, reaffirming an implicit affiliation between Vajrayana practitioners that transcended cultural specificity.