Padmasambhava was a renowned and highly learned tantric saint of northern India.  In the middle of the eighth century the Tibetan King Thi-Sron Detsan invited the learned guru to come to Tibet.  Padmasambhava was renowned for his knowledge of tantras and of their efficacious application.  He remained in Tibet for 50 years founding monasteries and teaching the tantra doctrine.  He is said to have subdued all of the malignant gods in Tibet sparing only those that became converted to Buddhism and that promised to be defenders (Dharmapala) of the doctrine.  Padmasambhava, in his turn, promised to enroll them in the Mahayana Pantheon.  He claimed to have received from the Dakini the books from which he acquired his miraculous power.  At the end of fifty years Padmasambhava disappeared miraculously.

Padmasambhava is represented seated on a lotus asana with the legs locked, the right hand holding the vajra and the left lying on his lap holding the patra (bowl).  He holds his special symbol, the khatvanga pressed against his breast with the left arm.

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