Khan Academy: The Buddhist Protector Deity Penden Lhamo

Penden Lhamo is one of the more wrathful female deities of Buddhism. Among her many roles, she is the special protector of the city of Lhasa, the Gelukpa Order, and the Dalai Lamas of Tibet. She was invited to Tibet in around the eleventh century from India. Legend has it that she was once the queen of the demons of Sri Lanka. She vowed to kill her only son if he did not promise not to lead the people of Lanka to greater violence and cannibalism. The flayed skin of her son used as the saddle blanket on her mule shows that he did not agree to his mother's request. She rides across a sea of blood. Around her waist is a belt hung with severed heads. She holds a skull cup in her left hand. These images of violence are understood by initiates as sacred symbols of inner transformation in a compassionate religious culture that shuns every form of action, thought or word that might be harmful to other living beings.