Padmasambhava (also known as Guru Rinpoche [Precious Teacher]) was a Buddhist master from Uddayana (modern Udiana) in the Swat Valley of Pakistan. He founded Tibet’s first monastery, the Samye Monastery near Lhasa, which was built between 787 and 791. According to the Blue Annals (completed in 1476), he was summoned to Samye to quell local spirits who were thwarting the new faith. Through awesome demonstrations of his powers, he subdued these gods and drew them into the service of Buddhism. Padmasambhava is typically depicted with a distinctive peaked lotus hat, reflective of Gandharan origins, wearing a monk’s robe, and seated in the meditation posture (padma asana) on a lotus base. However, in this painted wood representation of one of his wrathful forms based on events in his life, known as Guru Dorje Drolo (Indestructible Crazy Wisdom), he is frequently portrayed in paintings (or sets of paintings or sculptures) as one of the Eight Manifestations of Padmasambhava. Guru Dorje Drolo is envisioned as fiercely scowling and having three eyes, dark red skin, and black curly hair. He wears large earrings in his distended earlobes, a monk’s robes, and shoes. He holds a thunderbolt (vajra or dorje) in his upraised right hand (see M.81.4, AC1994.116.5, AC1994.116.6, AC1994.176.1, M.91.232.5, and M.2001.158.1). He carries a ritual peg or dagger (phurpa) in his left hand (see M.78.45, M.79.243.3, M.82.27, M.85.286.1, and M.86.190.2). He rides a tiger that is biting and trampling a corpse, symbolic of the entanglements of the phenomenal world. A flaming aureola (prabhavali) is behind him, and a lotus base is beneath him. See also M.81.183.1, M.83.218.3, M.86.338.1, AC1994.117.2, AC1997.244.1, and M.2005.154.7.