In Christian thought, the evil one has power only upon this earth, and only for a time. It is strange, therefore, to look at heaven through Eastern eyes and to see it filled with the apparitions of terror, ferocity and madness.
Hans Memling. Read More:http://dailylight.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/
In the West, the dragon is the Loathly Worm that lies coiled in its cave, defending its treasure with poison fangs and fiery breath; it is the evil monster killed by the god Apollo or by Saint George; it is the scarlet beast of Revelation, upon which rides the harlot drunken with the blood of the martyrs; it is the Devil himself, writhing under the spear of the warrior archangel Michael.
---one of the Eight Manifestations of Guru Rinpoche. From A Great Treasure of Blessings, page 30: Guru Rinpoche challenged and defeated five hundred upholders of wrong views in debate at Bodhgaya. He reversed their magic with the aid of a wrathful mantra given him by the lion-faced dakini Marajita. He is known as Sengé Dradok, 'The Lion's Roar'. --- Read More:http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Guru_Seng%C3%A9_Dradrok
But in China the dragon is a kindly spirit inhabiting the realms of the air and defending mankind against far more dangerous demons. And a Tibetan paradise, although it is the heaven to which Tibetan souls aspire and is surrounded by flying nymphs and bright rainbows and cloudy emanations of the divine, still contains such fearful figures as Sen-ge sgra-sgrogs, a savior whose body is blue, who wears a tiger skin and a garland of human heads, and who brandishes the thunderbolt. Power and fear, rather than nobility and love, are the attributes of divinity in such a heaven.
---Henry Fuseli Satan Starting from the Touch of Ithuriel's Spear (Satan flieht, von Ithuriels Speer beruht) 1779 Oil on canvas, 2305 x 2763 mm The Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart--- Read More:http://idlespeculations-terryprest.blogspot.com/2010/01/devil.html
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