Animal Symbols in Tibetan Buddhism
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The Four Dignities refers to four animals with important symbolic meaning in Tibetan Buddhism:
1) the Garuda,
2) the Sky Dragon,
3) the Snow Lion and
4) the Tiger.
They are often seen in the corners of Tibetan prayer flags, accompanying the Wind Horse. They represent the qualities and attitudes necessarily developed on the spiritual path to enlightenment. These are qualities such as awareness, vast vision, confidence, joy, humility and power.
The garuda and the dragon have their origin in Indian and Chinese mythology, respectively.
However, regarding the origin of the animals as a tetrad, "neither written nor oral explanations exist anywhere" with the exception of a thirteenth-century manuscript called "The Appearance of the Little Black-Headed Man" (dBu nag mi'u dra chag), and in that case a yak is substituted for the snow lion, which had not yet emerged as the national symbol of Tibet.
In the text, a nyen (mountain spirit) kills his son-in-law, Khri-to, who is the primeval human man, in a misguided attempt to avenge his daughter. The nyen then is made to see his mistake by a mediator and compensates Khri-to's six sons with the gift of the
tiger,
yak,
garuda,
dragon,
goat, and
dog.
The first four brothers then launch an exhibition to kill robbers who were also involved with their mother's death, and each of their four animals then becomes a personal drala ("protective warrior spirit") to one of the four brothers. The brothers who received the goat and dog choose not to participate, and their animals therefore do not become drala. Each of the brothers represents one of the six primitive Tibetan clans (bod mi'u gdung drug), with which their respective animals also become associated.
The four animals (with the snow lion replacing the yak) also recur frequently in the Epic of King Gesar and sometimes Gesar and his horse are depicted with the dignities in place of the windhorse. In this context the snow lion, garuda and dragon represent the Ling community from which Gesar comes, while the tiger represents the family of the Tagrong Gesar's paternal uncle.