Yab-Yum

Yab-yum (Tibetan: ཡབ་ཡུམ། literally, "father-mother") is a common symbol in the Tibetan Buddhist art of India, Bhutan, Nepal, and Tibet. It represents the primordial union of wisdom and compassion, depicted as a male deity in union with his female consort through the similar ideas of interpenetration or "coalescence" (Tibetan: ཟུང་འཇུག Wylie: zung-'jug; Sanskrit: yuganaddha), using the concept of Indra's net to illustrate this.^[1]

The male figure represents compassion and skillful means, while the female partner represents insight. In yab-yum the female is seated on the male's lap. There is a rare presentation of a similar figure but reversed, with the male sitting on the female's lap, called yum-yab.^[2]

^ Neville, Robert C. (1987).New metaphysics for eternal experience, Journal of Chinese Philosophy 14, 357-370
^ Simmer-Brown, J. (2002). Dakini's Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism. Shambhala. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-8348-2842-1. Retrieved 18 January 2020.

[1] Neville, Robert C. (1987).New metaphysics for eternal experience, Journal of Chinese Philosophy 14, 357-370

[Simmer-Brown_2002_p._159-2] Simmer-Brown, J. (2002). Dakini's Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism. Shambhala. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-8348-2842-1. Retrieved 18 January 2020.

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