ABSTRACT
Some comments on the iconography of the maala visualisation of the NMAA and its representation in the artistic traditions of India, Nepal and Tibet are included in the notes to the translation. Robert Linrothe, in his discussion of the iconographic programme of the Sumtsek, puzzles over Majurs occupancy of its important location, and particularly as to why he rather than Vairocana occupies it the two remaining maalas of the top storey are of Vairocana and Prajpramit, placed on the side walls. Franco Ricca and Erberto Lo Bue identify the NMAA as the textual source for these works, and excellent colour plates of the murals of Mahvairocana, Ratnasabhava, Amoghasiddhi, Bodhicittavajra and Vairocana that clearly show the dibuddha and the innermost deities of each. Both of these are witnessed in the surviving NMAA murals and statues in the Sku bum stpa at Gyantse and people look at other Nmasagti commentaries for a precise identification for example the work of Vilsavajras contemporay, Majurmitra.
