Mahamayuri (Sanskrit: महामायूरी Mahāmāyūrī, Chinese: 孔雀明王 Kǒngquè Míngwáng, Vietnamese: Khổng Tước Minh Vương, Japanese: 孔雀明王 (Kujaku Myōō?), Korean: 공작명왕 GongJakMyeongWang), is one of the Wisdom Kings in the Buddhist Pantheon. Mahamayuri is a peaceful personification, in contrast to the wrathful attitudes of male personifications of the Wisdom Kings. Mahamayuri had the power to protect devotees from poisoning, either physical or spiritual.
Mahamayuri's dharani, translated into Chinese by Kumārajīva, is considered to predate Mahayana Buddhism. It contains the only mention of the Rig Veda in the entire Chinese Buddhist canon.
Sitting in full lotus posture on a blue or white lotus throne resting on a resplendent peacock displaying his fantail, Mahamayuri appears wearing various silks and jewelled ornaments, a crown, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings, smiling gently and compassionately, her 2 eyes half closed as if in meditative absorption. She has 4 arms, in her inner right hand clenches the base of a lotus stem at the level of her navel, the lotus flower opening outside her right ear, her outer right hand palm outstretched facing upwards holding a fingered citron (matulunga) outside her right shoulder, her inner left hand palm outstretched facing upwards holds a pomegranate at her heart, her outer left hand clutching 3 to 5 peacock feathers outside her left shoulder. Peacocks were believed to have the ability to ingest poisonous substances in order to make their resplendent plumage all the more vibrant, many poisonous flora and fauna are extremely colourful as a warning of their toxic content. Mahamayuri aids practitioners not only in dealing with physically poisonous substances, but also mental/emotional poison - such as jealousy, greed, anger, hatred, arrogance, pride, vanity, avarice, gluttony, sloth, depression, mania etc., enabling the practitioner to acknowledge these states and to transform them into positive mental states - charity, compassion, altruism, respect, equanimity etc., making themselves more resilient towards the afore mentioned negative states.