"I have taken hold of the Tibetan tradition of the five buddha families, where each family holds together a color, an element, and above all a psychological disposition, in order to place within it the ecological concerns that run through me, and especially those that bear on biodiversity.
 
With Ratna, yellow and earthen, it is pride that I question, this self-assurance that exhausts the soils, digs the mines, and believes itself safe from droughts and earthquakes, when its wisdom of equanimity would open onto a shared richness in which every form of life is beheld with the same gaze. "
 
— Rentai Caroline Maby
 
The five buddha families present a complete image both of the sacred world of awakened mind and of the neurotic world of ego-centered existence.
 
"The energy of ratna, when expressed neurotically, is pride or arrogance, which can be transmuted into the wisdom of equanimity. Ratna is connected with the element earth and is alive to the quality of solidity or substantiality. Taking this from the neurotic angel of samsara or ego, there is the constant anxiety of not being substantial enough; so one tries to build a tower of pride that will obviate all challenge. In the enlightened energy of the ratna yidam, one comes in contact with the quality of inexhaustible richness. Seeing this, pride is spontaneously transmuted into the wisdom of equanimity. The wisdom of equanimity, imbued with generosity, sees all situations equally as ornaments of basic being.
 
Ratna is associated with the warmth, full sunshine and lushness of the south. Its color yellow can express either the putrescence of pride of the richness and well-being of gold. The ratna family symbol is the jewel, which fulfills all wishes."
 
[ ~ Source : « Himalayan Art citant Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoché | Visual Art, The Buddhist Art of Tibet » ]