The Perennial Possibilities of the Spiritual Horizon

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The Buddha Shakyamuni is surrounded with three-hundred sixty-four images of Buddhas out of Thousand Buddhas in identical fashion and colour. This type of portrayal is typical in monasteries with what is known are Thousand-Buddhas Walls. The present thangka very closely resembles a Thousand-Buddhas Wall. The Thousand Buddhas represent the awareness of the perennial possibilities of the spiritual horizon. Here the illumined mind is thousand-folded into over higher intuition of the infinity of the transcendental universe.

According to a Buddhist tradition Gautama Buddha at his birth had said that he was coming to human realm for the last time and this was last in a perpetual series of existences. The many previous existences of the Buddha are known from legends and Jataka stories about his previous births. The Mahayanists however believe that the Buddhas have appeared in the world at intervals and in series that know no beginning or end. Little is known, however, of these innumerable Buddhas preceding the Buddha Shakyamuni. Thus the Buddhas who have been, are, and will be, are more numerous than the grains of sand on the bank of the Ganga.

In the later forms of Buddhism, the theology grew and, incidentally, so did the number of Buddhas, to a series of 8,9,24,35,52, and 1,000 and various other numbers. Here it is not the power of the story that counts, but the might of the number, with its symbolic value of infinity is good, more is better, or their strength in numbers and repetition. This type of portrayal is typical in monasteries with what are known as thousand-Buddha wall and they frequently appear as a thangka theme.

The Thousand Buddhas bless the present aeon of Bhadra-Kalpa. A famous scripture, the Bhadrakalpika-Sutra is devoted to them. This sutra was translated into Tibetan by Vidyakarasimha and Dpal-dbyans and was revised by Dpal-brtsegs in the eighth century. He was one of the two famous lotsava or holy translator in the reign of Trisong Detsen. The translator Dpal-dbyans was his junior contemporary. Ever since the Thousand Buddhas have blessed, every Tibetan monastery where they are found, depicts them as votive icons, over a central image. The names of the Thousand Buddhas were compiled in a pent-lingual text under the Tibetan title of Bskal-bzan rnam-dren ston-gi mtshan by Lean-sya qutuy-tu Rol-pahi-rdo-rje in Sanskrit, Tibetan, Manchu, Mongolian and Chinese.

In India a special literary genre was devoted to thousand names or rather epithets, of a divinity. The thousand names of Vishnu are well known as the Vishnu-sahasra-nama. Likewise, the Buddha had a thousand epithets which underwent an apotheosis as the Thousand Buddhas and they became a thousand pictures or a thousand icons, more or less identical form. The caves of the Thousand Buddhas are the name of the world-renowned grottos at Tun-huang (China), which depicts, inter alia the scenes of Thousand Buddhas images.

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Unveiling the Divine Art: Journey into the Making of Thangkas

A Thangka is a traditional Tibetan Buddhist painting that usually depicts a Buddhist Deity (Buddha or Bodhisattva), a scene, or a mandala. These paintings are considered important paraphernalia in Buddhist rituals. They are used to teach the life of the Buddha, various lamas, and Bodhisattvas to the monastic students, and are also useful in visualizing the deity while meditating. One of the most important subjects of thangkas is the Bhavacakra (the wheel of life) which depicts the Art of Enlightenment. It is believed that Thangka paintings were developed over the centuries from the murals, of which only a few can be seen in the Ajanta caves in India and the Mogao caves in Gansu Province, Tibet. Thangkas are painted on cotton or silk applique and are usually small in size. The artist of these paintings is highly trained and has a proper understanding of Buddhist philosophy, knowledge, and background to create a realistic and bona fide painting.

The process of making a thangka begins with stitching a loosely woven cotton fabric onto a wooden frame. Traditionally, the canvas was prepared by coating it with gesso, chalk, and base pigment.

After this, the outline of the form of the deity is sketched with a pencil or charcoal onto the canvas using iconographic grids. The drawing process is followed in accordance with strict guidelines laid out in Buddhist scriptures. The systematic grid helps the artist to make a geometrical and professional painting. When the drawing of the figures is finalized and adjusted, it is then outlined with black ink.

Earlier, a special paint of different colors was made by mixing powdered forms of organic (vegetable) and mineral pigments in a water-soluble adhesive. Nowadays, artists use acrylic paints instead. The colors are now applied to the sketch using the wet and dry brush techniques. One of the characteristic features of a thangka is the use of vibrant colors such as red, blue, black, green, yellow, etc.

In the final step, pure gold is coated over some parts of the thangka to increase its beauty. Due to this beautification, thangkas are much more expensive and also stand out from other ordinary paintings.

Thangka paintings are generally kept unrolled when not on display on the wall. They also come with a frame, a silken cover in front, and a textile backing to protect the painting from getting damaged. Because Thangkas are delicate in nature, they are recommended to be kept in places with no excess moisture and where there is not much exposure to sunlight. This makes them last a long time without their colors fading away. Painting a thangka is an elaborate and complex process and requires excellent skills. A skilled artist can take up to 6 months to complete a detailed thangka painting. In earlier times, thangka painters were lamas that spent many years on Buddhist studies before they painted.