Shakyamuni Buddha is seated in vajraparyankasana on a moon disk on a lotus throne. His right hand is in bhumisparsha-mudra, while the left hand, held in meditation position holds a pinda-patra. His aureole depicts that he had perfected the six paramitas (transcendences). These paramitas are represented by animals – Garuda at the top is the first paramita of charity, the two young Nagas stand for moral excellence, the two Makara are the symbols of forbearance, the two Dwarfs represent endurance, the Elephants stand for meditation and two lions on Elephants are the highest perfection of Wisdom.
According to early Buddhist tradition Shakyamuni at his birth had said that he was coming to earth 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 Jatakas 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 Lalita Vistara gives a list of seven Tathagatas, called the ‘Saptamanushi-Buddhas’ – Vipashyi, Shikhi and Vishvabhu of the preceding kalpa, and Krakuchhanda, Kanakmuni, Kashyapa and Shakyamuni of the present cycle. Sometimes the Dipankara Buddha and sometimes Ratnagarbha were added, making a group of eight and nine Buddhas. Later on, the concept of a group of twenty-four Buddhas appeared. Thereafter appeared the concept of 35 Confessional Buddhas; Buddhism recognizes 35 serious violations and sins against the teachings. The sinner who repents will find for each misstep a Buddha who will point the way to a better attitude toward` life. Then the concept of fifty-two and thousand Buddhas appeared. The present thangka most closely resembles a Thousand-Buddha wall. One hundred forty-four images of Buddhas out of the Thousand-Buddhas, in identical postures, mudra and color are beautifully depicted here in geometric pattern of squares. A cave of the Thousand-Buddha is the name of the world-renowned grottoes at Tun-huang (China). A native of Tun-huang, Dharmaraksha by name, who live between third and fourth century A.D. had translated the Bhadra-Kalpika-sutra in Chinese which is devoted to Thousand Buddhas. Vidyakarasimha and Dpal-dbyans translated the text into Tibetan.
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. As mentioned above, 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.
All the figures are brilliantly drawn and painted. The extended brocade of this thangka is woven with stylized flowers and vishva-vajra. This painting is very suitable for sadhana and practices.
This description is by Dr. Shailendra K. Verma, whose Doctorate thesis is on “Emergence and Evolution of the Buddha Image (From its inception to 8th century A.D.)”.
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