TIBETAN BUDDHAS -

Tibetan Buddhist art, brightly colored and elaborately detailed, performs more than one function in Tibetan religious life. Devotional images are often used as the center point of rituals or ceremonies. Art is also used as a teaching tool by telling the story or the teachings of the Buddha or other deities (gods). Tibetan art, however, is mainly used as a tool for meditation. The meditator visualizes themselves as the image of the Buddha or deity in order to embody the qualities of the chosen subject.

Paintings of the Buddha or of deities, otherwise know as “thankas” are one of the most popular forms of Tibetan Buddhist art. The word thanka comes from the Tibetan words “than” and “ka”. “Than” means flat and “ka” is the word for painting. Monks traveling from monastery to monastery would take these flat paintings and roll them up for easy transport. Personal thankas, wallet size paintings, were also created for the traveling monk or religious devotee. Thanka art is explicitly religious and its two main functions are to teach disciples and to provide beauty which is believed to be a manifestation of the divine.

Shakayamuni Buddha, otherwise known as Gotama the Buddha, was the last living Buddha. He was born in Lumbini, Nepal. He taught the path to enlightenment for 45 years in India in order to help all sentient being to come out of suffering. He is often depicted in statues, thankas, or other religious art sitting in the bhumisparsha mudra or the touching the ground pose. He touches the ground to call the earth to witness the magnitude of his enlightenment. He is also shown sitting in the dhyan mudra with or without his alms (begging) bowl. The dhyan mudra is the posture of meditation.

Kubera, God of Wealth and Lord of the Earth spirits, is also known as the King of Guardians and Directions. This deity or god is often seen as a statue or painted in a thanka and placed at the entrance of a tomb or temple for protection against evil. The right hand is in the tarjani mudra or the hand gesture that represents warding off evil.

There are eight deities of directions presiding over north, south, east and west as well as the four corners, north-east, north-west, south-east, and south-west. These eight deities are invoked during religious rituals concerning the construction of new buildings or protection of buildings. Nairrati Deva who is blue in color and watches over the south-west corner is a gruesome example of one of these direction gods. He is Lord of malicious spirits or beings. In his right hand he holds a sword and in his left hand he is often portrayed holding a skull still fresh with meat and flesh.