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About Thangka
RobinH
Europe Explorer
I've seen Hindu groups in the past on facebook and they were filled with Thangkas, everyone shared and loved them as they are the only artworks that could express something profound about their beliefs. Now I saw these in a local Buddhist group as well and it made me wonder what am I missing, because they either impress people so much that they also consider them superior to all kinds of other artworks regarding their beliefs or it's a case of fake it 'til you make it? (which would be in my case until I understand the awe surrounding these). Could you give me your personal insight on why these are special regardless of time and age?
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Thangka for the question
Regardless of time and age, I am the Kabba, the qualities of the 3 jewels and nothing more or less than the awareness and understanding invested in being a blade of grass...
Ithangka, as they say in the Holy Apple as available in Eden
You shouldn’t have complimented him, @RobinH, it has clearly gone to his head…
I didn't, I was referencing Willem Dafoe's character from The Lighthouse to be funny, but obviously meant with no disrespect. Still, lobster works in mysterious ways it seems, for I cannot comprehend the message. At least there's a good mood.
The thing about Thangkas is that each is a visual metaphor representing the qualities we hope to develop as we progress to enlightenment. For instance, the qualities of Chenrezig represent compassion and each details in the image is a symbolic representation. of compassion If you understant the metaphors in the Thangka, focusing on it helps your mind focus on the inner changes you are seeking to develop within.
Its value does like in the "art" of it, but in how you respond to it. Buddhism is more about mind-training than about "awe" or emotion. You train your mind to be aware, and you learn from your own developing awareness. And, as psychology says, "Learning is shown by a permanent change in some kind of behavior."
Well a lots of parts are still confusing to me about Buddhism. One's not supposed to think of these depicted as deities, some independent, outside being who will bring fortune or misfortune, right? Yet I can't shake the feeling that's how one would naturally think about them depicted like this.
Thanks @FoibleFull that is pretty much as I understood it but had kind of forgotten.
The images at the centre of the thangka stand for a Buddha, arhat, deity or lama from history or story, and his or her attributes which are visually represented. If you know how to read it, it is a visual guide. The areas around the edges are evocative of place or retinu.
Yes, you are right. And you are also right that naturally we ALL hope some higher/outside power can fix our life for us so that we can be "happy". This IS human nature. But not our true nature. Something good happens and we get a little "perk", and we assume that if "a little is good", then "MORE will be better!". And so we create our "addictions". But since nothing lasts, whatever we get doesn't last either. And our brain will adjust to any newness and the "high" this newness generates will die out.
The local Tibetan Lama/Geshe who teaches us tells us that the deities are self-created visual metaphors representing qualities we are trying to develop within ourselves. Not actual "beings".
He also says that trying to avoid misfortune, or gain fortune, is the primary cause OF our suffering.
That it is our ability to learn to NOT be swayed by our emotional reactions, but to relax and accept and shrug our shoulders, that allows us freedom from suffering. The omre we focus on the qualities of this moment, the more we relax. Asking a 'deity" for anything is in the realm of a religion .,.. not Buddhism.
“If you walk with true awareness of every step, without having a goal to get anywhere, happiness will arise naturally. You don’t need to look for happiness”. Thich Nhat Hanh
“Everything is always changing. If you relax into this truth, that is Enlightenment. If you resist, this is samsara (suffering).” Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, “What Makes You (Not) a Buddhist”
Reciting Mantras is supposedly meant to have the same effect. You're not praying to a deity. Rather you are making a supplication to yourself that you manifest the desired qualities in earnest.
Om Mani Padme Hung - the six-syllable Seed Mantra - 'The Jewel is in the Lotus' - is very simplistically, a wish to Awaken. What we do, we become.
As my dear departed late father used to whimsically say, "Patience and perseverance will 'feck' a flea!!" Keep at it. The best is yet to come!
It is looking at the actual process and nature that reveals the 'deity'...
For example only on closer inspection do we realise this female Bodhisattva is a computer user and game player...
As an overly limbed critter I for one value the profound and trivial hidden in plain sight of our rainbow bodhis...