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Tibetan
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TIBETAN ART Page 2 Identifying
poses, symbols, and attributes The supramundane beings seen on gompa walls were not painted there for the sole purpose of decoration, and it is not even accurate to think of them as depicted, however beautifully, as an act of adoration, or as depicted for that purpose, as a Christian artist may create images for the purpose of adoration. Rather, they are vehicles for meditation and transformation, and in creating the image, the artist accumulates merit. In viewing an image and meditating upon it, the believer seeks ultimately to draw that deity into him or herself, to be transformed into the divine being or the spiritual condition it represents, achieving union. In Christian terms, this would be considered heresy. Symbolic gestures and poses, deriving from the Hindu tradition, are an important part of this visual code. Mudra, for example, are gestures of the hand that represent particular attitudes or actions. In the mudra known as Dharmachakra or turning the Wheel of the Law, the thumb and forefinger of both hands are closed in a circle, with the hands held near the level of the heart: this mudra is appropriate to certain deities and represents preaching. Varada, the mudra symbolizing charity or giving, is shown by a lowered arm, open palm held outward, with all the fingers extended downward, and is appropriate to Ratnasambhava. Asana are symbolic body positions or poses. A well-known example is the Dhyanasana (also known as Vajrasana or Padmasana), the meditation position in which the Buddha Shakyamuni is usually shown--seated, cross-legged, with the soles of the feet visible. There are many other poses, some appropriate to peaceful deities, and others to wrathful ones. An angry deity, for example, is often shown in Alidhasana, standing, with the left leg bent at the knee and the right leg thrust to the side. Various deities have their appropriate type of throne (a lotus throne, a diamond throne, etc.) and their own particular vahana or mount--animal, bird, or mythic creature. And deities are also depicted holding their own appropriate ritual or symbolic objects. The vajra (dorje in Tibetan) signifies a thunderbolt. This ritual object is not represented as a jagged-edged bolt of lightning, but rather as a small, double-headed scepter, highly stylized. It later developed a parallel signification as the diamond symbol (see below). Among other ritual attributes, a book symbolizes wisdom, a lotus flower is the emblem of purity, a sword is a weapon for destroying ignorance, etc. Of these, the vajra is the most important of all tantric symbols. It has ancient Indo-European roots--the thunderbolt was wielded by Zeus and by Thor, and similarly appears in Vedic (early Hindu) culture as the weapon of Indra, king of the gods. It also correlates to the lingam of Shiva. As scepter, thunderbolt or phallus, the vajra connotes royalty and is the image of power, the word itself recognized in the names of several deities: one of the three greatest Bodhisattvas is Vajrapani, thunderbolt-in-hand; and Vajradhara (thunderbolt-holder) and Vajrasattva (thunderbolt-being) are names for various forms of the supreme deity. The vajra gradually became linked, conceptually, to a diamond, signifying that which is pure, translucent, indestructible, and adamantine (i.e., the truth of the Buddhist doctrine). As both thunderbolt and diamond, with all their connotations, the power of the symbol is doubled. In all Vajrayana ritual, the officiant holds a vajra, along with a bell (ghanta). In these rituals, the vajra symbolizes compassion, but it is also explained as symbolizing "means" (often referred to as "skillful means"), for compassion is the means toward achieving enlightenment, and with the dual concept of power and indestructibility inherent in the symbolic vajra object, it represents the invincible power of compassion. The bell signifies wisdom or insight (prajna): the clarity of mind that is able to identify misconceptions, illusions, and falsehood, and discern truth. In Buddhist terms, this means understanding both the impermanence and the emptiness of all things (the void), meaning that phenomena have no independent existence. Means
is the active part of the equation, its action being to remove ignorance
and to make wisdom, which was innate and latent, manifest. The vajra,
thus representing means, is identified as the male aspect, and the
bell, representing wisdom--that which is sought--as the female aspect.
(The lotus has also been identified as another emblem of the female
aspect or principle, a symbol that reinforces the sexual aspect
of this imagery.) Being two, the vajra and the bell represent duality,
but they must be used together: wisdom is sought, but without means,
is unattainable, and compassion is the means by which wisdom is
attained. Enlightenment, which dispels the illusion of duality,
depends on both compassion and wisdom, and is attained by the union
of these two. Even the shapes of the two ritual objects, thunderbolt-scepter
and bell, are symbolically representative and not coincidentally
suggestive. The
Artist as Medium These strict rules of iconometry govern the figure of a Buddha, but in the depiction of other beings, and in the broader sense, Tibetan art is not concerned with reproduction of the everyday world, but rather with the paradox of depicting that which is not seen. The Tibetan name for the painted scrolls most commonly known as thangkas is mt'on grol, "liberation through sight." Tibetan painting, fundamentally abstract or conceptual, is meant to be used to achieve spiritual transformation. Envisioning a spiritual state, it is thus not concerned with pictorial realism and with such devices as perspective and shading, giving the illusion of volume. To further dispel such illusions of naturalism, the deities are depicted in a plane of uniform light, with no identifiable, external source. The reality portrayed is, instead, transcendental, ultimate.
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