TIBETAN
ART Page 3
TANTRIC
IMAGES
Peaceful and Wrathful Forms
The image of Buddha (Shakyamuni) known around the world is that
of a seated figure in serene meditation--an icon recognized by people
who know little else about Buddhism. Yet Tibetan Buddhism depicts
deities whose appearance so contradicts the common expectation,
that they are immediately misunderstood. The sight of apparently
demonic beings dancing on the walls of a sacred temple, alongside
the expected images of tranquil deities with gentle faces, both
misleads and bewilders uninitiated viewers. As mentioned above,
deities may appear in different emanations, in tantric as well as
non-tantric form, in which case they are depicted as different beings.
The figures of horrific aspect are tantric. Seen within the same
gompa, even side by side upon a wall, these contrasting images of
serenity and ferocity provide a jolting change of visual rhythm,
and an almost emotional dynamism.
These
"terrifying deities" apparently derive from several sources.
Some, such as Mahakala (see below), were absorbed from Indian Tantrism;
others have a native Tibetan origin. According to legend, when Padmasambhava
came to Tibet to establish Buddhism, he encountered hostile local
gods, whom he vanquished and bound over to serve the new faith.
According to various theories, they may have been indigenous gods
of the folk religion, or gods from the "old religion,"
i.e., Bon. Armed and fierce, they guard the entrances to sacred
places, combat evil, and show human beings the way to defeat negative
emotions that block the way to enlightenment.
Tantric
gods are depicted with thick limbs and powerful bodies, their faces
contorted and grimacing, eyes glaring, fangs flashing in their open
mouths. They brandish sharp weapons and their feet trample the bodies
of small beings in human shape. Their figures are cloaked in flame,
their hair and eyebrows ablaze. Some wear a crown of skulls, others
a necklace of severed human heads. Some drink blood from empty skulls.
Tantric deities may have a single head and two arms, but often they
have multiple heads and limbs, and some have animal heads. Uninstructed
viewers take them to be monsters, and wonder why they are given
such prominent place on gompa walls or in thangkas. But the recognition
that deities may take such wrathful as well as peaceful forms is
fundamental to an understanding of Tibetan iconology and art. It
has also been observed that the terrifying deities harness or sublimate
the violence that is a reality both of the cosmos and the human
personality.
In
Buddhist theory, these deities, although given human form (that
is, with arms, legs, and faces) are personified visualizations of
energy, determination, and invincible will--abstractions depicted
through figurative representation. In the same way, the peaceful
deities are symbolic representations of compassion, wisdom, and
insight.
The
concept that a deity may have several emanations or manifestations,
a feature common to both Hinduism and Buddhism, is one of the factors
that has led to the multiplicity of divinities. Thus Krishna, for
example, is an avatar or incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu, and
the fierce Vajrabhairava is a manifestation of the Buddhist Manjushri,
the great Bodhisattva of wisdom. The great Tibetan deities have
multiple manifestations, thus adding to the complexity of Tibetan
iconography. The relation of a deity to such emanations is sometimes
visually represented by placing above the head of the god a smaller
head or figure of the deity with which that god is spiritually connected.
Thus, a small image of the Dhyani-Buddha Amitabha is often depicted
above the head of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.
Some
of the wrathful gods are manifestations of Buddhas and of the great
Bodhisattvas, deities who have what might be described as a dual
nature or dual capacity. Yet other wrathful beings have a single
nature--an independent identity. In either case, the wrathful, ferocious
ones bear arms against destructive, negative forces: the passions
of anger, hatred, envy, greed, and pride. They are warriors against
ignorance, selfishness and the rule of ego. This is the meaning
of the weapons they wield: swords to cut through ignorance, axes
to hack down anger, and lassos to snare ego. Spiritual and psychological
champions, possessed of tireless energy, their ferocious expressions
reveal their determination to repel the subtle delusions that ensnare
us, hindering human understanding of truth and ultimate reality,
obstructing our path to liberation from suffering.
The
wrathful deity Trailokya-vijaya deserves special notice here. Although
not one of the very commonly depicted deities, he appears repeatedly
in the Jampa mandalas (see Jampa gompa, below). He is "the
conqueror of the three worlds," a name signifying his victory
over the enemies of the three worlds of the manifested universe:
the celestial, earthly, and infernal realms. The primary mandala
of Jampa has been identified as the Vajrahadatu mandala, whose central
deity is Vairocana; however, Trailokya-vijaya is known as an active
or wrathful aspect of Vairocana, and as such he appears in several
of the Jampa mandalas. (Trailokya-vijaya is referred to in lines
56-59 of the Jampa Inscriptions: see below.) His color is blue and
he is generally depicted with two of his hands crossed at his breast
in the mudra known as vajrahumkara.
The
little figures whom these deities trample beneath their feet are
not helpless human beings but rather malignant spirits or representations
of those hostile forces that we need to overcome. By their example,
the wrathful deities inspire courage and strengthen determination;
greed and anger can be defeated, with the same energy and will shown
by the warrior god.
Other
supramundane beings stand watch at the entrance of a gompa, defending
its sacred space against the malicious forces that seek to intrude.
Some protect the law, others serve as personal guards, protecting
believers against overt attack or the subtle, insidious, seductive
dangers that arise within. The great beings, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas,
use these terrifying forms in order to transform destructive forces
and impulses into beneficial spiritual aids.
Yab-Yum
If these ferocious, demonic figures are startling to the uninitated
viewer, other tantric motifs and images seem even more shocking
or bizarre. Tantric paintings and sculpture often depict a male
and female deity locked in sexual embrace, an image known as "yab-yum,"
or father-mother. Seen without explanation, these images appear
erotic and, if considered as devotional art, obscene and scandalous.
Rather, the motif is to be understood as a visual symbol of a primary
Buddhist teaching, as explained above: that enlightenment is obtained
through the union of wisdom and compassion. The figures in a yab-yum
image are thus symbolic, the male deity representing compassion,
the female representing wisdom (insight), and their embrace is a
visual metaphor for the rapture of union. Dualism, the illusory
perception of independent existence and origination, is the source
of egoism, ignorance, and suffering; union, the goal of the mystic,
the fundamental objective of yoga, transcends polarity and leads
to bliss. This is bodhicitta, the nonpolarized state, the recognition
of indivisible, indestructible truth--enlightenment.
The
yab-yum image, although esoteric (and sometimes restricted to initiates)
is specific to Tibetan Buddhism, i.e., to Vajrayana, and is a central
device in Tibetan art. It found no favor among the Mahayana Buddhists
of eastern Asia, and does not appear in the art of China, Japan
or Korea. But since sexual union is the fundamental means by which
life comes into existence, Tibetans do not see this as an inappropriate
symbol for the sacred mystery of ultimate spiritual communion. They
were, moreover, influenced by Indian tantrism, with its esoteric
doctrines and rituals. Although the female consort of a Buddhist
deity is sometimes referred to as his shakti, that term derives
from Hinduism, meaning power or energy, and in Hindu tantrism, the
feminine is the active principle. Yet in Tibetan Buddhism these
are reversed, with the female identified as prajna--wisdom or insight--and
the male as means (which relates to compassion)--the means by which
enlightenment is obtained, and thus the active component. Yab-yum
figures may have a single head and two arms and legs, or they may
have multiple limbs. The male figures may be dressed like Bodhisattvas,
with ornaments and royal dress, or they may be dressed as Dharmapalas
(see below).
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