TIBETAN REFLECTIONS
by Sandra Leng Kashyap
Here is a collage of photos of paintings based on traditional Tibetan Buddhist thangka motifs. Generally, thangkas were painted as scrolls which were hung on the walls of Tibetan monasteries or rolled up and carried by lamas as they travelled throughout the countryside. When unrolled, they provided the focus for teaching and reflection.
Posters were produced from two of the paintings, "Vajradhara" and "Ts'ong Khapa," as shown below. "Vajradhara" is the blue painting at the top. He symbolizes the unmanifest in the manifest and the manifest in the unmanifest -- the unity of all creation. Ts'ong Khapa was a great teacher who was said to have understood, realized, and actualized the essence of that meaning.
If you might be interested in ordering a poster, see the bottom of the list at:
Milarepa is another notable figure in the Tibetan Tradition. He is said to have become enlightened in one lifetime. In Milarepa's childhood, a wicked uncle usurped his family's wealth, leaving them destitute. Milarepa vowed to his mother that he would take revenge upon his uncle. To do so, he became adept in the art of black magic and destroyed his uncle. As a result, he accrued a huge debt of negative karma. Under the tutelage of his teacher, Marpa, Milarepa was able to work off his negative karma to become a shining light and salient figure in recent Buddhist history.
We cannot forget Shakyamuni, who exemplified a way to face, pass through, and transcend the suffering nature of existence.
