Tibetan iconography/ the Tangkhas

Tibetan iconography/ the Tangkhas/ tools for meditation

by Ana-María Clasing

Tibetan iconography is born in close relationship with Buddhism and although its plastic form is not embodied until many years after the Buddha's enlightenment experience (S.VI BC), this becomes the most important meditation tool in the practice of Tibetan Buddhism.

Humanly shaped images within a complicated symbolic language, express the unspoken word of the Buddha's teachings. This millennial art challenges in part a detailed study called Iconology, where the representation of virtues, vices and ideas is done through human images. It is the magnificent work of Tibetan artists, lay people and devout monks.

Tankhas are the plastic/symbolic reflection of a spiritual path, in this case Buddhism. Wherever Buddhism was settled, it integrated, kept and respected the original cultures, thus developing with the new contexts the body of original teachings unchanged.

The Tangkha is a supportive-contemplative element for Buddhist practice. It is also a mirror for the practitioner's mental state as well as the experience of emptiness for the ‘great meditator’.

Symbol-based language is reflected in the fabric of Thangkas, as for example ‘The wheel of Dharma’, a metaphor which depicts the process of an individual’s passage through cyclic existence (or Samsara) and the relationship between the 12 links of dependent origination.

Or the image of ‘Vajrasattva or Dorje Sem Pa’, reflects the aspects of the 'spiritual hero', his mantra purifies hatred and rage. Holder of the ‘Vajra or Dorje’ involves holding the scepter and the bell (meaning method & wisdom) of the indestructibility of Buddhist reality, the state of indivisible Buddha.