Dorje Chang Statue
In connection with the ‘Space for Mind, Space for Art: treasures of Tibetan Buddhism and contemporary responses‘ which is happening this week at The Spring Project, in Lambeth, London, the sangha in Brighton decided to put on their own exhibition ‘Art of Enlightenment’.
The pictures below show some of the most common forms used in the meditation practices of the Karma Kagyu tradition of Buddhism. They are from the website www.thanka.buddhizmusma.hu.
Click on any of the thumbnails to enlarge the image.
Top row, left to right: 16th Karmapa, 2nd Karmapa, Black Coat in union with Radiant Goddess. Middle row left to right: Black Coat, the Karma Kagyu Refuge Tree, Diamond Mind. Bottom row left to right: Loving Eyes, Red Wisdom, Buddha of Highest Bliss in union with Red Wisdom.
This set of three stunning 19th Century Tibetan thangka paintings (click on each to enlarge) was just posted to the Himalayan Art Resource website. The three composition painting set depicts the Karma Kagyu Great Seal (Skt. Mahamudra) Lineage ending with the 14th Gyalwa Karmapa, Thegchog Dorje (1798-1868).
6th Shamarpa Mipham Chokyi Wangchuk
The Himalayan Art Resource website recently posted a picture of this marvellous 18th century thangka painting (click to enlarge) of Mipam Chokyi Wangchuk, The 6th Shamarpa (1584-1629). The 6th Shamarpa is an exceptionally important figure in the Karma Kagyu school, holding the lineage between the 9th and 10th Karmapas. His debating skills were so extraordinary that he was known as the “Pandita of the North, the Omniscient Shamarpa in whom Manjushri delights”. Famed for his deep insight, he had memorised fifty volumes of sutras and tantras by the age of seventeen, and was later to write ten texts explaining both the sutra and tantra traditions. He was the teacher of Desi Tsangpa, who ruled central Tibet, and it was while he was travelling in east Tibet – successfully playing the mediator in a regional disturbance – that he recognised and became the teacher of the 10th Karmapa, Choying Dorje. Subsequent travels took him to Nepal, where he taught Buddhism in the original Sanskrit to the king, Laxman Naran Singh, and to other devotees, and where he eventually died in the Helambu mountains, near a cave in which Milarepa, Tibet’s great yogi, had once meditated.
This beautiful painting, from the collection of the Rubin Museum of Art, New York, is in the Karma Gardri style of Eastern Tibet and dates from the 19th Century. It is based on the Guru Yoga in Four Sessions (Tib. tun shi lami naljor) meditation composed by the 8th Karmapa Mikyö Dorje (1507–1554). This practice is taught in Diamond Way Buddhist centres, after one has completed the Four Foundational Practices (Tib. ngondro) (click on image to enlarge).
Thangka painting of the 8th Karmapa Mikyö Dorje
9th Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje with Black Crown rendered in perfect detail
The superb Himalayan Art website recently posted this beautiful new image of an 18th Century thangka of the 9th Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje (click on images to enlarge).
Early Karma Kagyu Refuge Tree
This beautiful image, from the superb Himalayan Art Resource, is apparently of the earliest known Karma Kagyu Refuge Tree paintings. (more…)
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We’d like to share some impressions from an enormously successful ten-day long series of events held by Diamond Way Buddhism UK from 4-13 June 2010 at the Novas Contemporary Urban Centre on Bankside, London.
The programme included a series of talks, movies, exhibits and guided meditations aimed at introducing Tibetan Buddhism’s profound methods for understanding the mind and discovering lasting happiness. The theme “Space for Mind” was borrowed from the working title of the project to purchase a new London Buddhist Centre. In particular, the programme was geared towards offering Diamond Way Buddhism to the London Borough of Southwark and the people who live and work there.
Throughout the ten days there was an exhibition of Tibetan Buddhist art entitled “Expressions of Enlightenment”. A number of beautifully crafted examples of Tibetan Buddhist statues and scroll paintings (thangkas) were displayed together with explanations of their deep symbolism and use as aids for meditation. Tours of the exhibition were offered each weekday from noon to 7pm, together with the opportunity for visitors to take part in short guided meditations.
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