We sentient beings possess the wonderful ability to choose what reality to believe in. Proof of this can be seen within even a casual examination of any or all governmental elections.
If we apply this ability to the ‘seeing’ of Buddhist devotional art we furnish ourselves with a precious window into the realm of Enlightened beings. This is a vision into a world that can not be directly touched from within the confusion of ‘Samsara’. It can only be eluded to via emblematic archetypes, figurative symbolism, allegorical paradigms and ideographic metaphors; in an other word: art.
The Tibetan hierarchical frame work of artistic expression is as follows:
1. Creation of life itself; this expression is accomplished through the system of incarnation and it’s associated mechanism of karma.
2. Literature; expressing the ‘enlightened word’ through the medium of sound. This is accomplished by exposing ourselves to the voices of sacred instruments and chants, thereby opening the mind to vistas of great realization.
3. Sanctified architecture; provides a four dimensional diagram which models phenomenon and it’s connections to transcendent understanding. Here we dwell within enlightenment sensibilities.
4. Consecrated sculpture; is the conveyance of the enlightened emanation body, treasured energizing visualizations and a vessel of Buddha activity.
5. Sacred Paintings; which opens portals of understanding into the enlightened dimensions.
Next time you view a;
thangka, along your mine to follow it’s lines and colors into the teaching embedded within; or
as you face a sculpture of Buddha, allow the Bodhi presence to awaken within you; or
as you stand before a Stupa, see the chakra energy which connects it to the heavens and own it as your own; or
while resonating a Himalayan bowl find that bit of you which echoes within illuminated truth; and finally
as you pass through this lifetime look upon others and yourself as divine expressions, interconnected and precious.
- Richard Rudis
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