What does a Thangka represent?

Thangka serve as important teaching tools depicting the life of the Buddha, various influential lamas and other deities and bodhisattvas. One subject is The Wheel of Life (Bhavachakra), which is a visual representation of the Abhidharma teachings (Art of Enlightenment).

Is Green Tara a goddess?

Tara is one of the most adored and well-known goddesses in Buddhist and Hindu pantheon. Tara can offer support to take you across to enlightenment. She is considered the mother of all Buddhas, or awakened ones. Tara is also a bodhisattva, which means she has dedicated her life to end the suffering of all beings.

What is a Green Tara thangka?

The Green Tara in the Cleveland thangka—a Tibetan devotional painting on cloth—specifically dispels fear and provides protection, just like her mantra inscribed on the back side of the painting. Her green color and fear-not gesture link her to the cosmic Buddha of the North, enshrined above her head.

Can thangkas be considered a visual representation of a spiritual reality?

Historically, thangkas were used as teaching aids He would carry with him painted scrolls to convey spiritually significant events, aspects of different deities, or Buddhist concepts. Made strictly according to the scriptures, thangkas are considered a visual representation of a spiritual reality.

What is the purpose of thangka paintings?

Thangkas have a variety of uses, but they are mostly used as a means of gaining merit, in death rituals, during meditation, and in Buddhist ceremonies. In order to learn more about Tibetan Buddhism, I spent two and a half weeks studying thangka painting.

What is the difference between White Tara and Green Tara?

White Tara and Green Tara 1450–1500 The White Tara, represented with the multiple eyes of omniscience, sits in meditation posture, while the Green Tara hangs one leg pendant. Both lower one hand in the boon-giving varada mudra.

Where are thangka art found?

The art form originated in Nepal in the 7th century, developing into several schools of painting. Historically, thangkas were used as teaching aids.

How is thanka made?

Making of Thanka The white cloth is first mounted on a frame and water-based colloid chalk is applied to the surface. It is polished with talc when dried. The canvas is thus ready for painting. Apart from this, there are thanka which are webs of embroidery, woven silk, silk tapestry or appliqué.

What skills are needed to make a thangka painting?

Thangka paintings involve more than artistic skills. To be able to sketch Tibetan Buddhist deities that form theme of most of the Thangkas, artist must have expert-level knowledge of measurements and proportions of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and other deities as outlined in Buddhist iconography.

What is a giant thangka?

Giant thangkas are traditionally displayed for special occasions and at huge gatherings. This vast thangka of the 21 Taras was commissioned by Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and painted in acrylic on canvas by a highly respected Swiss artist trained in the Tibetan tradition, Peter Iseli.

What do the 21 Taras on a thangka mean?

The 21 Taras symbolise the various different qualities of her holy body, speech and mind, and the “Praises to the Twenty-One Taras”, the golden verses painted onto the thangka, express those marvellous qualities and pay homage to them.

What are the 21 Taras and how do they work?

Each of the 21 Taras has a special power to help us: to grant long life, prosperity, relationship harmony, to protect us from jealousy, anger, sickness and troublemakers.

Who is Tara the Liberator?

Tara is a meditational deity upon whom all the holy beings of the past relied; the great Indian masters of the past, such as Atisha, the great Kadampa masters of Tibet, Lama Tsongkhapa, and all the lineage gurus of the four Tibetan traditions. See our Tara the Liberator page for more information.