WOW! GUHYASAMAJA SPARSHAVAJRA TIBETAN BUDDHIST THANGKA

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WOW! GUHYASAMAJA SPARSHAVAJRA TIBETAN BUDDHIST THANGKA

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Sold Date: 12/04/2008
Channel: Online Auction
Source: eBay
Category: Fraternal, Political, Organizations

T is neither a painting in the mind

Nor a mind in the painting:

And yet, w else can one find a painting

Than in the mind?

Avatamsaka Sutra

"Preserving the Sacred Arts is always part of the preservation of Dharma"
~ Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche ~

Wonderful thangka in traditional colors of Guhyasamaja and consort Sparshavajra by Mane Lama of the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal.

Big!! Measures about 18 inches by 25 inches, minus the borders.

This thangka is not mounted in brocade, but brocade mounting in the finest Varanasi brocade is available for very reasonable prices. It may take a little time, but it is all good practice in patience :-)

GuhyasamÄja tantra

Guhyasamaja Tantra , or Esoteric Community Tantra, (tib.: gSang ba 'dus pa'i rgyud ) (Sanskrit: "Treatise on the Sum Total of Mysteries", also called TathÄgataguhyaka ("The Mystery of the Tathagatas [Buddhas]") is an important tantra whose practice is important to many schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It was one of the 18 major Tantras of the Ancient ([rnying ma]) school, a central practice of Marpa the Translator (albeit not transmitted to his famous disciple [Milarepa]), and central to early practice of the Sakya School, from whom it exercised a particular influence on the Ganden, later Gelug, Tradition.

Origin of the tantra

The Guhyasamaja, or "Secret Assembly," Tantra was developed at an early date in history to aid the Buddhist practitioner in understanding and practicing Tantric Buddhism to attain enlightenment.These are the basic texts of the Tantricâe"an esoteric and highly symbolicâe"form of Buddhism, which developed in India and became dominant in Tibet.

The Guhyasamaja Tantra is considered in the Indian commentarial tradition to be the most important of the MahÄyoga Tantra-s (by Tibetans to be a major Tantra of the bla med rgyud or so-called anuttara-yoga-tantra, class of texts) and probably dates to the seventh century C.E. This tantra is often known as the supreme and king of all other Highest Yoga Tantras because it is taught to students of Tantric Buddhism first; it is their mastery of this yogic path that allows them to study other tantras.

Iconography

His consort is called Sparshavajra or Adhiprajna. The consort Adhiprajna is consubstantiated with Guhyasamaja, who she encircles, and possesses the same attributes. She has three faces: red, light blue, and white. Her original hands embrace the (yab) at the back, the upper hands hold the flaming jewel and wheel, while the lower ones carry the sword of wisdom (prajna-khadga) and lotus. Both the deities are adorned with the costumes and ornaments of a Bodhisattva.

Practices

One of the methodologies employed by the devotee's guru, or spiritual teacher, in understanding the "transformative" nature of Heruka deities is the meditational process. In essence, the Guhyasamaja Akshobhyavajra Mandala is intended to teach the Buddhist practitioner to visualize him or herself as the central paired-deity in the meditational process, in this case Guhyasamaja Akshobhyavajra and Sparshavajri. Further, the goal of this tantric meditational mandala is for the devotee to realize that he or she is the generator and the emanator of this particular system, and is tfore considered to be the paired-deity in the center of the painting. It is the "transformation" deity, or Heruka deity in the center of the painting that leads the practitioner to enlightenment. Moreover, the practitioner acquires the wisdom and the compassion of the central deity, the four jina, or "victor" Buddhas and their Prajnas, when following this explicit path of the Guhyasamaja Akshobhyavajra cycle.

Tsongkhapa left to the world 18 volumes of collected teachings, with the largest amount being on GuhyasamÄja tantra. These 18 volumes containing hundred of titles relating to all aspects of Buddhist teachings and which clarify some of the most difficult topics of sutrayana and mantrayana teachings. among them "The Clear E...