Himalayan Buddhist Art
Three points to consider when studying Buddhist art in the Himalayan region:

• art in context (how? Where is it located? What is its function?)
• art in practice (what is the piece of arts function in practice?)
• art and patronage (symbiotic relationship between artist and patron, what are the colors used and the expense of the piece?, acts of merit, special occasions)

ICONOGRAPHY – “Image Writing”… how do you recognize a deity?

[the Buddha]

- “Prabha Mandala” -Circle of light around the head
-“Urna” – wool , dot on the forehead
-Monk’s robe
-“Usnisha” – knot of knowledge (process to become an enlightenment being)
- “Mudra” – two handed gesture : touching the earth, teaching, meditation…
-long earlobes – wisdom
-seated on Mount Meru / the Lion’s Throne

[the Bodhisattva]

-princely robe
-“no fear” gesture (early teaching gestures)
-circle of light
-long earrings

ICONOLOGY – “Study of Icons” … the meaning and symbolism, style and aesthetics,
the history of the object
Art explains Buddhism. It is a tool for explaining Buddhist teachings.

2 nd century stories, themes [birth of the Buddha, Shakyamuni at the moment of
Enlightenment, Eight places of pilgrimage (sacred sites)]

Lotus is a symbol of transformation.

*Imagery does not change in Buddhist art but style varies throughout the world. Buddhism can accommodate local and regional traditions.

A Buddhist wall hanging scroll is read with the following diagram in mind:
(top) teachers and buddhas
(middle) largest figure – the most important figure (drawn my the master)
(bottom) deities that the patron favors or the personal donors (can tell the sect or the period of the scroll’s creation)

• The symbolic language of religious art includes gesture, color, attributes.
• The high level “tantras” were only made for the initiation process and thus not made public. Many have sexual contexts and distinctive dualities (example: blue/red, white/red). These were gradual teachings that served as a metaphor to achieve enlightenment.

1. Art in Context

1. ritual use and worship (new is fixed and good)
2. ephemeral art and ritual use (art created in the meditative process to serve as a sacred offering, then destroyed after the ritual is complete). The PROCESS is the art, not the finished product!

Check out these great web sites that display exquisite collections of Asian art...
- Himalayan Art
- Asian Art
- Rubin Museum of Tibetan Art

*mandala : Five Buddha Mandala (Panca Jina Mandela)
[circle, sacred space, enlightenment process, cosmology/Mt. Meru]
Found amongst Newar monks, watching its creation also
gives merit
Used in a ritual lasting anywhere from three hours to a few
days

Monk draws circles with thread and consecrates area with
the bell that is carried in his unused hand

Has cardinal directions, colors and gestures

Made using fine, colored loose dust
Is a tool for meditation, getting the body and the mind
ready to receive the teaching

Is a 3-D visualization upwards that is read from the outside
to the inside

When finished, an invitation to the god is given for him to
occupy the middle space

Swept away at the end of the ritual showing
“impermanence”

"At the end of the Tibetan Buddhist ceremony, H.H. the Dalai Lama pours the dust of the once mandala into a nearby river... where it forms one last mandala."

Click here to check out a 3-D image of a Tibetan Buddhist mandala.

*butter sculpture [yak butter]

Created in a congenial, competitive atmosphere of monks
or for special festivals

Saved in a cold climate, artists dip their hands in icy water
in preparation to sculpt

Colored yak butter and sculpted with special tools

Process is the meditation, once ritual/festival is finished,
the sculptures are destroyed

1. Art in Practice
1. “mudra” – gestures of the body
2. “mantra” – speech
3. “mandala” – meditation, self

Meditation and Puja – purifying the environment and the body through dance, gestures and offerings

Tibetan art is usually created on a scroll that can be covered in the middle with attached cloth on the top. The scroll is portable. There is a movement now where the art is being redefined in strict coherence with the doctrine and the one loose, free-hand style of Tibetan art is diminishing!

“Lost-Wax” Technique unique to Newar artists and found in Patan, Nepal

[Patan, one of the 18 th century kingdoms of the Katmandu Valley]

-This gold gilding on a copper surface began in the 7 th century using pure copper (wires) from Singapore and gold from Tibet. For hundreds of years, the Newar have kept this process secret and would not share any of the “family techniques” with their Tibetan sources.

1. Sit on the balcony (only source of light many times) and warm up the wax for the wax model
2. Create the wax image with as much detail as possible (will show up later). The more detail on the wax figure, the more detail on the copper figure.
3. Place clay as a molding around the image one to one and a half inch thick (needs a porous surface)
4. Place in a casting room (usually one with no ventilation) for one to two months so that the piece is thoroughly dry
5. Put in oven and heat up, wax in the mold with disappear
6. Melt the copper wires in six coffee-can type containers at a “family secret” temperature using no modern technology except a blower to distribute the heat at the bottom of the oven. (no gauges, the color of the flames determine when to stir)
7. In a rapid two minutes, pour the copper into the mold.
8. Dip the mold in cold water.
9. After five minutes, break the mold open and see the product.
10. If good and intact, start the chasing process. Hold the object with your toes and chase the copper into shape (tap it to get the detail apparent).
11. Gild the piece completely or partially. (Head is usually gilded cold.)
12. Paint on the gilding which is a mixture of mercury and gold dust.
    Be careful as mercury is a poison and can burn your skin!
13. Pass the figure through a blow torch to melt the mercury but keep the fine layer of gold on the figure itself.
14. Good scubbing.
15. Cold gilding – paint on the head, eyes and face. 

There are generations of these craftsmen in Pagan and the quality of each piece depends upon the family secret. Neighbors do not share their technique with each other. The base of these figures are empty so they will serve as areas of consecration! Most figures are religious based still since secular themes have not become popular.

“Repousse Technique” – creation of images by hammering flat sheets of metal honored at the Samyaka Festival which honors the past Buddhas.

“ Painting Technique” – always on a very thin and smooth canvas of cloth; using a grid draw the deity and landscape elements; choose expression and types of elements; prepare pigments and brush (usually made of horsehair); first paint in the landscape elements (the apprentice does this usually); then the center or Buddha is painted (usually by the master); shading is added (depending on the particular school that they follow); and then the application of gold takes place; and finally the varishing.

The words… OM AH HUM are added to the back to give the cloth painting good karma by acknowledging the “crown throat and heart” of the piece.

Cover
Chinese Brogue
Doorway (made of a different fabric)

Remember … these creations have an ephemeral use!