The upper left corner depicts scene of Mahamaya's dream. Mahamaya or Mayadevi is shown here sleeping in her palace and a white elephant is approaching her in dream. The elephant is shown in a cloud. Below this is the scene of Buddha's birth. It is said that when the future mother felt time was approaching she left for her parent's home. When she reaching the park of Lumbini, her son was born from her right side as she held the branch of the shala tree. The newborn baby walked seven steps two wards each point of the compass, exclaiming: "this is my last incarnation". Below this scene is entitled Suddhodana (Father of Siddhartha) counsels Siddhartha. When he came of age and assumed royal duties, Gautama became a true man of the world. In the scene he is shown in court and consulting his experienced father in the skilful conduct of material affairs. Thereafter two events of his life are depicted below this scene the first is Buddha's encounter with Death. It is said that once Siddhartha had a strong desire to see other places and asked his charioteer to drive him outside the palace. On three trips through the gates he encountered with world of sufferings for the first time in the form of an old man, a sick man, a corpse and mendicant. When he saw a dead person carried away, his charioteer told him that death waits all of us, and that after rebirth most people return to another similar miserable life. Here Siddhartha is shown watching a corpse. The second scene depicts Siddhartha's mastery in athletics. As the son of the king Siddhartha received the first education and mastered of all lesson taught to him. He excelled in sports and other contests of skill. The most significant episode of his youth occurred during the contest for winning the hand of princess Gopa. An elephant was place inside the city gate to test who was strongest. Devadatta killed the animal with one hand. Siddhartha, seeing the mindless killing, pick up the animal lightly and tossed it over the city wall, where it came to life again. At the tournament, the crown price excelled in everything, including horse riding, and archery. Siddhartha was chosen as the groom.
The top center depicts and small image of Adi-Buddha Samantabhadra Father-Mother in cloud and below this is the scene of Buddha's promise to manifest Himself on the Earth. Before the Buddha was born into this world as Gautama Buddha or Shakyamuni Buddha, he was a Bodhisattva in the Tushita heaven, and his name there was shvetaketu. He vowed to manifest himself in the sentient world and relieve people from their sufferings. Here Buddha is shown making this vow surrounded by other celestial beings, holding a lotus flower in his right hand, symbolizing the purity of his intention.
Upper right corner depicts the scene of the Buddha's Descent at Sankashya from Tushita heaven. It is said that Buddha had made a journey to Tushita heaven to preach Abhidharma to his mother Mahamaya. In the present painting Buddha is shown descended from the heaven through the help of a ladder. Thereafter a preaching Buddha is shown under a tree and below this is the scene of renunciation. According to tradition after four encounters with world miseries and asceticism, Siddhartha made the decision to leave the worldly life to seek the causes of suffering and he secretly left the palace in the middle of the night, leaving his sleeping wife and son. Far outside, the city, the prince said farewell to his horse and charioteer. Sitting in front of a stupa he cut off his long hair, removed his jewelry and expensive clothing, and wrapped himself in a simple monk's robe. The scene is depicted below the scene of renunciation.
The scene of Mahaparinirvana is depicted at the lower right corner. Traveling great distances to disseminate his teachings, Buddha finally reached the city of Kushinagar, where he asked his disciples to spread a couch for him in a grove. He lay there, reclining on his right side, facing west, with his head supported by his hand. He realized clearly that death was approaching. Toward midnight of the same day, the event known in Buddhist terminology as the Mahaparinirvana or 'Final Nirvana', took place. It was a full-moon night and his eightieth birthday.
The bottom center depicts the scene of Buddha's asceticism. Wandering in search of knowledge and truth, Siddhartha came to a pleasant hermitage where, for six years, he joined five mendicants in a way of disciples based on progressively severe fasting. He ate a single grain of rice for each of the first two years, drank a single drop of water for each of the second two years, and took nothing at all during the last two years. After six years, although he was emaciated, but he was not a step closer to the hoped for understanding convinced that this extreme method did not result in ultimate understanding, he decided on another approach and started eating again and went on by himself, under reproach from his fellow mendicants, and found a quiet place where he hoped to meditate in silence. He stopped in Bodhgaya and sat down under a large papal tree. During his seven weeks of pondering and meditating, Mara tried to prevent Siddhartha from coming to the ultimate understanding. He sent his armies, but all their weapons and fired arrows transformed into flowers. But all through the tribulations, Siddhartha sat calm and unflinching, and Mara had to withdraw and thus was cleared the final hurdle on the way to Buddha's enlightenment.
Select Bibliography
Ben Meulenbeld, Buddhist Symbolism in Tibetan Thangka, Holland, 2001
"The Life of Buddha and the Art of Narration in Buddhist Thangka", Exotic India, News Letter, March, 2004
P.V. Bapat, 25,00 Years of Buddhism, Delhi, 1956
H. Kern, Manual of Indian Buddhism, Delhi, 1968
Marylin M. Rhie & Robert A.F. Thurman, Worlds of Transformation: Tibetan Art of Wisdom and Compassion, New York, 1999
This description is by Dr. Shailendra K. Verma, whose Doctorate thesis is on "Emergence and Evolution of the Buddha Image (From its inception to 8th century A.D.)".
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