Beginnings ...

Where did I learn to paint Thangkas?

Bhaktapur Durbar Square

For many wonderful years now, I have been spending my time with my small family mainly between a quiet seaside village in Southern India during the winter months, and the ancient city of Bhaktapur, Nepal during summers/rainy seasons. 

Mangal Lama at work

It was here then that in May 2010, more or less consciously in search of a "meditation technique" that I could more naturally incorporate into a mindful daily life than just formal meditation sittings ... my path crossed that of the wonderful Tibetan master painter, Mr Mangal Lama, at his "Historical Thangku Art School" in Bhaktapur, Nepal.
(http://historicalthangka.150m.com/)

A temple in Bhaktapur

In June 2010, we started off with an intensive full-time "Basic Thangka Painting Course" that would take several months to complete, and during which I learned - from the scratch - to understand and apply the intricacies and complex architecture-style rules governing the anatomy of a selection of Tibetan buddhas, bodhisattvas and other deities, about the mysterious symbolism of Tibetan religion, about composition and landscape elements of thangkas, later moving on to creating my first canvas and being confronted with brush, colours and the preparation and use of real gold leaf paint. (find out more about Sketches and Mudras further down in this blog).

Music University Bhaktapur

It was an immensely rewarding time during which I learned a lot - not only about painting, but also about myself, and I will remain deeply grateful to have had the opportunity of studying with Mangalji ... As a matter of fact, I returned to him for a second practice period in 2011 - when I painted my 4th thangka (Rhada Krishna) under his expert guidance.

These days, I find myself becoming - little by little - more confident in painting by myself, and enjoying not only its meditative aspect, but also learning to solve arising challenges independently, and slowly understanding more about the many secrets of this sacred old art.

How is it Done?

A few words on the technique of  Thangka painting. Normally, it involves the following steps:

1. Preparing the canvas which is usually made of a fine cotton or silk, fastened and stretched to a wooden frame with cord that can later be readjusted to ensure tautness.
2. Mixing the gesso.  Gesso is a traditional mix of an animal glue binder (in Nepal buffalo-skin glue), chalk, and white pigment. Its absorbency makes it work with all painting media. It is also used as a base on three-dimensional surfaces for the application of paint or gold leaf (see step 6).  Mixing and applying it is an art form in itself since it is usually applied in 10 or more extremely thin layers.Then the canvas is left to dry and afterwards it is repeatedly polished with a smooth oval shaped stone in order to remove any uneven or raised surfaces.
3. Drawing the sketch with a fine pencil onto the canvas.
4. At this point the application of colour starts from the furthest landscape elements (sky and clouds) to the closest (mountains and water). Traditionally natural mineral colours ground into fine powders and mixed with some gesso were used, but today many contemporary artists choose a mixture of opaque watercolours / guache and acrylics instead. Painting the sky is often the most time consuming part of the whole painting. Basically, one is applying thousands of tiny dots, layer upon layer for weeks to create the desired gradation or shading.
5. After all landscape elements have been completed, the deities are painted. Generally all flat colors are applied first, then outlines, then shading.
6. Real gold is then applied to jewelry, luminous rays of light, brocade patterns, etc. Gold paint is made by heating and dissolving gold leaf compressed powder in water and glue. When the gold has been applied to the canvas, it is burnished to create a 3 dimensional appearance. Gold is considered very highly in terms of offerings, its brilliance and purity making it an indispensable addition to a thangka.
7. Finally, the eyes of all figures are completed. This awakens them and imbues the painting with a life force.
8. The finished painted is mounted into a brocade frame.
9. Last, there is a blessing and consecration ritual, sometimes performed by a lama. The backside of a Tibetan Thangka is generally enscribed with the Vajra Guru mantra: om ah hum (or hung), known as 'the mantra of all the Buddhas'. In essence the meaning of 'Om Ah Hum' can be expressed, as in the words of Sogyal Rinpoche in the 'Tibetan Book of Living & Dying' as "...the transformative blessings of the body, speech and mind of all the buddhas“. The tradition in painting a Tibetan thangka is to complete it by enscribing this mantra on the backside of the canvas, whereby Om is placed across the deities' third eye, Ah across the throat chakra and Hum across the heart chakra, thereby symbolically opening or awakening to life the represented deity.
10. A Thangka is normally left unsigned, the reason behind this being that the painter of a Thangka feels he/she is only a humble instrument in the representation of the deity. Loosely keeping to this tradition, I have merely singed my paintings on their backside.

About Sketches:

Buddha Head Sketch

The depiction of various deities on Thangkas is regulated by precise rules of composition. Some of these rules of composition are expressed visually through proportioning diagrams and sample sketches of deities.

White Tara Sketch

The sketches demonstrate, for example, various compositional schemes of thangkas: the posture of deities, the gestures that deities make with their hands (mudras), the symbolic objects that their hands clasp, the rendering of the deities' garments and accessories, and landscape elements that echo the deities' spiritual qualities.

Buddha Sakyamuni Sketch

 These rules of composition are timeless, as they were passed down from master to pupil through successive generations.

The original sketches/pencil drawings were coloured with Photoshop.

About Mudras:

Nine Mudras

 (the original pencil drawings were coloured with Photoshop)

Buddhas and bodhisattvas often are depicted in Buddhist art with stylized hand gestures called mudras. The word "mudra" is Sanskrit for "seal" or "sign," and each mudra has a specific meaning. Buddhists sometimes use these symbolic gestures during rituals and meditation.

Explanation of above Mudras (by columns, starting top left)

Bhumisparsa Mudra (Gesture of Calling the Earth to Witness)

The right hand, hanging over the knee, palm inward, points to the earth. The left hand is on his lap, palm upwards, in Avakasha Mudra (Gesture of leisure). Bhumisparsa mudra portrays the Buddha taking the earth as witness to his right to the bodhi throne, witnessing the fact that Shakyamuni has fulfilled the complete discipline and duty of a Bodhisattva. Shakyamuni’s instantaneous transformation from a Bodhisattva to the Buddha recalls the superiority of the knowledge of the Buddha, which is pure bodhi perception and the means that enables the Enlightened One to triumph over the demons.

The Dhyani Buddha Akshobhya shows the same Mudra.

Vajrahumkara Mudra (The Embracing Gesture)

also called "The Om Sound Gesture". The wrists are crossed at the breast. The hands hold the Vajra (=thunderbolt, male) and Ghanta (= bell, female). The right hand crosses over the left at the wrist, palms facing inwards towards the chest and usually over the heart, symbolizing the union of method and wisdom. This is the gesture of Adi Buddha Vajradara, Samvara and Trailokyavijaya.

Manjushri Mudra

Manjushri is depicted as a male bodhisattva wielding a flaming sword in his right hand, representing the realization of transcendent wisdom which cuts down ignorance and duality. The scripture supported by the lotus held in his left hand is a Prajñāpāramitā sūtra, representing his attainment of ultimate realization from the blossoming of wisdom.

Varada Mudra (Gesture of Granting Wishes)

This is the mudra of Dhyani Buddha Ratnasamhava, Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, Taras and (sometimes) standing Buddha Shakyamuni.

The charity of the Buddha is indicated by this mudra, as it is the gesture of dispensing favors. In this symbolism the right hand is directed downward. The palm should be completely exposed to the spectator, open and empty; the fingers may be slightly bent as if to support a round object. When the personage who makes this gesture is standing, he holds is arm slightly extended to the front. In seated statues, the hand remains at about breast level, a little to the side, the palm up; very often the other hand holds a corner of the kesa.

As noted above, this mudra symbolizes offering, giving, welcome, charity, compassion and sincerity. It is the mudra of the accomplishment of the wish to devote oneself to human salvation. The open hand, the extended fingers, symbolize the flowering of the Buddha’s Gift of Truth.

Vajrasattva Mudra

Vajrasattva (Tib. Dorje Sempa), the ‘indestructible being or hero’, is a bodhisattva in the Mahayana, Mantrayana and Vajrayana buddhist traditions.

Vajrasattva's name translates to Diamond Mind or Thunderbolt Mind. He is beautiful and peaceful with a sweetly smiling face and two eyes, and he sits in vajra-posture upon a white moon disc and a multicoloured lotus. With his right hand he embraces his consort, who is known either as Vajratopa (Tib. Dorje Nyenma), or Vajragarvi, the lady of ‘vajra-pride’. Vajrasattva  holds a golden five-pointed vajra (dorje) in front of his heart, and with his left hand resting upon his thigh he holds an upturned silver bell (ghanta) at the level of his hip.

In Tantric Buddhism (Vajrayana) the vajra and bell are used in many rites by a lama. The dorje is a male symbol that represents many things for the tantrika. The vajra is representative of compassion whereas its companion tool, the bell which is a female symbol, denotes wisdom. Some deities are shown holding each the vajra and bell in separate hands, symbolizing the union of the forces of wisdom and compassion, respectively.

Abhaya Mudra (Gesture of Fearlessness and Granting Protection)

This mudra is generally made with the right hand raised to should height, the arm crooked, the palm of the hand facing outward, the fingers upright and joined. The left hand hangs down at the side of the body.

This mudra would seem to sustain the theory that symbolic gestures originally sprang from natural movements. Certainly the outstretched hand is an almost universal iconographic symbol. Since antiquity it was a gesture asserting power. Here it is the gesture of the Buddha Shakyamuni immediately after attaining enlightenment. It is also the traditional Indian gesture of appeasement made by the Buddha when a drunken elephant, which had been goaded on by the malevolent Devadatta, attacked him. The Buddha’s gesture immediately stopped the animal in its tracks and subdued it. Accordingly, it indicates not only the appeasement of the senses, but also the absence of fear; and it confers such absence of fear on others, which is a liberating factor.

Buddhapatra Mudra (Mudra of the Buddha's Alms Bowl)/Dhyana Mudra (Meditation Mudra)

This is one of the mudras distinctively identified with Shakyamuni Buddha. Here the two hands are placed horizontally in opposition to hold an actual or figurative begging bowl at the level of the breast, one hand above and the other underneath. In some variations, the bowl is replaced by a wish-granting jewel or by a treasure box.

The Dhyana Mudra is the characteristic gesture of Buddha Shakyamuni, Dhyani Buddha Amitaba and the Medicine Buddhas.

This is the mudra of meditation, of concentration on the Good Law, of the attainment of spiritual perfection, of bodhi, or awakening. In this mudra, the back of the right hand rests on the palm of the other in such a way the tips of the thumbs lightly touch one another. The hands rest in the lap. The right hand, resting on top, symbolizes the state of enlightenment; the other hand, resting below, the world of appearance. This gesture expresses overcoming the world of appearance through enlightenment, as well as the enlightened state of mind for which samsara and nirvana are one. The position of the hands in this mudra derives, in accordance with the tradition, from the attitude, which the historical Buddha assumed, when he devoted himself to final meditation under the bodhi tree. This is the attitude he was found in when the demon armies of Mara attacked him. He was to alter it only when he called the earth to witness, at the moment of his triumph over the demons.

Namaskara or Anjali Mudra (Gesture of Praying / The Diamond Handclasp)

The Anjali Mudra is the mudra of offering and devotion. It is formed by joining the hands, which are held vertically at the level of the breast, palm against palm, fingers against fingers, interlocked at the tips, the right thumb covering the left.

The gesture formed by the union of the two hands, recalls the co-existence of the two inseparable worlds, which are really one: the Diamond World, or vajradhatu and the Matrix World, or gharbhadhatu. These two worlds are the expression of two aspects of one cosmic life and represent the reciprocal action of the spiritual and the materials, the static and the dynamic.

As this mudra is a gesture of adoration, giving homage to a superior state, it is never represented on a statue of the Buddha. It is a gesture, which belongs rather to Bodhisattvas and to lesser personages who give homage either to the Buddha or to the dharma. It is frequently seen on multiple-armed Avalokiteshvara (Kannon or Kwan-Yin).

Universally used by people in India and South-East Asia for salutation, it evokes an offering of good feelings, of one’s person, etc. and also indicates veneration if it is made at the level of the face.

Dharmachakra Mudra (Gesture of Turning the Wheel of the Law)

The mudra is especially characterized by a variety of forms, even in India. Generally speaking, the right hand is held at the level of the breast, palm facing outward, while the index finger and the thumb, join at the tips to form the mystic circle, touch the joined index and thumb of the left hand, whose palm is turned inward. It symbolizes one of the most important moments in the life of the Buddha, the occasion when he preached to his former companions the first sermon after his Enlightenment, in the Deer Park in Sarnath.

Making explicit reference to the wheel as it does, this mudra is particularly steeped in the rich and ancient symbolism of the wheel in Buddhist metaphysics. Apart from the Buddha Gautama, only Maitreya (the Buddha of the future) can, as a dispenser of the Law, form this mudra.