Bodhicitta

... the Dawning Moon of the Mind

Thangka No. 6 - Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara

Inspiration:

to this thangka came from a magnificent ancient Taiwanese painting of Kuan-Yin of a Thousand Eyes and Arms - from which I adopted the central composition elements, improvising my own  dream of the 1000-armed Bodhisattva around them.

Material: Cotton Canvas, framed in original antique Tibetan silk brocade

Colours: Watercolours, and 24-carat Gold

Size: 58.5 x 30 cm

Creation Period: 

around 450 hrs - sketched in Nepal in 2012, continued in South India and the French Pyrenees, completed in Berlin in Mid-May 2013.

Availability: available.
Please send your email enquiry to ariyanandi[at]gmail[dot]com if you are interested in this original. For prints, posters etc. please see under the About Thangkas and How to Order Prints section (sidebar) and visit my online shop Ariya's Thangkas .

detail: 11 heads of the bodhisattva

Bodhicitta is a sudden and lasting compassion for all beings, accompanied by a falling away of the attachment to the illusion of an inherently-existing self. 

This intention to benefit all beings,

Which does not arise in others even for their own sake,

Is an extraordinary jewel of the mind,

And its birth is an unprecedented wonder.

 

How can I  fathom the depths

Of the goodness of this jewel of the mind,

The panacea that relieves the world of pain

And is the source of all its joy?

 If merely a benevolent intention

Excels venerating the Buddhas,

Then what need to mention striving to make

All beings without exception happy? 

I bow down to the body of him

In whom the sacred precious mind is born.

I seek refuge in that source of joy

Who brings to happiness even those who harm him.

Shantideva

One for whom bodhicitta is the prime motivation for all actions is called a Bodhisattva.

Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara is venerated as the ideal of Karuna - his compassion for the world and his willingness to bear the pain of others. 

detail: hands

One prominent Buddhist story tells of Avalokiteshvara vowing never to rest until he had freed all sentient beings from Samsara. Despite strenuous effort, he realizes that still many unhappy beings were yet to be saved. After struggling to comprehend the needs of so many, his head splits into eleven pieces. Amithaba Buddha, his teacher (who represents mercy and wisdom) seeing his plight, gives him eleven heads with which to hear the cries of the suffering. Upon hearing these cries and comprehending them, Avalokiteshvara attempts to reach out to all those who needed aid, but found that his two arms shattered into pieces. Once more, Amitabha Buddha comes to his aid and invests him with a thousand arms with which to aid the suffering multitudes.

Do not think of the bodhisattva 

as a being separate from yourself. 

When we see and hear the suffering of others 

and respond to that suffering, 

we are the heads and arms of the bodhisattva. 

hand-stitched brocade frame

The little space within the heart 

is as great as the vast universe. 

The heavens and earth are there, 

the sun, the moon and the stars. 

Fire and lightning are there, 

and all that is now and all that is not. 

 The Upanishads

Above Avalokiteshvara, wisdom bodhisattva Manjushri (left) and Dharma protector Mahakala (right) are depicted. In the centre, floating on a lotus is Amitabha, Buddha of the lotus family of the 5 Dhyani (wisdom) Buddhas. He is red and represents discriminating awareness-wisdom and its transmuted opposites, passion and grasping. The Padma (lotus) Buddha family is associated with the element of fire. Below Avalokiteshvara, his emanations Green Tara (left) and White Tara (right).

detail: White Tara

The vow of the Bodhisattva is that he or she will not go into Nirvana until every single suffering being has entered Nirvana. One has to understand what this means. Our awakening is not a personal triumph. We do not have to win a spiritual sprint. We are one mind. Awakening is to penetrate more and more deeply into this truth. The world is alive. And as long as there is suffering then this living whole is shattered. Whether it is my suffering or the suffering of another, when seen from the perspective of the Bodhisattva makes no difference, because, seen from this perspective there is no ‘me’ or ‘another.’

 Albert Low 

Come, come whoever you are!

 Wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.

It doesn't matter.

Ours is not a caravan

 of despair.

Come,

come even if you have

broken your vows

 a thousand times.

Come,

 come yet again,

come!

inscribed on Rumi's tomb

Form is Emptiness, Emptiness is Form

No. 5 - Avalokiteshvara, painted in the Japanese Thangka style

When the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara

Was coursing in the deep Prajna Paramita,

He perceived that all Five Skandhas are empty.

Thus he overcame all ills and suffering.

O Sariputra, Form does not differ from Emptiness

And Emptiness does not differ from Form.

Form is Emptiness and Emptiness is Form.

The same is true for Feelings,

Perceptions, Volitions and Consciousness.

Sariputra, the characteristics of the

Emptiness of all Dharmas are

Non-Arising, Non-Ceasing, Non-Defiled,

Non-Pure, Non-Increasing, Non-Decreasing.

Therefore, in Emptiness there are no Forms,

No Feelings, Perceptions, Volitions or Consciousness,

No Eye, Ear, Nose, Tongue, Body or Mind;

No Form, Sound, Smell, Taste, Touch or Mind Object;

No Realm of the Eye,

Until we come to no realm of Consciousness.

No Ignorance and also no ending of Ignorance,

Until we come to no Old Age and Death.

Also, there is no Truth of Suffering,

Of the Cause of Suffering,

Of the Cessation of Suffering, 
Nor of the Path.

There is no Wisdom, and there is no Attainment whatsoever,

Because there is nothing to be attained.

The Bodhisattva relying on Prajna Paramita 

Has no obstruction in his mind.

Because there is no obstruction, he has no hearing,

And he passes beyond confused imagination

And reaches Ultimate Nirvana.

The Buddhas of the Three Worlds,

By relying on Prajna Paramita

Have attained Supreme Enlightenment.

Therefore, the Prajna Paramita is the Great Mantra,

The Mantra of Illumination, the Supreme Mantra,

Which can truly protect one from all suffering without fail.

Therefore he uttered the Mantra of Prajna Paramita:

Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha

Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in the Prajnaparamita Sutra

In the Mahayana canon, the Heart Sutra is ascribed entirely to the bodhisattva Kuan Yin/Kwannon. This is unique, as most Mahayana Sutras are usually ascribed to Shakyamuni Buddha and the teachings, deeds or vows of the bodhisattvas are described by Shakyamuni Buddha. In the Heart Sutra however, it is Guanyin / Avalokiteshvara who describes to the Arahat Sariputra the nature of reality and the essence of the Buddhist teachings. The famous Buddhist saying "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form" quoted above, comes from this sutra.

Material: Cotton Canvas, framed in original antique Tibetan silk brocade

Colours: Watercolours, and 24-carat Gold

Size: 38 x 68 cm

Creation Period: 

around 390 hrs between March 21 and May 31, 2012 in Bhaktapur/Nepal

Availability: sold

For prints, posters etc. please see under the About Thangkas and How to Order Prints section (sidebar) and visit my online shop http://www.zazzle.com/ariyanandi*

On meaning and symbolism of Kuanyin/Avalokiteshvara/Chenrezig:

Avalokiteshvara is a bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. He is one of the more widely revered bodhisattvas in mainstream Mahayana Buddhism. He is also known as Chenrezig (Tibetan), Kuan-Yin / Guanyin (Chinese), Lokeshvara (Sanskrit) and Kannon (Japanese).

A total of 33 different manifestations of Avalokiteshvara are described in Buddhist literature, including female manifestations, all to suit the minds of various beings.

In Sanskrit, Avalokiteshvara is also referred to as Padmapāni ("Holder of the Lotus") or Lokeśvara ("Lord of the World").

In Tibetan, Avalokiteshvara is known as Jainraisig/Chenrezig and is said to be incarnated in the Dalai Lama, the Karmapa and other high lamas.

Avalokiteshvara with the ending a-svara ("sound, noise"), which means "sound perceiver", literally "he who looks down upon sound" i.e., the cries of sentient beings who need his help, was originally depicted as a male bodhisattva, and therefore wears chest-revealing clothing and may even sport a moustache. In other traditions, he may be depicted more often in female form (Guanyin) or even androgynous. 

The Lotus Sūtra describes him as a bodhisattva who can assume any form required to relieve suffering, and also has the power to grant children (possibly relating to the fact that in this Sutra, unlike in others, both men and women are believed to have the ability to achieve enlightenment). He is therefore seen as a savior, both spiritually and physically. The sutras state that through his saving grace even those who have no chance of being enlightened can be enlightened, and those deep in negative karma can still find salvation through his compassion.

Similarly, in Pure Land Buddhism, Guanyin is described as the "Barque of Salvation". Along with Amitabha Buddha she temporarily liberates beings out of the Wheel of Samsara by placing them in the heart of a lotus and then sending them home to the Western Pure Land of Sukhāvatī, where they will have the chance to accrue the necessary merit so as to be a Buddha in one lifetime.

In Tibetan Buddhism, Tara came into existence from a single tear shed by Chenrezig. When the tear fell to the ground it created a lake, and a lotus opening in the lake revealed Tara. In another version of this story, Tara emerges from the heart of Chenrezig. In either version, it is Chenrezig's outpouring of compassion which manifests Tara as a being.

Mahāyāna Buddhism relates Avalokiteshvara to the six-syllable mantra: OM MANI PADME HUM. Due to his association with this mantra, in Tibetan Buddhism Avalokiteshvara is also called Shadakshari, which means "Lord of the Six Syllables." Recitation of this mantra along with prayer beads, is the most popular religious practice in Tibetan Buddhism.

detail: 11 heads

framed in antique Tibetan silk brocade