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January 13, 2000
Web posted at: 2:36 PM EST (1936 GMT)

By Mary-Jo Lipman
CNN Interactive Writer

(CNN) -- With a mission to awaken artistic and spiritual senses, the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, is showcasing 60 sacred Tibetan Buddhist paintings in an exhibit titled "Worlds of Transformation: Tibetan Art of Wisdom and Compassion." In Buddhism, both those attributes are necessary to achieve peace and tranquility.

The paintings, called tangkas, range in date from the mid-13th century to the early 20th century. They typically depict images of such religious icons as the Buddha, his disciples, deities and guardian figures. Often hung in monasteries or shrines of private homes, tangkas have been used in meditation rituals or as historical records for various sects.

Tibet House of New York -- which seeks to preserve Tibetan culture -- organized the exhibition using works from the collection of Shelley and Donald Rubin. The show is curated by two leading scholars of Buddhist art, Marilyn Rhie and Robert A. F. Thurman. Accompanying the show is a catalogue by Rhie and Thurman that shows the paintings in the exhibit and 140 others from the Rubin collection. (Harry N. Abrams, $95).

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The beginning of the exhibit focuses on images of the founder of Buddhism, Shakyamuni. According to Buddhist teachings, Shakyamuni was a prince who left his riches behind to search for enlightenment.

"Buddhists basically feel suffering is inherent in life," says Jennifer Casler Price, curator of Asian and non-Western art at the Kimbell. "What all Buddhists are trying to do is break through that and reach a state of perfection. Basically, Buddha was looking for way to do that. He achieved that through mediation."

In a 17th-century portrait of Shakyamuni, he's shown touching the ground with his right hand. That gesture, Casler Price says, signifies the moment he attained enlightenment and triumphed over evil.

Other significant images include those of bodhisattva, enlightened beings destined to become buddhas. There are many bodhisattva, representing attributes such as compassion or wisdom, Casler Price says. She notes that the painting of the bodhisattva Maitreya is said to show the future, "the next Buddha that comes to Earth."

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Maitreya -- like all bodhisattva -- is dressed as a prince, symbolic of the idea that Shakyamuni was a prince before he became Buddha, Casler Price says. He's wearing colorful, embroidered flowing garments, a jewel-encrusted crown, and fancy bracelets, armlets and anklets.

"Every space of the painting is activated and energized," Casler Price says. "These rays --- it's like he's emitting this energy field, drawing you into it."

Featured in monks' clothing are the first disciples of the Buddha, known as arhats, Casler Price says. "(They) were responsible for spreading the Buddhist religion throughout India and East Asia."

Each of the four orders of Tibetan Buddhism has protector deities. They're believed to guard Buddhist temples and help practitioners overcome negative qualities -- like lust, hate or greed -- that would impede them from attaining enlightenment.

The tangka "Vaishravana," for example, shows the guardian of the north, who also functions as a wealth deity, Casler Price says. "There's this mongoose on his lap, and the mongoose is spitting jewels. It's indicative that you don't want too much wealth."

Also depicted is a union between male and female deities that symbolizes the union of wisdom and compassion, according to Casler Price.

"The male is compassion, which is active, and the female is wisdom, which is intuitive," she says. "You have to have the union of these two things ... in order to reach a calm, so that you can transcend badness in the world."

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Casler Price says each tangka is more than just an image. "The spirit of that deity comes into that painting," she says. "Paintings are consecrated once they're completed, and the spirit of the deity is invited to inhabit that image.

"When a practitioner is using this image as a focus of visualization, he or she is entering the image as well and becoming one with that deity. So it's the practitioner and the deity against evil."

Casler Price says she thinks patrons will come away from the exhibit with a greater understanding of Tibetan Buddhism and the role of tangkas in religious life.

"There's this universal idea of compassion and serenity and peace and calm that comes through the paintings that almost anyone can sense," Casler Price says. "These are religious icons. You can see why somebody would want to contemplate on a painting to make them feel better or to help them overcome some evil."

 RELATED STORIES:

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 RELATED SITES:

Kimbell Art Museum
Tibet House
Buddhist Door Glossary

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