Videos of Applying Gold in the Thangka

These sacred paintings serve as objects of contemplation, inspiration, and instruction, guiding practitioners on their spiritual path. Thangkas provide a visual gateway to the world of Tibetan Buddhism, encapsulating its rich symbolism, iconography, and spiritual concepts. With their vibrant colors, intricate patterns, and skillful craftsmanship, thangkas offer a profound visual medium for deepening one's understanding and connection to the teachings of Buddhism.

Thangkas come in various sizes, ranging from small pieces resembling Western half-length portraits to grand-scale creations spanning several meters in each dimension. While the larger thangkas are intended for temporary display during religious festivals, the majority of these artworks are designed for personal meditation or as educational aids for monastic students. The compositions of thangkas are meticulously crafted, featuring intricate details and often incorporating numerous small figures. A central deity or focal point is typically surrounded by a symmetrical arrangement of other divine beings, symbols, or narrative elements that convey profound spiritual teachings.

How is Thangka made

First, the canvas on which the painting is to be executed is laid on a wooden frame to determine the required dimensions. This canvas is an extremely finely woven cotton material, referred to in the Holy Scriptures as "Çura Canvas".

Then the canvas is cut, hemmed and, with the use of sturdy strings, very tightly mounted in the wooden frame. Painting is carried out with the frame in an upright position, without any further rigid support or backing.

In this studio, our primary artist, who works virtually exclusively for us, applies the undercoat consisting of a mixture of chalk and glue to the canvas by hand. Other Thangka workshops have turned to mainly using industrially pre-primed canvas.

This photo shows how the canvas, after receiving its base coat followed by a second coating of bone glue, is polished and smoothed by hand with a stone to attain a perfectly smooth, featureless painting surface. Through this process the canvas becomes quite rigid, thereby providing perfect conditions to evoke very finest artistic detail and over-all superior painting quality.

Using a different Thangka, we see how, after mounting, the complete basic pattern of the respective theme is applied to the canvas.

The following picture shows the steps in creating a gold-based Thangka, such as our No PH 9, the "Holy Mount Kailash". To achieve more intensive colour, yet another prime coat, in ochre, is applied, followed by a coat of pure gold. The so-called Thangka painting gold is traditionally produced by members of the Newar people in Nepal. 24-karat gold is ground to finest powder and mixed with bone glue and water in proportions suitable for direct use in painting. Thus, the Thangka gold is not gold leaf at all! Silver can be processed and used in the same way: Mount Kailash and the surrounding peaks in our completed Thangka were not painted with white paint, rather with precious silver.

Here, the nearly completed piece has been removed from the wooden frame. Now only the very finest finishing touches remain to be added, such as compacting the gold and giving Mount Kailash its silver mantle.

K. Lama regarded his already half-finished thangka proudly

The Mount Kailash Thangka, including the black margin (which can also facilitate the fastening of a traditional brocade frame), is now complete. Only the background gold must be compacted in the places where it is later intended to exhibit a sheen.

Here we see an old ballpoint pen casing into which a specially cut agate has been fitted. The back of this semi-precious stone is slightly concave and can be used to compact gold over extensive areas of the Thangka, while the blunt point is used to lineally compact gold, thus creating a shiny effect.

In this way, through partial compaction of the gold or refraining from compaction, nearly three-dimensional effects can be achieved. The glorious sheen of gold artistically treated in this way richly rewards the beholder or meditator with a Thangka possessed of an extraordinarily aesthetic aura.

Thangka Making Video

Iconography
The idea of freeing the self (ourselves) from material world & the realisation of the supreme self is a theme common to Indian Philosophy. This is why word associated with the liberation such as Moksha, Samsara ( cycles of suffering), Karma & Nirvana are common to Hinduism , Jainism & Sikhism. The difference between these three schools of thought is twofold, 1. How this freeing of the self is attained & 2. What the nature of this freedom 'is'. That is what state of being freed or partly freed actually feels like or how it can be described.

Gautama is painted with golden skin sitting in a lotus seat [Skt. Padmasana] also called the meditative seat [Skt. Dhyanasana] & upon a white moon disc which represents the male principle of method which itself is upon a lotus throne. His left hand touches the ground in what is called bhumisparse mudra which symbolises his own recognition of enlightened mind in one of the most iconic images in all Buddhism. The palm always faces inwards. His feet are deliberately drawn level with one another & enlarged, being specific marks of a Buddha. His right hand supports an alms bowl [Skt. Patra], containing the liquid elixir of eternal life. Somehow the simple image of the bowl reflects his overwhelming humility & kindness. He wears the traditionally maroon gold monk's patched robe [Skt. Samghati] made of twenty five pieces of cloth which the first Buddhist monks sewed together. The Buddha has a green nimbus and blue aureole around his body signifying the highest level of understanding. Siddhartha is surrounded by Pink Lotuses [Skt. Padma]. This kind of lotus is connected with loving kindness & a flowering of pure consciousness. The closed bud to his right side represents the past or originating mind, the blooming flower represents the present & the buds represents the future Buddha Maitreya and forthcoming realisations. His elongated earlobes depict his royal connection; his knotted black hair & topknot symbolise his abandonment of worldly possessions; the dot [Skt. Urna] on his brow on the command chakra [Skt. Ajna] represents his transcendent wisdom, the 31st mark of a Buddha.



Life Story
Gautama was born c.563 BCE Lumbini, today in Nepal Died c.483 BCE Kushinagar in India. within the Sakya kingdom in Nepal. He family names were variously called Gautama [Skt. 'Best Cow'] & surname Shakyamuni [Skt. meaning 'Sage of the Shakyas'] The name Gautama is linked with a person called Maharshi [Eng. victorious on earth] Gautama who was an ancient seer. Maharshi Gouthama descendents adopted his surname. During his life he was as often called Gautama Tathagata, as Gautama Siddhi-hatha as Gautama Buddha. It was in recognition of his spiritual accomplishments he was called Siddhartha & relates to why Gautama is a Hindu avatar. The lineage of 23 Buddhas were for the majority drawn from Janapada Kings & high ranking Brahmins.
He studied Buddhist Ideas in several locations in Kashmir & Northern India which to may seem a contradiction in terms, this is because to many Gautama Buddha is what Buddhism is. There are in fact two basic schools of thought. 1. That Gautama is recognised for his enlightened reasoning who according to Theravada Buddhism was the 28th Buddha. 2. That he is the Supreme Buddha [Skt. Sammasambuddha] of our age & that he is the be all & end all of Buddhist Doctrine, & closely follow his progress or 'life story' & to how he in how became full awoken. In Hinduism he is considered to be the ninth avatar of God Vishnu.

At the age of 29 Siddhartha left his palace in order to meet his people. Despite his father's effort to remove the sick, aged & impoverished, Siddhartha encountered an old man. Disturbed by this, when told that all people would eventually grow old by his charioteer Channa, variously, a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic. Deeply depressed by these sights, he sought to overcome old age, illness, and death by living the life of an ascetic. He left his palace leaving behind this royal life to become a mendicant. Siddhartha left Rajagaha and practised under two hermit teachers. After mastering the teachings of Alara Kalama Siddhartha was asked by Kalama to succeed him, but moved on.
He then became a student of Uddaka Ramaputta, but although he achieved high levels of meditative consciousness and was asked to succeed Ramaputta, he was still not satisfied with his path, and moved on. He initially became as ascetic but then After asceticism and concentrating on meditation and Anapana-sati (awareness of breathing in and out), Siddhartha is said to have discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way- a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification.
Gautama thus journeyed to Deer Park near Varanasi (Benares) in northern India, he set in motion the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the group of five companions with whom he had previously sought enlightenment. They, together with the Buddha, formed the first sangha, the company of Buddhist monks. For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the Gangetic Plain, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar & southern Nepal, teaching to an extremely diverse range of people, from nobles to outcaste street sweepers, mass murderers such as Angulimala & cannibals such as Alavaka. The sangha travelled from place to place in India, expounding the dharma.

2nd Commentary Gautama's entire Teachings revolve around: The Principle of the Three marks of existence; 1. Dukkha (Sanskrit: du?kha): That all beings suffer from all situations due to unclear mind. 2. Anicca (Sanskrit: anitya): That all things are impermanent. 3. Anatta (Sanskrit: anatman): That the perception of a constant "self" is an illusion. Gautama considers the arising of this suffering, & explains that this is caused by a misunderstanding of phenomena (the world around us) which is impermanent [Anicca] which he then related to the illusion of the ego, which is actually nothing but an illusion. [Anatta]. He shows that by understanding the nature of the suffering, & specifically its arising, we can alleviate this or extinguish it altogether.

Mantra of Shakyamuni buddha