THE ARTISTIC WEALTH OF TIBET:
Since the formative period in its civilization
Tibet has remained a fertile ground for the
cultivation of many arts and crafts. Fine
workmanship was the goal, and quite often it was
the result. The artisans and their beautiful
craftsmanship were held in high regard as in the
centers of religious culture, the monasteries.
There the various arts reached their highest
expression in the service of Buddhism.
Among all these arts and crafts paintings
occupied a very special position. It was a highly
developed and important means of religious
expression. Paintings were a medium through which
the highest ideals of Buddhism were evoked and
brought alive. A sacred painting was for the
Tibetan a "physical support" - in other words an
embodiment - of enlightenment.
WHY THANGKAS ARE PAINTED?
The main reasons are
(1) sickness or troubles,
(2) death in the family,
(3) the need for an image in connection with a particular religious practice,
(4) used to bolster the visualizations generated during meditation and
(5) believed to earn merit (bsod nams).
Many paintings were thus inspired by the universal human desire to avoid suffering, to gain
happiness and longevity, and to ensure a happy state of existence following death.
