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The Life of Buddha and the
Art of Narration in Buddhist Thangka Paintings
Article of the Month - March 2004
Source: Siddham.org
In its characteristic
unique way, Buddhist thought divides the eventful life of its founder into
twelve glorious "events." These defining incidents of his life are
given visual form in densely packed sequences narrated in a special genre of
paintings known as the "Twelve Great Deeds of the Buddha's
Life" (Tib. Dzad pa chu nyi). These artworks not only delineate
Buddha's gradual progress  towards
spiritual enlightenment, but also present a visual depiction of a vast number
of abstract philosophical notions underlying esoteric Buddhism.
These twelve significant episodes in the life of the
Buddha are:
1). His Promise to Take Birth in the Human Realm
and Guide Sentient Beings from Ignorance to Enlightenment.
Before the Buddha was born into this world as Shakyamuni,
he was a bodhisattva in the Tushita heaven (home of the contented gods). His
name there was Shvetaketu ("White Banner"). From here he
witnessed the dark ages engulfing the human realm, leading
to its spiritual impoverishment. Moved to compassion like a true bodhisattva,
he vowed to manifest himself in the sentient world and relieve people from
their sufferings.
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Buddha
Holding a Lotus Promises
to Manifest Himself on the
Earth
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Indeed, in strictly canonical
terms, a bodhisattva is defined as an individual who discovers the source of
the Ultimate Truth better known as nirvana, but postpones his own
enlightenment until he has guided all his fellow beings to this same source
of fulfillment. Thus, Buddha, looking down upon the sentient beings suffering
in the throes of ignorance, felt a pang of compassion, and in accordance with
his bodhisattva status, decided to descend to the earth and spread the word
of Dharma.
Visually, Buddha is depicted
making this vow surrounded by other sacred beings, holding aloft a lotus
flower in his right hand, symbolizing the purity of his intention.
2).
Queen Maya's Dream:
The Lalitavistara (1st cent.
AD) says that Buddha himself selected the time, place, and caste of his
birth. He finally short listed King Shudhodhana and his wife, Queen Mayadevi,
rulers of the Shakya (Lion) clan, as his future parents. This generous couple
was well known throughout the land for their just and noble bearing.
Scriptures assert that Buddha chose a king as his father since the royal
caste was more respected that the priestly one. It indeed seems strange that
the Buddha, who never believed in the caste system, was so particular in the
choice of a Brahmin or Kshatriya family for his own birth. In fact, it was
precisely to show the futility of the notion of high-birth as an aid in
spiritual salvation that this choice was made.
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Queen
Maya's Dream
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The bodhisattva's descent from the Tushita
heaven occurred as a dream to Mayadevi. In this dream, a white elephant
approached and touched her right side with its trunk. Through this symbolic
act, the bodhisattva entered the womb of Mayadevi and impregnated her.
 The
choice of an elephant as a symbol of her impregnation is a well-thought out
metaphor because elephants are known for their strength and intelligence, and
also associated with gray-rain clouds and thus with fertility, since
rainwater means that seeds will germinate and vegetables will be able to
grow. The white color (of the elephant), adds to this an element of purity
and immaculacy. The royal fortunetellers explained that the dream announced
the queen's pregnancy, and that the newborn would possess exceptional traits.
3). The Birth of Buddha:
The Zen master Daisetz Suzuki
once narrated an interesting story. A young student said to his master,
"Am I in possession of Buddha consciousness?" The master said,
"No." The student said, "Well, I 've been told that all things
are in possession of Buddha consciousness. The rocks, the trees, the
butterflies, the birds, the animals, all beings." The master said,
"You are correct. All things are in possession of Buddha consciousness.
The rocks, the trees, the butterflies, the bees, the birds, the animals, all
beings-but not you." "Not me? Why not?" "Because you are
asking this question."
According to legend, Buddha was
born from the right side of his mother. Immediately upon his birth, he stood
up and took seven steps, and wherever his feet touched the earth lotuses
sprang up. Raising his hand he said: "Worlds above, worlds below,
there's no one in the world like me."
Finally, Suzuki elaborated.
"They tell me that when a baby is born, it cries. What does the baby say
when it cries? The baby says 'Worlds above, worlds below, there's no one in
the world like me!' All babies are Buddha babies." So what was the
distinguishing characteristic of Queen Maya's baby? He knew that he was a
Buddha baby. According to Joseph Campbell, "The whole thing of Buddha
consciousness means getting to know you are it. That takes a lot of work,
principally because society keeps telling you that you are not it."
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Birth
of Buddha
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But we are here a bit ahead of
ourselves. Mayadevi had successfully carried the Buddha-to-Be for ten months
without any complications or pain. Near the end of her pregnancy, she took a
trip to her parental home to have the baby there with her mother, an ancient
custom that is still sometimes practiced. On the way however there was a
pleasant grove, overflowing with a rich profusion of fruits and flowers.
Desiring to rest among them, the queen instructed her party to put camp
there. She stepped out of her palanquin and reached to grasp one of the
branches of a flowering tree. No sooner had she done so than she felt the
throes of giving birth. Standing thus, with her hand to the branch, she delivered,
and the Buddha-to-Be emerged from his mother's right side.
In
visual depictions, Mayadevi's unique posture has given rise to an entire
genre of feminine imagery, where amply endowed  female
forms stand sinuously in dance postures with the left leg crossed in front  of the
right.
The
lifted hand grasps a tree, entwined around the branch in a manner identical
to that of the tree goddesses and female tree-spirits (yakshis) of yore, who
denoted fertility in  early
Indian art.
Here, not only does
Mayadevi's posture provide a powerful statement presenting her as fertility
incarnate, but as the mother of the Buddha-to-Be, she is also the generative
source of the enlightenment process.
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Brahma
and Indra stand ready to bless the child.
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Present at the time of birth
were the Hindu gods Indra and Brahma. Normally in those ancient
circumstances, everything connected with death, birth, excrement, and blood
would have been considered unclean. The presence of these two important
deities of the Hindu pantheon has significance over and above political
interpretations. It indicates that the birth in question was non-defiling
one, graced by their auspicious presence. In paintings, Brahma is easily
recognized by his four heads (three visible and fourth invisible at the
back). Indra too stands ready, holding a cloth to wrap the baby.
The advent of the newborn was
accompanied by many pleasurable happenings not the least of which was a
bountiful rainfall, leading to a rich harvest and prosperity all around the
kingdom. Hence his father gave him the name 'Siddhartha,' meaning
'accomplisher of aims.' He was also called 'Gautama,' which was his clan name
(gotra). How he got the third of his popular epithets (Shakyamuni), we will
see later.
4). A Youth Dedicated to the Mastery of Learning
and Athletics:
Seven days after giving birth Mayadevi died, and her
sister Mahaprajapati raised the prince. Additionally, thirty-two nurses were
appointed after careful selection for his care, eight to carry him, eight to
suckle him, eight to bathe him and the other eight nurses to play with him.
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The
Upturned Elephant (top-right corner) Comes Back to Life
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As the son of the king, Siddhartha was provided with the
finest upbringing. His life had ample quantities of both opportunity and
security. He received the finest education and mastered all lessons taught to
him. In his younger years, he excelled in sports and other contests of skill.
The vigorous training befitted the grooming of a future monarch. He was said
to particularly excel on the horse and with the bow.
The most significant episode of his youth occurred during
the contest for winning the hand of the beautiful princess Gopa. An elephant
had been placed inside the city gate to test which one was the strongest.
Devadatta, Buddha's cousin, killed the animal with one hand. Siddhartha,
seeing the mindless killing, picked up the animal lightly and tossed it over
the city wall, where it came to life again. Needless to say, Siddhartha was
chosen as the groom.
5). The Skilful Conduct of Worldly Affairs:
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Shudhodhana
Counsels Buddha
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When he came of age and assumed
royal duties, prince Siddhartha became a true man of the world and had a
retinue of many queens and attendant ladies. Narrative paintings depict him
at court, consulting his experienced father in the skilful conduct of
material affairs.
6).
The Four Encounters:
Having been warned by the court
astrologers that his son may well give it all up and choose the path of
meditation, Buddha's father tried his best to shield him from the harsh
realities of life. This state of affairs continued until one day, by chance,
while riding his chariot, Siddhartha encountered an old man walking along the
road. Intrigued by his first encounter with old age, the prince addressed his
charioteer: "Who is this man there with the white hair, feeble hand
gripping a staff, eyes lost beneath his brows, limbs bent and hanging loose?
Has something happened to alter him, or is that his natural state?"
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Buddha's
Encounter with Death
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"That is old age",
said the charioteer, "the ravisher of beauty, the ruin of vigor, the
cause of sorrow, destroyer of delights, the bane of memories and the enemy of
the senses. In his childhood, that one too drank milk and learned to creep
along the floor, came step by step to vigorous youth, and he has now, step by
step, in the same way, gone on to old age."
The charioteer thus revealed in
his simplicity what was to have been hidden from the king's son, who exclaimed,
"What! And will this evil come to me too?"
"Without doubt, by the
force of time", said the charioteer.
And thus the great souled one,
whose mind was but a store of merits, was agitated when he heard of old age -
like a bull who has heard close by the crash of a thunderbolt.
He further encountered in such
manner a sick man and a dead man, leading to great turbulence in his mind.
One day he came across an
ascetic mendicant. "Who art thou?" he asked. To which the other
answered, "Terrified by birth and death, desiring liberation, I became
an ascetic. As a beggar, wandering without family and without hope, accepting
any fare, I live now for nothing but the highest good." Convinced that
herein lay the way to quell his mental agitation, Gautama resolved to follow
this holy man's example.
7). The Renunciation of Worldly Life:
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The
Buddha Leaves His Sleeping Wife and Child
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Having made the decision,
Siddhartha requested his father to allow him to proceed in his quest for
truth. On hearing of the prince's resolve, his father became extremely
anxious and entreated him to revert his decision. To which Siddhartha replied
thus: "Father if you can fulfill my four desires, I promise not to leave
you. These are: First, I should not die; Secondly, No disease should ever
afflict me, youth should never desert me, and finally, prosperity should
always be my companion." Hearing these impossible demands, the king was
extremely dejected and became resigned to his fate. Gautama left the
luxurious palace of his father in the middle of the night, leaving behind his
sleeping wife and son.
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Buddha
Shaves off His Hair
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The first thing Gautam
Buddha did after leaving his father's palace was to severe his long and
beautiful hair with his princely blade.
He thought, "These locks
of mine are not suited to a monk; but there is no one to cut the hair of a
future Buddha. Therefore I will cut them off myself with my sword." And
grasping a scimitar with his right hand, he seized his top-knot with his left
hand, and cut it off, together with his jeweled turban. His hair thus became
two finger-breadths in length, and curling to  the
right, lay close to his head.
Taking
hold of his top-knot and diadem, he threw them into the air, saying: "If
I am to become a Buddha, let them stay in the sky; but if not, let them fall
to the ground."
They rose into the air for a
distance of one league before Vasava (corresponding to the Indra), the chief
of gods, perceiving them with his divine eyes, received them in an
appropriate jeweled casket, and established them in heaven.
"His hair he cut, so sweet
with many pleasant scents, This Chief of men, and high impelled it towards
the sky; And there god Vasava, the god with a thousand eyes, In golden casket
caught it, bowing low his head."
8).
The Six Years of Austerities:
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Buddha's
Asceticism
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Wandering in his search
for enlightenment, Buddha came to a pleasant hermitage by a lovely stream,
where, for six years, he joined five mendicants in a way of discipline based
on progressively severe fasting. He ate a single grain of rice for each of
the first two years, drank a single drop of water for each of the second two
years, and took nothing at all during the last two. Consequently, his bones
stuck out like a row of spindles, and when he touched his stomach, he could
almost feel his spine. His hair fell out and his skin became withered.
 But all this was in vain.
However severe his austerities, perhaps even because of them, the body still
clamored for attention, and he was still plagued by material craving. In
fact, he seemed more conscious of himself than ever. Buddha had to face the
fact that asceticism had failed to redeem him. All he had achieved after this
heroic assault upon his body was a prominent rib cage, and a dangerously
weakened physique.
Finally, it dawned upon him that physical austerity is one
of the two extremes, and that the 'Middle Way between these two extremes is
the path to enlightenment.
 He
thus slowly rose, and went to bathe in the stream. He crossed over to the far
bank where he met a village girl named Sujata who offered him a bowl of rice
pudding (kheer). It was the first food he had accepted in years and it
instantly restored his body to lustrous good health.
Thus nourished, and accompanied solely by his own resolve,
Siddhartha strode majestically towards the bodhi tree, to make his last bid
for liberation. Abandoning himself to meditation, he vowed not to move from
that spot until he had attained full enlightenment.
9). The Defeat of Mara:
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Mara's
Challenge to Buddha
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Hearing this solemn vow, Mara,
the Buddhist manifestation of death and desire, felt threatened. Mara's power
over sentient beings originated from their attachment to sensuous pleasures
and the consequent fear of death which lead to intense suffering.
Enlightenment would free Siddhartha from Mara's control and provide an
opportunity for others to free themselves also by emulating him.
Likewise, Mara first sent his
three beautiful daughters named Desire (Future), Fulfillment (Present), and
Regret (Past). The Buddha had already disengaged himself from these pinnings
and thus remained unmoved. This prompted Mara to intimidate the venerable one
by installing fear in his heart. Towards this end he generated an army of wrathful
and hideous creatures, the very personifications of death. But all through
the tribulations, Buddha sat calm and unflinching, and Mara had no other
recourse than to withdraw, and thus was cleared the final hurdle on the way
to Buddha's enlightenment.
10). The Proclamation of the Teachings:
Having gained enlightenment,
Gautama came to be called Shakyamuni, or the silent lion, indicating the
explosive potential he carried within himself. He first went up to Sarnath
near Varanasi
where he met the five disciples with whom he had previously traversed the
path of asceticism. Though they had deserted him after their failed
experiment, the unearthly glow from his body now attracted them. Hearing his
discourse, they became his first followers.
Amongst these five was a
disciple named Assaji. Once when Assaji was begging for alms, he encountered
an inquisitive gentleman named Shariputra, who was then a follower of Sanjaya
Belatthiputta, a renowned skeptic sage of the times. Shariputra, along with
his fast friend Maudgalyayana were Sanjaya's fervent and most important
disciples. Of late however, they had both started experiencing
disillusionment and felt dissatisfied by their master's nihilistic
philosophy. Now in this state of mind, Assaji's noble mien and air of self
possession so impressed Shariputra that he asked him who his teacher was and
what doctrine he taught. Assaji answered him only briefly but it was enough
to convince Shariputra. He immediately bounded over to Maudgalyayana and
related to him what had happened. Maudgalyayana was able to perceive the
greatness of Buddha's teachings and he and Shariputra thereupon resolved to
become followers of Shakyamuni. They also brought over Sanjaya's complete
entourage of two-hundred-and-fifty disciples to Buddha's monastic order.
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Buddha
with Shariputra and Maudgalyayana
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This story is symbolic of
the transformation Buddha's teachings bought about in the prevailing milieu
of the times, wherein an entire school of thought came under the influence of
his teachings. Later on Buddha was to predict that these two would become the
foremost of his disciples.
Thus, characteristically, in
the narrative paintings outlining the significant episodes of Buddha's life,
there is nearly always at the center, a dominating image of Shakyamuni,
flanked by his two devoted disciples Shariputra and Maudgalyayana.
11).
The Descent from the Trayatrimsa Heaven:
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The
Trayatrimsa Episode
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Queen Maya, after her
death, was said to have been reborn in the Trayatrimsa heaven. Having
attained enlightenment, Buddha decided to ascend to the Trayatrimsa heaven,
literally the heaven of thirty-three gods, to visit his mother. The name
'thirty-three' derives from the fact that it is the residence of the 33 gods
of Hinduism, an ancient notion, having roots in Vedic thought. With three strides
Buddha reached the heaven, where he preached before the divine congregation,
including his mother, for several months.
In painted depictions, we see
the Buddha seated on the throne of Indra, the king of the gods, sitting in
the so-called European position, with his legs hanging down.
When the inhabitants of the earth fervently supplicated
him to return, Buddha coasted downwards with the help of a ladder that had
thirty-three rungs, handcrafted by the divine architect Vishwakarma. This
descent is the most celebrated event of the entire episode and is often
glorified in independent artworks.
This legend cosmicises the historical Buddha in several
ways. His ability to move between the two worlds is clearly indicative of his
transcendental and divine nature. Moreover, the ladder here, reminiscent of
the story of Jacob's ladder in the Bible, serves as a cosmic pillar that
connects heaven and earth and is echoed in Shiva's symbol, the lingam. There
too the lingam stretches  from
the heaven down to the netherworld and is worshipped by Brahma and Vishnu.
 Similarly, the descending
Buddha is revered by Indra and the four-headed Brahma, as well as other
sacred beings. Yet another link is reflected in Buddha's taking three steps,
both on the way up and down. The idea is clearly related to Vishnu's three
strides in the myth of the Vamana (dwarf) avatar.
12). The Passage into Parinirvana:
Traveling great distances to disseminate his teachings,
Buddha finally reached the city of Kushinagara,
where he asked his disciples to spread a couch for him in a grove. He lay
there, reclining on his right side, facing west, with his head supported by
his hand.
 Shakyamuni realized clearly
that death was approaching. Towards midnight of the same day, the event known
in Buddhist terminology as the Parinirvana, or "Final Nirvana,"
took place. It was a full-moon night and also his eightieth birthday. The
Enlightened One passed through progressively higher planes of meditation
until he attained entry into Parinirvana.
One scripture gives an
eloquent description of the scene: "The trees burst into full bloom out
of season, bent down over the Buddha, and showered his body with their
flowers, as if to do him  supreme
honor. There were heavenly flowers that rained down and scattered over the
venerable one. . . . And the world was like a mountain whose summit has been
shattered by a thunderbolt; it was like the sky without the moon."
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Buddha's
Parinirvana
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The death of a truly great man
often marks the beginning rather than the end of an era in terms of the
progress of human spirit. The difference lies in whether that man lived
essentially for his own glory or devoted his life to the pursuit of eternal
principles of truth and to the true happiness of all mankind. The image of
the dying Buddha is not supposed to evoke sadness as much as a feeling that
all beings have the potential to become enlightened and attain release from
the sufferings which characterize samsara. His serene, composed, and restful
demeanor (he is actually slightly smiling) is meant to communicate his
attainment of the highest state of Indian meditation, that of a deep, quiet
and blissful sleep known in Sanskrit as 'turiya.' This is precisely the
reason why 'Parinirvana' is thought of as the 'final' or 'highest' nirvana.
References and Further Reading
- Bangdel, Dina., and John C. Huntington. The Circle of
Bliss Buddhist Meditational Art: Chicago,
2003.
- Campbell, Joseph. Transformations of Myth Through Time:
New York,
1999.
- Ikeda, Daisaku. The Living Buddha An Interpretive
Biography: Tokyo,
1989.
- Gyeltsen, Korchak Tulku Kun-ga. The Twelve Deeds of the
Buddha: Boudha, 2003.
- Keown, Damien. Oxford
Dictionary of Buddhism: Oxford,
2003.
- Khosla, Dr. Sarla. Lalitavistara and the Evolution of
the Buddha Legend: New Delhi,
1991.
- Kumar, Nitin. Buddha - A Hero's Journey to Nirvana
(Exotic India article of the month): April 2003.
- McArthur, Meher. Reading Buddhist Art (An Illustrated
Guide to Buddhist Signs and Symbols): London, 2002.
- Menzies, Jackie. Buddha Radiant Awakening: Sydney, 2001.
- Meulenbeld, Ben. Buddhist Symbolism in Tibetan
Thangkas: Holland,
2001.
- Zimmer, Heinrich. The Art of Indian Asia Its Mythology
and Transformations: Delhi,
2001.
- Zimmer, Heinrich (Edited by Joseph Campbell). Myths and
Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization: Delhi, 1990.
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