MONGOLIAN COLLECTABLES

MONGOLIAN COLLECTABLES

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Empowered Gilt Thangka of Manjushri – Bodhisattva of Wisdom

(In the style of the Mongolian School of Zanabazar, late 18^th century

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This glorious centuries-old thangka of Manjushri exudes presence and remains a most worthy support for devotion, offering and meditation practice. It is clearly a thangka painted by a practitioner who generated pure intention with a joyful mind. The profound use of gold reflects the high degree of devotion shared by painter, commissioning practitioner and the high lama who then consecrated it. This consecrating act, manifest with the clear mind of enlightenment, has "brought alive" and “opened the eyes” of the image on this thangka. We can clearly witness a Manjushri infused with compassionate wisdom.

Manjushri is the Bodhisattva of Wisdom and Discriminating Awareness and he symbolises the embodiment of prajñā (wisdom). Manjushri is also acknowledged as “Lord of Speech” and is thus a meditational figure symbolizing wisdom in its action aspect, which is speech..” He is an emanation of Vairochana the Buddha Resplendent - who is like the sun in glory at its zenith. The Sanskrit name Manju-shri is interpreted to mean "wonderfully auspicious," or "sweetly glorious". So it is that this princely and ever-youthful bodhisattva, purposefully leads beings in a process of inquiry whereby they might discover the true nature of reality. He is appropriately the patron bodhisattva of the Gelugpa sect- famous for its students of the written word (scholars or geshes). In Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhism Manjushri is thus an important meditational deity (Yidam).

Manjushri is usually depicted displaying the two tools essential to that investigation: in his right hand he wields the double-edged sword of analytic discrimination and in his left, the Prajnaparamita Sutra (the text of the teaching on Emptiness). Manjushri's sword of discriminating wisdom is tipped with flames to show that it severs all notions of duality. It can cut away delusion, aversion and longing, to reveal understanding, equanimity and compassion.

The basic Manjushri mantra - OM AH RA PA TSA NA DHIH! -is believed to enhance the various wisdoms of explaining, debating, writing, memory, and so on. According to one Manjushri sadhana popular in Mongolia , the DHIH is repeated as often as possible in the one breath while visualizing the means to purify negative energy and the shadow of ignorance. Adepts seek to utter 108 repetitions of DHIH in a single exhalant breath! This DHIH syllable is the vibrational essence of blessed speech. It removes negativities of harsh speech and thereby symbolizes the enrichment of wisdom.

This particular Manjushri thangka is painted in the style of the more ancient Mongolian School of Zanabazar. We are thus confronted with a remarkably beautiful face which is simultaneously soft and strong. The body is proportioned according to the demanding standards of Tibetan iconometry, yet still projects a great sense of naturalness and life. The portrayal of Manjushri’s crown, replete with flowers and sacred jewels, is masterful in its grace and ingenuity. Altogether this thangka is a quintessential receptacle of wisdom and is quite simply a genuine living embodiment of enlightened mind - . OM AH RA PA TSA NA DHIH, DHih, dhih dhih…….

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