Dharmapala Thangka CentreSchool of Thangka Painting


4.57 Manjushri Mandala [4]

Full View Manjushri surrounded by eight female Naga deities Manjushri on Lion Amitayus Tsonkhapa & two lamas White Tara Palden Lhamo & Vajrasattva Avalokiteshvara Ushnishavijaya & 
 Vajrapani

In the center of the painting is the white Manjushree sitting in relaxed posture [lalitasana]. His right leg folded and the left leg resting on the ground.

The surrounding deities are eight Naghas. A Snow Lion is sitting below him [left]. Further more one femal Naga Goddess [right] with a humanoid upper body and a serpentine lower body.

In this particular thangka Manjushree is not carrying his sword because he is praying to all the eight Naghas.

Nagas are mythical serpent beings that originated in Hinduism. In Buddhism, they often are protectors of the Buddha and of the dharma. However, they also are worldly and temperamental creatures that spread disease and misfortune when angered. The word naga means "cobra" in Sanskrit.

Mañjushrî is an ancient Buddha who vowed to emanate throughout the universe as the always youthful, princely Bodhisattva of Transcendent Wisdom. His special purpose is to lead the audiences of the Buddha in the inquiry into the shelf, to discover the true nature of reality. He is usually depicted holding the text of the -Transcendent Wisdom [Prajnyaparamita[ Sutra in his left hand and the double-edged sword of analytic discrimination, which cuts through all delusions, in his right.

>Mañjushrî raises his hands in front of his heart in the teaching gesture. He sits comfortable in the pose of ease atop an ornate Iotus pedestal whose base is decorated with winding vines and cavorting lions, probably a reference to the lion mount he sometimes rides.

Mañjushrî carries with his right hand the double edged sword able to cut through illusion and with his left hand a blooming lotus that supports a volume of the Prajna-paramita Sutra. He is depicted as a youth of sixteen years in order to convey the Buddhist insight that wisdom is not a matter of mere experience or years, but results from the cultivation of intellectual genius, which can penetrate directly to the bedrock of reality.

Wisdom is the most honoured virtue in Buddhism, called the Mother of all Buddhas, since only wisdom makes possible the great bliss of total freedom from all suffering that is the goal all living beings. Thus, Mañjushrî is one the most important of all Buddhist deities, the veritable god of wisdom and herald of emancipation.

In the sutras, Mañjushrî has a Pure Land another universe, wherein he manifests himself as the Buddha he actually is. He is in fact a perfect Buddha who vowed to emanate all over the universe as a Bodhisattva to put the hard questions of the Buddhas on the topics of voidness, freedom, and the nature of the self. But in the popular Tibetan imagination , Mañjushrî has his earthly Pure Land at the magical Five Mountain Paradise [Chinese: Wutaishan; Tibetan: Riwo Tsenga] in north-east China, one of the most, important pilgrimage places for Tibetan, Mongolian, and Chinese Buddhists.


PropertyValue
Measurements: 16.5 x 24" | 42 x 61 cm
Price: on request
Shipment: Parcel Service from Germany or Nepal
Color: Color Version
Material: Natural Stone Colors