Buddhist Art

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Introduction

• The world today is in the middle of a global
  economic meltdown. Clearly , the need of the hour
  is hope and positive energy. Art is a means of
  visual communications that transcends all
  barriers and is an effective vehicle for
  spreading global peace and stability. Buddhism is
  considered to be a religion that advocates
  global peace and harmony in all its various
  nuances. I would like to expand on the notion of
  the Buddhist goddesses and their influences in
  the field of art and uniting the world as a
  whole.
• I am a child of the Cosmos. The Universe is
  my realm and I am an intrinsic part of it. I have
  always been intrigued by the cosmic cycle of
  life and the Powers that be. My oeuvres are a
  manifestation of all that is around, from
  creation to procreation, to the final liberation.
  My creative expression is channelized through my
  emblematic figures, and therein unfolds the story
  of the Cosmos. And Buddhism as a religion is
  truly an inspiration.

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• The Indian Buddhist world abounds with
  goddessesvoluptuous tree spirits, maternal
  nurturers, potent healers and protectors,
  transcendent wisdom figures, cosmic mothers of
  libration, and dancing female Buddhas. I will
  not take too much of your time by expanding on
  the fascinating history of these goddesses as
  they evolved through the early, Mahayana, and
  Tantric movements in India and found a place in
  the pantheons of Tibet and Nepal.
• The female deities of Buddhism are of many
  forms. There are Buddhas in female forms and
  goddesses who are bodhisattvas. There are also
  historical figures such as lineage founders, and
  they all can function as deities. There are also
  yidams and dharma protectors in a peaceful,
  semi-wrathful or wrathful form.

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• Early Buddhism saw the goddesses in the form of
  Prithvi (Mother Earth), Mayadevi, Yaksinis
  (Voluptuous, Magical nature spirits), Sri Lakshmi
  (symbolizing good fortune), Hariti (Goddess of
  Motherly love).
• Later there emerged Prajnaparamita (Luminous
  Mother of Perfect Wisdom), Parnasavari (Healing
  Goddess clothed in leaves), Marici (Lady of
  sunrise splendour), Sarasvati (the Divine Muse),
  Vasundhara (Lady Bountiful) and Usnisavijaya
  (Bestower of long life and immortality), amongst
  others.
• However, the best known of the female Buddhist
  deities is Tara. Tara is known in two forms,
  White and Green.

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Yaksinis (Voluptuous, Magical nature spirits) by
Seema Kohli.
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Sararvasti (the Divine Muse) by Seema Kohli
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From the Hindu tradition emerges the Goddess
Saraswati. In ancient times she was associated
with a great river that was said to flow down
from heaven, cleansing and fertilizing Earth. Her
rituals took place on the banks of this river, in
the cycle of the agricultural year. But since
Earth herself is impermanent and tectonic changes
have caused her river vanish. Saraswatis
connection to water has since been transformed
into a connection with the very life force of
water itself. She has since appeared in the
moving, vital waters of springs and brooks and
falls everywhere. When you hear the rain
whispering against your windowpane, it is the
voice of Saraswati.
Tara Goddess of loving kindness
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Saraswati by Seema Kohli
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Saraswati by Seema Kohli
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• Just as in the classic tale of Siddhartha, the
  rivers of India have always been seen
  metaphorically as crossing from the world of
  ignorance or bondage to the far shore the world
  of enlightenment or freedom. The traveler
  crossing here undergoes a spiritual
  transmigration from a state of samsaric confusion
  through purification to enlightenment.
• A font of inspiration, insight and wisdom,
  this goddess represents the highest levels of
  refinement and grace. She is intellect, poetry,
  science, music and the beauty of ritual. As an
  artist, I pay obeisance to her, for without her
  blessings, my creativity would not flourish.
• Ever since I remember, I have always been on
  the quest of the essence of relationships, with
  the Self, between the Self and the Inner Self,
  between the Inner Self and the Ultimate Soul.

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In the course of the journey, I discovered
Hiranyagarbha (the Golden Womb) while
contemplating on the Yajur Veda. This then became
the central premise of my creation and finally my
own existence. The creative process has been slow
and enriching, akin to a spiritual experience and
I have traversed and transcended boundaries,
within and without. As an artist, delving into y
Creative reservoir and tapping into my
subconscious data has been a rewarding and
fulfilling experience. The mundane was suddenly
transformed into the new. It was alchemy of
experience into colour and that I wanted to offer
the Divine. Now let me expand on the best known
of the female Buddhist deities --- Tara. In
Sanskrit, the name Tara means Star, but she was
also called She Who Brings Forth Life, The Great
Compassionate Mother, and The Embodiment of
Wisdom, and the Great Protectress. Tara is best
known in two forms, White and Green.
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White Tara
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Green Tara
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• Tara or Arya Tara, is a female Bodhisattva in
  Mahayana Buddhism who appears as a
  female Buddha in Vajrayana Buddhism.. She is
  known as the mother of liberation, and
  represents the virtues of success in work and
  achievements.
• Before she was adopted by Buddhism, Tara was
  worshipped in Hinduism as a manifestation of the
  goddess Parvati. The feminine principle was not
  venerated in Buddhism until the fourth century
  CE, and Tara probably entered Buddhism around the
  sixth century CE.
• According to Buddhist tradition, Tara was born
  out of the tears of compassion of the bodhisattva
  Avalokiteshvara. It is said that he wept as he
  looked upon the world of suffering beings, and
  his tears formed a lake in which a lotus sprung
  up. When the lotus opened, the goddess Tara was
  revealed.
• A similar tradition has White Tara born from the
  tears of Avalokiteshvaras left eye and the green
  Tara was born from a beam of blue light emanating
  from one of the eyes of Avalokiteshvara.

Green Tara
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Green Tara by Seema Kohli
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• White Tara shines with the brightness of a
  thousand full autumn moons. Seated in a full
  lotus pose and with a slightly smiling
  countenance, her attention is focused inward. The
  strength of that transcendental inwardness
  produces a tremendous flowering of energies. In
  support of her promise to Avalokiteshvara to be
  aware and to help relieve the sufferings of
  beings, she is graced with seven eyes, on her
  hands and feet as well as well as the third eye
  on her forehead. With her two human-like eyes,
  she envisions the dualistic world of human beings
  and simultaneously sees the unity of ultimate
  reality that is symbolized by the third
  all-knowing eye.
• The Tibetan appreciation of human life is direct
  and simple. No matter how tough it gets,
  obtaining a human birth is ones only chance for
  enlightenment. Therefore, within this system, do
  whatever you can to follow in the footsteps of
  the Buddha, accumulate good fortune and work for
  your own and all sentient beings enlightenment.
  White Tara is an especially beloved resource
  appealed to for long life in general, but shes
  also seen a mother, who cares for her children.

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• The peaceful, compassionate White Tara gently
  protects and brings long life and peace. The more
  dynamic goddess, Green Tara is the Mother Earth
  , and a fierce goddess who overcomes obstacles,
  and saves us from physical and spiritual danger.
• Adopted by Buddhism, she became the most widely
  revered deity in the Tibetan pantheon. In
  Buddhist tradition, Tara is actually much greater
  than a goddess she is a female Buddha, an
  enlightened one was has attained the highest
  wisdom, capability and compassion. . . One who
  can take human form and who remains in oneness
  with the every living thing.

White Tara
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Green Tara, with her Half-open lotus, represents
the night, and White Tara, with her lotus in full
bloom, symbolizes the day. Green Tara embodies
virtuous activity while White Tara displays
serenity and grace. Together, the Green and White
Taras symbolize the unending compassion of the
goddess who labors day and night to relieve
suffering. All schools of Tibetan Buddhism have
a version of a hymn dedicated to the Twenty-one
Taras. It has been chanted in monasteries and
nunneries based on the lunar cycle ---and one
night, caught out in the fury of a storm or the
insanity of a battle, a practitioner
remembered Homage to
you, who destroys malefic magical
wheels With the sounds of TRAT and PHAT
And tramples with right leg outstretched and left
leg drawn in
Dazzling amidst whirling flames This pays homage
to the Seventh Tara, Unchallenged Furious Lady,
who averts wars, lightning and hail storms by
intoning trat and phat, which in Sanskrit means
to tear and cut. These syllables avert lightning
strikes and hailstorms and destroy the weapons of
war.
Green Tara
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• As Green Tara she offers protection from all the
  unfortunate circumstances one can encounter
  within the samsaric world. As White Tara she
  expresses maternal compassion and offers healing
  to beings who are hurt or wounded, either
  physically or psychically.
• Goddess Tara is probably the oldest goddess who
  is still worshipped extensively in modern times.
  Tara originated as a Hindu goddess, the Mother
  Creator, representing the eternal life force that
  fuels all life.
• As a Buddhist deity, Taras realm extends beyond
  the walls of the treasury. Several of the 21
  forms of Tara are golden as Tara of the
  Perfections she guides her followers in
  generosity, joyous effort, mortality, patience,
  meditation, and the ability to calm negative
  impulses such as avarice, laziness and
  distraction as Tara, Mother of the Buddha's, she
  can render lethal poisons harmless.

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• The most widely known forms of Tara are
• Green Tara, known as the Buddha of enlightened
  activity
• White Tara, also known for compassion, long
  life, healing and serenity also known as The
  Wish- fulfilling Wheel,or Cintachakra
• Red Tara, of fierce aspect associated with
  magnetizing all good things
• Black Tara, associated with power.
• Yellow Tara, associated with wealth and
  prosperity
• Blue Tara, associated with transmutation of
  anger
• Cittamani Tara, a form of Tara widely practiced
  at the level of Highest Yoga Tantra portrayed as
  green and often conflated with Green Tara.
• Khadiravani Tara (Tara of the teak forest), who
  appeared to Nagarjuna in the Khadiravani foest of
  South India and who is sometimes referred to as
  the 22nd Tara
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Yellow Tara by Seema Kohli
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Tara of the Teak Forests by Seema Kohli
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• As Tara, Proclaiming the Sound of Hum, she
  fulfils her vow to the monks, who, legend tells
  us, assumed shed want to become a man to reach
  enlightenment she gathers beings from whatever
  realms she can and out of her infinite compassion
  draws them forth to bliss without exception.
  There is even a tara with a wrathful frown, the
  Tara who crushes Maras, or embodiments of evil
  which obstruct those attempting to practice
  dharma. There is no conflict in the idea that she
  can be at the same time golden, glorious, and
  wrathful a goddess and a mother, furious and
  lovingly empathic.
• Tara also embodies many of the qualities of
  feminine principle. She is known as the Mother of
  Mercy and Compassion. She is the source, the
  female aspect of the universe, which gives birth
  to warmth, compassion and relief from bad karma
  as existence. She engenders, nourishes, smile at
  the vitality of creation, and has sympathy for
  all beings as a mother does for her children.

Blue Tara Goddess of Liberation
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• In seventh-century Tibet, Tara was believed to
  be incarnated in every pious woman. She
  especially came to be associated with two
  historical wives of the first Buddhist king of
  Tibet, Srong-brtsan-sgam-po(d.649). His wife from
  imperial China was said to be an incarnation of
  White Tara, while the kings Nepalese wife was an
  incarnation of Green Tara. It may be that the
  desire to regard both these pious woman as
  incarnation of Tara led to the concept of the
  goddesss green and white forms.
• The lotus is a recurring motif in my creations
  and symbolizes purity, hope and awakening of the
  mind, body and soul. Buddhism is a
  life-transforming philosophy that compels one to
  introspect and soul-search and thereby through
  ones own human revolution brings about a chain
  reaction in society and the world at large.
• The message of the Buddha is one of equanimity,
  but one based on a foundation of love, compassion
  and joy---qualities shared with many a Goddess.
• Just like Buddhism is a platform for peace and
  global harmony, through my oeuvres dart I too
  would like to be a harbinger of peace and use my
  art to spread the message of peace and love all
  around the world. It is time that we all took a
  step towards this cause and I would like my art
  to speak the language of global peace.

Buddha
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• We may rarely have so dramatic a need for
  Taras help, but caught in your personal
  malestorm, does it not feel as if you must
  fulfill at least twenty-one different functions,
  all of them equally important, equally
  demanding, equally relevant to somebody elses
  happiness ?
• But thankfully Tara is approachable. She is a
  Buddha. Whenever you call upon her, she is there.
  Remembering her motivation to act for the benefit
  of all beings, whenever you feel overwhelmed by
  the demands made upon you, perhaps you can allow
  yourself to concentrate on her image. She
  radiates the strength to be of help. She is
  known as the One who protects from Fears.
• Often a sense of being overwhelmed comes from
  doubting our ability to meet our own and others
  expectations. Doubt is considered a kind of fear,
  and Tara of the Rosewood Forest responds to quiet
  that fear, to instill confidence.

Shakyamuni Buddha
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• Buddhism has transformed my way of life.
  The lotus within me has bloomed and flowered,
  emitting fragrances of creativity that have
  consumed my canvas and rendered it a cosmic
  creation. As a meditative practice, my powers of
  concentration have increased manifold, thereby
  making it easier for me to paint for hours
  without any distraction. I have come to
  understand my roots, my purpose and my Being.
• I have learned to set aside time for Me, so
  as to be able to introspect and understand who I
  am. All this would not have been possible without
  the influence of Buddhism in my life and my art.

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Om Ah Hum!