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The importance of the Guru or Lama is continously stressed in the Vajrayana, and
hence images of the Gurus of the lineage are found everywhere. But these Gurus
were important not only on account of what they had realized, but on what they
taught: the Transmission.
It is at the level of Vajrayana that the use of
enlightened deities as meditation objects first appears. The use of Deity Yoga
(lha yi rnal 'byor) in Buddhist practice is therefore the primary reason for the
production of the images of deities, Thangkas. The fundamental intention of
such paintings is to provide a mnemonic device for the practitioner, an
individual who has been initiated into the practices of visualizing this deity
both objectively and subjectively.
The identification with the deity, as part
of the practice of Yoga, is common. The practitioner imagines him or herself
to have all the qualities of the Deity, thus bringing his or her own state of
consciousness in tune with the Deity's character. Each of the attributes of the
deity displayed in the painting also refers to some aspect of the quest for
Enlightenment. The practitioner will use the painting as a reminder for his or
her own visualization of the deity as well as a reminder of the attributes of
the deity. A Thangka is not a piece of art in the sense that it was created for
the purpose of beauty. It is art that was created for the purpose of
embodying certain esoteric transmissions of Enlightenment into visual form.
The teachers of the Vajrayana, such as Padmasambhava and the Mahasiddhas, are
frequently displayed with images of Tantric deities around them. As
transmitters of the lineage, the Gurus of the past often appear at the tops of
some Thangkas. Yet it is the visions offered in the esoteric literature, the
Tantras, that are portrayed for the sake of practitioners involved in a
practice. An appreciation of the functional character of the Thangka as an aid
in Buddhist practice will be useful in understanding the reasons certain images
are portrayed as they are. The primary aesthetic in Buddhist art is the ability
of the artwork to assist in the quest for Enlightenment.
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