COSMIC VISION OF AVALOKITESVARA

Thangka dedicated to Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, who appears standing in his cosmic vision on a lotus flower, surrounded by different figures of buddhas and protective divinities.Avalokitesvara appears here represented in all his compassion reflected in his multiplicity of arms as an allusion to the desire to help and heads indicating that he knows all and sees all. Related to the multiplicity of faces there is a tradition that explains this representation from the vision that Avalokitesvara had of the world and its sorrows. After that his head was broken and Amitabha formed from its pieces, new heads. With them he wants to symbolize that he knows the ten stages of the bodhisattva, representing with each one of them an attitude and a concrete stage. Three of them symbolize the capacity to love, three the capacity to pacify and four show ferocity. Crowning all of them, a smaller head alludes to Amitabha, thus showing that Avalokitesvara possesses the character of Buddha, and that in him is personified the compassion of the Buddhas. This invocation of Avalokitesvara is known by the name of Ekâdaçamuka “he who has eleven faces”. The body is painted white, and covered by a dhoti on its lower half and a shawl covering the shoulders. However, the eleven faces of the bodhisattva present a triple combination of green, white, red, alternating the position of the colors in each of the levels. All of them appear wearing a princely diadem, an attire that is repeated in the bracelets on his wrists and in the necklaces that cover his chest, and with his eight arms he performs different gestures and holds various attributes. Thus, with two of his arms he performs the añali-mudra gesture, or offering gesture, with his hands next to his chest holding the pearl of wisdom and looking at his palms. On his right side, he holds the wheel of doctrine on his central forearm, while on his upper forearm he holds a rosary to recite the mantra om mani padme hum. The fourth shows his hand in the direction of the earth and performs different symbolic gestures. In his left central arm he holds a bow symbol of meditation and wisdom, in the upper one a lotus flower and in the lower one a small vase containing the elixir of immortality.in the upper part of the Thangka there are six seated figures on a throne in the shape of a lotus flower, haloes, and performing different gestures with their hands. All of them are representations of Buddha in different attitudes, body colors and invocations. In the upper line and from left to right, we can appreciate a figure painted in dark blue, performing with his hands the bhûmisparça-mudra, by means of which he puts the earth as a witness of his illumination. The central figure, in orange, is represented in meditation through the dhyâna-mudra gesture of his hands resting on his lap, palms up and one on top of the other. To his left a third Buddha repeats the bhûmisparça-mudra gesture. His body has an ochre color and like the one on the far left the outer halo is highlighted with a border of pink and white clouds.Below them are two other Buddha figures, following the same scheme but varying the gestures of the hands and the color of their bodies. On the left, a white Buddha turns his hands turning the wheel of the law in dharmaçakra-mudrâ or vitarka (check), while on his right, with his body painted in ochre color, with his right hand and showing his palm he says “do not fear” (abhaya-mudrâ).At the feet of Avalokitesvara, and flanking his figure, two protective guardians or dharmapalas standing on a lotus flower and surrounded by fire. In the lower plane three seated images of bodhisattvas invocations of Avalokitesvara himself. The two figures at the ends represent him as Padmapani, the “lord of the lotus flower”, holding in his left hand the lotus flower. / Extracted from: Isabel CERVERA FERNÁNDEZ: Fundación Rodríguez-Acosta. Asian Art Collection. Bibliography: RHIE, M.; THURMANN, R.: Wisdom and Compassion. The Sacred Art of Tibet. New York, 1992, p. 143.