Four-circle Hevajra Mandala - Reflections of the Buddha

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Four-circle Hevajra Mandala 4 the red of the south. 10 The directionality of the color scheme employed in a thangka may give some indication of how it was originally hung in a monastic space. 11 Within the gates lies a narrow red band running along the four sides of the palace, on which are depicted tiny, seated figures, whom I have yet to identify. This narrow band is followed by a much broader, foliated band, colored again in accordance with the four directions. On this band may be found eight dakinīs (also called, more generically, yoginīs—that is female practitioners of yoga), female attendants to Hevajra, who dance atop corpses lying upon red lotuses. These female deities are all specifically named and described in the Hevajra-tantra. 12 Interspersed among them are vases, common accoutrements to consecratory rituals. Finally, at the center of the palace, the manifestation of Hevajra himself stands atop a lotus pedestal, again rendered from a top-down view, thus indicating the deity’s occupying the highest point of this generally pyramidal mandala. Each manifestation of Hevajra is depicted in the ardha-paryaṅka pose, dancing atop one or more corpses. The four legs of the sixteenarmed Hrdaya-Hevajra, for example, trample four corpses, understood to signify the four Māras, or demonic obstructions, to one’s progress on the Buddha’s path. 13 10 For the correlation between colors and directions in Hevajra mandalas, see Zhu, “Hevajra Tantra,” in Huntington and Bangdel, pp. 454-456, and Catalog Entry #143, “Hevajra Mandala,” in ibid., pp. 461-464. This correlation is somewhat different from the more common system based on the Five Wisdom (or Jina) Buddhas of the Vajradhātu (Diamond World), each of whom symbolizes a particular aspect of enlightenment. This system identifies red with Amitābha, the Buddha of the West; green with Amoghasiddhi, Buddha of the North; blue with Aksobhya, Buddha of the East; yellow with Ratnasambhava, Buddha of the South; and white with Vairocana, the Cosmic Buddha of the Center. For more on this system, see Amy M. Livingston, “Goal of the Transformed Mind: Enlightenment Symbolized,” in ibid., pp. 90-92. Mandalas based on other tantras make use of yet other correlative systems; Kalachakra mandalas, for example, identify blue with east, red with south, yellow with west, white with north, and green with the center. See Rebecca L. Twist and Dina Bangdel, “Kalachakra Tantra,” in ibid., pp. 475-479, esp. 478. Although the directional correlations vary depending on the text, the five basic colors remain the same. These principal colors have been grouped together since the earliest days of Buddhism and are mentioned in the Dīrgha Āgama (Chinese, Chang Ahan jing 長阿含經 ), a collection of early Theravada texts translated into Chinese in 413. For background information on the Five Colors (Sanskrit, pañca-varnā), see “ゴシキ| 五色 ” in Mochizuki Shinkō 望月信亨 , Bukkyō daijiten 佛教大辞典 , vol. 2 (Tokyo: Bukkyō daijiten hakkōjo, 1931-1963), 1189-1190. At least one scholar has suggested that because of their vibrancy, ancient Indian religious practitioners were prohibited from using these five colors for their robes. See “ 五色 ” in Nakamura Hajime 中村元 , Bukkyōgo daijiten 佛教語大辞典 , vol. 1 (Tokyo: Tōkyō shoseki, 1975), 363. 11 Directionality is perhaps most clearly embedded in the Diamond and Womb World Mandalas (Japanese: Kongōkai mandara 金剛界曼荼羅 and Taizōkai mandara 胎蔵界曼荼羅 ) employed in Japanese Shingon 真言 and Tendai 天台 Buddhism. The mandalas are hung facing each other, with the Diamond World on the western wall and the Womb World on the eastern wall. All of the deities in these mandalas, many of whom are associated with a particular direction, are placed in accordance with the directional scheme implied by the hanging of the mandalas. Thus, in the Diamond World Mandala, Amitābha, the Buddha of the West, is always depicted at the top (i.e., west) of a group of deities, while in the Womb World Mandala, he is always depicted at bottom. For an introduction to these mandalas, see Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis, Japanese Mandalas: Representations of Sacred Geography (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1999), pp. 33-95. 12 See Snellgrove, The Hevajra Tantra, vol. 1, pp. 111-112. A convenient chart may also be found in Zhu, “Hevajra Tantra,” in Huntington and Bangdel, p. 456. 13 Zhu, “Hevajra Tantra,” in Huntington and Bangdel, p. 455. The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts Reflections of the Buddha
Four-circle Hevajra Mandala 5 These four primary mandalas are surrounded by a variety of other figures, both monks and deities; unfortunately, the lack of accompanying inscriptions makes identifying many of the figures rather difficult. The figures are, however, arrayed in a systematized way. At the center of the thangka sits the large figure of a monk in full lotus position (Sanskrit: padma-āsana) attended by two male deities (perhaps bodhisattvas), all three of whom are framed by a blue niche. The central figure makes the dharmacakra-mudrā, the gesture of teaching, while holding the stalks of two lotuses, which rise to his shoulders, with his fingers. Unfortunately, the lotus blossoms do not support any attributes that might allow us to identify the figure, leaving us to speculate that the figure may represent an eminent monk revered by the donor of the painting, perhaps the recently deceased abbot of a temple. In front of these three main figures are lotus flowers in a vase, presumably an offering. Above, to the left, and to the right of this central niche are figures that may be identified as mahāsiddhas, particularly revered, almost mythical monks, who, in this case, are among the earliest members of the lineage from which the Sakya order understood themselves to be descended. 14 At top is Virūpa; at right, Dombi Heruka, a disciple of Virūpa who received from him initiation into the practices of Hevajra and who is identifiable by his act of embracing a consort while riding a tiger. 15 At left we see a blue male figure who is being approached by a white female figure; although I have not been able to identify this mahāsiddha conclusively, because he is grouped with Virūpa and Dombi Heruka, it seems likely that he is Kānha, the second disciple of Virūpa to receive the Hevajra teachings. I have not been able to identify the monks above, to the left, and to the right of this central figure; each is attended by two to three wrathful deities, whom I also have yet to identify. The three deities interspersed at the lower boundaries of the two lower mandalas can be identified as a white manifestation of the sixteen-armed Hrdaya-Hevajra and his consort Nairātmyā at center; an independent Nairātmyā, dancing on a corpse and holding a skull cup and dagger, with the khatvāṅga, or staff, resting against her shoulder; and a red Kurukullā, a four-armed female deity again dancing on a corpse and drawing a bow and arrow and carrying a hook and a red lotus in her remaining two hands. The presence of Nairātmyā 16 and Kurukullā 17 perhaps may be explained by their being described in the Hevajra-tantra. Nairātmyā is, of course, omnipresent in the text as Hevajra’s consort, yet the text also makes her the focus of an independent mandala; meanwhile, Kurukullā is described as a particularly powerful being, meditation upon whom “brings the threefold world to subjection.” While it is relatively common to depict duplicate forms of the principal deity of a mandala in the thangka’s interstitial spaces, I have not found an explanation of why this is done. 14 For an extensive discussion of the depictions of lineages in Tibetan thangkas, see David P. Jackson, The Nepalese Legacy in Tibetan Painting (New York: Rubin Museum of Art, 2010), esp. pp. 23-51. 15 In attempting to identify deities, I relied primarily on the identification of figures in mandalas published in John C. Huntington and Dina Bangdel, The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art (Columbus and Chicago: Columbus Museum of Art and Serindia Publications, 2003); Marilyn M. Rhie and Robert A. F. Thurman, Worlds of Transformation: Tibetan Art of Wisdom and Compassion (New York: Tibet House in association with the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation, 1999), esp. pp. 280-311; Marilyn M. Rhie and Robert A. F. Thurman, Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1991), pp. 199-235; and the online database “Himalayan Art,” . After determining a possible identity for the figure, I then consulted any relevant entries in Lokesh Chandra, Dictionary of Buddhist Iconography (New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture and Aditya Prakashan, 2002), which, unfortunately, does not include entries on most monks or mahāsiddhas. 16 See, for example, the description of the mandala devoted to Nairātmyā in Snellgrove, The Hevajra Tantra, pp. 73-78. 17 See, for example, ibid., p. 87. The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts Reflections of the Buddha
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