Amitabha Thangka
The Buddha of the lotus family
Buddha Sakyamuni Thangka
The
Indian prince Gautama Siddhartha, who reached enlightenment (and thus
became a buddha) in the sixth century B.C., and who taught the spiritual
path followed by millions all over the world, known today as Buddh
ism.
Avalokiteshvara/Chenrezig Thangka (4 arms)
In
the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon of enlightened beings, Chenrezig is renowned
as the embodiment of the compassion of all the Buddhas, the Bodhisattva of
Compassion.
Avalokiteshvara
is the earthly manifestation of the self born, eternal Buddha, Amitabha.
He guards this world in the interval between the historical Sakyamuni
Buddha, and the next Buddha of the Future Maitreya.
According
to legend, Chenrezig made a a vow that he would not rest until he had
liberated all the beings in all the realms of suffering. After working
diligently at this task for a very long time, he looked out and
realiz
ed
the immense number of miserable beings yet to be saved. Seeing this, he
became despondent and his head split into thousands of pieces. Amitabha
Buddha put the pieces back together as a body with very many arms and many
heads, so that Chenrezig could work with myriad beings all at the same
time. Sometimes Chenrezig is visualized with eleven heads, and a thousand
arms fanned out around him.
Guru Rinpoche/Padmasambhava Thangka
Padmasambhava
(Skt.), or Padmakara (Tib. Pemajungné) means ‘Lotus-Born’, which
refers to Guru Rinpoche's birth from a lotus in the land of Oddiyana. Guru
Rinpoche, the ‘Precious Master’, is the founder of Tibetan Buddhism
and the Buddha of our time. Whereas Buddha is known primarily for having
taught the teachings of the sutra vehicle, Padmasambhava came into this
world, and to Tibet in particular, in order to teach the tantras. W
hile
Buddha Shakyamuni exemplifies the buddha principle, the most important
element in the sutrayana path, Padmasambhava personifies the guru
principle, the heart of Vajrayana Buddhism, and he is therefore known as
the ‘second Buddha
