The Art of Awakening: A User’s Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Art and Practice

531 Pages·2017·67.46 MB·English

by  Konchog Lhadrepa

C
ONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Foreword by Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche
Preface
Introduction
Part One: Preliminary Teachings
I. Common Preliminary Teachings
A. The Four Thoughts That Change the Mind
B. The Foundation of the Path: Taking Refuge
1. The causal refuge of the Sutrayana
2. The resultant refuge of the Vajrayana
a. Causal refuge of the resultant vehicle
b. Resultant refuge of the resultant vehicle
C. Generating Bodhichitta
1. The four boundless attitudes
2. The main practice of a bodhisattva
a. The explanation of bodhichitta
b. The practice of a bodhisattva
i. The fortunate lineage
ii. How to follow the way of a bodhisattva
(1) The qualities of a bodhisattva
(2) The meaning of bodhichitta
(a) Relative bodhichitta
(i) The meaning of relative bodhichitta
(ii) The bodhisattva precepts
(b) Absolute bodhichitta
3. The bodhisattva precepts and their benefits
a. General precept
b. Specific precepts
i. Precepts of bodhichitta in aspiration
ii. Precepts of bodhichitta in action
(1) The accumulation of merit and wisdom
(2) The three noble principles
4. The meaning of enlightenment
D. The Accumulation of Merit
1. Common teachings
2. Special teachings on the two accumulations
a. Offering to the guru
b. The seven-branch prayer
c. The essential king of teachings that alone is enough
II. Specific Preliminary Teachings on Supreme Art
A. The Category of Supreme Art
1. The five sciences
2. The supreme arts
a. The meaning of supreme art
b. The importance of following the supreme art traditions
c. Summary
B. The Origins of Art in This World
1. The importance of supreme art on the Buddhist path
2. The origins of drawing in this world
3. The origins of Buddhist art in India
a. The origin of stupas
b. Drawing and sculpture
i. The origins of drawing
(1) The tradition of drawing from King Utrayana
(2) The tradition of drawing from Princess Pearl Throne
ii. The origins of sculpture
c. The art of supreme script
4. The history of art in Tibet
a. The common arts
b. The supreme arts
i. A general history of Tibetan supreme art
(1) The influence of the kings of Tibet
(2) Major artistic personages and influences from the 900s to the
1400s
(3) The painting lineages from Menla Döndrup: Old and New
Menri
(4) The Khyentse painting lineage
(5) Significant figures in Tibetan art from the 1500s to the 1700s
ii. The Karma Gadri painting tradition
(1) The Three Tashis
(2) Famed masters of the Karma Gadri tradition
iii. The artistic activity of some of the Rimey masters of the 1800s
Part Two: The Main Teachings
I. Guidelines for the Artist and Patron of Supreme Art
A. General Guidelines for the Artist and Patron
B. Specific Guidelines for the Artist and Patron
1. The conduct of the patron of supreme art
a. What to abandon
b. What to adopt
c. The precepts of the patron
2. The conduct of the artist
a. What to abandon
b. What to adopt
c. The precepts of the artist
i. The downfall of not receiving empowerments
ii. The benefits of receiving empowerments
II. The Stages of Visualization
A. The Preliminaries to Visualization Practice
1. Establishing the ground for visualization practice
2. Preliminary preparations
a. The four doors of the secret teaching
b. The common preliminaries
c. The uncommon preliminaries
i. Expelling obstructors
ii. Establishing the boundary
iii. The shower of blessings
iv. Consecrating the offering articles
v. Blessing the inner offerings: amrita, rakta, and torma
B. The Main Practice
1. Introductory teachings
a. The individual classes of tantra
b. Deity meditation and the four kinds of birth
2. The development stage
a. The cause: the three samadhis
i. The samadhi of suchness
ii. The samadhi of total illumination
iii. The causal samadhi
iv. Summary and benefits of the three samadhis
b. The fruit: visualizing the mandala support
i. Visualizing the peaceful and wrathful mandalas
ii. The seats of the mandala deities
iii. The symbolic meaning
iv. Visualizing the mandala deity
c. The three main points
i. Vivid appearance
(1) The peaceful sambhogakaya deities
(2) The accoutrements and aspects of the wrathful deities
(3) The accoutrements and aspects of the semiwrathful deities
(4) The proper way to visualize
ii. Stable pride
iii. Recollecting purity
(1) The symbolism of the deity
(2) The symbolism of the colors
(3) The symbolism of the hand implements
(4) The symbolism of the musical instruments
iv. Summary and benefits of the three main points
d. The four stakes that bind the life force
e. Invoking the wisdom beings and requesting them to remain
f. Homage, offering, and praise
3. Mantra recitation
4. Dissolving the visualization
5. The samayas
6. Introduction to A Supreme Liturgy for Artists
III. Mandala Measurement and Iconometry
A. The Preliminary Measurements
1. The preliminary eight lines
a. The sky lines
b. The working lines
c. Two methods for drawing the eight lines
i. Finding the central point from the outside
ii. Finding the outside points from the center
d. The importance of the eight lines and summary
2. The naga king drawing and ritual
a. Making the calculations for the drawing
b. The actual drawing
c. Performing the naga king ritual
B. The Main Teachings on Measurement
1. Mandala measurement
a. Mandala size
b. Height for three-dimensional and sand mandalas
c. Mandala measurement
i. A general explanation
(1) Measurements for the celestial palace
(2) Measurements for inside the celestial palace
(3) Measurements for the surrounding areas of the mandala
ii. Measurements for the archways
(1) The resultant eight-leveled archway
(2) The four-leveled archway
(3) The eleven-leveled archway
(a) The Stainless Two tradition
(b) The Condensed Realization of the Gurus and Rosary
traditions
iii. Specific mandala measurements from Lochen Dharmashri
(1) Mandalas with eight-leveled archways
(a) Peaceful and Wrathful Deities of the Magical Net
(i) Peaceful Deities of the Magical Net color
(ii) Wrathful Deities of the Magical Net color
(b) Gathering of the Great Assembly
(i) The central abode
(ii) The color
(c) One That Stirs from the Depths
(2) Mandalas with four-leveled archways from revealed treasure
texts
(a) Peaceful Guru
(b) Wrathful Guru
(c) Amitayus and Minling Vajrasattva
(d) Yamaraja the Destroyer
(e) Eight Sadhana Teachings: Assemblage of the Sugatas
(i) Peaceful Assemblage of the Sugatas
(ii) Wrathful Assemblage of the Sugatas
(f) Vajrakilaya from the Razor Scriptures
iv. Additional mandalas
(1) Mandalas from the Nyingma Kama
(a) Immaculate Ushnisha
(b) Spotless Rays of Light
(2) Additional mandalas from terma lineages
(a) Old terma mandala: Condensed Realization of the Gurus
(b) New terma mandalas discovered by Dilgo Khyentse
Rinpoche
(i) Heart Essence of the Self-Born Lotus
(ii) Heart Essence of the Self-Born Lotus: Mother Queen
of the Ocean
(iii) Vajrakilaya According to the Nyak Tradition
(iv) Padmasambhava’s Heart Essence of Longevity
v. Mandala color teachings from Lochen Dharmashri
(1) Categories of color
(a) Outer color
(b) Inner color
(c) Secret color
(d) Sand color
(2) Blessing the pigments
(3) A ritual to commence coloring a sand mandala
(4) How to depict the mandala deities
vi. Some useful additional subjects
(1) An easy drawing method
(2) Mandala teachings from Jigme Lingpa
(3) The eight charnel grounds
(4) Depicting the mandala deities
(5) The semicircular magnetizing-activity mandala
2. Iconometric proportions
a. A general explanation of iconometric proportions
i. Where iconometry is used
ii. Systems of iconometric proportion
b. A specific explanation of iconometric proportions
i. How to begin the drawing
ii. Drawing the lines and calculating the areas
iii. The eight types of deity
(1) Buddhas
(2) Sambhogakaya buddhas
(3) Semiwrathful deities
(4) Bodhisattvas
(5) Female deities
(6) Deities in the class of wrathful yama
(7) Deities in the class of very wrathful rakshasa
(8) Shravakas, pratyekabuddhas, and humans
iv. The karmic consequences of making errors in measurement
3. Various additional measurements
a. Throne and monastic accoutrements
i. Short throne
ii. Wooden gong
iii. Various robes and items of the ordained sangha
(1) The thirteen requisites of a monk
(2) The begging bowl
(3) The monk’s staff
b. Temple building and decoration
i. Suitable building sites
ii. How to build a temple according to the different yanas
(1) Sutrayana temple design
(2) Vajrayana temple design
iii. The interior design
iv. Atsara and the elephant
v. The Mongolian man and the tiger
vi. How to show proper respect to the artisans
vii. The benefit of building a temple
viii. Explanation of the gentsira
ix. Explanation of the Wheel of Existence
x. The story of the four harmonious friends
xi. Six symbols of longevity
xii. Measurement for the hearth of the four activities
c. An explanation of further important points
i. Physical arts
(1) Physical art of supreme body
(a) Elegant expressions
(b) Ornaments of the deities
(c) Hand implements
(d) Throne and ornate backrest
(e) Color pigments
(f) Stylistic features
(2) Physical art of supreme speech
(a) A general explanation of scripts
(b) Writing implements
(c) How to make ink
(d) Mantra-wheel script
(3) Physical art of supreme mind
(a) Stupas
(i) General presentation on types of stupas
(ii) Techniques for stupa construction
(iii) The eight great stupas of the conquerors
(iv) Stupa dimensions and materials
(v) The names of the stupa parts
(vi) The symbolism of the stupa parts
(vii) Uncommon stupas
(viii) Stupas from extraordinary traditions
(b) Hand implements
(i) Vajra and bell
(ii) Damaru
(iii) A ritual to bless the vajra, bell, and damaru
(iv) Vase
(v) Mala