Thangka blessing question

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drodul
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Thangka blessing question

Post by drodul »

A friend brought a thangka painting of White Tara to a Kagyu lama to be blessed. He expected the lama to write the mantric syllables on the back of the thangka and sign it as usual. Instead, the lama did not write on the painting but had him hold the thangka up while the lama chanted and tossed a handful of rice at each of White Tara's three chakras as he chanted. Does anyone know why this lama might have chosen this method of blessing the thangka?
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heart
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Re: Thangka blessing question

Post by heart »

drodul wrote: Tue Oct 09, 2018 7:39 pm A friend brought a thangka painting of White Tara to a Kagyu lama to be blessed. He expected the lama to write the mantric syllables on the back of the thangka and sign it as usual. Instead, the lama did not write on the painting but had him hold the thangka up while the lama chanted and tossed a handful of rice at each of White Tara's three chakras as he chanted. Does anyone know why this lama might have chosen this method of blessing the thangka?
It is the normal way to do it.

/magnus
"We are all here to help each other go through this thing, whatever it is."
~Kurt Vonnegut

"The principal practice is Guruyoga. But we need to understand that any secondary practice combined with Guruyoga becomes a principal practice." ChNNR (Teachings on Thun and Ganapuja)
jet.urgyen
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Re: Thangka blessing question

Post by jet.urgyen »

drodul wrote: Tue Oct 09, 2018 7:39 pm A friend brought a thangka painting of White Tara to a Kagyu lama to be blessed. He expected the lama to write the mantric syllables on the back of the thangka and sign it as usual. Instead, the lama did not write on the painting but had him hold the thangka up while the lama chanted and tossed a handful of rice at each of White Tara's three chakras as he chanted. Does anyone know why this lama might have chosen this method of blessing the thangka?
the point is to invite a deity to reside in a support (painting, statue, picture, drawing, etc.), no?

maybe is was the easiest way for him to do it.
true dharma is inexpressible.

The bodhisattva nourishes from bodhicitta, through whatever method the Buddha has given him. Oh joy.
Tenma
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Re: Thangka blessing question

Post by Tenma »

drodul wrote: Tue Oct 09, 2018 7:39 pm A friend brought a thangka painting of White Tara to a Kagyu lama to be blessed. He expected the lama to write the mantric syllables on the back of the thangka and sign it as usual. Instead, the lama did not write on the painting but had him hold the thangka up while the lama chanted and tossed a handful of rice at each of White Tara's three chakras as he chanted. Does anyone know why this lama might have chosen this method of blessing the thangka?
Well, it's blessed. That's all that matters.
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Samu
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Re: Thangka blessing question

Post by Samu »

Namaste,

The way the Lama from Thasi choling monastery in Nepal blessing the Thangka is shown in this video.

Please have a look : Blessing the thangka
drodul
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Re: Thangka blessing question

Post by drodul »

Thank you for your replies.
jet.urgyen
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Re: Thangka blessing question

Post by jet.urgyen »

drodul wrote: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 pm Thank you for your replies.

Im looking at a book called "Consecration of Images and Stupas in Inddo-Tibetan Tantric Buddhism", consecrations seems to have a lot of info and literature. May be of interest.
true dharma is inexpressible.

The bodhisattva nourishes from bodhicitta, through whatever method the Buddha has given him. Oh joy.
Dranyen
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Re: Thangka blessing question

Post by Dranyen »

Hi all- Sorry to hijack the thread, but I have an interesting story about thangka consecration and thought this would be an appropriate place to share it.

This is a local story told to my by my teacher who was from Amdo.

In one of the larger Geluk monasteries in Amdo, I believe it was Kumbum, there was an incarnate lama who displayed very strange behavior. Usually he would be outside without wearing his lower monk’s garment- only the vest and zen.

A monk had commissioned a thangka and wanted to have this unusual lama bless it, that is, invite the deity to reside in the thangka. So the monk and a friend went to the lama’s household to request the consecration, but were told he was out somewhere in the monastery. Of course, the huge monasteries are like cities with streets and alleys, etc.

So these monks went to look for the lama and they spotted him in an alley, minus his lower garment, urinating on the ground. They approached him and said they had gone to his house hoping he would bless the thangka (which they were carrying, rolled up). The lama said “Yes” and told them to open it right there. When they did so, he reached down to the ground and gathered some mud mixed with the urine and flung this all over the thangka. Then he hurried away.

The monk who owned the thangka was very upset seeing how it was new and had most likely been very expensive. He took it back to his room and did his best to clean it up. Later, he approached another, more conventional, lama and asked if he would bless the thangka. The lama agreed but as he was preparing to do so, he looked at the thangka and remarked, oh, it’s already consecrated!
Tenma
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Re: Thangka blessing question

Post by Tenma »

Dranyen wrote: Thu Oct 11, 2018 5:11 pm Hi all- Sorry to hijack the thread, but I have an interesting story about thangka consecration and thought this would be an appropriate place to share it.

This is a local story told to my by my teacher who was from Amdo.

In one of the larger Geluk monasteries in Amdo, I believe it was Kumbum, there was an incarnate lama who displayed very strange behavior. Usually he would be outside without wearing his lower monk’s garment- only the vest and zen.

A monk had commissioned a thangka and wanted to have this unusual lama bless it, that is, invite the deity to reside in the thangka. So the monk and a friend went to the lama’s household to request the consecration, but were told he was out somewhere in the monastery. Of course, the huge monasteries are like cities with streets and alleys, etc.

So these monks went to look for the lama and they spotted him in an alley, minus his lower garment, urinating on the ground. They approached him and said they had gone to his house hoping he would bless the thangka (which they were carrying, rolled up). The lama said “Yes” and told them to open it right there. When they did so, he reached down to the ground and gathered some mud mixed with the urine and flung this all over the thangka. Then he hurried away.

The monk who owned the thangka was very upset seeing how it was new and had most likely been very expensive. He took it back to his room and did his best to clean it up. Later, he approached another, more conventional, lama and asked if he would bless the thangka. The lama agreed but as he was preparing to do so, he looked at the thangka and remarked, oh, it’s already consecrated!
When making an art project of a thangka or at the very least, drawing, how does one bless it? I know one is to draw the eyes last and put the 3 doors on the back followed by the deity's mantra(in this case, Manjushri of Garchen Rinpoche), but how can one bless it if there isn't a Lama available?
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lelopa
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Re: Thangka blessing question

Post by lelopa »

Drukpa Kunley decided to return to his homeland of Ralung. As he was ascending
from Palnashol, he encountered an old man called Sumdar who was eighty years old. He
was carrying a painted scroll, a Kahgyu Lineage thanka that had been well executed
but lacked the final gold touch.
‘Where are you going?’ the Lama asked him.
‘I am going to Ralung to ask Ngawong Chogyal to bless this scroll that I’ve painted.’
replied the old man.‘Hand me your scroll!’ ordered the Lama.The old man gave it to him, asking him his
opinion of the work. ‘Not bad!’ the Lama told him, but I can improve it like this.’ And he
took out his penis and urinated over the painting.
The old man was shocked speechless, but finally he managed to say, ‘Apau! What have
you done, you madman?’ And he began to cry. The Lama rolled up the wet scroll and calmly
returned it the old man. ‘Now take it for blessing,’ he said.
When the old man reached Ralung he was granted audience by Ngawong Chogyal. ‘I
painted this Kahgyu Lineage Thanka to gain merit,’ he told the abbot, ‘and I have brought
it to you for your blessing. But on the way I met a madman who urinated on it and ruined
it. Here it is. Please look at it.’ Ngawong Chogyal opened it and saw that
where the urine had splashed it was now shining with gold. ‘There’s no need for my
blessing,’ he told the old man. ‘It has already been blessed in the best possible way.’ The
old man gained unsurpassable faith and gave loud thanksgiving.
‘My scroll has gained a blessing makes it identical to Drukpa Kunley himself he cried,
and went away happily
Lost In Transmission
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