A concise introduction to the history, purpose, images, styles, materials, and methods of Tibetan Thanka painting. Includes a proportional diagram for drawing the Buddha and illustrations and description of the hand gestures known as mudras. 32 pages. From Images of Enlightenment: Mandala": At the heart of the Buddha's most profound teaching is the understanding of sunyata, the openness that characterizes all of existence. All forms are transient and insubstantial, like a dream, like the reflection of the moon in water, like a mirage. Nothing is created, nothing endures, nothing passes out of existence. All that appears as solid and real is in continual flux, temporarily frozen into identifiable forms by the structuring nature of mind. The nature of consciousness is expressed through the mandala. Emanating from the formless, non-dual openness of Dharmakaya, the mandala takes form as the five-fold field of Buddha attributes: Kaya (body), Vaca (speech), Citta (mind), Guna (quality), and Karma (action). Within the mandala, Citta is the heart, the centerless center of awareness, the basis of perception, the pure realm of Dharma. Kaya is in the East, the realm of embodiment, and the creative structuring of forms. Vaca, linked with communicaton and transformation, arises in the West; Guna, revealing the jewel-like qualities of enlightenment, takes form in the South, while Karma, the sphere of action, appears in the North. According to the specific teaching and system, Citta and Kaya may exchange places.
