Any of you guys/girls know much about Buddhist thangkas? I have these 2, and I don’t know what they mean. Can someone enlighten me, please?
That’s Tibetan writing under the left-hand one.
The one on the right looks like the goddess Kali.
The one on the right looks like Red Tara to me.
Googling ‘Red Tara’ comes up with a lot of very similar images, so I’m going to pat myself on the back. Tara is a female boddhisatva who is important in tantra. Here’s her wikipedia page.
The first one is the seed-syllable of Kālacakra, with the different colored letters representing the various elements in Tibetan Buddhist cosmology. The text underneath says rnam bcu dbang ldan (pronounced “nam chu wang den”). The highly stylized colored calligraphy consists of the syllables haṁ kṣa ma la wa ra ya. Kālacakrais a complex esoteric teaching and practice.
The second one is the ḍākinī Red Tara, also known as Kurukulla (her wrathful/passionate form, rather than her better-known peaceful Green Tara or White Tara forms), goddess of enchantment.
Thank you, guys… that’s just what I needed. I have been learning about Kurukulla from Attack’s lead, and now **Johanna **has blessed me with some great information and links, too. All of this will give me an afternoon’s worth of introductory education. Fully-understanding the thangkas and how they relate to various stages of practice may take a little longer, but at least I’m rolling along now. Thanks again.