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Sand Mandala
Sand mandala (; ) is a Tibetan Buddhist tradition involving the creation and destruction of mandalas made from colored sand. Once complete, the sand mandala's ritualistic dismantling is accompanied by ceremonies and viewing to symbolize Buddhist doctrinal belief in the transitory nature of material life. Materials and construction Historically, the mandala was not created with naturally dyed sand, but granules of crushed colored stone. In modern times, plain white stones are ground down and dyed with opaque inks to achieve the same effect. The monks use a special, extremely dense sand in order to limit interference by things such as wind or sneezes. Before laying down the sand, the monks assigned to the project will draw the geometric measurements associated with the mandala. The sand granules are then applied using small tubes, funnels, and scrapers, called chak-pur, until the desired pattern is achieved. Sand mandalas traditionally take several weeks to build due to ...
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Charnel Ground
A charnel ground (Sanakrit: श्मशान; IAST: śmaśāna; Tibetan pronunciation: durtrö; )Rigpa Shedra (July 2009). 'Charnel ground'. Source(accessed: Saturday December 19, 2009) is an above-ground site for the putrefaction of bodies, generally human, where formerly living tissue is left to decompose uncovered. Although it may have demarcated locations within it functionally identified as burial grounds, cemeteries and crematoria, it is distinct from these as well as from crypts or burial vaults. In a religious sense, it is also a very important location for sadhana and ritual activity for Indo-Tibetan traditions of Dharma particularly those traditions iterated by the Tantric view such as Kashmiri Shaivism, Kaula tradition, Esoteric Buddhism, Vajrayana, Mantrayana, Dzogchen, and the sadhana of Chöd, Phowa and Zhitro, etc. The charnel ground is also an archetypal liminality that figures prominently in the literature and liturgy and as an artistic motif in Dharmic ...
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Mandalas
A mandala ( sa, मण्डल, maṇḍala, circle, ) is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for establishing a sacred space and as an aid to meditation and trance induction. In the Eastern religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Shinto it is used as a map representing deities, or especially in the case of Shinto, paradises, kami or actual shrines. A mandala generally represents the spiritual journey, starting from outside to the inner core, through layers. Hinduism In Hinduism, a basic mandala, also called a ''yantra'', takes the form of a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point. Each gate is in the general shape of a T. Mandalas often have radial balance. A ''yantra'' is similar to a mandala, usually smaller and using a more limited colour palette. It may be a two- or three-dimensional geometric com ...
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Tibetan Painting
Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dialect ** Tibetan pinyin, a method of writing Standard Tibetan in Latin script ** Tibetan script ** any other of the Tibetic languages Tibetan may additionally refer to: Culture * Old Tibetan, an era of Tibetan history * Tibetan art * Music of Tibet * Tibetan rug * Tibetan culture * Tibetan cuisine Religion * Tibetan Buddhism * Tibetan Muslims Other uses * Tibetan alphabet * Tibetan (Unicode block) * Tibetan name * Tibetan calendar * Tibetan Spaniel, a breed of dog * Tibetan Mastiff, a breed of dog See also * Tibetan Bells (other) * Traditional Tibetan medicine * Tibetan language (other) Tibetan language may refer to: * Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard * Lhasa Ti ...
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Tibetan Art
The vast majority of surviving Tibetan art created before the mid-20th century is religious, with the main forms being thangka, paintings on cloth, mostly in a technique described as gouache or distemper, Tibetan Buddhist wall paintings, and small statues in bronze, or large ones in clay, stucco or wood. They were commissioned by religious establishments or by pious individuals for use within the practice of Tibetan Buddhism and were manufactured in large workshops by monks and lay artists, who are mostly unknown. Various types of religious objects, such as the '' phurbu'' or ritual dagger, are finely made and lavishly decorated. Secular objects, in particular jewellery and textiles, were also made, with Chinese influences strong in the latter. Himalayan art is an overall term for Tibetan art together with the art of Bhutan, Nepal, Ladakh, Kashmir and neighbouring parts of Mongolia and China where Tibetan Buddhism is practiced. Sino-Tibetan art refers to works in a Tibetan st ...
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Tantric Practices
Tantric or variations may refer to: Religion Beliefs and practices *Tantra, esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism **Tantric sex, tantric practices to exercise sexuality in a ritualized or yogic context ** Tantric yoga, a form of yoga *Vajrayana, also known as Tantric Buddhism **Tibetan tantric practice *Neotantra, a Western form of tantra ** Tantra massage, a form of erotic massage Religious texts * Tantras (Buddhism), Indian and Tibetan texts which outline Buddhist religious systems *Tantras (Hinduism), scriptures pertaining to esoteric traditions rooted in Hindu philosophy Music *Tantric (band) Tantric is an American rock band from Louisville, Kentucky. The group was founded in 1998 by Todd Whitener, Jesse Vest and Matt Taul after they left Days of the New, and joined forces with vocalist Hugo Ferreira. Ferreira is the only remaining ..., a hard rock band from Louisville, Kentucky ** ''Tantric'' (album), the debut album by the band of the same name Other uses * Tan ...
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Tibetan Buddhist Practices
Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dialect ** Tibetan pinyin, a method of writing Standard Tibetan in Latin script ** Tibetan script ** any other of the Tibetic languages Tibetan may additionally refer to: Culture * Old Tibetan, an era of Tibetan history * Tibetan art * Music of Tibet * Tibetan rug * Tibetan culture * Tibetan cuisine Religion * Tibetan Buddhism * Tibetan Muslims Other uses * Tibetan alphabet * Tibetan (Unicode block) * Tibetan name * Tibetan calendar * Tibetan Spaniel, a breed of dog * Tibetan Mastiff, a breed of dog See also * Tibetan Bells (other) * Traditional Tibetan medicine Traditional Tibetan medicine (), also known as Sowa-Rigpa medicine, is a centuries-old traditional medical system that employs a complex approach to diagnosis, incor ...
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Sandpainting
Sandpainting is the art of pouring coloured sands, and powdered pigments from minerals or crystals, or pigments from other natural or synthetic sources onto a surface to make a fixed or unfixed sand painting. Unfixed sand paintings have a long established cultural history in numerous social groupings around the globe, and are often temporary, ritual paintings prepared for religious or healing ceremonies. This form of art is also referred to as drypainting. Drypainting is practised by Native Americans in the Southwestern United States, by Tibetan and Buddhist monks, as well as Indigenous Australians, and also by Latin Americans on certain Christian holy days. History Native American sandpainting In the sandpainting of southwestern Native Americans (the most famous of which are the Navajo nown as the Diné, the Medicine Man (or ''Hatałii'') paints loosely upon the ground of a hogan, where the ceremony takes place, or on a buckskin or cloth tarpaulin, by letting the colou ...
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Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso, who lives as a refugee in India. The Dalai Lama is also considered to be the successor in a line of tulkus who are believed to be incarnations of Avalokiteśvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. Since the time of the 5th Dalai Lama in the 17th century, his personage has always been a symbol of unification of the state of Tibet, where he has represented Buddhist values and traditions. The Dalai Lama was an important figure of the Geluk tradition, which was politically and numerically dominant in Central Tibet, but his religious authority went beyond sectarian boundaries. While he had no formal or institutional role in any of the religious traditions, which were headed by their own high lamas, he was a unify ...
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Losang Samten
Losang Samten () is a Tibetan-American scholar, sand mandala artist, former Buddhist monk, and Spiritual Director of the Chenrezig Tibetan Buddhist Center of Philadelphia. He is one of only an estimated 30 people worldwide who are qualified to teach the traditional art of Tibetan sandpainting. He has written two books and helped to create the first Tibetan sand mandala ever shown publicly in the West in 1988. In 2002, he was made a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment of the Arts. In 2004, he was granted a Pew Fellowship in Folk and Traditional Arts. Early life Born into a Buddhist family in Chung Ribuce (Ü-Tsang, Tibet) in 1953, Samten spent two months crossing the Himalayas with his family to Nepal in 1959. After arriving in Dharamsala, India in 1964 or 1965, Samten entered Namgyal Monastery in Dharamsala, taking the vows of a novice monk there in 1967. He probably took full ordination at Namgyal in 1969. While enrolled at Namgyal, Samten also studied th ...
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The Bayon
The Bayon ( km, ប្រាសាទបាយ័ន, ) is a richly decorated Khmer temple related to Buddhism at Angkor in Cambodia. Built in the late 12th or early 13th century as the state temple of the King Jayavarman VII ( km, ព្រះបាទជ័យវរ្ម័នទី ៧), the Bayon stands at the centre of Jayavarman's capital, Angkor Thom ( km, អង្គរធំ).Higham, C., 2001, The Civilization of Angkor, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, , p.121Higham, C., 2014, Early Mainland Southeast Asia, Bangkok: River Books Co., Ltd., pp.378-382 The Bayon's most distinctive feature is the multitude (4 on each tower pointing to the 4 sides) of serene and smiling stone faces of Brahma on the many towers which jut out from the upper terrace and cluster around its central peak.Freeman and Jacques, p.78. The main conservatory body, the Japanese Government Team for the Safeguarding of Angkor (the JSA) has described the temple as "the most striking expression of the ba ...
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Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majority regions surrounding the Himalayan areas of India (such as Ladakh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and a minority in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand), in much of Central Asia, in the southern Siberian regions such as Tuva, and in Mongolia. Tibetan Buddhism evolved as a form of Mahāyāna Buddhism stemming from the latest stages of Indian Buddhism (which also included many Vajrayāna elements). It thus preserves many Indian Buddhist tantric practices of the post-Gupta early medieval period (500 to 1200 CE), along with numerous native Tibetan developments. In the pre-modern era, Tibetan Buddhism spread outside of Tibet primarily due to the influence of the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), founded by Kublai Khan, which had ruled Chin ...
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