Nuobu Gesang's Rubin Museum Project
Nuobu Gesang
Professor: Dana Trusso
HUA 105
4/17/17
Buddha Sitatapatra
The museum visit expanded my understanding on Buddhist teaching and allowed me to connect simple doctrines to extremely complex art pieces. I was very discouraged at first, since a lot of these artworks are related to the Vajrayana branch, which makes them almost impossible to understand without any prior Buddhist knowledge; but then, after close observations, I figured even with their abyss representation, there are still certain features within these art pieces that expresses very simple and basic Buddhist doctrines that we had learned in our class. I think this characteristic makes these art works even more precious and meaningful, because they not only contain deep symbolism within advanced Buddhist teaching but they also speaks to entry level learners by presenting certain simple Buddhist doctrines.
The art work that attracted me the most was the ‘Buddha Sitatapatra’. Material for this work is ground mineral pigments and gold line on cloth. It is originated from Tibet during 1864 and its religious Lineages can be traced as part of the Sakya and Gelug traditions of the Tibetan Buddhism. This art piece simply caught my eye as I was just walking by due to its amazing art features. From an art standpoint, this piece applied both visual elements and principles of design to express and emphasize the importance of the Sitatapatra within this piece. Many different colors were used, but the primary one is white, which can be seen on the main body of Sitatapatra, representing ultimate reality and wisdom as well as lack of delusion and ignorance. The lines in this artwork are very thin and delicate. Shapes are mainly organic as there are various Buddhist figures in the background as well as abundant decorations and natural elements. Space and proportion is the most obvious element being used, the artist gave almost 80% of the space to the central figure and also gave the biggest proportion to it as he wants the audience’s main attention on Sitatapatra and not all the other figures. Overall, this art piece gives the audience a balanced ambience and a sense of unity by illustrating a symmetrical composition; where the artwork is almost identical in terms of shapes and numbers on its left side and right side.
Sitatapatra is a Vajrayana Buddhism’s protection goddess. Her name’s direct translation is "The Victorious White Parasol” due to the symbolic parasol she is holding; which in general, represents the protection from danger/illness and as a refuge in the Dharma. Different Buddhist traditions have various explanation on her origin. According to Wikipedia, Some believe she emerged from Shakyamuni Buddha’s ushnisha when he was in Trayastrimsa heaven, some identify her as a form of goddess Tara and others believe she is a counterpart to Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. She is commonly known as the deity with 1000 faces and 1000 hands, however that is not her only form since she can also appear in various ways including human like form with only one face and two arms. Based on Himalayanart, she has in total of 1000 faces, 1000 hands,1000 legs and 10,100,000 eyes. Her 1000 faces are composed of three main colors, center roll with white faces, yellow and green faces to the left and right, and finally two rolls of red faces on each end. Each of her head has three eyes and each hand and feet have one eye. She is within an blue aureole cover with red flame which according to Asianart, represents wisdom and lack of defilements such as anger, hatred, greed and desire. She stands upon and tramples demons which represents negative qualities of all living beings such as greed, pride…. Sitatapatra’s primary hand holds a white parasol and a wheel of dharma symbolizing Buddha’s teaching. Her other hands hold various instruments and weapons such as Vajra, Visvavajra, lotus, bow and others.
Above the central figure, according to Himalayanart, there are seven Buddhas each sits on lotus seats and performing different mudras(hand gesture). And on the bottom “Along the bottom are the Three Mahakala Brothers, black in color, wrathful, with one face and two hands holding a curved knife held aloft in the right and a skull cup in the left. Supported in the bend of the elbow is a sandalwood staff vertically standing. They wear bone ornaments, long linen garments of various colors….”
This artwork about Sitatapatra is very hard to apply to the doctrines we have learned in class, since she belongs to the Vajrayāna branch; which is a Buddhist tradition of Tantra and it includes very profound and esoteric doctrines and teachings. However, if I have to chose one, I believe the closest is Skillful means(upaya); which refers to Mahayana Buddhism’s concept of allowing the practitioners to use different method or technique other than mainstream ways to achieve enlightenment. Skillful means does have certain “rules”, as the performer has to apply his/her action with wisdom, compassion and it has to be appropriate in its given conditions. One great example of Skillful means are the teachings of Bodhisattvas, they might express different Buddhist doctrines, or teaching that they figured by themselves to practitioners in different circumstances in order for them to have a better understanding. In the case of this artwork about Sitatapatra, some Vajrayāna practitioners might find her particular appearance or ability more applying to their own understanding of the Dharma or they might have certain puzzles that can only be solved by Sitatapatra’s ability or mantra. Therefore, the doctrines of Skillful means is reflected by the artwork of Buddha Sitatapatra.
Compare to Hinduism, the doctrines of Brahman seems to share a similar feature with the Buddhist doctrine of Skillful means. In Hinduism, Brahman is the highest universal principle, reality and the true self of all beings. One of Brahman’s characteristic is that it has countless ways of presenting itself to the people in order for them to realize Atman, which is the true inner self of an individual. In my opinion, all the different deities in Hinduism can be seen as a different aspect of Brahman just as all the different doctrines or deities in Buddhism can be seen as a unique guideline towards Nirvana. The difference in these two doctrines is that Brahman is also the ultimate goal of being for Hindu practitioners and Skillful Means is just a another tool for Buddhist practitioners in order to achieve enlightenment.
I believe Buddhism can be perceived as a religion, however, for many especially Tibetans Buddhism is also a way of everyday life and as a way to see the world. Buddha is definitely not a god. According to the documentary and the book, the Buddha was a man named Siddhartha, and only became Buddha after enlightenment. He also went through mortal sufferings and obstacles just as any one of us. “Siddhartha reputedly underwent six years of extreme self-denial techniques…” Finally, Siddhartha found a Middle way which leaded him to enlightenment by rejecting both self indulgence and self denial.
Throughout this experience, I figured that the nature of Religion and Philosophy can actually be very similar in a way where they are all ultimately searching for answers and reality. In term of religion, it can be something more than just a belief system but also a meaningful purpose in life or a tool to reduced unhappiness and a way to enhance life quality. Also after learning some core values in Buddhism, I believe religion’s nature doesn’t always contradict the nature of science; since many Buddhism’s doctrines are testable and can be proven just as how scientific knowledge prove their credibility.
Work Cited
"DUKKAR (SITATAPATRA)." Tsem Rinpoche. N.p., 11 Dec. 2013. Web. 19 Apr. 2017.
O'Brien, Barbara. "Upaya -The Buddhist Teaching of Skillful Means." ThoughtCo. Thoughtco.com, Feb. 2017. Web. 19 Apr. 2017.
"Sitatapatra." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Apr. 2017. Web. 19 Apr. 2017.
"The Buddhist Deity Ushnisha-sitatapatra." Asian Art Museum | Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2017.
Watt, Jeff. "Sitatapatra Main Page." Buddhist Deity: Sitatapatra Main Page. Himalayanart.org, Aug. 2013. Web. 19 Apr. 2017.
I agree with the fact that Buddhism can be perceived as a religion because it is a way of life. I feel that all religions are a way of life. People follow the rules and laws from their religion and apply it to their everyday lives, but how can it be considered a religion if there is no God? Buddha like you said was not a God and he endured mortal suffering. So how can they look up to Buddha or Buddhism as a religion if a regular person started it and is said to be the leader?
ReplyDeleteI believe there is always a misunderstanding regarding to the god or god's within Buddhism. There are indeed many gods and deities in Buddhism, however, all of them are not perfect as how god is perfect in the western's Abrahamic tradition. Also in Buddhism, there is not single creacter god. Therefore Buddhism doesn't have a allpowerful creator god, however, Buddhist still worship various gods and denies
DeleteThis course is very eye opening and it helped my critical thinking skills tremendously. I was born and raised with not only the Buddhist religion, but also a life style that's heavily influenced by Buddhist doctrine. Most of my values and believes can all be traced back to Buddhist conceptions. However after taking this course, I realized a lot of Buddhists focus too much on the rituals and the worships of different deities and they often forget or overlook the main focus within Buddhism which is to be compassionate and achieve enlightenment. Therefore this course help me to gain more self awareness in terms of the importance of the fundamentals within a religion. Also, base on a global context, I was able to learn more about the major religions from different parts of the world. For instance, I was a little shocked to know that Christianity, Islam and Judaism are all developed based on the same Abrahamic tradition. I was also glad to learn more about Islam and clear up many misconceptions about the religion which are often caused by media and prejudices views. Most importantly, by learning the different arguments that try to prove god's existence, I was able to realized how I can use or apply different conceptions onto a single topic and get results or theories that are dramatically different. In conclusion, the very interesting factor is that even with all the differences within all the religion, we were still able to figure out certain similarities and connection between different religions.
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