#kalachakra

[postcardaday]

Wheel of Time, Kalachakra Tibet, 17th century Rubin Museum of Art

[tibetanthangkapaintings]

We strive in meditation because we desire excellence, but any striving precludes attainment; excellence resides only in timeless self-sprung awareness.

~ Longchenpa

[rrcraft-and-lore]

With the new Avatar series having been out a few months now, here's another mythology and language lesson people overlook and it's...tiring.

The word and concept of Avatar is South Asian. I can't Hinglish it, but it's close to pronounced like: Uhv-thaar. you can just google it, but it's the idea and ability of gods or powerful beings to incarnate in new time/new forms/bodies, sometimes both mortal and divine.

It happens a lot in the Vedic epics.

Avatar: The Last Airbender? Concept, reincarnation, South Asian as fuck.

South Asia (as does other areas of the world/cultures) has a take on the x number of elements as well. Usually it's: wind, fire, earth, water, and sound/voice/space or spirit - aether - w.e. you wanna call it. Spirit bending the idea of the spirit world. Obviously this set is not a direct 1:1.

A:TLA draws a closer to parallel in ways to Chinese takes on the elements.

Obviously James Cameron's avatar takes this concept to a sci fi degree, essentially bringing your mind/consciousness into a new/different (Alien) body.

We also get into the world tree mythos/axis mundi parts of his story too, but that's beside the point and not unique to any one culture - that's anything out of proto Indo-European up. Obviously within in the pantheon of sff literature and other media the idea of reincarnation and cyclic nature of time - birth across time isn't new or rare.

The idea of a Wheel of Time, in fact, comes quite from: Kalachakra - translation = "Wheel of Time." This is an Indian belief that later spread through/over distance as well as religion, popping up in Buddhism and finding prominence most notably in Tibet still to this day.

The belief also ties back into the idea of conventional reality - time being an aspect of the larger world-universe- the smaller aspects of which are comprised of, once again: earth, wind, water, fire, space - sound familiar to something rom fantasy?

Probably. If not, read more. Or...more carefully.

[arjuna-vallabha]

Kalachakra  Vishvamata, Nepal

[hinducosmos]

Kalachakra Mandala

Hasta Thangka Art Center wrote : Kalachakra Mandala is a Sanskrit word for “wheel of time”. The mandala of kalachakra is aerial view of the kalachakra temple, situated in Lhasa and contains 722 Deities, and at its heart on a Lotus flower, a single Buddha: Kalachakra. It is a 5 level structure, each level is represented by a square, and each square is set within the others. In mandala there are six circles of elements: wisdom, space, wind, fire, water and earth. Then we get to different entrance of the body, speech and mind.

The Dalai Lama and the Kalachakra Although thought to have once been a carefully guarded secret of the Shambhala Kingdom, the Kalachakra Tantra is now widely known. The Dalai Lama himself has given thirty-three separate initiations into this practice all over the world, including in Tibet, India, Switzerland, Canada, and the United States.

In an essay on his website, His Holiness writes, “the Kalachakra initiations empower the disciple to practice the yoga of the Kalachakra tantra, and, ultimately, to achieve the state of Shri Kalachakra.” As with other mandala practices, the goal here is for the initiate to “enter” into the mandala and identify with the deity represented therein.

The floors of the palace depicted in the Kalachakra Mandala, from the ground up, represent:

Enlightened body

Enlightened speech

Enlightened mind

Enlightened wisdom

Enlightened great bliss

Size = 55cmx55cm, Price = 120$ (Free Shipping) Material used = Cotton canvas, natural pigment, Gold leaf

FB: Hasta Gola Mandala Thangka Art Center (via Instagram: Hasta Thangka Art Center)

[lovesinistra]

[whatevergreen]

A thangka of Kalachakra. Eastern Tibet, Palpung, mid 18th century (central detail)

[royalthangka]

Kalachakra Mandala from Royal Thangka

Color: Black and Gold Message or call us (+97798 for pricing and more information.