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While the Buddha’s teachings weren’t written down until hundreds of years after Shakyamuni’s death, it is said that the first images of this great teacher were created during his life. The thangka artist learns a grid that comes from the proportions of the historical Buddha himself, based on his reflection in a pool of water, because he was too intense to behold straight on.
To begin each session I spend with a thangka, I open with a modified version of a practice outlined in The Art of Awakening by Konchog Lhadrepa and Charlotte Davis. This practice involves many steps, including reciting vows as an affirmation of my commitment as a thangka artist. One line in these vows is: It is so rare to behold the body of Buddha Shakyamuni, and therefore I rejoice in my good fortune.
It makes me wonder, what does it mean to behold the body of the Buddha?
As a thangka artist, the practice is not only to depict Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, but to envision oneself as these enlightened beings. This Vajrayana approach is intense. You are the deity and the deity is you.
A dear dharma friend asked me if I find this practice difficult, and in answering her I found an answer I hadn’t yet considered. It's challenging to consider oneself as a Buddha, to really believe it is possible and already true. It’s not a matter of easy or difficult though, but more of effortful to effortless. I strive to behold the Buddha nature in myself and in others. Sometimes it is obvious. We notice the helpers, as the contemporary Bodhisattva Mr. Rogers instructed. We can sometimes see that we are the helpers, and this is our Buddha nature and therefore, the body of the Buddha, in our actions. Sometimes, it takes a bit more effort, a bit more convincing, but either way, anytime we connect with our Buddha nature or consider it in another, we are beholding the body of a Buddha.
In looking on this image, I hope you can see something of your own capacity for wisdom and sanity. I hope you are able to see in this image that you contain clarity and are capable of deep, abiding compassion. I hope you can look upon this image and consider that you too are an enlightened being, even if you don’t recognise it fully yet.
May it be of benefit,
K.