Eastern Tibet, Kham, Situ Kagyu School, 19th c.
33,5 x 23,2 (72 x 45) cm
In this lovely painting, the longing for eternal youth or immortality is intimately expressed. The clear atmosphere of the landscape, and the transparency of the colors, give a special lightness to the mood surrounding the goddess. Her delicate, youthful appearance - that of a sixteen-year-old - is emblematic of her work as a "goddess of long life". The desire for a long life arises from the practitioner's hope to have enough time to come as close as possible to the realization of the Dharma, the spiritual realization, and the attainment of Buddhahood. It is also connected with the wish to help as many beings as possible in their realization, in the sense of the bodhisattva vow. Tara is full of compassion, as evidenced by her seven eyes - in addition to her two human eyes, the third eye on her forehead, and another four on the palms of her hands and feet, with which she looks with clear-sighted wisdom empathetically on all beings in the six realms of existence. Her right hand shows the gesture with which she grants all wishes. The left hand shows the gesture of argumentation, of instruction. With the latter, she forms a circle with her thumb and ring finger as a sign of unification of wisdom and method. The three extended fingers symbolize the three objects of refuge: Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. The circle formed by the thumb and ring finger represents emptiness. The "Triad of Long Life" forms it, together with Buddha Amitayus and the Mother of all Buddhas - Ushnishavijaya (not shown here!). Rituals dedicated to these three deities aim not only to prolong one's own life and that of others, but also to overcome life-threatening and spiritual obstacles. This applies primarily to spiritual teachers, but also to lay and secular people. For this reason, practitioners often commission a thangka depicting White Tara for their own benefit or to be offered as a thank-you gift to a lama or teacher. Within visionary clouds appears the "Buddha of Long Life" - Amitayus, holding in his hand the golden Amrita vase (water of life). In the lower area a patriarch of the Situ Kagyu school is enthroned, wearing the tratitional red hat. He shows the gesture of teaching and holds in his left hand the golden wheel of teaching. Tempera and gold on cotton cloth, original silk satin border, with protective cloth.
Important German private collection, collected in the 1970s and 80s, largely acquired at Schoettle Ostasiatica, Stuttgart
Literature: David P. Jackson, Patron and Painter; Situ Panchen and the Revival of the Encampment Style; Rubin Museum of Art; 2009
