It was kismet to find this exquisite White Tara, a gift for my good friend on her 30th birthday, on Ritual Thanka's Etsy. They have so many practice-quality paintings created by true craftsmen, and the purchasing process is easy.
When I called Ritual's contact number to ask a question, their sales manager answered and took action to help even though it wasn't his normal job. (Thanks, Rajendra!)
They also sent me a brief personal video showing the packed thangka ready for shipping, and got it out the door quickly -- in the face of the covid pandemic, no less.
You can feel safe supporting Nepalese artists by purchasing from Ritual Thanka.
DAC
What is a Thangka painting?
The Tibetan word Thangka means an unfolding painting, where the word Thang stands for an unfolding scroll and Ka means a painting. Thangka paintings, as a whole, are a visual representation of Buddhist deities, scenes, or mandalas, painted on silk or cotton canvas.
Thangka Paintings follow a generic principle of composition, design, and iconography. It is made following tradition and guidelines while leaving spaces for personal creativity and expression. In Buddhist culture, Thangka Paintings hold high religious values. In a way, it is also a tool that facilitates the realization of one's true nature or the nature of reality
In Ritual Thangka, we provide a collection of a variety of Thangka paintings. Every one of our paintings has been hand-picked by our curators. We take great care in scrutinizing all aspects, from the quality of the thangka cloth to its composition, so that you get only the finest quality paintings.
Avalokiteshvara
It is said that Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara made strong vows in front of Buddha Amitabha to intentionally manifest into the three realms of the world in order to liberate all sentient beings from their sufferings. He also vowed that if by chance his compassion and courageous mind of mercy for all sentient beings were to decrease, then let his head and body just completely crack and fall into thousand pieces .Receiving blessings from Buddha Amitabha ,Lokeshwora went through universal manifestations into the three realms of existence. Thereafter he went to Hell and emancipated them from both the hot and cold hells by teaching the mantra of Great Compassion. He in turn went to ghost realm, human, asura and deva realms to free sentient beings from their respective types of suffering. Through these actions he thoroughly emptied the ocean of suffering. Following this he went back to Buddha Amitabha and declared that the liberation had been effected.Buddha Amitabha then said to him,” You should look back into the world again.”Lokeshowara looked back and saw that the world was once again filled with sadness and sufferings.This disappointed him and his body and head cracked and fell apart into one thousand pieces.Buddha Amitabha then said to him,”My son where has your courage,your mental strength gone?”He picked up all the pieces of his body and the head.At the same time he said “This happened because of your vow. However,noble son, don’t worry.” He then blessed his broken heads into eleven faces and he sat upon those heads,and his broken body emanated into one thousand hands like one thousand petals of a lotus.Thereafter he said “I bow to you because your thousand hands are the hands of the thousand universal emperors and those eyes in each of the palm of the hands are the eyes of one thousand Buddhas who will appear in this fortunate a eon .After that Lokeshvara appeared in many forms and he successfully accomplished innumerable altruistic actions.
Lokeshvara wears all the ornaments :earrings ,bracelets and so forth .He also wears an antelope skin on his shoulders and carries various weapons in his hands. Lokeshvara is a cosmic form of Avalokiteswara and is represented with eleven heads and one thousand arms .He is adorned with all the six jewels and is dressed in a monastic robe.
Lokeshvara is also the spiritual father of White Tara and Green Tara who were said to be formed from his two drops of tears when he saw the pain and suffering in the sentient beings. They are all boddhisattvas (liberators of the sentient beings from pain and suffering ) who have very prominent spots among the Tibetan
Deities.
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Size: 15"/ 38 cm (width) x 22"/ 56 cm (height)
Materials: Cotton Canvas, Acrylic Colors, Genuine 24K Gold
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THIS THANGKA IS HAND-PAINTED IN THE TRADITIONAL STYLE AND THE QUALITY IS HIGH
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Framing:
-Not mounted on a traditional brocade
-Tibetan Silk brocade is available in a variety of colors and quality
-Price ranges from $35 to $100 depending upon the silk quality
-Additional 3 business days for this service
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Delivery:
-Free Shipping
-Standard Courier Services
-4-10 business days for delivery
-All items are insured
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Return Policy:
-Returns are accepted within 60 business days.
-You can ship either to Nepal or Texas (USA), whichever works better for you.
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We will be more than happy to answer all your questions.
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Please contact us to:
- Custom order a thangka of any Vajrayana deity. Usually, it takes 2-5 months (depending on complexity) to finish such a thangka of average size.