Line Drawings of Tibatan Sidhas

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Line Drawings of Tibatan Sidhas

A Word From The Artist

http://www.keithdowman.net/art/hrd/index.htm

I was extremely pleased when Keith Dowman suggested that I try my hand at

illustrating his bookMasters of Mahamudra: Songs and Histories of the Eighty-Four

Buddhist Siddhas (SUNY Press, 1985). The project had a special appeal. I held my

breath as Keith unrolled a tattered bundle of rather scratchy, photocopied images of

the Siddhas taken from a xylographic manuscript printed in Dege, Tibet. Despite the

generational distance that separated the photocopies from the original block prints an

unmistakable artistic vision shone through. The illuminations by this anonymousmaster were exciting to behold. Having studied and worked in both the Tibetan and

Chinese methods of Buddhist art I attempted to recreate the general spirit of eastern

Tibetan drawingsa unique syncretist style that is one of the few happy marriages

between those two noble cultures.

I approached the task as any ordinary Buddhist artist might: I strictly adhered to

the iconographic model as received from Keith, the scholar, and consulted with him

when the images seemed unclear. Once I had firmly, subjectively, visualized the icon,

I was free to create a pure-land landscape in which the figure could take up residence

in the world.

The landscapes follow traditional Chinese shan-sui "short-hand" with an emphasis

on calligraphic brevity. In addition to reducing printing costs, this spare technique

urges viewers into deeper realms of suggestion and imagination. Historically, many

Chinese connoisseurs and artists regarded landscape art as images of profound

religious experiencewhether or not religiously-inspired anthropomorphic icons

were included. Similarly,

Buddhist connoisseurs and artists regarded such "empty" landscapes as Buddhist

experiences.Masters of Mahamudraprovided an opportunity to place an iconographicimage of the divine in a landscape image of the divinea union that engrosses much

of my own mental imagery. Dege (the capital of the old eastern Tibetan Kingdom of

Kham where our models were printed) was itself a confluence of these two styles and

produced a wealth of such syncretism.
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Ultimately, the illustrations here should be grasped as artistic utensils that lack an

important ingredient required to complete them: the internal realization of the

particular teaching of each Siddha, something that must be supplied by the viewer.

Viewers can begin their journey toward obtaining this missing ingredient, and thereby

elevate the pictorial representations to direct experience, by reading the various stories

of the Siddhas in Keith Dowmans book,Masters of Mahamudra. Keiths translations,commentaries, extensive bibliography, and useful notes and indices open the door to

one of Tibets most sublime literary traditions.

H.R. Downs

Sonoma Mountain

Springtime, 1999

[The Line Drawings of Gomchen Au Leshe, the

Tibetan teacher of H.R.Downs]
http://www.keithdowman.net/art/nyingmaicons/index.htmhttp://www.keithdowman.net/art/nyingmaicons/index.htmhttp://www.keithdowman.net/art/nyingmaicons/index.htmhttp://www.keithdowman.net/art/nyingmaicons/index.htmhttp://www.keithdowman.net/art/nyingmaicons/index.htmhttp://www.keithdowman.net/art/nyingmaicons/index.htm


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Arya Nagarjuna: the Second Buddha


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Jalandhara: he unites wisdom and compassion.


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Dombhi Heruka: he moves at will on the back of a tiger.


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Charbaripa: he is at one with the sky.


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Kukkuripa: he returns tosamsarafor the sake of all beings.


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Glorious Saraha: he sees unity in duality


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Ghantapa: he is favored by his vajra-queen.


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Indrabhuti: he enjoys the dance of sensory awareness.


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Nagabodhi: he abides on the sacred mountain Sri Parbata.


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Virupa: he turns back the river and stops the sun.


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Shantideva: the great poet vanishes into space.


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Jogipa: he makes pilgrimage to the twenty-four power places.


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Kambala (Lawapa): he realizes the vajra-heart


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Kantalipa: he attains vajra-fearlessness


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Krisnacharya (Kanhapa): he subdues the elemental spirits.


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Naropa: he findssiddhi in learning.


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Shavaripa: he perceives his innate purity.


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Tantepa: he shows the emptiness of all things.


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Tilopa: he abides in the womb of enlightenment.


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Udhilipa: he unites with all-pervasive space.

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Line Drawings of Tibatan Sidhas