Brocade Mounted Wheel Of Life | Wall Decoration Painting | Mindfulness Meditation Object of Focus For Our Wellbeing | Tibetan Thangka Art | Wheel of Life | Ritual Thanka
Code: 921

Brocade Mounted Wheel Of Life | Wall Decoration Painting | Mindfulness Meditation Object of Focus For Our Wellbeing | Tibetan Thangka Art

Size / Weight: 28x42 inches /
Brocade:

Total:
$250.00

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  • Mar 28

  • Mar 30 - Apr 1

  • Apr 3 - Apr 5

Description

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

Wheel Of Life Karma Original Hand-Painted Tibetan Thangka :

The Wheel of Life or “Bhavacakra” is well known by Buddhist monks as a powerful meditation tool and also by students to learn and understand the teachings of the Buddha.

The Wheel represents the very reasons of suffering and it can be seen painted on the walls of many Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in all Himalayan regions.

The center circle illustrates “the three poisons,”represented by a cock (ignorance), a pig (greed), and snake (hatred). They are surrounded by the six realms of existence , which are in turn surrounded by the perpetual cycle of life, or samsara of wheel.

The third thought to contemplate is inexorable karma - the accumulation of our actions as governed by the law of cause and effect which determines our destiny . Our actions, both positive and negative , accumulate in our Karmic “account” throughout every second of our lives.

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Size with Brocade: 28" / 71 cm (width) x 42"/ 107 cm (height)

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Size: 14"/ 36 cm (width) x 20"/51 cm (height)
Materials: Cotton Canvas, Acrylic Colors, Genuine 24K Gold
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THIS THANGKA IS HAND-PAINTED IN THE TRADITIONAL STYLE BY NEPALI ARTIST 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.

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BRIEF INTRODUCTION

Legend has it that the Buddha himself created the first depiction of the bhavacakra, and the story of how he gave the illustration to King Rudrāyaṇa appears in the anthology of Buddhist narratives called the Divyavadana.

The bhavacakra is a symbolic representation of saṃsāra (or cyclic existence) found on the outside walls of Tibetan Buddhist temples and monasteries in the Indo-Tibet region. In the Mahayana Buddhist tradition, it is believed that the drawing was designed by the Buddha himself in order to help ordinary people understand Buddhist teachings. wheel of life is also known as the Wheel of becoming, Wheel of cyclic existence, Wheel of existence, Wheel of life, Wheel of rebirth, Wheel of saṃsāra, Wheel of suffering, Wheel of transformation

 

CENTRAL HUB: THE THREE POISONS

In the hub of the wheel are three animals: a pig, a snake, and a bird. They represent the three poisons of ignorance, attachment, and aversion. The pig stands for ignorance; this comparison is based on the Indian concept of a pig being the most foolish of animals since it sleeps in the dirtiest places and eats whatever comes to its mouth. The snake represents aversion or anger; this is because it will be aroused and strike at the slightest touch. The bird represents attachment (also translated as desire or clinging). The particular bird used in this diagram represents an Indian bird that is very attached to its partner. These three animals represent the three poisons, which are the core of the Wheel of Life. From these three poisons, the whole cycle of existence evolves.

Second Layer Karma
The second layer of the wheel shows two-half circles:
One half-circle (usually light) shows contented people moving upwards to higher states, possibly to the higher realms.
The other half-circle (usually dark) shows people in a miserable state being led downwards to lower states, possibly to the lower realms.
These images represent karma, the law of cause and effect. The light half-circle indicates people experiencing the results of positive actions. The dark half-circle indicates people experiencing the results of negative actions.

SIX REALMS OF LIFE

Third layer: the six reals of samsara
God realm: the gods lead long and enjoyable lives full of pleasure and abundance, but they spend their lives pursuing meaningless distractions and never think to practice the dharma. When death comes to them, they are completely unprepared; without realizing it, they have completely exhausted their good karma (which was the cause for being reborn in the god realm) and they suffer through being reborn in the lower realms

Demi-god realm: the demi-gods have pleasure and abundance almost as much as the gods, but they spend their time fighting among themselves or making war on the gods. When they make war on the gods, they always lose, since the gods are much more powerful. The demi-gods suffer from constant fighting and jealousy, and from being killed and wounded in their wars with each other and with the gods.

Human realm: humans suffer from hunger, thirst, heat, cold, separation from friends, being attacked by enemies, not getting what they want, and getting what they don't want. They also suffer from the general sufferings of birth, old age, sickness, and death. Yet the human realm is considered to be the most suitable realm for practicing the dharma because humans are not completely distracted by pleasure (like the gods or demi-gods) or by pain and suffering (like the beings in the lower realms).

The three lower realms are:

Animal realm: wild animals suffer from being attacked and eaten by other animals; they generally lead lives of constant fear. Domestic animals suffer from being exploited by humans; for example, they are slaughtered for food, overworked, and so on.

Hungry ghost realm: hungry ghosts suffer from extreme hunger and thirst. They wander constantly in search of food and drink, only to be miserably frustrated any time they come close to actually getting what they want. For example, they see a stream of pure, clear water in the distance, but by the time they get there the stream has dried up. Hungry ghosts have huge bellies and long thin necks. On the rare occasions that they do manage to find something to eat or drink, the food or water burns their neck as it goes down to their belly, causing them intense agony.

Hell realm: hell beings endure unimaginable suffering for eons of time. There are actually eighteen different types of hells, each inflicting a different kind of torment. In the hot hells, beings suffer from unbearable heat and continual torments of various kinds. In the cold hells, beings suffer from unbearable cold and other torments.

Generally speaking, each realm is said to be the result of one of the six main negative emotions: pride, jealousy, desire, ignorance, greed, and anger. Dzongsar Khyentse states:
So we have six realms. Loosely, you can say when the perception comes more from aggression, you experience things in a hellish way. When your perception is filtered through attachment, grasping or miserliness, you experience the hungry ghost realm. When your perception is filtered through ignorance, then you experience the animal realm. When you have a lot of pride, you are reborn in the god realm. When you have jealousy, you are reborn in the asura (demi-god) realm. When you have a lot of passion, you are reborn in the human realm. Among the six realms, the human realm is considered to offer the best opportunity to practice dharma. Dzongsar Khyentse states:

If we need to judge the value of these six realms, the Buddhists would say the best realm is the human realm. Why is this the best realm? Because you have a choice... The gods don't have a choice. Why? They're too happy. When you are too happy you have no choice. You become arrogant. The hell realm: no choice, too painful. The human realm: not too happy and also not too painful. When you are not so happy and not in so much pain, what does that mean? Is a step closer to the normality of mind, remember? When you are really, really excited and in ecstasy, there is no normality of mind. And when you are totally in pain, you don't experience normality of mind either. So someone in the human realm has the best chance of acquiring that normality of mind. And this is why in Buddhist prayers you will always read: ideally, may we get out of this place, but if we can't do it within this life, may we be reborn in the human realm, not the others.

Sometimes, the wheel is represented as only having five realms because the God realm and the Demi-god realm are combined into a single realm.
In some representations of the wheel, there is a buddha or bodhisattva depicted within each realm, trying to help sentient beings find their way to nirvana.

OUTER RIM: THE TWELVE LINKS

The outer rim of the wheel is divided into twelve sections that represent the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination.
Ignorance is the first of the 12 causes and conditions, both of our rebirth and of maturing any karma within our dependent existence. Different causes can overlap in different stages and even mature in the next existences - lives. Yet the turning of the wheel goes onward.

The twelve causal links, paired with their common visual representations, are:
Avidyā lack of knowledge - a blind person, often walking, or a person peering out.
Saṃskāra constructive volitional activity - a potter shaping a vessel or vessels.
Vijnāna consciousness - a man or a monkey grasping a fruit.
Nāmarūpa name and form (constituent elements of mental and physical existence) - two men afloat in a boat.
Ṣaḍāyatana six senses (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind) - a dwelling with six windows.
Sparśa contact - lovers consorting, kissing, or entwined.
Vedanā pain - an arrow to the eye.
Tṛṣṇa thirst - a drinker receiving drink.
Upādāna grasping - a man or a monkey picking fruit.
Bhava coming to be - a couple engaged in intercourse, a standing, leaping, or reflective person.
Jāti being born - a woman giving birth.
arāmaraṇa old age and death - corpse being carried

THE FIGURE HOLDING THE WHEEL: IMPERMANENCE

The wheel is being held by a fearsome figure who represents impermanence. The Dalai Lama states:
The fierce being holding the wheel symbolizes impermanence, which is why the being is a wrathful monster, though there is no need for it to be drawn with ornaments and so forth... Once I had such a painting drawn with a skeleton rather than a monster, in order to symbolize impermanence more clearly.

This figure is most commonly depicted as Yama, the lord of death. Regardless of the figure depicted, the inner meaning remains the same-that the entire process of cyclic existence (samsara) is transient; everything within this wheel is constantly changing.
Yama has the following attributes:

He wears the crown of five skulls that symbolize the impermanence of the five aggregates. (The skulls are also said to symbolize the five poisons.)
He has a third eye that symbolizes the wisdom of understanding impermanence
He is sometimes shown adorned with tiger skin, which symbolizes fearfulness. (The tiger skin is typically seen hanging beneath the wheel.)
His four limbs (that are clutching the wheel) symbolize the sufferings of birth, old age, sickness, and death.

The Buddha and the moon: liberation Drawings of the bhavacakra include symbols outside of the wheel that represents the possibility of liberation from six realms. In most drawings, this is represented by the Buddha pointing toward the moon (as shown in a painting from Thikse monastery, at right); in this case:
The Buddha pointing toward the moon represents the Buddha's teachings or the path to liberation. And the moon represents liberation itself.

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5 Reviews
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Amazed by their customer service and collection. Would definitely recommend them to everyone

Really Great Customer Service and very beautiful thangka collection.

This is a magnificent piece of Buddha Shakyamuni thangka. Masterfully executed in rich, vibrant colors with illuminating detail; The silk brocade frame compliments the painting beautifully and forms a focal point in our praying/meditation room I receive the piece earlier than expected in good shape; and prior to purchase, Rajendra was responding quickly and very helpful in providing high resolution picture for my further evaluation. Thank you Rajendra and surely I will be back again.

I was extremely pleased with the quality of the unique thangka I received, as well as the immaculate brocade. Communication with Ritual Thanka has been a pleasure, and shipping was faster than I could have hoped for. Six stars! :)

This is my second purchase - and it will not be my last. Service is fast and efficient. My first thanka came incredibly well packaged.

Seller was very kind to photoshop up three different brocade options with an image of the paining before purchase. Really helped me choose the brocade that would go best with the painting. I appreciate the time and effort the seller put into getting a perfect match. The tailoring only took 48 hours and the item was sent quickly. Arrived two days ahead of schedule too. A beautiful work of art and a very easeful transaction. Thank you.

Was in touch with seller pre-purchase and the responses were quick, thorough, and very helpful. Item shipped quickly, was very well packaged and arrived two days ahead of schedule. This thangka is gorgeous. Very high quality, detailed. Great seller, great service, and a unique piece of art.

Wonderful1 Looks amazing! Thank You!

très beau ,identique à la photo

Incredibly beautiful artwork. Far exceeded my expectations. Great customer service too. Super fast delivery.