This painting of the Medicine Buddha in his palace illustrates the first chapter of the Four Tantras, which many medical students and doctors recite every morning in homage to this buddha and his medical tradition. The palace, presented as a traditional Buddhist mandala diagram, is surrounded by four mountains. Each mountain offers the perfect environment for specific medicinal plants to grow and harbors various types of minerals, precious stones, and springs with medicinal waters, each associated with particular healing qualities and used in treatment. At the center of the palace the Medicine Buddha, in the form of the teacher Rigpa Yeshe, is seen expounding the science of healing to four groups of disciples, among them his student Yilekye. This painting is a rendition of the first painting of an important set of seventy-nine medical thangkas created in Lhasa, Tibet, in the late seventeenth century.
Rubin Museum of Art, "Medicine Buddha Palace: Himalayan Art Up Close," YouTube, April 4, 2024, 5:15, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRpib4z2U20.
Ritual informs the structure of religious life in the Himalayas, defining the daily routine of practitioners and shaping a range of community-based activities.
In Himalayan cultures religious merit is the overarching reason for creating, commissioning, dedicating, and using religious works of art.
Tantric practitioners strive to transform themselves by using meditative and ritual tools with the ultimate goal of enlightenment or awakening.
Many Himalayan paintings serve as illustrations and instructional tools that bring forth stories about the Buddha, Tibetan masters, and more.
Instructive paintings can illustrate religious doctrines, medical and astrological charts, or images of ritual implements and meditative postures.
Experience a sacred space similar to what could be found in a Tibetan household where religious objects are displayed and used in ritual and devotional practices.
