Sangharakshita’s first meetings with Padmasambhava were with images — the image in the Tamang Gompa in Darjeeling, the images of the Eight Forms of Padmasambhava that he ‘ransomed’ from the poor Tibetan refugee. You could say that the influence of the Greatly Precious Guru on Sangharakshita and the Movement is mostly mediated through images, myths, and symbols, rather than through conceptual teachings. So it should be no surprise that images of Padmasambhava have emerged within the Order. In this exhibition we have some examples, including Chintamani’s fine rūpa (statue) of Padmasambhava and the icon of Padmasambhava with vajra and phurba, which he painted according to Sangharakshita’s suggestion. We also have a reproduction of a painting that adorns one of the walls of the Padmaloka Retreat Centre shrine room. For this painting, Aloka was working from an original wall-painting in the Fifth Dalai Lama’s secret temple. Without any self-consciousness and without departing from traditional iconography, Aloka created something fresh and new for practitioners of our time and place.
It would be a wonderful thing if images of the Greatly Precious Guru could continue to emerge among us out of our devotion to the stream of trans-personal spiritual energy that is Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava. Who knows what wonderful forms may emerge!
‘The being of times past is not the Guru of future men.’
The Life and Liberation of Padmasambhava, Canto 93
Padmasambhava rūpa sculpted by Chintamani
“I think I made the wax original of the Padmasambhava sculpture in the early 2000’s. At some point I decided to change the lotus base from being sixteen-petalled to having many more; and this is the version that was cast as a present for Sangharakshita. I had the cast gold-plated, painted the facial features, patinated the hair dark, and chose precious and semi-precious cabochon gemstones for the jewellery.
“The image is of one of the standard traditional forms, there being two main sitting ones, although also many others related to specific termas. Whatever departures there might be from the tradition (ie I didn’t - and still don’t - use the traditional iconometric proportions and ‘anatomy’) are entirely down to me. Since then I have learned more about the Precious Guru’s iconography (eg, that the staff part of the khatvanga should be octagonal in section, and taper down to the bottom end), and have included them in my most recent painting of the figure. I don’t consider that there need to be special modifications for the Movement in the light of Bhante’s teachings; and if there need to be, I am confident that I can arrive at them myself. In my work, Bhante always encouraged me to rely on my own sensibilities — and I now take it that that was not just regarding aesthetics. Indeed, I’m not sure that Bhante’s encyclopaedic mind extended to all the fine details of Indo-Tibetan iconography, and — as in all aspects of the Order — I believe that he wished Order members to continue deepening the work that he had started (assuming, of course, that, in all cases, that is possible!).”
Dharmachari Chintamani
“The Dharma's influence in the modern world is still very much in its infancy even though it is 2,500 years since its rediscovery in this particular world period, so it comes to us embedded in both 'foreign' and ancient cultures. In this particular Movement we have the immense good fortune to have, for our guide and inspiration, a teacher well versed in all the main forms that have enabled the continuing communication of Buddha Shakyamuni's realisations and who had direct transmissions from living teachers from all those traditions. But even with those essential elements one has to proceed with extreme caution to guarantee that what we are practicing are the teachings of the Buddha and not just characteristics of a particular culture with no relevance to our own specific circumstances. This applies to particular teachings as well as the enormous richness of all the various 'traditions' of Buddhist symbolism and iconography. So one needs to proceed with caution and not get intoxicated once gaining access to those vast treasuries. During these early stages of familiarisation our teacher has been at pains to refer back to archaic Buddhism as a basis for necessary pruning to reveal the essential common factors relevant to humanity at large and not just some limited segment.
“When it comes to iconography we need to adopt the attitudes of a receptive apprentice even if that means initially just copying what seems helpful - we need to actually do the work and not just approach iconography from a superficial intellectual perspective without literally getting our hands dirty. From my investigations so far, it would seem that with the Dharma encountering fresh areas of civilisation the gradual process of assimilation and transformation in the realm of compelling images is often at least 200 years before the host culture begins to give birth to more appropriate forms, so no need to panic! — just get on and do the work and time will tell. I often think that practitioners of our generation are just going to make all the obvious mistakes with the hope that those following will be able to learn and move beyond our naive enthusiasms and the developing use of images and symbols will be a vivid visual example of that process.”
Dharmachari Aloka
Padmasambhava painted by Aloka
“The Padmasambhava panel that was made for Padmaloka Retreat Centre shrine room was produced for a winter retreat at their request. Rather than just reproduce the figure which is the focus of the usual sadhana in use within the Order which is already familiar to people I thought it might be of more help to use a slightly different version, still employing the usual symbolism but viewed from a three-quarter side view rather than the more familiar full frontal position. One reason for this is that in the 'modern' West the more material literal mind has taken over from a more imaginative and even magical relationship that would have been the environment of our ancestors where everything is vibrantly alive with meaning and significance. By using a less familiar (but still 'traditional’) form of Padmasambhava I hoped that it might provoke a more flexible relationship with the forms that we are inheriting from the different cultures where the Dharma has flourished for centuries.
“This particular panel is based on a Tibetan wall painting on the north wall of the Lukhang or ‘Temple of the Serpent Spirits’ situated on an island in a lake behind the Potala Palace in Lhasa the capital of Tibet. The Temple is based on visions of the Fifth Dalai Lama who ruled Tibet from 1642 until 1682 although the dates of its actual construction are still unclear. I came across this particular image in a publication from 2000 entitled The Dalai Lama's Secret Temple, with photographs by Thomas Laird and published by Thames & Hudson. Fortunately the Temple with its paintings have so far avoided the destruction that has been the fate of many Buddhist sites since the invasion of Tibet.