SACRED IMAGES

Notes from a presentation given by Brother Richard Maidwell as part

of the Exploring Consciousness series at the Labia Theatre in Cape

Town, December 2012

Brother Richard belongs to the Catholic Redemptorist Community in

Cape Town, and his speciality is the study, restoration and

production of religious icons. He believes that icons are more than a

religious work of art, and are a source of grace, enlightenment and

merit.

Graham Williams, owner of an original Christ and the Buddha Meet

icon by Richard, assisted.

An image is part of what it means to be

human, enables us to go beyond

ourselves and access our spiritual

nature; and to express ideas and

concepts beyond verbal language and

intellect.

Images have the power to move us to

wonderment. Give us a „transcendental

perspective.‟

I hear babies cry...... I watch them grow

They'll learn much more.....than I'll never

know

And I think to myself .....what a wonderful

world

A natural labyrinth

in nature.

The previous slide brings to mind a story told by Anton Osler

(Stoep Zen):

Louis van Loon who established the Buddhist Retreat Centre in

Ixopo, Natal was asked to do renovations at a nearby Catholic

convent, badly in need of repair and brightening up. One of his

actions was to embed a large, colourful, tile flower in the passage

between the bathroom and sick bay.

Years later he learnt that Sister Magdalena had stayed in her bed

staring blankly, ignoring her bible, being sick and depressed, near

death for ever so long...............

One day a nurse found her singing in the passageway, tracing the

tile flower with her walking stick. Mother Superior commented:

"Maybe it was the Buddhist flower that helped her find her faith

again".

Pre-historic rock art,

around 20 to 30,000

years old, signify a

leap in human

evolution, a creative

explosion.

San rock art may be the result of altered

states of consciousness or images seen in

hypnotic states. The relationship between

image and religious experience is

certainly the case in Christian and

Buddhist iconography.

Image of Chauvet cave, France. (30 -35000 years old)

S. Mitten writes in “Thoughtful Foragers: A study of prehistoric decision making”. :

“...this art was a part of modern human ecological adaptation to their environment. The

art functioned to extend human memory, to hold concepts which are difficult for human

minds to grasp and to instigate creative thinking about the solution of environmental and

social problems”.

12,000 years later, an

ancient Egyptian Pharaoh‟s

image gives the text

authority. Word and image

used simultaneously

The Rosetta

stone illustrates

well that even our

modern written

language began

as image.

The icon or image - whether

Christian or Buddhist - is not the

personal expression of an individual

artist.

It is the expression of an ancient

tradition which has been distilled

over time through prayer and inner

experience of a community of Faith.

The Icon is therefore a sacred

space which one enters into ….

carefully and with the right attitude.

“Take off your shoes for this is holy

ground.”

With both Tibetan Thangkas and Christian Icons we have less of a feeling of looking

into a picture than that the person portrayed looks out at us. Their respective

traditions have much more in common.

Icon gazing has for ages applied to both traditions. Buddhist monks gaze at

mandalas until the images come to life for them. Catholic priest Henri Nouwen wrote

on the subject (“Behold the Beauty of the Lord: praying with icons”). Icon gazing is

a way of entering into sacred space and seeing with the heart, receiving wisdom

that cannot come any other way. It‟s akin to walking a labyrinth. Unlike a maze there

are no dead-ends, puzzles, problems to solve. One follows the path to the centre,

and then leaves refreshed and with new insights.

Contemplation, meditation and ultimately transformation are what these images are

really made for. The Christian Iconographic tradition has a turbulent and interesting

history resulting in a highly worked out theological basis for its existence. It also shows

how the human need for the religious image survived huge opposition in its formation.

The most comprehensive

examples of early Christian art

come from the Roman

catacombs. They show a 300

year journey of discovery in

understanding the faith and its

implications. For the then mainly

illiterate these simple images

reminded them of the verbal

teachings they had heard, about

eternal life. Many of the symbols

were taken directly from pagan

art.

Catacomb of Priscilla…..Orans figure, dove with a branch in its mouth….divine

intervention…...Good shepherd

The God Orpheus for instance who‟s history had many parallels to the life

of Christ, was adopted from pagan imagery as the good shepherd.

The fish which became a cryptogram for the name of Jesus was also a

pagan fertility symbol of the Goddess Atagartis.

Dove with olive branch –

symbol of divine intervention.

Woman at the well, Orans

figure and Chi rho, Jesus the

good shepherd portrayed as

Orpheus.

Other symbols which

gradually replaced earlier

themes show Jesus raising

Lazarus from the dead,

talking to the woman at the

well, feeding the multitude.

. The prophet Jonah being regurgitated by the whale – symbol of resurrection. The

loaves and fishes, feeding of the 5000 - symbol of the Eucharist.

Head of Jesus. Catacomb of Comadilla Rome 4th Century.

By the later part of the 3rd Century we see the Symbolic Christ being

replaced by the bearded face which associate with Jesus.

The image Of Jesus we have

come to know and recognise

soon overtook all others of a

symbolic nature.

It soon became apparent and

agreed that this is what

Jesus of Nazareth looked

like.

This was later corroborated

by the appearance of the

“Holy Cloth” or the „Sudarion‟

Fayum portraits

The previous slide shows the presentation of the Mandylion to King

Agbar. Acheiropoietos – an image not made by human hands.

Thaddaeus one of 70 unnamed Apostles. Luke 10; 1-20. King Agbar. 4

BC – AD 13-50.

A legend tells of A King Abgar of Edessa who‟s Capital Edessa would

be modern day Orfu.

King Agbar was a leper and had heard of the healings of Jesus. He

sent a servant to Christ to invite him to come and heal him.

Christ declined saying he had been called first to the lost sheep of

Israel.

It is said he took a cloth and touched it to his face which gave to the

servant to take back to the King.

As soon as the King touched the cloth he was healed.

The cloth was revered in the city until The Byzantine Emperor

Constantine Porphyrogenitus brought it to Constantinople in 944.

It disappeared during the Crusader attack on the city in the 12 Century.

This about the time the shroud appeared in Europe.

The shroud which appeared in Europe in the 12 Century underwent a carbon 14

dating test a few years ago. They came up with a 12 century date.

However this has been challenged as linen is reported to be notoriously difficult

to date using this method.

In the West we have a similar

legend called Veronica‟s veil (or

sudarium) which made its

appearance. The name

Veronica being a play on the

words „Vera Icon‟ or „The true

Image‟.

If we look at the shroud superimposed on the

famous 6th Century Icon from Saint

Catherine‟s in the Sinai, we can see that

there is a remarkable similarity and fit.

This then has become the fixed format of

features for Christ till today, and is obviously

part of the cannon.

The Icon soon became fixed according to style and

subject matter.

During this time the Christian Church was undergoing

huge changes.

By the Fourth Century and the peace of Constantine a

new flowering of Christian art began. However not an

adaptation of Pagan Greek and Roman art but the

development of a new style, obviously with elements of

the old but with a new shift best able to express the new

faith.

As the church grew and evolved in the faith and

deepening understanding of Gods revelation in Christ

the Icon reflected the dogmatic decisions of the

councils.

The next slide shows a Mosaic of Christ. Hagia Sophia.

Constantinople. 13. c.

Subtle differences, but the same

depiction

Church of S. Maria in Domnica. 817 – 24.

At the council of Ephesus (431) Mary was proclaimed

„Theotokos‟. Which meant that she was the Mother of Jesus

who is both human and divine without „confusion. We cannot

separate his human nature from his divine and visa versa. The

use of Theotokos was formally affirmed at the 3rd Ecumenical

Council held at Ephesus in 431. The competing view,

advocated by Patriarch Nestorious of Constantinople, was

that Mary should be called Christotokos, meaning "Birth-giver

of Christ," to restrict her role to the mother of Christ's humanity

only and not his divine nature.

Nestorius' opponents, led by Cyril of Alexandria viewed this as

dividing Jesus into two distinct persons, the human who was

Son of Mary, and the divine who was not. To them, this was

unacceptable since by destroying the perfect union of the

divine and human natures in Christ, it sabotaged the fullness

of the Incarnation and, by extension, the salvation of humanity.

The council accepted Cyril's reasoning, affirmed the title

Theotokos for Mary, and anathematised Nestorius' view as

heresy.

More and more Icons appeared with her holding the divine infant and the letters;

Mary now became the empress to denote her exalted dignity as the Mother of

Jesus the King. Mary wears purple reserved only for the Emperor and Empress.

In this 6th Century Icon from Saint Catherine‟s in the Sinai Mary is seated in

Imperial majesty surrounded by her court – angels and Martyrs. The Icon became

a dogmatic statement, a teaching tool.

Theotokos. The

Virgin Hodigitria. She

who shows the way.

This slide shows a

contemporary Icon in

the same style and

format as laid down

over a thousand

years ago.

In former times God, who

is without form or body,

could never be depicted.

But now when God is seen

in the flesh conversing with

men, I make an image of

the God whom I see. I do

not worship matter; I

worship the creator of

matter who became matter

for my sake, who willed to

take his abode in matter;

who worked out my

salvation through matter.

St John of Damascus

At the last Council before the great split between the East and

West church, the council stated that Holy Scripture and the Holy

image are “mutually revelatory.”

Thus the visible image is equivalent to the verbal image. Just as

the word of scripture is an image, so is the painted image a word.

No less than the written word, an Icon is an instrument for the

transition of the Christian faith and tradition.

Through sacred imagery the Holy Spirit speaks to us, revealing

truths that may not be evident to those using only the tools of

reason.

Icons are an aid to worship. Wherever an Icon is set, that place

becomes more easily an area of prayer. The Icon is not an end in

itself anymore than the Scriptures are but it assists us in going

beyond what can be seen with our physical eyes into the realm of

mystical experience.

What brought about for me the interest in elements of Buddhist

Iconography was the execution of the Christ meeting Buddha icon.

Particularly Himalayan Buddhist iconography.

Christian iconography has a very rich theological and historical

history which made the icon what it is today.

I had always had an attraction to Buddha images as I had for

icons from a very early age. As images they spoke to me.

I wanted to know why. As a Christian I studied Iconography but

only later as I said did I begin to study or look into Buddhist

iconography.

And the role of religious imagery in general.

This talk is not primarily an analysis or history of religious art

works but about the spiritual experience that went into their

creation and the spiritual role they play in our spiritual growth and

experience.

The Icon is an art at the service of the faith and dogma of the

community of the church and not the personal expression or

interpretation of an individual visual artist.

Now we turn to the Buddhist Thangka which I believe resembles the Christian Icon in so many

ways. In his book „Sacred Buddhist Painting‟ Anjan Chakraverty has this to say about religious

painting.

“In Tibet, to paint is to evoke. Every painting and sculpture is an evocation. The artist is led to a

state of ecstasy through yoga. He sees the image of the deities with the eyes of the spirit. Only

one divinised may paint. The artist identifies himself with the supreme, the immutable the

eternal...by meditation and ritual the artist projects the infinite. Thereafter the materials are

gathered, the rights of purification are performed so that the artist can begin to paint.

Iconometry regulates their design. The canons for various deities differ according to their

aspects. Manthangpa, the great art theoretician, prescribes eight aspects: monastic (nirmana-

kaya), shravakas (listeners) and pratyeka Buddhas. The treatise of Manthangpa has been

standard for centuries and it has been law to artistic schools. No transgression is possible, as

the Thangkas are plains of heavenly bliss, spheres of meditation to which the devotee ascends

when turmoil and passion cease”.

There in a nutshell gives a good idea as to what a Thangka is and its function.

However like the Christian Icon there is a wealth of history and influence that have brought the

Thangka to this point in time and „fined tuned it‟ making it what it is today.

The traditions of Buddhist art were introduced into Tibet from the eastern parts of India and

then continued by Nepalese artists.

There are two schools of thought within Buddhism regarding the creation and use of images.

One school say that Buddha was not in favour of images being made of himself. One theory

suggests that he did not want to be venerated as a person.

There are therefore no Images of Buddha until around the first century B.C.E.

Up until this time the Buddha was indicated by symbols.

These were, The eight spoked wheel, the Bodhi tree, Buddha‟s footprints, an empty throne, a

begging bowl and a lion. The most significant Buddha images, where Buddha is depicted as

a human being emerged, 2000 years ago in the Kingdom of Ghandara in what today

stretches over Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan. This area had earlier been conquered by

Alexander the great in 320 B.C and further under Demetrius 1 of Bactria in 180 B.C. In the

2nd Century the Yueh – Chih Mongolian tribes subdued Bactria. They established the Kushan

nation. They traded with the Romans down the silk Road and minted their own coins.

8 spoked wheel (dharmachakra) symbolises Buddha‟s turning of the wheel of the law.

8 spokes...8 noble truths. Centre represents Buddha, Dharma and Shanga. Stupa

symbolises the enlightened mind, also Royal status as well as the elements...earth

(base), dome (water), canopy (air), volume of stupa (space). Bhodi tree – Buddha‟s

enlightenment.

Earliest Buddha image found on coin. Kushana dynasty 100 B.C.E

In this slide we can see a Gold coin with an image og Buddha with typical

attributes: Extended earlobes, Right hand raised in

blessing, A halo. Around the first century A.D the

Kushan king Kanishka converted to Buddhism

spreading Buddhism throughout Central Asia and China.

The Kushans employed Roman and Greek sculptors

to produce new images of the Buddha.

This style became known as the Ghandaran style and

the Greek influence is quite obvious.

The clinging robe. Robe also precise but stylised.

Naked torso. Wavy hair. Stark frontality.

Deliberately realistic.

Ghandara – ancient kingdom of Kushan Kings situated in N. Pakistan and East

Afghanistan. Buddha images. Greek influence.

Good example of

Ghandaran Buddha. Heavy

Greek influence

They copied earlier

characteristics seen on

coins in stone.

They also depicted him in

a frieze depicting the four

stages of the Buddha‟s life

in the 2nd Century.

Now all the classic

elements of the Buddha

image had at last come

together.

From here Buddhist art

further developed in the

Gupta Empire around A.D

30.

GUPTA images 5TH Century

Painted Buddha. Ajanta caves. 6 – 7th Century and early Tibetan Thangka of

green Tara 13th Century. Although this style developed from the previous

Ghandara style a new development was the serene downcast gaze as if in

meditation as well as „the wet‟ look treatment of robes.

It was in the Ajanta caves begun in the 2nd Century A.D that we come across

wall paintings which we can see are the direct ancestors of the Mahayana

Himalayan Thangka.

Thangka painting originated in Nepal, where

it is said to have begun began in the 11th

Century, and was introduced into Tibet

Thangkas were convenient for travel and

missionary expeditions, as they could be

easily rolled up and transported. The art of

Thangka painting can also be applied to

walls as well as manuscript covers and other

small devotional objects.

The earliest Tibetan texts on Iconography

date back to the fifteenth century.

A Thangka is

defined as an

embroidered

banner which

was hung in

the Monastery

or the family

altar and

carried by

Lamas in

ceremonial

processions.

By this time a complex visual language had grown for the Buddha image and other

deities. The complex pantheon of Tibetan Buddhism is hard define or classify.

Tibetan Buddhism adopted Tantric Buddhism with its vast

and complicated system of Deities, rituals, and

symbolism.

As well as the Tibetan Vajrayana deities there are more

than 500 deities of Tibetan conception. We will stick to

Thangkas of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni as they will best illustrate our subject

Apart from the Indian influence on Thangka painting, the painting

traditions of Nepal, China, Khotan and Persia all played a part in the

creating of a national style.

These styles are further influenced by differences within differing

geographic areas in the Himalayan region.

As we noted concerning The Christian Icon the Tibetan Thangka are a

focus for meditation and prayer.

They are meant to serve as a record of, and guide for contemplative

experience.

For example a teacher might instruct his pupil to imagine/visualise

himself as a particular deity in a specific setting. The Thangka would be

used as a reference for the details of posture, attitude, colour, clothing.

Etc.

They convey iconographic information in a pictorial manner.

The next slide shows a contemporary Thangka painting.

Buddha Shakyamuni. Late 20th Century

The image of the Buddha, who was called the greatest yogin of

all times, expresses tranquillity.

The harmony of his physical proportions are meant to convey

this harmony and physical beauty.

The required measurements are laid down in the cannon (or

standard pattern) of Buddhist art.

The span, according to Buddhist artists is the ideal for physical

proportions.

What follows is a Shakyamuni Buddha accompanied by

Christ pantocrator enthroned with Saint Veronica and Saint Theodore.

Everything, the spot between Buddha‟s eyebrows, marking the eye of

wisdom, as well as the tip of the nose, has its own special place. The

nose has a specific length just as the ears have their own exaggerated

length.

The symbol of the Buddhas greatest enlightenment is the so called

„enlightenment elevation‟ (Ushnisha) on top of the head.

It represents the visible symbol of the spiritual generative power that

strives towards heaven.

The cononic prototype of the Buddha shows him seated with his legs

crossed and the soles of his feet visible.

A pupil learning to paint will have to practise drawing for at least three

years before he picks up a brush.

As in Christianity certain images were venerated as possessing

miraculous powers.

18 century icon of the prophet Elijah being fed by ravens at the wadi Cherith. And

Milarepa, Tibets most famous yogi.

Both depictions have similar ways of portraying the wilderness or cave.

Following: Kalachakra. Considered as a device that shows the path away from

life to Nirvana. Based on the ancient Tibetan ideology it tells you the method to

reach the nirvana. It is considered a meditational device.

It is used for the positive energy and happiness in the house.

Kalachakra can be explained from the above picture of the kalachakra

mandala, working towards the centre.

The fire line is the present life - where we suffering pain,sorrow and grief.

We cross the line and reach the moment when we die.

Then we reach to a time where there is complete darkness.

After this we come across a door of Om Mane Padme Hum.

After this we come across an ocean where we need to immerse ourself and

clear our sins and clear our minds and thoughts.

We reach to a castle where there are four doors with four different colours.

Each colors represent specific quality of person.

if you have a peaceful and cleared mind then you enter from the white gate.

if you have a meditative mind then you enter from the yellow gate.

if you have graceful mind then you enter through red gate.

And if you still have dark mind then you enter from the black door.

After this there are 14 different rooms in the castle representing 14 different

steps to reach nirvana. And when you complete all the different steps then you

reach to the center to nirvana.

Role of monasticism in both the art of Christianity and Buddhism.

Buddha Statue at Polonnaruwa Sri Lanka 11 Century. Trappist monk Thomas

Merton, overwhelmed by this art: “ I don’t know when in my life I have ever had such

a sense of beauty and spiritual validity running together in one aesthetic illumination”.

A „take away‟ thought that you may start out with when

contemplating the Buddha and Christ icon in your own time:

When Christ and the Buddha meet, there is no need for them

to speak. In the face of God there is nothing to say, but

allowing God to be. In the icon they are silent but touch and

embrace.

And indeed, according to Nobel Peace Prize nominee Tich

Nhat Hanh, who sees the Buddha and Christ as brothers:

“Not only have they met today, but they met yesterday, they

met last night, and they will meet tomorrow…..Their meeting

is the hope for the world. The Buddha and Jesus have to

meet every moment in each of us”.