Religious rituals and the commissioning of art can serve everyday secular needs, the most common being wealth, health, and long life.
These more worldly concerns are not seen as antithetical to religious goals. Good health, long life, and material support, including the leisure time for spiritual pursuits that wealth affords, can all be beneficial to an individual’s religious practice.
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.
Religious rituals and the commissioning of art can serve everyday secular needs, the most common being wealth, health, and long life.
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.
Artists in Tibetan, Himalayan, and Inner Asian traditions produce works, mostly religious in nature, for large monastic institutions, royal courts, and a wide range of individual patrons.
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Tibetan medical and astrological knowledge are seen as linked, and taught and practiced jointly, usually within the context of the Buddhist worldview.
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