BROCADED TIBETAN BUDDHIST SAMANTABHADRA YAB-YUM THANGKA

There is neither a painting in the mind

Nor a mind in the painting:

And yet, where else can one find a painting

Than in the mind?

Avatamsaka Sutra

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I strive to provide the best quality thangkas for the price on eBay.  They are all original paintings done with mineral pigments and pure gold paint on canvas.  You won't find any imitation Chinese thangkas here!   Please compare the detailed photos of my thangkas to other thangkas available on eBay to determine the quality. The photos in each listing are of the very same thangka that I am selling.  Don't bother to compare them to the extremely low quality glut of fake "antique" or "old" "Tibetan" thangkas from China that have flooded the market in the last few years. There IS no comparison with these fakes.  

I want to make clear that in no way, shape or form do I represent myself as an expert on Tibetan iconography or thangka painting.  I am just a beginner in understanding this profound art form.  If there is any kind of problem, let me know.  I will never knowingly misrepresent anything I am selling.  There is always the chance that I may have been fooled myself, but will try to correct the situation if that ever happens.  Please contact me if you think I have been misled.  I also don't try to exaggerate the colors or contrast in my photos to make them more appealing.  I believe in karma and that honesty is always the best policy and will do business by these principles.

A word or two about the terrible thangkas done in sweatshops in China.  If you look at about 90% (or more) of the thangkas for sale on Ebay, they are being sold from China and all look very similar.  By similar, I mean the proportions are all wrong, there is no fine detail work at all and they are mostly iconographically as incorrect as it is possible to be.  A lot of them seem to be of deities that don’t exist!  Ebay doesn’t seem at all interested in shutting down this flood of fakes, because they are making very good money on them.  Not only has China's brutal regime been systematically eliminating Tibet's culture and religion in Tibet, they are ruining the art of thangka painting where it is barely hanging on in exile in Nepal and India and a very few artists in Tibet.

Some people have thought that my thangkas are so detailed that they must be prints.  I do not sell prints of thangkas.  If I do start doing so they will clearly be identified as such!  The best way to determine if it is an original painting is to hold it up to a bright light or the sun.  You will clearly see different thicknesses of paint and some brush strokes. 

Also 1 or 2 people have thought that the paintings are on paper.  They are all on cotton canvas, but they are treated with a layer of gesso (like plaster of paris or gypsum) and rubbed smooth.  Some of them are so smooth you cannot see the individual fibers.  To prove to yourself that the painting is on canvas, try ripping the corner of the border area and you will see threads.

Samantabhadra (also known as Vajradhara and Viśvabhadra (the different names signify different attributes and essence-qualities), Wylie: Kun-tu bzang-po, Mgl: Qamugha Sain, Chn: 普賢菩薩 Pinyin: Pŭxián púsà Wade-Giles: P'u hsien p'u sa, Jp: Fugen bosatsu, Viet: Phổ Hiền Bồ Tát) is the Lord of the Truth in Buddhism, who represents the practice and meditation of all Buddhas. Together with Shakyamuni and fellow disciple Manjusri he forms the Shakyamuni trinity. He is the patron of the Lotus Sutra and, according to the Avatamsaka Sutra, made the ten great vows which are the basis of a bodhisattva. Samantabhadra is most commonly described as a bodhisattva himself, although some esoteric traditions regard him as a primordial Buddha (see, for example, the Kunjed Gyalpo Tantra).

Literally 'He whose bounty is omnipresent', he represents the Buddhist ideals of Law and Compassion. Alongside Manjusri, he is one of the three acolytes of Shakyamuni. In Japan this bodhisattva is often worshipped by the Tendai and Shingon sects, and as the protector of the Lotus Sutra by the Nichiren sect.

Samantabhadra is looked upon in certain Tantric Buddhist sects as the Primordial Buddha, awakened since the very beginning. Certain of the Yogacara sects claim that Samantabhadra, instead of Vairocana, is the founder of the Yoga system, and look upon him as a divinity of religious ecstasy. Those who practise ecstatic meditation in Japanese esoteric schools regard him as a special divinity central to their practise.

Iconography

Unlike his more popular counterpart Manjusri, Samantabhadra is only rarely depicted alone and is usually found in a trinity on the right side of Shakyamuni, mounted on a white elephant. In those traditions that accept the Avatamsaka Sutra as its root instruction, Samantabhadra and Manjusri flank Vairocana Buddha, the central Buddha of this particular sutra.

Known as Pǔxián in Chinese, he is sometimes shown in Chinese art with feminine characteristics, riding an elephant with six pairs of tusks while carrying a lotus leaf parasol, bearing similar dress and features to some feminine depictions of Kuan Yin. It is in this guise that Samantabhadra is revered as the patron bodhisattva of the monasteries associated with Mount Emei in western China.

Among those esoteric traditions that treat Samantabhadra as the Primordial Buddha, he is always represented naked, with a dark blue body, in union with his consort Samantabhadri.

Satisfaction guaranteed, but I can't control the U.S. or foreign Postal Services, or make you read the item description carefully. If there is any problem, let me know and we will work it out.

I would appreciate it if you would read my “Me” page.  There is information there on how to help the Tibetan cause. 

Whether an enlightened buddha appears or does not appear,

the nature of things remains the basic nature of things.

  BUDDHA SHAKYAMUNI, SUTRAS OF THE PROFOUND MEANING