DIVINE!!!!!! TIBETAN BUDDHIST SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA THANGKA

"Preserving the Sacred Arts is always part of the preservation of Dharma"
                   ~ Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche ~

Gautama Buddha

Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from Ancient India and the founder of Buddhism. He is generally recognized by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddha (Sammāsambuddha) of our age. The time of his birth and death are uncertain: a majority of 20th-century historians date his lifetime from circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE, but some more recent scholars have suggested dates around 410 or 400 BCE for his death. Some suggest even later dates. These alternative chronologies, however, have not yet been accepted by all other historians.

Gautama, also known as Sakyamuni or Shakyamuni (“sage of the Shakyas”), is the key figure in Buddhism, and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules were summarized after his death and memorized by the sangha. Passed down by oral tradition, the Tripitaka, the collection of discourses attributed to Gautama, was committed to writing about 400 years later.

Buddha's life

The prime sources of information regarding Siddhārtha Gautama's life are the Buddhist texts. The Buddha and his monks spent four months each year discussing and rehearsing his teachings, and after his death his monks set about preserving them. A council was held shortly after his death, and another was held a century later. At these councils the monks attempted to establish and authenticate the extant accounts of the life and teachings of the Buddha following systematic rules. They divided the teachings into distinct but overlapping bodies of material, and assigned specific monks to preserve each one. This was done orally until three generations after the Buddha's death, when they were recorded. By this point, the monks had added or altered some material themselves, in particular magnifying the figure of the Buddha.

The ancient Indians were not concerned with chronologies, being far more focused on philosophy. The Buddhist texts reflect this tendency, and we have a much clearer picture of what the Buddha thought than of the dates of the events in his life. These texts contain descriptions of the culture and daily life of ancient India which can be corroborated from the Jain scriptures, and make the Buddha's time the earliest period in Indian history for which substantial accounts exist.

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.