In the blink of an eye: the wind, rain, snow, and thunder in Himalayan imagery

June 9, 2024

འདོད་པའི་ཆར་ཆེར་འབབ་པ་དང།

མེ་ཏོག་བསིལ་བྱེད་མཆོད་བྱ་དཀར།

When the desired rain falls,

The wind of flowers brings snow as well.

The third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje,

(རང་བྱུང་རྡོ་རྗེ་；1284-1339)

* "The desire for rain" here symbolizes the imminent arrival of the protectors,

while "the wind of flowers" refers to the heavenly flowers descending.

"The Sacred Twenty-Four Places of Extreme Secrecy", 18th century, Mead Art Museum

This set of seven images depicts the Twenty-four Holy Places, as described in the Seventh Dalai Lama's secret transmission.

Three of the images each depict eight holy places, symbolizing the Body Mandala.

The above image

Local: mountain top

The top of the secret practice mountain is filled with practitioners,

Dragons gather and thunder rumbles,

Between the dark clouds and snow-capped mountains lies the "Fruit of the Wind"

(རླུང་གི་འབྲས་བུ་; also known as rain)

These eight sacred places are known as the "Eight Cool Places" (བསིལ་ས་བརྒྱད་)

"The Twenty-four Sacred Sites of Extreme Secrecy," 18th century, Mead Art Museum

The main deity is Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva.

Local

There are two ways to depict the wind:

By portraying dragons (symbol of wind and rain)

Or by making banners and dresses flutter in the wind

The wind around the gods is also known as "invincible"

(མི་ཕམ་；Guardian Wind)

Table: Modifying Relationships and Scene Meaning

Wind, rain, thunder, and snow are not only the natural landscapes that remain unchanged throughout the four seasons but also the witnesses of deities and events in Buddhist iconography. With the sky and clouds as the main subjects, a complete literary decoration system and image association are formed between the wind, rain, thunder, and snow in the Tibetan textual world. The wind moves, carrying all elements (འབྱུང་བའི་ཁྱིམ་; home of elements); the rain gives, wealth and flowers fall from the heavens to the earth; the snow waits, the falling and accumulating snow is a witness to the meditation of deities (རྣལ་འབྱོར་བའི་དགའ་རྒྱན་; decoration loved by yogis); thunder reminds sentient beings that what awaits us is miracles and practitioners.

"The God of Wind", ancient text from Degé Monastery

The Wind God (Vayu) is revered and faces northwest

His body radiates a greenish-blue hue

Mounted on a deer, he carries a pennant and a sack of winds in his hands

Both destructive and protective

"Red Vajravarahi," 15th century, ruins of the Guge Kingdom

The fierce deity's topknot sways in the wind

Usually it is the "red wind" (རླུང་དམར་)

However, in descriptions of the red wrathful Vajrapani

The green ribbons indicate that the deity is surrounded by

the green wind (རླུང་ལྗང་)

This is a symbol of Manjushri's manifestation

And in the hands of some protectors (such as the wrathful Shurangama)

There are also green wind symbols

to represent the element of wind and wind energy.

Symbol of an element

From top to bottom are

the waves representing the element of water

the flames representing the element of fire

the whirlwinds representing the element of wind.

"The Excellent Protector of Wrath", 19th century, The Jucker Collection

Sublime Vajrabhairava（ཆེ་མཆོག་ཧེ་རུ་ཀ་）

"Fengma Flag", 20th century, private collection

"The Spirit of Mount Nyenchen Tanglha", 19th century, Rubin Museum of Art, New York

The mountain deity often appears as the "holder of wind" (རླུང་འཛིན་).

The fierce mountain deity brings the "arrow wind" (འབིགས་བྱེད་རླུང་), a sign of impending warfare.

Local: Mountain peak

As a worshipped mountain peak

and as a deity of teachings, the mountain deity.

Local: Flag fluttering in the wind

Maitreya and Manjushri Bodhisattva, first half of the 20th century, Rubin Museum of Art, New York.

The gentle breeze lifts the fragrant mist into the air,

Accompanied by the scent of offerings.

The wind (དྲི་བཞོན་；fragrant ride) symbolizes

One of the joys of heaven (scriptures).

Local: fragrant mist

Local: votive offering

In the Buddhist narrative tradition, two common types of rain are gemstone rain (ནོར་ཆར་) and flower rain (མེ་ཏོག་ཆར་པ་). The Fifth Dalai Lama explained in his ritual text on the Yellow Jambhala (Yellow Wealth Deity) that gemstone rain symbolizes worldly wealth and the secret empowerment of tantra, while flower rain symbolizes the perfection of the practitioner's spiritual practice. From a cultural analysis perspective, the form of gemstone rain is found in several Eastern religions (such as the light and wealth rain in the Zoroastrian tradition), while flower rain is a ritual tradition in the South Asian subcontinent.

"The Story of Buddha's Previous Lives", 19th century, Rubin Museum of Art, New York City

Local: Jewelry rain

The jewel rain in the original story is a reward for the virtuous king.

Local: Pile of jewels

"The Red-Nosed Elephant"，19th century, Rubin Museum of Art, New York City

Red Nose Elephant (ཚོགས་བདག་དམར་པོ་) is a protector deity in the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.

Its consort is a monkey.

Local: Jewelry Rain

Another way to describe a jewelry rain:

Pouring down from a jewel-filled pitcher.

Local: Radish

The elephant enjoys sour and sweet foods.

It is often offered radishes and candy as offerings.

"Ancestor's Lineage" , 19th century, Rubin Museum of Art in New York

Local: Flower showers

One of the miracles of nature, a child picks up the flowers falling in the flower rain

And makes them into their own flower crown

Local: Flower showers

Local: Distant temple

For the snowy plateau, snow is a common symbol used by philosophers and singers. In Tibetan, there are two words for snow: "kha wa" and "gangs", the former being a general term and the latter often referring to heavy snow or accumulated snow. The pure white snow is the source of snow water and nectar, and is something that can be offered in worship (མཆོད་བྱ་). Snow-capped mountains are the abode of spiritual practitioners (such as Mount Kailash); snow lions are mythical creatures that live in snowy mountains and regions, symbolizing power and dignity.

"The Snow Lion", 15th century, Bachmann and Eckenstein