Sun and moon in Himalayan iconography: constant change, eternal presence
ཚེ་ཡི་ཉི་མ་མི་ནུབ་རབ་ཏུ་གསལ།
བསོད་ནམས་ཟླ་བ་ཡར་ངོའི་ཟླ་ལྟར་འཕེལ།
རིགས་རྒྱུད་མི་འགྱུར་གཡུང་དྲུང་ཇི་ལྟར་བརྟན།
བཀྲ་ཤིས་དེས་ཀྱང་དེང་འདིར་བདེ་ལེགས་ཤོག།
Longevity is like a day that shines forever,
Blessings are like the waxing moon,
The Yongzhong family line is forever peaceful,
May everything be auspicious and as desired.
"The Eight Great Stupas", 18th century, Rubin Museum of Art, New York
Partial: Sun and Moon
The sun is the lord of the sky（ནམ་མཁའི་ཁྱིམ་གཙོ་）,
The moon is the lord of the stars（རྒྱུ་སྐར་བདག་པོ་）,
Day and night, yin and yang reveal the eternal and infinite spacetime,
Change is constant, the sun and moon endure forever.
"The Bodhi Stupa", 18th century, Rubin Museum of Art, New York City.
Partial: Sun and Moon
On the pagoda, the sun and moon not only symbolize the everlasting transmission of the teachings, but also represent the supreme status of the teachings as embodied in the central disc above.
"The Ten Avatars of Vishnu," 19th century, Rubin Museum of Art, New York City.
The symbol of the Tenfold Self-Arising
Represents the symbol of Vajrayana
The sun, moon and drop
Symbolize the body, speech, mind and empty nature of Vajrayana
Specifically:
The crescent moon symbolizes karma
The essence of the sun disk represents energy
And the drop symbolizes emptiness
【The most common usage of "sun and moon" is to pray for longevity and everlasting blessings. Additionally, the Sanskrit names of the Ten Bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhism may have slight differences in their descriptions compared to those in Tibetan Buddhism, possibly due to the incorporation of local traditional interpretations of the "sun and moon."】
"The Teachings of Ben Yizhong", 19th century, private collection
Yongzhong (གཡུང་དྲུང་) is a sacred symbol of the Bon religion, symbolizing eternity and immutability.
It is often used as a solemn oath in inscriptions and rock carvings during the period of the Tibetan Empire.
In Tibetan culture, the symbol of Yongzhong is often combined with the sun and moon to create auspicious symbols.
vol.1
Sun and Moon: Witnesses of Miracles
"The Great Achiever Pirus Parbar", 17th century, Ruben Museum of Art in New York.
The great accomplished beings do not use their miraculous powers recklessly; sometimes a breathtaking illusion can be more beneficial in spreading the teachings and revealing wisdom than a hundred repetitions of verbal discourse. Among the six typical images of the great accomplished being Vimalamitra (བི་རུ་པ་; 7-8th century) summarized by the Sakya tradition, there is one image called "blocking the sun with a wine bottle." As the founder of the Sakya tradition's "Path and Fruit" lineage and the teachings of Hevajra, Vimalamitra is often referred to as the "King of Yoga" (རྣལ་འབྱོར་རྒྱལ་པོ་) or the "Master of Illusions" (སློབ་དཔོན་འཕྲུལ་འཛིན་ཅན་). In addition to blocking the sun, Vimalamitra also stopped the Ganges River twice.
Partial: Wine Girl Karmarupasiddhi
Birendra and his disciple, who had been rejected by the king and the temple, arrived at a tavern run by a wine woman named Karmarupasiddhi to drink. When the wine woman asked Birendra to pay for the wine, he immediately drew a line on the ground and claimed that as soon as the light and shadow reached the line, he would pay the wine money in full.
Partial: obscured sun
Even though Piyush Baba and his disciples drank all the wine in eighteen nearby towns, people still didn't see the shadow reaching the ground line. It turned out that before entering the tavern, Piyush Baba had already pointed out his handprint to the sky and commanded the sun to stop and take a break. At this point, people found that not only could the wine girl not ask Piyush Baba for money, but the whole country was in a state of day and night stagnation (for three days). In order to request Piyush Baba to use his miraculous powers, the king paid him the wine money and promised that followers of Buddhism could freely spread the teachings.
Partial: Pirenaba wearing a flower crown
Pi Ru Ba, who calls themselves ugly (Pi Ru Ba literally means "ugly" in Chinese),
Is actually adorned with a beautiful flower crown
Helping people of all walks of life on the path of spreading the Dharma
Despite being surrounded by those of immoral character.
"The Great Achiever Visnuvardhana," 13th century, Kronos Collection
This 13th century masterpiece showcases eighty-four great achievers, with Vipassabha at the center.
Partial: Sun-shielding umbrella
Various magical powers
Between reality and illusion
One can achieve convenience
Local: Sun and Handprint
"Gakma Ba and the Moon", 19th century, Private Collection
The Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje (1284-1339), was the first Karmapa recognized through the search for a reincarnated child, and also the first in Tibet. He received teachings from a wide variety of lineages, making him the most prolific in terms of the teachings received among the Karmapa lineage. This allowed the Kagyu tradition to absorb the essence of teachings from other traditions. The biography of the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje, provides a detailed account of the origin of the "image of the moon in the middle" (Tibetan: ཟླ་ཞལ་).
"Garma Katha: Meeting in the Moonlight," 19th century, Hahn Cultural Foundation
The third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje, honored by Emperor Yuan Shun as "Karmapa who understands the emptiness of all things", returned to the Great Capital in 1337. Knowing that his passing was near, Karmapa said to the Emperor and disciples, "I, a yogi, will disappear like clouds in the sky without a trace. If you, led by the Emperor, wish to fully understand all teachings, you must do so quickly." On the fifth day of the fifth month of the Tibetan calendar in 1339, the third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje passed away in the Great Capital. The Emperor and disciples wished to see their teacher once more. In a fleeting moment, the face of the departed master appeared in the full moon (it is said that this can also be seen in Tibetan regions), and the entire court and Karmapa disciples knelt in prayer. The Emperor ordered that this scene be painted and named it "Self-arising face in the moon".
Partial: Mid-month resemblance
"Garma Ripon Tashi" 19th Century, Rubin Museum of Art, New York
Local: Emperor kneeling in worship
Divine Music Angel（ལྷ་མོ་དབྱངས་ཅན་མ་）
Similarly, the celestial being known as "Melodious Moonlight" (ཟླ་མཛེས་མ་) often appears in the biography of the Third Karmapa, always accompanied by the Melodious Moonlight goddess.
"The Sunlit Master", 19th century, Rubin Museum of Art in New York City
Partial: Asian trading hours
As one of the eight main emanations of Padmasambhava, Guru Nyima Ozer appears in the form of a South Asian accomplished Master, with a sun disc appearing in his left hand and emitting rays of light that dispel darkness and obscurity.
"The Sunlight Master", 19th century, Rubin Museum, New York
Partial: Asian trading hours
The sun will rise into the clear sky in the ritual ceremony, illuminating the whole world.
vol.2
Sun and Moon: The Source of Teaching Transmission
"The Buddha Shakyamuni"，18th century, Rubin Museum of Art, New York
Local:Sun
Local: Moon
In the iconography of Tibetan Buddhism, the sun and moon represent wisdom (prajna) and bodhicitta (compassion) respectively. The sun, which cannot be directly gazed upon but illuminates everything, symbolizes profound wisdom and clear discernment. The moon, which holds essential qualities but remains distant and unattainable, symbolizes compassion and the aspiration to attain enlightenment.
"Mystical Heavenly Maiden", 18th century, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Local: Moon Disc Seat
The moon disc seat symbolizes convenience and compassion,
It is the Dharma seat of the Buddha of Good Qualities,
Always like the celestial maiden of sweet sounds at sixteen,
Transmitting sweet sounds to the ears of practitioners along with the moonlight.
"The Treasury of the Lord of Mercy," 18th century, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Local: Sun disk seat
The Sun Disc Seat, symbolizing strength and wisdom,
Is the fierce deity's throne,
With the conqueror's feet upon the eightfold dragon,
Intimidating all sentient beings.
"Gelugpa Lineage: Tsongkhapa," 18th century, Wisdom Publications.
In the transmission image of the Gelug tradition, the symbol of wisdom transmission often appears in the form of a ray of sunlight (ཉི་འོད་སེར་ཐིག་/བསྟན་འོད་). The image can be divided into three parts from top to bottom, namely the Potala Palace of Maitreya, the three figures of Tsongkhapa and his disciples, and the Gelugpa congregation. The Gelugpa tradition revolves around the worship of Maitreya Buddha in the Potala Palace, and Tsongkhapa and his disciples, as the founders of the earthly sect, use the golden thread to inspire the faithful.
Local: Milouousheng Palace
Local: The Three Masters of Tsongkhapa and His Disciples
Pay attention to the sunlight golden thread in your hand.
Local: disciples who accept the teachings of the law
"Two Saints in Ancestral Worship," 19th century, Rubin Museum of Art, New York
The Two Saints here refer to the Dragon Tree (ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་)
and his disciple Sangten (འཕགས་པ་ལྷ་).
This composition is based on the work of the 5th Karmapa, Deshin Shekpa
(ཆོས་དབྱིངས་རྡོ་རྗེ་; 1604-1674)
and was further developed by Situ Panchen Chokyi Jungne
(ཆོས་ཀྱི་འབྱུང་གནས་; 1699-1774), representing the individualized style of the Karma Gadri
school of Tibetan painting.
The Sikkim royal family also has a similar set of images,
likely given as a gift from the 5th Karmapa, Deshin Shekpa.
Local: The Dragon Clan Lord who presents scriptures to the Dragon Tree.
In the middle of the month, White Tara
As the most enthusiastic subject of Situ Qujijiong, Bai Duma inspired the two saints in the middle of the moon.
【In the biography, the White Tara often appears in front of the Sito lama at night.】
vol.3
Sun and moon: Sacred symbols
"The Rising Sun: A Japanese Tale" is a 16th-century work by John and Berthe Ford.
Sun god Surya (ཉི་ལྷ་) of South Asia, originating from the European myth of Apollo.
His chariot is pulled by seven fiery horses, known as the "seven-horse chariot" in Tibetan (རྟ་བདུན་དབང་པོ་), which is also used to refer to the sun.
Partial: Seven Horses Chariot
"Avalokiteshvara", 19th century, Rubin Museum of Art, New York
As the goddess of light in Tibetan Buddhism, the Radiant Mother of the Light (འོད་ཟེར་མ་) has two different appearances.
This artwork is a Tibetan Buddhist piece in the style of the Han Chinese tradition, leading scholars to speculate that it may be a court painting.
Partial: The horse-riding Goddess Tara
The chariot of Surya has been somehow inherited by Buddhism
Partial: red sun
Middle Chinese character "日"(Sun)
Local: Sun floating on the sea surface
In the Chinese astrology, the three-legged golden bird represents the ultimate positivity and good fortune.
Local: Black Pig Tank
The white chariot of the radiant mother Buddha
Is pulled by seven male black pigs
རང་དང་ཕག་ལས་འོད་བྱུང།
ཕག་འཇིགས་སུ་རུང་བ་དཔག་མེད་པ་སྦྲུལ།
འོབས་ཀྱི་ནང་གི་གནོད་བྱེད་རྣམས་ཟོས་ཤིང།
ལྷག་མ་གསེར་གྱི་ས་གཞིར་གྱུར།
The light from the divine and the pigs,
Fearing the power of the pig herd,
Removing the dangers of the earth,
Finally creating a golden land.
【Taranatha (ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་; 1575-1635)】
"The Moon Goddess Chandella", 15th century, by John and Berthe Ford
Seven swans pulling a chariot
Is the mount of the South Asian moon god Chandra（ཟླ་ལྷ་）
Local: Seven Geese Tank
In the South Asian and Tibetan cultural context, the swan is a symbol of discernment, as well as of friendliness and purity.
The moonlight always seems to favor the swans in the lakes. In the Tibetan language, the term "ngang pa po" (ངང་པ་པོ་) is used to refer to the moonlit night.
"The Seventh Dalai Lama", 18th century, Rubin Museum of Art, New York
"The Moon Rabbit" is a common symbol in Asian cultures. In South Asian traditions, moonlight is believed to come from the fur falling off the rabbit. The main deity, Indra, appointed a rabbit to guard the moon until the end of the world. In Tibetan, the moon is referred to as the rabbit (རི་བོང་) and the rabbit holder (རི་བོང་འཛིན་). In the biography of the Dalai Lama, the rabbit is often used as a symbol of the Dalai Lama's lineage, and this rabbit is often referred to as the "phantom rabbit" (སྤྲུལ་པའི་རི་བོང་) or the rabbit of wisdom (རི་བོང་བློ་ལྟན་ཤེས་རབ་).
Local: Divine Rabbit
Covering the sun and sky, while the bright moon hangs in the sky