Sun and Moon: The Everlasting Dance of Light in Himalayan Art
ཚེ་ཡི་ཉི་མ་རབ་ཏུ་གསལ་ཞིང་མི་ནུབ། བསོད་ནམས་ནི་ཡར་ངོའི་ཟླ་བ་བཞིན་འཕེལ་བར་འགྱུར། རིགས་རྒྱུད་གཡུང་དྲུང་གི་བརྟན་པ་ནམ་ཡང་མི་འགྱུར། བཀྲ་ཤིས་དེས་དེང་འདིར་བདེ་ལེགས་དང་འདོད་དོན་ཀུན་སྒྲུབ་ཤོག། Life that never fades shines perpetually like the sun, Merit expands as the moon does in its waxing phase, The Yongzhong lineage remains unshaken in its eternal stillness, May these auspicious signs bring every happiness and fulfillment here and now. The sun holds sway as the master of the sky（ནམ་མཁའི་ཁྱིམ་གཙོ་）, The moon reigns as the sovereign of the stars（རྒྱུ་སྐར་བདག་པོ་）, Through the cycle of day and night, the interplay of light and dark unveils an endless, boundless expanse of time and space, Transformation never ceases, yet the sun and moon abide without end.
The sun and moon on the pagoda represent the teachings' supreme status, as embodied in the central disc above, while equally symbolizing their unending transmission.
In Vajrayana, the Tenfold Self-Arising functions as its symbol, with its constituent elements—the sun, moon, and drop—standing for the body, speech, mind, and empty nature. Specifically, the crescent moon is linked to karma, the sun disk's core embodies energy, and the drop denotes emptiness. Prayers for longevity and everlasting blessings represent the most frequent application of these sun-and-moon motifs.
In the Bon religion, Yongzhong (གཡུང་དྲུང་) is a sacred symbol that signifies eternity and immutability. It was frequently used as a solemn oath in inscriptions and rock carvings during the Tibetan Empire. Meanwhile, the Sanskrit names of the Ten Bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhism may differ slightly in their descriptions from those in Tibetan Buddhism, possibly because of the integration of local traditional interpretations of the "sun and moon.
Within Tibetan culture, the sun and moon are often joined with the Yongzhong symbol as auspicious emblems. According to the section vol.1 Sun and Moon: Witnesses of Miracles, great accomplished beings refrain from arbitrary use of miraculous powers; at times, a breathtaking illusion is more advantageous than a hundred verbal repetitions for the spread of teachings and the revelation of wisdom.
Vimalamitra (བི་རུ་པ་; 7-8th century), often called the "King of Yoga" (རྣལ་འབྱོར་རྒྱལ་པོ་) or the "Master of Illusions" (སློབ་དཔོན་འཕྲུལ་འཛིན་ཅན་), is credited as the founder of the Sakya tradition's "Path and Fruit" lineage and the teachings of Hevajra. Among the six typical images of this great accomplished being summarized by the Sakya tradition, one is described as "blocking the sun with a wine bottle." In addition to that feat, Vimalamitra also stopped the Ganges River on two separate occasions.
At a tavern owned by the wine seller Karmarupasiddhi, Birendra and his disciple—both rejected by the king and the temple—stopped in for a drink. When Karmarupasiddhi demanded payment, Birendra immediately traced a line on the ground and declared that he would pay the full wine bill the moment the light and shadow reached that line. Yet although Piyush Baba and his disciples emptied all the wine in eighteen neighboring towns, no one ever saw the shadow reach the ground line.
People then discovered that the wine girl could not demand money from Piyush Baba, and that the entire country's day and night had been halted for three days. This was because, before entering the tavern, Piyush Baba had pointed his handprint to the sky and ordered the sun to stop and take a break. In order to persuade Piyush Baba to employ his miraculous powers, the king settled the wine bill and granted Buddhist followers permission to spread their teachings freely.
Despite being surrounded by immoral individuals, Pi Ru Ba—whose name literally means "ugly" in Chinese, and who self-identifies as such—actually wears a beautiful flower crown while assisting people from every walk of life in spreading the Dharma. This 13th-century work, featuring Vipassabha at its center, depicts eighty-four great achievers.
Among the Karmapa lineage, Rangjung Dorje (1284-1339), the Third Karmapa, was the most prolific in terms of the teachings he received, having studied with a wide variety of lineages. As a result, the Kagyu tradition was able to incorporate the essence of teachings from other traditions. He was also the first Karmapa recognized through the search for a reincarnated child, and he was the first in Tibet. One can achieve convenience through various magical powers that reside between reality and illusion.
In 1337, Rangjung Dorje, the Third Karmapa, who had been given the title "Karmapa who understands the emptiness of all things" by Emperor Yuan Shun, returned to the Great Capital. Perceiving that his death was close, he told the Emperor and his disciples, "I, a yogi, will disappear like clouds in the sky without a trace." The origin of the "image of the moon in the middle" (Tibetan: ཟླ་ཞལ་) is described in detail in the biography of the Third Karmapa.
In the Great Capital, the third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje passed away on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Tibetan calendar in 1339. He had said, "If you, led by the Emperor, wish to fully understand all teachings, you must do so quickly." The Emperor and his disciples, hoping to see their teacher once more, witnessed the face of the departed master appear in the full moon (said to be visible also in Tibetan regions) for an instant, whereupon the entire court and the Karmapa disciples knelt in prayer.
In a similar vein, the celestial being “Melodious Moonlight” (ཟླ་མཛེས་མ་), who is always accompanied by the Melodious Moonlight goddess, frequently appears in the Third Karmapa’s biography. The Emperor, for his part, ordered this scene to be painted and gave it the name "Self-arising face in the moon." As one of Padmasambhava’s eight main emanations, Guru Nyima Ozer takes the form of a South Asian accomplished master, with a sun disc in his left hand sending forth light rays that clear away darkness and obscurity.
In the iconography of Tibetan Buddhism, wisdom (prajna) and bodhicitta (compassion) are respectively signified by the sun and moon. The moon, with its essential qualities yet elusive and unreachable nature, embodies compassion and the urge for enlightenment; the sun, though blinding to the gaze, illuminates everything and stands for profound wisdom and clear insight. In the ritual ceremony, the sun will rise into an unobscured sky, making the whole world bright. vol.2 Sun and Moon: The Source of Teaching Transmission.
The Dharma seat of the Buddha of Good Qualities is the moon disc, whose symbolism is convenience and compassion. Like a sixteen-year-old celestial maiden of sweet sounds, it carries those melodies to practitioners through the moonlight. As for the sun disc, it serves as the throne of the fierce deity, representing strength and wisdom. With the conqueror's feet placed upon the eightfold dragon, it instills fear in all sentient beings.
From top to bottom, the Gelug transmission image divides into three sections: Maitreya's Potala Palace, the three figures of Tsongkhapa and his disciples, and the Gelugpa congregation. Within this imagery, a ray of sunlight (ཉི་འོད་སེར་ཐིག་/བསྟན་འོད་) frequently appears as the emblem of wisdom transmission. Centered on veneration of Maitreya Buddha in the Potala, the Gelug tradition regards Tsongkhapa and his disciples—the earthly founders—as using this golden thread to rouse the faithful.
Here, the Two Saints denote the Dragon Tree (ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་) and his disciple Sangten (འཕགས་པ་ལྷ་). Observe the golden thread of sunlight in your hand. This composition, which embodies the individualized style of the Karma Gadri school of Tibetan painting, derives from the work of the 5th Karmapa, Deshin Shekpa (ཆོས་དབྱིངས་རྡོ་རྗེ་; 1604-1674) and was further refined by Situ Panchen Chokyi Jungne (ཆོས་ཀྱི་འབྱུང་གནས་; 1699-1774). The Sikkim royal family, similarly, has a comparable set of images, likely a gift from the 5th Karmapa, Deshin Shekpa.
The moon's two saints were inspired by Bai Duma, who was the most devoted subject of Situ Qujijiong. According to the biography, White Tara would frequently appear before the Sito lama at night. In vol.3, 'Sun and moon: Sacred symbols', the South Asian sun god Surya (ཉི་ལྷ་) is described, whose origins trace to the European Apollo myth. His chariot, pulled by seven fiery horses, is known as the "seven-horse chariot" in Tibetan (རྟ་བདུན་དབང་པོ་), a term that also serves as a reference to the sun.
Scholars have speculated that this artwork, being a Tibetan Buddhist piece executed in the Han Chinese style, might have originated as a court painting. In Tibetan Buddhism, the goddess of light known as the Radiant Mother of the Light (འོད་ཟེར་མ་) appears in two distinct forms. Meanwhile, within Chinese astrology, the three-legged golden bird symbolizes the highest degree of positivity and good fortune.
The radiant mother Buddha's white chariot is drawn by seven black male 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 glow that came from both the pigs and the divine, The boundless dread the pig herd inspired, The perils of the earth were all consumed, And what remained turned into a land of gold.
The mount of Chandra (ཟླ་ལྷ་), the South Asian moon god, is a chariot pulled by seven swans. In both South Asian and Tibetan cultural contexts, the swan stands for discernment, friendliness, and purity. The moon's light appears to always shine on swans in lakes. The Tibetan expression "ngang pa po" (ངང་པ་པོ་) is the term for a moonlit night. Also widespread across Asian cultures is the symbol "The Moon Rabbit." [Taranatha (ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་; 1575-1635)]
In Tibetan, the moon is referred to as the rabbit (རི་བོང་) and the rabbit holder (རི་བོང་འཛིན་). According to South Asian traditions, moonlight comes from fur shed by a rabbit, and the main deity Indra assigned a rabbit to guard the moon until the end of the world. Within the Dalai Lama's biography, the rabbit appears as a symbol of his lineage, and this rabbit is commonly called the "phantom rabbit" (སྤྲུལ་པའི་རི་བོང་) or the rabbit of wisdom (རི་བོང་བློ་ལྟན་ཤེས་རབ་).
While the bright moon remains suspended overhead, the sun and sky are veiled. This piece is a translation from Sorang Wangqing's blog.