Difference between revisions of "Gyendruk: The Six Ornaments"
(Created page with " The six ornaments or gyendruk ({{BigTibetan|རྒྱན་དྲུག}}) is common artistic back-support or gyapyöl ({{BigTibetan|རྒྱབ་ཡོལ་...") |
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| − | The [[six ornaments]] or gyendruk ({{BigTibetan|རྒྱན་དྲུག}}) is common artistic back-support or gyapyöl ({{BigTibetan|རྒྱབ་ཡོལ་}}), which is found around the [[Buddha]] statue in [[Bhutan]] and the [[Himalayan]] [[Buddhist]] [[world]]. The decorative background most likely developed from the artistic backdrop and {{Wiki|periphery}} containing floral designs and {{Wiki|representations}} of [[mythological]] [[animals]], created for [[divine]] image. Such back-support was created in {{Wiki|ancient Indian}} [[art]] in the [[form]] a decorative [[torana]] arch. The [[six ornaments]] commonly encircle the [[Buddha]] and are created for both paintings and three-dimensional images of the [[Buddha]]. The six are as follows: | + | The [[six ornaments]] or [[gyendruk]] ({{BigTibetan|[[རྒྱན་དྲུག]]}}) is common artistic back-support or [[gyapyöl]] ({{BigTibetan|[[རྒྱབ་ཡོལ་]]}}), which is found around the [[Buddha]] statue in [[Bhutan]] and the [[Himalayan]] [[Buddhist]] [[world]]. The decorative background most likely developed from the artistic backdrop and {{Wiki|periphery}} containing floral designs and {{Wiki|representations}} of [[mythological]] [[animals]], created for [[divine]] image. Such back-support was created in {{Wiki|ancient Indian}} [[art]] in the [[form]] a decorative [[torana]] arch. The [[six ornaments]] commonly encircle the [[Buddha]] and are created for both paintings and three-dimensional images of the [[Buddha]]. The six are as follows: |
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| − | At the bottom of the arched back-support are two [[white elephants]] flanking the [[Buddha]]. The [[elephant]] is considered an ornament due to its strength and trunk ({{BigTibetan|གླང་ཆེན་མཆེ་བའི་རྒྱན་}}). It is also likely that the [[elephant]] was considered initially the ornament of size ({{BigTibetan|གླང་ཆེན་ཆེ་བའི་རྒྱན་}}) for its large size, and accompanying stability and {{Wiki|firmness}}. It represents the [[perfection]] of concentrative [[meditation]] ({{BigTibetan|བསམ་གཏན་གྱི་ཕར་ཕྱིན་}}) among the [[six perfections]]. The [[elephants]] are sometimes portrayed as [[offering]] [[incense]] and [[butter lamp]] to the [[Buddha]]. | + | At the bottom of the arched back-support are two [[white elephants]] flanking the [[Buddha]]. The [[elephant]] is considered an ornament due to its strength and trunk ({{BigTibetan|གླང་ཆེན་མཆེ་བའི་རྒྱན་}}). It is also likely that the [[elephant]] was considered initially the ornament of size ({{BigTibetan|[[གླང་ཆེན་ཆེ་བའི་རྒྱན་]]}}) for its large size, and accompanying stability and {{Wiki|firmness}}. It represents the [[perfection]] of concentrative [[meditation]] ({{BigTibetan|[[བསམ་གཏན་གྱི་ཕར་ཕྱིན་]]}}) among the [[six perfections]]. The [[elephants]] are sometimes portrayed as [[offering]] [[incense]] and [[butter lamp]] to the [[Buddha]]. |
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| − | Above the [[elephants]] are two [[lions]] with elegant {{Wiki|turquoise}} coloured mane. The [[lion]] is considered as an ornament for its elegance and {{Wiki|turquoise}} coloured mane ({{BigTibetan|སེང་གེ་རལ་པའི་རྒྱན་}}). It is also likely that the [[elephant]] was initially considered the ornament of display ({{BigTibetan|སེང་གེ་རོལ་པའི་རྒྱན་}}) for its elegance and agility. It represents the [[perfection of wisdom]] ({{BigTibetan|[[ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ]]}}{{BigTibetan|་}}) among the [[six perfections]]. The [[snow lion]] is a very common [[subject]] of artistic creation throughout the [[Himalayas]],. | + | Above the [[elephants]] are two [[lions]] with elegant {{Wiki|turquoise}} coloured mane. The [[lion]] is considered as an ornament for its elegance and {{Wiki|turquoise}} coloured mane ({{BigTibetan|སེང་གེ་རལ་པའི་རྒྱན་}}). It is also likely that the [[elephant]] was initially considered the ornament of display ({{BigTibetan|[[སེང་གེ་རོལ་པའི་རྒྱན་]]}}) for its elegance and agility. It represents the [[perfection of wisdom]] ({{BigTibetan|[[ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ]]}}{{BigTibetan|་}}) among the [[six perfections]]. The [[snow lion]] is a very common [[subject]] of artistic creation throughout the [[Himalayas]],. |
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| − | The third [[animal]] commonly included in the [[six ornaments]] is an [[interesting]] hybrid of a {{Wiki|deer}} or {{Wiki|antelope}} with horns, fangs or claws. It can have a head of a {{Wiki|goat}}, [[body]] of an {{Wiki|antelope}} or [[horse]], feet of a [[lion]], etc, mainly to [[symbolize]] the union of strength, {{Wiki|speed}}, agility, performance, etc. Known as [[sharabha]] or tamo, it is an ornament of flowery design ({{BigTibetan|མེ་ཏོག་གི་རྒྱན་}}) or perhaps the ornament of being non-obstructive ({{BigTibetan|མི་ཐོགས་པའི་རྒྱན་}}). The hybrid [[animal]] represents the [[perfection]] of [[effort]] or [[zeal]] ({{BigTibetan|[[བརྩོན་འགྲུས་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ]]}}{{BigTibetan|་}}) of the [[six perfections]]. | + | The third [[animal]] commonly included in the [[six ornaments]] is an [[interesting]] hybrid of a {{Wiki|deer}} or {{Wiki|antelope}} with horns, fangs or claws. It can have a head of a {{Wiki|goat}}, [[body]] of an {{Wiki|antelope}} or [[horse]], feet of a [[lion]], etc, mainly to [[symbolize]] the union of strength, {{Wiki|speed}}, agility, performance, etc. Known as [[sharabha]] or tamo, it is an ornament of flowery design ({{BigTibetan|[[མེ་ཏོག་གི་རྒྱན་]]}}) or perhaps the ornament of being non-obstructive ({{BigTibetan|[[མི་ཐོགས་པའི་རྒྱན་]]}}). The hybrid [[animal]] represents the [[perfection]] of [[effort]] or [[zeal]] ({{BigTibetan|[[བརྩོན་འགྲུས་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ]]}}{{BigTibetan|་}}) of the [[six perfections]]. |
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| − | Holding the crossbeam of the [[throne]] are two strong and stout [[dwarves]]. The figures represent a group of strong and wild men who appear in [[ancient]] tales. These strong men are commonly depicted as short and stout figures with enormous strength in [[Himalayan]] [[Buddhist art]] and [[architecture]]. They are considered ornaments of strength ({{BigTibetan|རྒད་ཆེན་སྟོབས་ཀྱི་རྒྱན}}) and represent the [[perfection]] of perseverance and fortitude ({{BigTibetan| | + | Holding the crossbeam of the [[throne]] are two strong and stout [[dwarves]]. The figures represent a group of strong and wild men who appear in [[ancient]] tales. These strong men are commonly depicted as short and stout figures with enormous strength in [[Himalayan]] [[Buddhist art]] and [[architecture]]. They are considered ornaments of strength ({{BigTibetan|[[རྒད་ཆེན་སྟོབས་ཀྱི་རྒྱན]]}}) and represent the [[perfection]] of perseverance and fortitude ({{BigTibetan|[[བཟོད་པའི་ཕར་ཕྱིན]]་}}) among the [[six perfections]]. |
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| − | Above the crossbeam supported by the {{Wiki|dwarfs}} are highly intricate figures of [[makara]] which is a hybrid water-dwelling creature [[combining]] the features of a {{Wiki|crocodile}}, [[elephant]], {{Wiki|fish}}, etc. The [[makara]] is an {{Wiki|ancient Indian}} artistic [[symbol]] of power and is presented in different [[forms]] and styles across the [[Himalayas]]. It is considered as the ornament of flourish ({{BigTibetan|ཆུ་སྲིན་པ་ཏྲའི་རྒྱན}}) and represents the [[perfection]] of [[discipline]] ({{BigTibetan| | + | Above the crossbeam supported by the {{Wiki|dwarfs}} are highly intricate figures of [[makara]] which is a hybrid water-dwelling creature [[combining]] the features of a {{Wiki|crocodile}}, [[elephant]], {{Wiki|fish}}, etc. The [[makara]] is an {{Wiki|ancient Indian}} artistic [[symbol]] of power and is presented in different [[forms]] and styles across the [[Himalayas]]. It is considered as the ornament of flourish ({{BigTibetan[[Gyendruk:ཆུ་སྲིན་པ་ཏྲའི་རྒྱན|ཆུ་སྲིན་པ་ཏྲའི་རྒྱན]]}}) and represents the [[perfection]] of [[discipline]] ({{BigTibetan|[[ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་ཀྱི་ཕར་ཕྱིན]]}}) of the [[six perfections]]. |
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| − | The sixth figures are two [[naga spirits]], who often have half-snake [[bodies]] and are believed to dwell in the subterranean [[world]]. The subterranean [[world]] of [[nagas]] is considered to be blessed with much [[wealth]] and abundance. Thus, the two beautiful and clean [[nagas]] are considered ornaments of [[wealth]] ({{BigTibetan| | + | The sixth figures are two [[naga spirits]], who often have half-snake [[bodies]] and are believed to dwell in the subterranean [[world]]. The subterranean [[world]] of [[nagas]] is considered to be blessed with much [[wealth]] and abundance. Thus, the two beautiful and clean [[nagas]] are considered ornaments of [[wealth]] ({{BigTibetan|[[་མོ་ནོར་གྱི་རྒྱན]]}}) and they represent the [[perfection of giving]] ({{BigTibetan|[[ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་ཀྱི་ཕར་ཕྱིན་]]}}). |
On the top of the set of six ornamental figures, one can also find a [[garuda]], a [[mythical]] bird, holding a {{Wiki|snake}} in its {{Wiki|mouth}} and hands. The six figures are also set in the decorative foilage of decorative [[flowers]], leaves, {{Wiki|fruits}} and clouds. | On the top of the set of six ornamental figures, one can also find a [[garuda]], a [[mythical]] bird, holding a {{Wiki|snake}} in its {{Wiki|mouth}} and hands. The six figures are also set in the decorative foilage of decorative [[flowers]], leaves, {{Wiki|fruits}} and clouds. | ||
Latest revision as of 18:54, 4 August 2022
The six ornaments or gyendruk (རྒྱན་དྲུག) is common artistic back-support or gyapyöl (རྒྱབ་ཡོལ་), which is found around the Buddha statue in Bhutan and the Himalayan Buddhist world. The decorative background most likely developed from the artistic backdrop and periphery containing floral designs and representations of mythological animals, created for divine image. Such back-support was created in ancient Indian art in the form a decorative torana arch. The six ornaments commonly encircle the Buddha and are created for both paintings and three-dimensional images of the Buddha. The six are as follows:
Elephant
At the bottom of the arched back-support are two white elephants flanking the Buddha. The elephant is considered an ornament due to its strength and trunk (གླང་ཆེན་མཆེ་བའི་རྒྱན་). It is also likely that the elephant was considered initially the ornament of size (གླང་ཆེན་ཆེ་བའི་རྒྱན་) for its large size, and accompanying stability and firmness. It represents the perfection of concentrative meditation (བསམ་གཏན་གྱི་ཕར་ཕྱིན་) among the six perfections. The elephants are sometimes portrayed as offering incense and butter lamp to the Buddha.
Lion
Above the elephants are two lions with elegant turquoise coloured mane. The lion is considered as an ornament for its elegance and turquoise coloured mane (སེང་གེ་རལ་པའི་རྒྱན་). It is also likely that the elephant was initially considered the ornament of display (སེང་གེ་རོལ་པའི་རྒྱན་) for its elegance and agility. It represents the perfection of wisdom (ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་) among the six perfections. The snow lion is a very common subject of artistic creation throughout the Himalayas,.
Sharabha Hybrid
The third animal commonly included in the six ornaments is an interesting hybrid of a deer or antelope with horns, fangs or claws. It can have a head of a goat, body of an antelope or horse, feet of a lion, etc, mainly to symbolize the union of strength, speed, agility, performance, etc. Known as sharabha or tamo, it is an ornament of flowery design (མེ་ཏོག་གི་རྒྱན་) or perhaps the ornament of being non-obstructive (མི་ཐོགས་པའི་རྒྱན་). The hybrid animal represents the perfection of effort or zeal (བརྩོན་འགྲུས་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་) of the six perfections.
Dwarf
Holding the crossbeam of the throne are two strong and stout dwarves. The figures represent a group of strong and wild men who appear in ancient tales. These strong men are commonly depicted as short and stout figures with enormous strength in Himalayan Buddhist art and architecture. They are considered ornaments of strength (རྒད་ཆེན་སྟོབས་ཀྱི་རྒྱན) and represent the perfection of perseverance and fortitude (བཟོད་པའི་ཕར་ཕྱིན་) among the six perfections.
Makara
Above the crossbeam supported by the dwarfs are highly intricate figures of makara which is a hybrid water-dwelling creature combining the features of a crocodile, elephant, fish, etc. The makara is an ancient Indian artistic symbol of power and is presented in different forms and styles across the Himalayas. It is considered as the ornament of flourish ({{BigTibetanཆུ་སྲིན་པ་ཏྲའི་རྒྱན}}) and represents the perfection of discipline (ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་ཀྱི་ཕར་ཕྱིན) of the six perfections.
Naga
The sixth figures are two naga spirits, who often have half-snake bodies and are believed to dwell in the subterranean world. The subterranean world of nagas is considered to be blessed with much wealth and abundance. Thus, the two beautiful and clean nagas are considered ornaments of wealth (་མོ་ནོར་གྱི་རྒྱན) and they represent the perfection of giving (ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་ཀྱི་ཕར་ཕྱིན་).
On the top of the set of six ornamental figures, one can also find a garuda, a mythical bird, holding a snake in its mouth and hands. The six figures are also set in the decorative foilage of decorative flowers, leaves, fruits and clouds.
The decorative back-support of the six ornaments are theoretically said to be reserved only for the images of the Buddha but it is not uncommon to find other mythical or historical religious figures sculpted there.
Source
[[1]]
