Kalachakra Mandala Masterpiece Tibetan Thangka Painting-Silk Framed

Tibetan Thangka painting depicting Kalachakra Mandala is perfect for various home décor ideas! This 100% hand-drawn Thangka painting made in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal can be decorated as an elegant and eccentric wall hanging in your home or office being a centerpiece of attention. It can also be placed on your family altar for meditation purposes as well as spiritual and emotional healing, attracting benevolent energy of the Tibetan Buddhist art.

Specification
Master Quality Tibetan Thangka Painting
Dimensions: 70 x 63 cm
Materials: Tibetan Colors Combination With 24k Gold Hide Glue
Canvas: Tibetan Organic Cotton
Origin: Hand Painted In Nepal
Silk Framed
About Kalachakra Mandala Thangka Art

The Dalai Lama and the Kalachakra
Although thought to have once been a carefully guarded secret of the Shambhala Kingdom, the Kalachakra Tantra is now widely known. The Dalai Lama himself has given thirty-three separate initiations into this practice all over the world, including in Tibet, India, Switzerland, Canada, and the United States.

In an essay on his website, His Holiness writes, “the Kalachakra initiations empower the disciple to practice the yoga of the Kalachakra tantra, and, ultimately, to achieve the state of Shri Kalachakra.” As with other mandala practices, the goal here is for the initiate to “enter” into the mandala and identify with the deity represented therein.

Through meditation on the Kalachakra mandala, monks invoke the qualities of the deity, striving in a ritualized way enter the mandala and become the deity themselves. This practice is not usually public, and mostly occurs behind temple walls.

In the public realm, the Kalachakra mandala is sometimes rendered as a thangka, a traditional style of Tibetan art frequently used to depict mandalas, and also as a sand mandala. Sand mandalas are performed as a cultural display in universities or other institutions by traveling monks. Upon completion, they are destroyed in a ritual meant to honor the impermanent nature of reality.

The symbolism of the mandala is rich. It is a two dimensional depiction of the three-dimensional palace of the deity Kalachakra. At the top of the palace, or the center of the mandala, dwells the god himself. Arrayed around the halls of the five-story palace beneath his feet are 722 other deities, all submitting to the great god Kalachakra who symbolizes the unstoppable passage of time.

The floors of the palace depicted in the Kalachakra Mandala, from the ground up, represent:

Enlightened body
Enlightened speech
Enlightened mind
Enlightened wisdom
Enlightened great bliss
Arrayed around the palace are four elemental rings and two outer rings. From the inside out they are:

Earth
Water
Fire
Wind
Space
Wisdom
Taken together, all of these elements compose a microcosm of the universe, ruled by time personified.

Kalachakra is a black skinned, four-faced god with twelve arms and twenty-four hands. He is the personification of time, and his name carries that meaning. The Sanskrit word “kala” means time and “chakra” means cycle. The name makes reference to the cyclical nature of time in Buddhist and Hindu cosmologies. In these traditions, time is nonlinear and without end, having an almost three-dimensional quality.


When we refer to Kalachakra we may be referring to the deity himself, to the mandala dedicated to him, or to the body of teachings associated with this deity. The teachings, called Kalachakra Tantra, are considered to be some of the most advanced and complex in Tibetan Buddhism. In recent years they have been publicly proclaimed by the Dalai Lama to be especially important for this degenerate age. According to His Holiness, the Kalachakra teachings can help promote world peace.